[txz4]

Im working on finishing med school pre reqs (have a BBA already) and will be applying for med schools next year.

Any advice or info anyone can share on the subject?
How important is shadowing and community service etc?
Anything i should be doing now other than slaying my classes and getting built up for the MCAT?

[eVitO]

in on this too

[NSFW 335i]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/

[upstatedoc]

Sell the BMW. You'll need the money for school and you won't have time to drive it anyway.

A few things off the top of my head:

Rec letter from premed advisor is very important. "He's a great student here and he will be a great student there."

Shadowing is important to get letters of rec from practicing physicians.

Extracurricular activites <insert joke here> are important. What do you do when you dont have your head buried in a book?

[Dolittle]

Rock the MCAT and your interviews. Its getting much more competitive now.

[Foodle]

Treat your interviews seriously. Actually learn something about the school and program you are interviewing at (e.g., do they have a research project, what's the structure of their classes, do they have any special programs, etc.) before you go there. Convince them that they are special to you and that you really want to go specifically to their school. They are not only looking for smart people, but people who will accept their admission.

Boring generic answers are not good. Be able to answer why you want to be a doctor with something more than a) My mom/dad/both were doctors, so I want to be a doctor too b) I want to help people c) My grandma/grandpa/mom/dad/etc died of disease X and therefore I want to help people with disease X. Have a sense of humor and act like a human, not a robot who knows a lot of biology, chemistry, and physics.

[Foodle]

Originally Posted by NewMember

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/

Take this board with a grain of salt. Some of the people are neurotic psychos who should never be allowed near a patient.

[txz4]

Good stuff guys! Though, I would never sell the M coupe for anything. Good advice on learning everything you can about the schools applied to, the interview will be a breeze for me. There are pluses to being a business school graduate and working in an executive position. I need to work on the advisor rec letter though, time to start making advising appointments!

[Foodle]

Also, if you can arrange to shadow someone in a service you're interested in, it would give you a better feeling for what the actual work is like and give you a rec from a doctor. Not necessary, but good experience and a different kind of rec than "Person X was in my class on Y. He got an A. He asked interesting questions and seemed insightful."

Community service is ok, but don't go overboard. Schools like to see that you have a humanitarian streak, but all applicants know this, so everyone at least claims to have done community service. It doesn't make you special, it just makes you normal. Have something to put down, but don't sacrifice MCAT prep time for gobs of community service.

[txz4]

Originally Posted by Foodle

Also, if you can arrange to shadow someone in a service you're interested in, it would give you a better feeling for what the actual work is like and give you a rec from a doctor. Not necessary, but good experience and a different kind of rec than "Person X was in my class on Y. He got an A. He asked interesting questions and seemed insightful."

Community service is ok, but don't go overboard. Schools like to see that you have a humanitarian streak, but all applicants know this, so everyone at least claims to have done community service. It doesn't make you special, it just makes you normal. Have something to put down, but don't sacrifice MCAT prep time for gobs of community service.

My current doctor was the Chief of staff at a large hospital system in town, also he was taught by my grandfather. According to my grandfather, he was his most brilliant student. I think if he would let me shadow him (which im sure he will) he would be the best source of information and experience i could get. good to know that the community service isnt the biggest of deals, ill try and put some time into it if something comes up, i wont break my back over it.

[eVitO]

Anyone willing to help out set up a shadowing position in LA? I'll obviously do my own research too, but if anyone is generous enough to help out, it would be more than amazing.

[1NS0MN1A]

Originally Posted by eVitO

Anyone willing to help out set up a shadowing position in LA? I'll obviously do my own research too, but if anyone is generous enough to help out, it would be more than amazing.

PM me. Im a second year premed student at ucla, i have a 4.0 science gpa at ucla, I am a coordinator at the Ucla hospital for internships, shadow the head brain surgeon, and work in a clinical lab with spinal cord injury patients. I have plenty of resources for you, and can hook you up with an internship here at the hospital.

[dtwyim]

Originally Posted by txz4

My current doctor was the Chief of staff at a large hospital system in town, also he was taught by my grandfather. According to my grandfather, he was his most brilliant student. I think if he would let me shadow him (which im sure he will) he would be the best source of information and experience i could get. good to know that the community service isnt the biggest of deals, ill try and put some time into it if something comes up, i wont break my back over it.

A good letter of reference from him should go a long way.

[slo_guy]

Originally Posted by txz4

Though, I would never sell the M coupe for anything.

Unless you're well off already, you need to get your priorities straight. Getting into med school is one thing. Actually finishing it is another.

[Echo M3]

Originally Posted by txz4

Im working on finishing med school pre reqs (have a BBA already) and will be applying for med schools next year.

Any advice or info anyone can share on the subject?
How important is shadowing and community service etc?
Anything i should be doing now other than slaying my classes and getting built up for the MCAT?

Use SDN as a resource. Don't get intimidated; there are a lot of overachievers on that board, but there is also plenty of good advice.

The most important elements are your grades and your MCAT. Both should be solid if not stellar.

