By: Ryan Kelly
Imagine a private gathering of medical school admissions officers, perhaps in an ivory tower somewhere. This conclave of academic gatekeepers, mostly from prestigious schools, is meeting behind-the-scenes to discuss candidates and divvy them up amongst their programs.
Sound corrupt? Sure does.
By: Ryan Kelly
Oh good, we’re glad to see you’re making your travel checklist for your medical school interview.
Just kidding! These items are taken from Zombie Apocalypse Gear: 25 Essentials for Survival. Is the interview trail that bad? Of course not. But when preparing for the trip, pre-meds might feel anxious, pressed for time, paranoid - worried that forgetting one small thing could mean the end of the world.
Download your Essential Medical School Interview Travel Checklist.
By: Ryan Kelly
Warning! Warning! There’s a dangerously adaptive, highly resistant viral outbreak in your vicinity. It’s up to you, and a small courageous team of healthcare professionals, to isolate and nullify the threat. You must act quickly before the virus spreads and infects the majority of the population.
What will be your first steps of action, before the well-being of humanity is compromised?
By: Ryan Kelly
Remember Valentine’s Day when you were a kid? If your grade school was anything like mine, we had to give Valentines to every other kid in the class. The night before, I often ran into my classmates at the Hallmark store, buying packs of the Muppets/Harry Potter/My Little Pony collection, all with the same puns on them. “I’m ready to Kermit to you,” or “I Adumbledore you,” or “Valentine, you are Twilightlicious.
By: Ryan Kelly
“Voila! Magnifique! It’s perfect - my masterpiece, my opus - it’s finally complete!”
I’ve never once heard these words come out of a pre-med’s mouth. Since the personal statement is challenging and the stakes are high, pre-meds usually struggle to know when their essays are finished.
This doubt can cause them to overthink, share their essays with too many people, and make unnecessary changes that reverse their progress.
By: Ryan Kelly
If you wanted to apply to 151 medical schools, what would you need to accomplish that?
In theory, it seems downright impossible to pull off 151 applications in one cycle, at least not without going completely bonkers. We’ve already told you that we think 68 is too many.
By: Ryan Kelly
Imagine a private gathering of medical school admissions officers, perhaps in an ivory tower somewhere. This conclave of academic gatekeepers, mostly from prestigious schools, is meeting behind-the-scenes to discuss candidates and divvy them up amongst their programs.
Sound corrupt? Sure does.
By: Ryan Kelly
Join the club. If you’ve been rejected from medical school, that makes you normal. 60% of applicants DON’T get in. The people who get in are the unusual ones.
Okay, so maybe that’s not that comforting, but if you’ve been rejected from medical school, you have a choice: you can take this extra year to become a better person and a better applicant. You can learn from the mistakes of last cycle, really consider whether this is the right career for you, and re-apply with even more confidence that you’ve made the right choice.
By: Rob Humbracht
How much does it matter to apply early to medical school? We touched on the idea briefly when we posted this year’s AMCAS application dates, but, because we’re getting down to the wire, I’ve created a video (complete with a Lego pre-med) to show you whether it’s advisable to submit late this cycle.
By: Ryan Kelly
The last thing you want is to waste a year of your life. Becoming a doctor already requires four years of med school and another four of residency, so unless you want to get a real paycheck before you’re 30, you’d better get a move-on. Right?
We hear this line of reasoning from lots of pre-meds, but it most often comes from parents, who know that the biological clock is ticking. In their eyes, if you want to have kids and have a life, you’d better get through medical school as soon as possible.
By: Rob Humbracht
Cross this line, and you’re dead.
During the American Civil War, Henry Wirz, a particularly vicious Confederate general, was convicted and hanged for torturing Yankee prisoners of war. During the trial, it came out that he had drawn a line in the dirt, beyond which any prisoner who crossed would be shot. Some believe this particular act to be the origin of the term “deadline.”
By: Rob Humbracht
Pre-meds are Type A. Rather than wait for the application deadlines, they rush to submit their application on the first day each application opens.
Is this crazy? Well, not really. When you apply affects whether you get in.
To help you stay on top of the application dates and deadlines for this cycle, we’ve written a quick guide to all the dates to know so that you can be on the application ball.
