The Medical School Admissions Guide: Book Review

The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD's Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook, 2nd Edition has hit the market to great reviews.

One satisfied pre-med wrote:

"Dr. Miller, I wanted to thank you with the utmost gratitude for providing me with your "Medical School Admission Guide." It has been a great tool to demonstrate what a successful personal statement and activities/work experiences section should look like, as well as providing a structure for continued success during the application process."

How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA eBook Review

How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA by medical school admissions expert Dr. Suzanne M. Miller is a must-have resource for anyone who wants to apply to medical school but has less than a 3.7 GPA.

How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA is a follow-up to Dr. Miller’s acclaimed 2010 book, The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by Week Admissions Handbook, which became an instant success and enjoys a 5-out-of-5 star Average Customer Review rating on Amazon.com.

In How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA, Dr. Miller provides rarely discussed insider knowledge of how medical school admissions committees view a low GPA. She then uses multiple scenarios to explain why understanding how medical school admissions committees categorize applicants is a key to gaining admissions with a low GPA. Perhaps most impressively, How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA includes real-life examples of successful personal statements from candidates with low GPAs and shows how these applicants appropriately addressed low GPAs in the application. How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA isn’t a magic bullet, but it is an indispensable resource for any pre-med who may have under-performed in college because it sheds light on the true meaning of academic performance in the medical school admissions process and provides real-life strategies of how to overcome a low GPA.

Given the daunting odds of acceptance to medical school (less than half of applicants gain admission every year), pre-meds with a low GPA have no margin for error. As Dr. Miller tells us, it is possible to get into medical school with a low GPA. But this takes crafting a comprehensive strategy based on a solid of understanding of what you’re up against. How To Get Into Medical School With A Low GPA provides pre-med with the road map and the tools to do just that.

Medical School Admissions: AMCAS Work/Activities

 Did you know the AMCAS Work/Activities section is more than just a resume?

The Work/Activities section requires you to categorize your experiences by the following categories:

Paid Employment— Not Military                                                

Paid Employment—Military                                                            

Community Service/Volunteer—Not Medical/Clinical            

Community Service/Volunteer—Medical/Clinical                        

Research/Lab                                                                                    

Teaching/Tutoring                                                                        

Honors/Awards/Recognition

Conferences Attended

Presentations/Posters

Extracurricular/Hobbies/Avocations

Leadership—Not Listed Elsewhere

Other

This allows you to include many experiences not listed on a normal resume.  Some examples:

Guitarist in a band that created an album

Attended a toxicology conference in Berlin

Won a creative writing contest in college

Completed an Ironman triathlon

For step-by-step advice on how to get into medical school including examples of AMCAS applications, check out The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook. If you’d like to communicate directly with Dr. Miller, medical school admissions expert, please email info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251.

Medical School Admissions: Medical School Choice – May 15 Deadline (2011 - 2012)

The decision day is near. By May 15, each applicant who has received an acceptance offer from more than one school must choose where he or she wishes to attend and withdraw applications from all other schools. Check with each school to determine how they want to be informed. Some require written correspondence by regular mail while others will accept an e-mail notification.

Making a last-minute decision? In the end, you can make a hundred pro-con lists but the decision should come down to gut. Where do you feel more comfortable? Where do you really want to train to become a doctor and spend the next (at least) four years of your life? I bet deep down you know. You have only a few weeks left to decide.

After May 15, many schools start making offers to those on the waitlist as applicants are no longer able to hold multiple acceptances. So if you are stuck on the waitlist, you may start hearing from schools soon.

For step-by-step advice on how to get into medical school, check out The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook. If you’d like personalized help from Dr. Miller, please visit www.MDadmit.com/solutions, e-mail info@MDadmit.com, or call 415.939.5251.

Medical School Admissions: Where to Apply

Did you know there are 151 accredited medical schools – 134 in the United States and 17 in Canada? Where are you applying?

The number of schools you should apply to depends on the strength of your application.  I generally suggest 10-15 for strong applicants, 15-25 for average applicants, and 25-40 for applicants with low grades/MCAT scores and reapplicants.

As for where to apply, that depends on what you. Every accredited medical school will give you a good education. The decision often comes down to location, curriculum, special programs offered, financial aid/cost, and overall vibe.

Need help deciding where to apply? Email info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251 to set up a consulting session with a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions insider.

Also check out The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook for step-by-step advice on how to get into medical school and excellent examples of personal statements, AMCAS work/activities, secondary essays and more.

Medical School Admissions: Medical School Choice – Research Options (2011 - 2012)

Just like when applying from college to medical school, research will be an important component of your application from medical school to residency. When choosing which medical school to attend, make sure they make research options available to you. Is the school research-oriented? Does the school offer a wide array of research opportunities? Does the curriculum allow time for you to perform research? Do you think you can find a research mentor amongst the faculty?

For step-by-step advice on how to get into medical school, check out The Medical School Admissions Guide: A Harvard MD’s Week-by-Week Admissions Handbook. If you’d like personalized help from Dr. Miller, please visit www.MDadmit.com/solutions, e-mail info@MDadmit.com, or call 415.939.5251.