Throughout the application process, you must always understand what is being asked of you. Pay close attention to the essay prompts — if you do not answer the exact prompt in your personal statement or a secondary essay, your chances of admission decrease significantly.
Make sure you answer the question you're being asked and do not ignore the prompt! If you would like to learn how to get into medical school with a low GPA , make sure to read our blog. But if your heart is set on schools that have higher medical school GPA requirements than your own GPA, you can certainly try to increase your grades and improve your GPA. See if you can retake some of the classes in which you performed poorly.
Retaking such classes will also show admissions committees your dedication and desire for improvement. Create a study plan and stick to it, join a study group, or get a tutor to help you ace your course. You must get a much better grade in your second sitting of the class to make it worth your while. You can also ask your instructors and teaching assistants TAs if you can do anything for extra credit. Your genuine interest and hard work will not go unnoticed.
To get higher grades, you can also try taking classes in disciplines you enjoy. Pursuing coursework that you are passionate about tends to result in better grades. If you are not happy with your current MCAT score you can retake the exam. A word of caution: if you decide to retake the exam you must do better than in your first attempt. The admissions committees will be able to see all the scores you have, so you must show improvement.
Preparing for the MCAT is a laborious process that requires time and dedication. Take an MCAT diagnostic test to get an idea of your baseline and what you need to focus on. Your results will indicate what areas of knowledge you need to study. Create a thorough MCAT study schedule and change it accordingly to correspond to your improvements and challenges.
If you are having trouble creating your prep plan, it might be a good idea to reach out to an MCAT tutor who can help you get organized. Continue to take practice tests to see if you are showing improvement. Take the real test only when you are ready. If you take the test prematurely, you will waste your time and money.
You need to be scoring consistently well in the 90th percentile before you retake the actual test. For example, if your GPA is between 3. You can check out the chart to see how you measure up. Remember, your GPA and MCAT are not the only components of your medical school application, but they are the yardstick with which you will be measured as soon as your applications are under review.
If you are wondering how to get into medical school with a low MCAT , make sure to review our blog for expert advice. We Can Help! In addition to the CASper test, this multi-level evaluation tool is composed of the one-way interview tool called Snapshot , and a ranking system called the Duet.
And while all of these application components will take time and effort to prepare for, CASPer remains as the most challenging part of the Altus Suite. The test is comprised of 12 scenarios dealing with real-life situations.
You are asked 3 follow up questions based on each scenario you observe. Essentially, the questions will prod you to answer how you would deal with the situations you witness. You are given 5 minutes to type your answers for those three questions. Your answer for each scenario will be given a score between 1 lowest and 9 highest. Remember, you do not need to answer all three questions to get a high score. The quality of your answer will determine how well you do on a question. It is possible to leave 1 or even 2 of the three questions blank and still receive a good score!
Your score is solely based on how appropriate, mature, and professional your answer is whether you answered just one of the follow-up questions or all three. It is vital to know how to prepare for CASPer. Frist of all, make sure you have a solid approach for each type of question included in the test. Second of all, use realistic simulation and receive professional feedback when you are preparing — you will not know how well you are doing and what you can improve without good feedback. Check out our CASPer questions and expert answers to figure out how to approach these challenging scenarios and questions.
When you feel ready, schedule your test on one of the available CASPer test dates. Applying to medical school is a laborious and time-consuming process. You need to think ahead and plan each component carefully. Your personal statement alone can take weeks or months to prepare. A personal statement must answer the important question: " Why do you want to be a doctor?
This means that you will need to reflect on your past experiences, brainstorm ideas, and choose only the most meaningful experiences for your essay.
Your personal statement should be structured around 2 or 3 experiences; limiting the number of experiences you include in your personal statement allows for space to talk about each experience in depth. Your statement should be structured like an academic essay that includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction of your essay must be strong to captivate the readers and keep them interested in your story. It might be easier to write your introduction last after you write the body and conclusion of your statement.
This way you will already know what your essay talks about and you will be able to formulate an introduction that indicates what the reader should expect from your personal statement. Be very selective about the experiences you include — they must show, rather than simply tell, your readiness to become a medical school student.