Make an effort to expose yourself to the medical field. Shadowing, volunteering at a hospital, etc. are all decent ways to approach this. Even better, in my opinion, would be getting involved with a clinical trial or research project in a hospital or clinical setting. I had a pre-med help me with a clinical trial last year; she had a blast, and it looked great when she had a letter of recommendation from my boss, the chief of radiology at a major academic center.

Get all your stuff in to AMCAS EARLY - MCAT scores, transcript, letters of rec, etc. Med school applications are rolling. You will read more about this as the time comes.

Good luck!

[Echo M3]

Originally Posted by eVitO

Anyone willing to help out set up a shadowing position in LA? I'll obviously do my own research too, but if anyone is generous enough to help out, it would be more than amazing.

You'll find that shadowing gets boring REAL fast. I had a pre-med shadow me last month, and she looked bored to tears after about 6-8 hours (it was an outpatient clinic).

Instead, do what I suggested in the other post - find a job or opportunity to help with a clinical trial or research project. You'll get your patient exposure, you'll have a chance to interact with med students, residents, and attendings, and you will learn MUCH more. Bonus points if you can get your name on any publications that come out of it (although completely unnecessary).

[dvpouldar26]

Originally Posted by txz4

Im working on finishing med school pre reqs (have a BBA already) and will be applying for med schools next year.

Any advice or info anyone can share on the subject?
How important is shadowing and community service etc?
Anything i should be doing now other than slaying my classes and getting built up for the MCAT?

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

Sell the BMW. You'll need the money for school and you won't have time to drive it anyway.

A few things off the top of my head:

Rec letter from premed advisor is very important. "He's a great student here and he will be a great student there."

Shadowing is important to get letters of rec from practicing physicians.

Extracurricular activites <insert joke here> are important. What do you do when you dont have your head buried in a book?

Very true. Its important to shadow to get a good letter of rec, but also make sure to remember specific stories when shadowing that taught you something. Those are the things that come out in your application, keep it from sounding generic, and make it a strong application.

Originally Posted by Foodle

Take this board with a grain of salt. Some of the people are neurotic psychos who should never be allowed near a patient.

+1. Take SDN just as a resource for questions for secondarys. It is biased and not a true representation of the full applicant field.

Originally Posted by 1NS0MN1A

PM me. Im a second year premed student at ucla, i have a 4.0 science gpa at ucla, I am a coordinator at the Ucla hospital for internships, shadow the head brain surgeon, and work in a clinical lab with spinal cord injury patients. I have plenty of resources for you, and can hook you up with an internship here at the hospital.

Go Bruins! I also graduated UCLA last year as a physiological sciences major. I also worked on 2 labs on campus (still do), but I did not do my research at UCLA. I am a current applicant and applied to schools on June 10th. May of my friends are on admissions at UCLA David Geffen and I started a pre-med group at UCLA, so hopefully some of my advice will be useful (PS, we will be having a seminar soon with a panel of current students in the next few months if you're interested).

As for your questions, here's my take: Shadowing, research, community service, helping the underserved are all important. A solid GPA and MCAT are by far the most important things. Other than that, you need a bit of everything. Most schools don't want a long resume list of 50 activities and organizations you're in, but will rather see a few you are consistent in. For the larger, more academic institutions, research is a must. For smaller institutions that focus more on service and leadership, leadership opportunities and community service are more important. It all matters on the school and their focus. Ultimately, you need everything. Shadowing is a MUST. The reason I say this is because most interviews, your personal statement, and your secondarys focus on your path to choosing a future in medicine, and without experiences in a field, you cannot say with confidence why you are so passionate about that profession. Furthermore, all these opportunities, namely shadowing, volunteering, etc at the end of the day really just become something for you to talk about in your applications, secondarys and interviews. Unless you do something groundbreaking, it's not really about what you did, but more about what you learned from those experiences and who you can write and talk about it. Letters of recommendation are also very important. Start building relationships with those early on so they can write you a strong letter. I had 5 letters myself. Make sure those letter writers really know who you are. For now, I recommend giving your classes and MCAT your all, and try to shadow, do research, and volunteer atleast a few hours a week. It's an extremely long process, but well worth it. Take it step by step, and hang in there. Hope this helps.

[dvpouldar26]

Originally Posted by Echo M3

You'll find that shadowing gets boring REAL fast. I had a pre-med shadow me last month, and she looked bored to tears after about 6-8 hours (it was an outpatient clinic).

Instead, do what I suggested in the other post - find a job or opportunity to help with a clinical trial or research project. You'll get your patient exposure, you'll have a chance to interact with med students, residents, and attendings, and you will learn MUCH more. Bonus points if you can get your name on any publications that come out of it (although completely unnecessary).

I somewhat agree and disagree with shadowing getting boring very fast. It may, but be sure to choose a field that you'd really enjoy, or else the hours and hours in clinic, ER, or OR can get boring. Most of my shadowing (3.5 years +) was all done in Orthopedic surgery and I still enjoy it to this day.

