5 Tips To Getting to Medical School

Medical school is known for being one of the toughest graduate schools to get into. It is a huge deal to get accepted into a medical school because the moment you get your foot in the door, you begin a path of becoming a doctor. I get asked all the time about how to become competitive for medical school. I’ve decided to create a short list that includes some helpful tips I wish I knew before applying for medical school.

1. Grades in College

Yes. Not grades in high school. Getting good grades in undergrad is important to be considered for an interview for medical school. One of the mistakes I made after studying hard in high school and getting into a good college was to stop trying in college. As painful as it may seem, the journey actually begins in undergrad as medical school will only look at your transcript and exams starting in college. I did my undergrad in one of the top universities in California, and many first year college students start off as “premed” and end up switching their majors after getting “weeded” out due to poor exam scores and performance. Learning how to study efficiently and excelling in your classes in college is the first step to earning yourself a position in medical school.

2. MCAT scores

This may seem like a “duh” one, but in reality this is just as important, if not even more crucial, in determining the number of interviews you may get for medical school. From my experience, scoring high on the MCAT will open many doors for top tier university programs, and by the same token, getting a low score on the exam can severely limit your chances of getting into medical school. Begin studying early on in college, and take a practice test before taking the real exam. If there is a particular subject you are weak in (i.e. biology) do not be afraid to get help in those areas before taking the exam.

3. Extracurricular activities

Volunteer. Research. Shadowing. These help demonstrate your willingness to commit to medicine and also that you’re interested in learning and growing medical experience. When I was in medical school I looked back at my own experiences volunteering and shadowing doctors to help further build and hone in on my clinical skills in medical school. Exposure to many different specialties have also helped me narrow down the medical field I was interested in. For example, I knew I was interested in working with older people after shadowing an internist. These experiences ended up being helpful in unseeable ways

4. Interview

Once your application has been accepted and you are offered an interview, the next most important step to getting into the medical school is doing well on your interview. Having gone through the interview trail multiple times, I understand how frustrating it is to interview multiple medical schools and answer endless questions. But you also don’t want your hard work coming to an end just because of a bad interview. Show up with a big smile and showcase to the interviewer why they should choose you. Your chances of getting into medical school will be higher the more you leave lasting impressions throughout your interview.

5. Masters program

This may be an alternative option for those that either do not end up getting into medical school on their first attempt and/or those that want to get a glimpse of medical school before actually applying to them. It consist of taking some of the medical school courses and it’s an opportunity for those who did not do well in college to shine and excel in them at med school. This is tough because the expectation is that you will perform well in these courses and be favored by faculty enough to get accepted into medical school. Note that the masters will be solely useful to getting yourself into medical school, so if you end up changing your mind and/or do not do well in these courses, it could just be a big waste of time and money.

Conclusion

I attempted to list 5 things that I would tell my past myself before applying for medical school. This is not an all inclusive list as I’m sure there are outliers to this. So please keep in mind that each medical school varies in their admission process and just a blog for the general population.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions! Good luck.