Be sure to demonstrate what these experiences taught you and what kind of valuable skills you learned from them. Remember, you are trying to show the quality of your experiences, do not simply list them and expect the readers to know why they were important on your journey to medical school. Your conclusion may reiterate some of the key points of your essay, but do not just write a dry summary.
Leave a lasting impression by including an insightful comment about your journey to medical school or your reflections on the importance of medical professionals and their role in society. Your personal statement gives adcoms an idea of your personality, values, and history. Not only does it tell your story, but it also demonstrates your self-awareness and ability to self-evaluate, shows the quality of your communication skills, and ability to identify the most significant points of your experiences.
Writing clearly and concisely is a skill greatly valued by admissions committees. Before you write your statement, make sure to read medical school personal statement examples to understand what adcoms are looking for in their applicants. Check out 8 pro tips that will help you write an outstanding medical school personal statement:.
Secondary essays are typically more difficult to plan since you do not have as much time to write them. If you are not given a specific deadline from the school, you should aim to submit your secondaries within two weeks after receiving them. Make sure you do not rush your essays. They still need to demonstrate high quality of thought and reflection.
When you brainstorm ideas for your essays, make sure you read the prompt carefully and understand what is being asked of you. US medical schools require their applicants to demonstrate clinical experience in their application components. Having clinical exposure indicates your understanding of what the medical profession is about.
Start gaining clinical experience as early as you can. Apply to volunteer in hospitals and clinics, as well as long-term care and retirement homes. As a future physician, you must have experience in patient interaction. Exposure to patients and their needs will cultivate your empathy and compassion — qualities highly regarded by the admissions committees. You do not need to spread your time among several clinical activities.
Remember, quality trumps quantity, so stick with an activity you enjoy and commit to it. If you dedicate your time and energy to an activity you like, you will have better chances of having a positive impact on your colleagues and patients. Your dedication may even result in a glowing medical school reference from your supervisor. To get some ideas for gaining more clinical experience, check out our 7 Premed Gap Year Jobs blog. Shadowing a physician is a requirement in most American medical schools.
It is a passive learning activity that allows you to learn about the responsibilities and everyday routine of practicing physicians.
Again, try to commit to shadowing a physician for an extended period of time to forge a relationship with the professional. They may become one of your medical school referees. To find a physician to shadow, start by asking your personal physician, family members, and friends, as well as doctors with whom you have volunteered and worked. They may allow you you to shadow them or recommend physicians who typically take on students. But you might be wondering how to ask to shadow a doctor. When you call or email the physician, explain that you are a premed student, and express your interest in their specialty.
Briefly explain your medical experience and your aspirations in the medical field. Arrange a schedule that fits both of your needs and responsibilities. Requirements for shadowing hours for medical school vary with each program, so make sure you know how many shadowing hours are required for medical school.
Having clinical exposure with a DO doctor will be your competitive edge. Shadowing an MD doctor only is not going to be enough to stand out as an osteopathic candidate. In other words, they want you to apply in June, which is when the application opens for most medical schools. The very fact that medical schools advise you to apply early should be enough reason for you to apply in June.
Every medical school has a limited number of seats in each class. Furthermore, most medical schools have rolling admissions. If you apply in June, there are going to be a lot of seats open for you to potentially claim. If you apply last minute, most of the seats will have already been occupied. In addition, more students seem to apply later than earlier. If you apply late, you will be competing with more students for less spots. Many medical schools have an early decision option.
You can only choose one school to apply early decision. If the school accepts you, you must attend that school. If you do not get accepted, then you will apply to medical schools just like every other student will. There is nothing to lose by applying early decision. Furthermore, medical schools claim the acceptance rate for students who apply early decision is considerably higher. Though there has been no study on how much it can increase your chances, there is again, nothing to lose.
You should pick a school that you really want to go to and apply early decision. If you get in, then that is great. If you get rejected, then it is as if nothing happened. A pre-med spends countless hours in school and in extracurricular activities to steadily increase the chances of getting into medical school.
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