Since this blog may appeal to aspiring doctors, I would feel remiss continuing without a basic guide to getting into medical school. Much of this advice is hindsight; I didn't necessarily do everything right, but I'd like to give you the information that I gathered on the way.
First off, you need to select a college. I'm a big fan of community college for the first 2 years because it's cheap and the class sizes are small, but I had a very non-conventional college career anyway. No, it's not going to hurt your application if you attend a community college unless (possibly) you're dead-set on the ivy league. It's okay--even smart--to get the best, cheapest education you can. As long as you attend a college that fosters a good learning environment for you, you can do just about anything you want. I personally attended more than 4 different colleges because of my family situation, and it never came up as a question during my interviews at all. I wouldn't recommend more than a couple transfers if you can help it, though. Paperwork gets messy.
Next, you'll need to know what the pre-requisites for medical school are. You will need to take a few basic courses - 1 year physics, 1 year gen chem, 1 year organic chem, 1 year biology, 1 year english and 1 year of math (2 semester of calculus or 1 semester calc/1 semester statistics). Note: these are the requirements as of 2011 and may change with the new MCAT in 2015. As long as you have these courses it doesn't matter if you're an English major or a biochemistry major. Take the courses, do well, and shoot for a GPA at or above 3.5. It's best to try and get as many A's in the prerequisites as possible, but as you may find out, college doesn't always go according to plan. You might get a bad (maybe really bad) grade here and there. I mean it when I say it's not the end of the world, and as with most things in life, all you can do is pick up and move on. Given that life tends to take unexpected turns, I highly recommend getting a degree in a subject that you could see yourself working in even if you don't go to medical school. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get into med school, and some people don't get in at all. You don't want to find yourself graduating with a degree in biology, lamenting the fact that you would really rather work in the field of psychology.
Extracurricular activities ("EC's") are also very important. Med schools like to see that you're a decent, hardworking person with varied interests, as cliched as that may sound. Choose EC's that you enjoy, not EC's that you think will impress the admissions committee. My personal passion is the prevention of child abuse, so I spent a lot of volunteer hours working with a child advocacy center. It is important to have some clinical time on your application, so volunteering at a hospital at least for one summer would be prudent. Take a look at the volunteer tab for hospitals in your area to get some of that coveted clinical experience. Research, while not essential to your resume, is great if you like to do it. I spent a few years as a lab technician working with invertebrates--it wasn't medical research, but it was definitely fun research. Whatever you decide to do, enjoy it! You will have plenty of opportunities to do things you don't want to do in medical school. Trust me.
It is also recommended that you spend some time "shadowing" a physician. Shadowing means that you follow a doctor through their daily routine, getting a feel for what the field is like. You may know a doctor that you want to ask, but then again, you might be a first-generation college student with no insurance (like me!). In that case, you can cold-call some doctor's offices, or you can try what I did. I highly recommend the iLearn Mentor Program. This website has a list of osteopathic physicians (D.O.'s) who are willing to work with students. Not all doctors are interested in accommodating pre-meds, so it's nice to have a list of docs who have already agreed to do it. I found an amazing doctor to shadow who was kind enough to write me a letter of recommendation. And on that note...
Letters of recommendation ("LOR's") - get them. If you happen to meet a professor you really like, do research with someone that knows your abilities, or get to know a physician, don't be shy about asking them for a strong letter of recommendation. It's not an unusual request, and it's good to collect these things as you go along. It's somewhat awkward to call your ecology professor from 4 semesters ago and say, "Remember me? Well yes, I'm applying to med school this year and I need a favor..." You'll want a minimum of 4 LOR's to be safe - 2 from science-related people, 1 from a physician and 1 from a non-science professor. To keep them all together, I used a service called Interfolio. It costs some money to get an account, but they will keep copies of all your letters and send them to schools that need them. It saved both me and my letter writers a lot of time during application season.
If you're following the "traditional" timeline, you'll be applying 1 year before you graduate college. I took the MCAT in May 2009, had all my applications complete by July, interviewed between August and December and graduated college in May 2010. The MCAT is easy for some and a beast for others, and they plan to revise the entire thing in 2015. This is where I'm going to recommend that you do what I did not do - save up for materials well in advance of studying. I didn't have any family support and was working my way through college, so my budget had a margin of error like a margin on notebook paper. I studied from an outdated, used book for 2 weeks and then took the exam, which I barely managed to afford. If you can get your parent's tax information, you might be eligible to take the MCAT for free through the FAP. However, if you don't have your parent's financial information, they are very unwilling to work with you. I've heard from friends that there are some good prep courses through places like Kaplan and Princeton, so I will go ahead and recommend those, expensive as they are. The MCAT is a big (if not the biggest) part of your application, and you want to aim for around a 30 or above in the pre-2015 MCAT scale.
The application process is long and tiresome, so I recommend going into it with a plan. There are 3 application services you need to be aware of: AMCAS (allopathic applications), AACOMAS (osteopathic applications) and TMDSAS (med schools in Texas). For disadvantaged students, it should be noted that AMCAS offers up to 10 free school applications, AACOMAS offers up to 3 and TMDSAS has no financial assistance. If you need assistance, be sure to apply for it as early as possible since funds are limited. I was unable to receive the waiver from AMCAS due to my family situation, but was able to work with AACOMAS to get the 3 free school applications. Applications are expensive no matter how you cut it, and you want to apply to enough schools that you have a decent statistical shot at getting in. Interviews are even more expensive.
More on the interview experience - and maybe even a post about the first year of med school - when I am less tired and have less of a quiz going on in the morning.
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