Medical School Interviews – Scheduling

Though you still may be swamped with secondary applications, it is time to begin thinking about interview season. It is actually more than a season as interviews generally span from September to February. Rolling admissions schools tend to interview earlier than others (and let you know of acceptance earlier as well). Don’t be surprised if your first interview is scheduled as early as September.

Be sure to plan sufficient time off for interview travel. Does time of interview really affect chance of acceptance? In rolling admissions schools, yes! Rolling admissions schools often offer acceptances only weeks after an interview session. The later in the season you interview, the less acceptances there are to offer. Interview timing is less critical for regular admissions schools. You will see pages and pages on medical school admissions blogs discussing the best strategic time to interview. Here’s the bottom line: interview when you will be well-rested and well-prepared.

Want a leg up on your competition? A MDadmit mock interview can give you that advantage. E-mail info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251 to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions expert to work for you!

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Medical School Secondary Applications: “Other” Information

Please share with us something about yourself that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and which may help the Admissions Committee as we review your file.

The “other” information question often causes great stress amongst candidates. Given that it is usually an optional essay, the big issue is whether or not to answer it. The only reason to answer the questions is if you have personal information that is not provided on the AMCAS that will affect your application. Here are a few examples of appropriate topics for this essay:

1. Extenuating circumstances led to a dip in your grades sophomore year and you want to explain
2. Your band cut its first record after the AMCAS submission
3. You have a paper accepted for publication that occurred after AMCAS submission
4. You just received an offer to travel to Africa with a public health project

Do NOT fill the space just to fill the space. Only answer the question if you really have something important to say that will positively affect your application.

Looking for help on how to answer secondary essay questions? E-mail info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251 to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions expert to work for you!

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Long-Term Goals

Another favorite secondary question revolves around long-term goals (ie. what you want to be when you grow up).

For example:

Are there any areas of medicine that are of particular interest to you? If so, please comment.

Though you are certainly not expected to have picked out your specialty and fellowship before even entering medical school, admissions committees like know where you are leaning. Do you see yourself working as a general surgeon at a large academic center? Or perhaps you’d like to run a small, rural family medicine clinic? Or maybe you want to be a Navy flight doctor. The sky is the limit. But be sure to be honest and ready to back up your dream job.

Exhausted? Overwhelmed with secondaries? E-mail info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251 to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions insider to work for you!

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Medical School Secondary Applications: After-College Activities

Now that taking time off before medical school is completely accepted (and often encouraged), many secondaries ask about after-college activities:

Please indicate your activities for the xxxx-yyyy year. If you are in school, please list your courses. If you are working, please describe the nature of your job.

If you have already graduated, briefly summarize your activities since graduation.

If you are still in college when applying to medical school, you will leave this question blank unless instructed otherwise. If you have just graduated, feel free to discuss your summer activities and upcoming plans before matriculation into medical school. And if you have taken time off, use this section to flesh out what you have done more fully than was allowed on the AMCAS activities list.

Overwhelmed by secondary applications? E-mail info@MDadmit.com or call 415.939.5251 to put a Harvard/Stanford MD, published author, and expert editor to work for you!

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Qualities/Characteristics

Medical schools love to ask you about what qualities you possess that will make you a great physician:

Describe the distinguishable characteristics you possess and tell us how you think these characteristics will enhance your success as a medical student and future physician.

Start by brainstorming a list of characteristics that you think great physicians possess. Here’s a short list from the top of my head in no particular order:

Psychological maturity
Character and integrity
Self-discipline
Judgment
Compassion and empathy
Communication skills
Concern for helping others
Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm
Analytical and problem-solving ability
Motivation and persistence
Reliability and dependability
Resilience and adaptability
Accountability
Leadership skills
Teamwork skills
Experience with and knowledge of medicine

Choose the qualities that you possess and that can be backed up with examples from your own life. For example, if you that you have leadership skills, be sure that you have leadership experiences to prove it.

Looking for help on how to answer secondary essay questions? E-mail info@MDadmit.com to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions expert to work for you!

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Medical School Secondary Applications: Research

Some secondary questions focus specifically on research or scholarly activities:

Although research is not a pre-requisite requirement for the University Program, if you have participated in a scholarly project please tell us about it. Describe your experience, including the question you pursued and how you approached it, your results and interpretation of the results, and most importantly, any thoughts about what this experience meant to you. Remember that research is broad-based and can include such projects as a senior capstone or a thesis and can include both medical and non medically-related investigations.

Don’t panic if you have not published in Nature or performed amazing bench research. “Research” is a broad term and can include investigations in public health, health policy, and international health. You can even include non-medically oriented research.

Exhausted? Overwhelmed with secondaries? E-mail info@MDadmit.com to put a Harvard/Stanford MD and medical school admissions insider to work for you!

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Interesting article on medical scribes

Becoming a medical scribe is a fantastic way to gain clinical experience and boost your application. See article below.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/06/health/la-he-medical-scribes-20100906