We all have a story

Now the more important question is what is required to get into med school—and this question is next to impossible for me to answer. For one, I just did my thing and it’s worked at some schools, but not at others. To be honest, I don’t really know exactly what they are looking for. Second, every school is different—they are looking to produce certain types of doctors so they are looking for certain types of applicants…very unpredictable.

That being said, I’ll give it a shot. For the most part med schools want to make sure you can cut it academically (so here is where your GPA and MCAT come into play), but also that you can relate to, care about, and interact with your patients (and now enters the volunteer experiences, trips abroad, work, clinical exposure, research, and any other extracurriculars). I was recently asked by a junior who was getting ready to apply to med school if she needed to have research. That’s the thought by many: whether or not they need to have some specific experience or score. It’s not about whether or not you have this or that; it’s about how you “package” your this and that as a whole. A good application needs to be balanced; you can control this by building up one area if you lack in another. For instance, I didn’t do any research and my MCAT score wasn’t that great (29) so thought I might appear a little weak in the science area. So, I made for this by making sure to got good grades and adding on the biochemistry minor. I also supplemented the “hard facts” of my application by including all (I really do think I included almost all of them…) of my extracurricular experiences throughout college and really how I grew from them.

I know the last post and this may have been a bit boring, but since I’m writing about what it means to become a doctor in our country, it’s important to know the hard requirements. Let me say again, however, this “getting in” stuff is drawn from my experiences. Everyone’s story is different and getting into medical school is about having a story. Med school is so competitive that sadly most people who don’t get accepted are still AMAZING applicants. It’s simply that there are not enough seats available for the number of applicants. So you have to be sure to work hard, collect experiences, and package that well. You need to stand out and share with med schools why you are unique and how your story sets you apart from all the other students who are applying with a 3.9GPA, 34MCAT, and traveled to Malaysia to work with the poor.

Sometimes we compare ourselves to others (as I’ve done so many time throughout life and especially during this whole process) and think we don’t have anything unique about our lives…but trust me, you do. We all have a story to tell; what’s yours?