5 Tips to boost your medical school application

5 Tips to boost your medical school application

Application to medical school in the present day is a process that requires adequate planning and preparation. It all starts when you enroll to your undergrad through to when you are admitted to medical school. In the whole process key steps stand out and can be mapped out as steps for boosting your application into a med school.

Step 1: Look into the various options available for you in Medicine

You have joined college and are in your freshman year where you aim to establish with totality whether medicine is your field.  In this initial step of application or preparing yourself you want to examine the various careers and options that are available for you in medicine. Attending pre med club meeting and speaking to your advisors and other doctors who have already settled in the profession is a sure way to get yourself more informed on the choices available for you.

Step 2: Gather Relevant experience

Medical studies is both a theoretical and practical. The practical part of medicine is one that is most important given that care delivery requires the skills.  It is therefore very important to consider having an experience which could be a summer volunteer internship, physician shadowing or a pre medical internship abroad. This helps you see in practical how health services are delivered and what the role of doctors in reality is and this way you can stamp your desire to proceed with the application and pursuit of medicine.

Step 3: Stay focused on medical school

This step is particularly important for you as you may have observed and now sure of where and how you want to move on with your application and study medicine. To stay on course for medical school, you will need to have regular visits to your advisor for tips on how to get on course, attend pre-med club meetings who normally organize key note lectures on medicine and medical school which will be enriching for you. If having time on breaks, consider volunteering in health related services as this may further boost your clinical exposure which is a pillar to medical school application. This is also the time that you ask your advisor on what your game plan for medical school application could be.

Step 4: The MCAT

According to AAMC there is a major change to what and how the test is structured “Shifting the focus from testing what you know to testing how you apply what you learn. The MCAT exam asks you to use your knowledge of the natural, behavioral, and social sciences to solve problems that emphasize the value that medical schools place on analysis, evaluation, and reasoning skills.”

This new format means exposure, it means more study, more case studies and above all more practice to test the extent to which you can emerge with the high score. As part of completing your application you should think about the test in terms of registering to undertake it, the materials you need to study, if any, you need to take on it to better position yourself. Use the medical school’s admission requirements to compare schools and begin your application to AMCAS.  

Step 5: Prepare for Medical School Interviews and Receiving of Letters

This application process is much of a terminative step which could arrive when you are in your senior years in college or even post BAC. It involves getting ready to face the panels and convince them that beyond the written and expressed interests you are a great candidate for the medical school.  To prepare for interviews you can look at several resources available to guide you as well as put together your talking points for the interview to demonstrate that your candidature for medical school is rich and competitive.  After the interviews you most likely will start receiving letters either of acceptance or rejection and from there you can then make a choice as to which medical school you would like to join.

The whole process of college life and application to medical school underlines the importance of advisors, the club and relevant clinical experiences as you seek to join medical school it is important you maximize on them.

by Elective Africa