As for working with med students and residents, I highly recommend it. They can give you recent insight that perhaps older physicians cannot provide. Also, they are making a lot of publications while in residency or med school, many of which are clinical studies. Most are always glad to have an undergrad help them out and I have found that to be one of the quickest, and easiest ways to get some research experience and get a publication under your name. As for the higher ranking academic institutions, publications certainly do help, and might even be necessary for admission. I also agree with sending out your AMCAS information early. Letter writers lag with writing letters of rec, transcripts take forever to send (send them out months in advance), and writing a good application take some time. I submitted a few days after the app opened and it worked greatly to my advantage in terms of getting secondarys.

[ideliver]

as someone who does admissions for a state medical school...you need at least a 3.5 GPA overall and science...clearly the higher the better (some schools may be higher)...you need to find what are the min admission MCAT for your school...this only gets you the interview

Then you need to demonstrate service over a significant period of time...i cannot emphasize this enough

The interiview is very important...everything else mentioned is superfluous...you get a bump for being black, hispanic or native american...some schools give you a bump if you state in your interview that you plan on going into primary care...regardless, you tend to get thougt of favorably if you state that you want to do peds, FP, IM in some remote place or work for the Indian Health Services...

[Dr. G]

Originally Posted by Foodle

Take this board with a grain of salt. Some of the people are neurotic psychos who should never be allowed near a patient.

Originally Posted by txz4

Good stuff guys! Though, I would never sell the M coupe for anything. Good advice on learning everything you can about the schools applied to, the interview will be a breeze for me. There are pluses to being a business school graduate and working in an executive position. I need to work on the advisor rec letter though, time to start making advising appointments!

I'm not on an admissions committee so I don't want to come in here telling you stuff like its FACT, but I obviously have an idea of how things work.

The point in bold could bring you positive and negative bias as odd as that sounds. Some may question your intentions and others may feel that the background you have is HIGHLY important in the field. Rock those interviews and make sure if you're getting any bias' they go in your favour. With the position you hold now I got a feeling you'll rock those interviews.

Originally Posted by txz4

My current doctor was the Chief of staff at a large hospital system in town, also he was taught by my grandfather.

The value of this right now is great, but the value of this relationship come residency time will be MONEY. As much as it sucks the system is heavily based on who you know and who puts in a good word for you.

Originally Posted by slo_guy

Unless you're well off already, you need to get your priorities straight. Getting into med school is one thing. Actually finishing it is another.

What's wrong with his priorities?


Here's some random advice, it's pretty obvious and you've heard it 100 times, but sometimes hearing it again helps.

1) Rock those MCAT's and rock them to a whole new level. Have a stellar GPA to go along with it and honestly there won't even by any discussion on whether you're getting in or not. As long as you don't come off as a complete pyscho during interviews you're in a good position.

2) If your GPA is borderline, you really need to rock that MCAT. When you're in that middle group where everyone falls along the average GPA your MCAT is the very first thing that can make you stand out. Remember if you don't get past the first screening your personal statements, LOR's and what not won't hold the same weight because you might not even get that interview. At this stage it all comes down to getting into that room and sitting down with the admissions team and selling yourself.

3) If both your GPA and MCAT are both very borderline you need to do everything and anything to get yourself that interview. I often see people go volunteer for 2 months after the MCAT, that's fine, but at the same time the admissions committee can see right through it as well. You need to demonstrate your desire and dedication over extended periods of time.

Honestly, with the amount of applications that go in and the amount of reading to be done a lot of filtering is done simply by cut-offs. You need to make sure you meet those cut-offs because after that the interview is HUUUUGE.

Another thing to remember is that medicine doesn't care about the "what's" it's all about the "why's". The answer is never as important as the reasoning behind the answer.

I'm sure you're making an advised decision, but just be sure that this is what you want to do. It's a fairly long journey and at times it does require elite mental toughness. It's a lot more pleasant for those who actually enjoy medicine and find it mentally stimulating.

Don't let the "no-life" talk scare you. I had WAY more fun and was a lot less stressed during basic sciences than I was during undergrad. It's pretty darn easy and manageable up until STEP 1 of the boards... that's when shit hits the fan for a lot of people.


I have a habbit of typing long messages with little content and awkward structure. If you have any direct Q's feel free to shoot me a msg and I'll try and be clear and concise haha.

PS: SDN forums is full of gunners and all the crazies from med school... heavily biased forum.

[Foodle]

Originally Posted by Echo M3

You'll find that shadowing gets boring REAL fast. I had a pre-med shadow me last month, and she looked bored to tears after about 6-8 hours (it was an outpatient clinic).

I think this depends heavily on the student, the physician, and the service. Shadowing can be interesting and engaging for the student, and actually useful for the physician too. Make sure to pick a service that you're interested in, and it helps a lot if you are already knowledgeable (or study up beforehand) in that particular field.

[Foodle]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

PS: SDN forums is full of gunners and all the crazies from med school... heavily biased forum.

So true. Not that there's anything wrong with studying hard and doing well, but you don't have to be an asshat about it (per the standard definition of "gunner")..

Also remember to make the standard Internet e-peen 10-20% deduction in any GPA, MCAT, boards, etc. score reported on SDN.