Emelda Alchi - March 22, 2018
Medical school is becoming harder and harder to get into, and everyone is looking for ways to become a better applicant in order to be accepted in. There are many ways you can intrigue the medical school board, and allow all of your pre-med work stand out for you to become the doctor you have always wanted. With that being said, this article will give you an overview of what you can achieve to be able to enter Medical School.
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Volunteering Experience
Volunteering is a very important part of being a competitive medical school applicant. Gaining as much volunteering experience will only improve your image in front of the medical school board. Volunteering shows medical schools that you have what it takes to offer your time to those in need without expecting anything back from them. Examples of volunteering experience would be volunteering at hospitals, clinics, organizations or underserved communities. Some local hospitals who are always looking for volunteers are Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Scripps Mercy Hospital, UCSD Thornton Hospital, and Rady Children's Hospital. Other than hospitals, there are also agencies and organizations that are great for volunteering. Examples of these organizations are Flying Samaritans, American Cancer Society, Hospice of Grossmont Hospital, and Meals on Wheels.
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Research/Clinical Experience
When applying to medical schools always keep in mind that research is very important and especially clinical experience. If you are looking for a research opportunity within Grossmont College, make sure you learn more about the Honors Project. The Honors Project is a contract between the student and their science professor that gives the student a research opportunity within Grossmont College labs. It is recommended that you complete as many honors classes as possible since your work can possibly be published by your professor. Also, some research organizations to participate in are Pathmaker Internship, Salk Institute, Scripps Research Institute, UCSD Shiley Eye Center, and UCSD Cancer Center. In addition, research can also be achieved by finding a doctor or a professor at universities such as UCSD who are conducting research and are still accepting people to participate.
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Tutoring/Academic Service Experience
Tutoring and teaching science related material is a perfect way to show medical schools your appreciation for science. This will also show that you enjoy helping others learn more about the scientific world and expanding the knowledge to others. Once you have completed your classes such as Chemistry, Physics or Biology consider tutoring students who are still learning about those subjects. If you want to be paid for it you can always tutor privately. If you simply want to volunteer as a tutor or a TA consider Elementary Institute of Science, or get in contact with your past high school science teacher and offer to TA for their class. Also, you do not have to be one for only a science class, you can always be a TA for special needs classrooms.
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Recommendation Letters
Recommendation letters are very important when it comes to applying for medical schools. These recommendation letters can be used as proof to show how hard you have worked throughout your pre-med career. Make sure you get letters that do not only refer to your academic achievements but also your extracurriculars. An applicant should have at least a total of five recommendation letters; two from science professors, one from a non-science professor, and two from physicians or any other healthcare provider. Make sure the person who is writing you the recommendation letter knows you very well and can speak very highly of you. With that being said, prepare early and keep a close relationship with your professors or healthcare providers who can help out. Invite them out for coffee, lunch or just simply visit them during their office hours as much as possible. Connections are everything
in this case!
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Shadow a Physician
Shadowing a physician is very important to make sure you know that this is what you really want to do. You will be able to experience what kind of work the physician is involved in so you can develop your knowledge in that certain area of the medical field. Start out with a doctor your family might be close to. This way you can contact the doctor freely if you have any questions. If that is not the case for you, start emailing or calling doctors and ask if you can come in and shadow them. The more doctors you email the better your chance is in getting accepted to shadow. However, before going into shadow the physician make sure you have developed a knowledge of medicine in order to ask reasonable and medical related questions. The last thing you want is to shadow a doctor and not know what to ask or how to answer a question.
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Leadership Positions
Showing medical schools that you take initiative and like to hold a leadership position can really help you get into medical school. You can serve on a committee of a club or even a student-run organization. Going back to being a tutor or a TA those can also count as leadership positions because you are leading students into expanding their knowledge more and more. Another great example would be starting your own club because this way you can state that you started an organization and you serve as the president. Being a leader can also mean starting your own research project and study, as long as what you start contributes to the improvement of others and the growth of the science/medical community
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Plan to Get a Healthcare Certificate
It is always great to show medical school that you have experience working in the healthcare community. Medical school board will realize that you have what it takes to be in a hospital or a clinic setting as well because of the hands-on experience. A great example would be working as a medical scribe. Being a medical scribe can help you learn many medical terminologies and having experience working with doctors and patients as well. In addition, you can also get an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certificate and work directly with patients. Another healthcare job you can get would be a phlebotomist. A phlebotomist draws blood from patients and it's a great way to learn how to do simple medical techniques in this case. But whatever it is you choose to do make sure it is meaningful to yourself as opposed to something to put on med school application.
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Achieve a Strong GPA With a High MCAT Score.
Let's be honest, a strong GPA and a high MCAT score are very important to medical schools especially the MCAT. So it's very important to be shooting for A’s and keeping a steady rate of grades with no downward trend. But that absolutely does not mean that getting B’s and C’s here and there will not get you into med school, just don't make it a constant habit. If you happen to not do so well in your calc class, get help! There are many resources you can use to bump up your grade. Try tutoring, or asking a classmate that does well for help, or even ask your professor what you can do to study the material better. On the other hand, you really want to do good on the MCAT since this test will be the determining factor of you getting into the med school of your choice. Also, make sure you start early and plan ahead for this test since you want at least four months to study for the MCAT. Keep all of your notes from your classes and review them even after the class has finished. After All, this is your life-determining test.
As this article comes to an end, think of how you can increase your chances of getting into med school with the information provided. You might think that this is too much… believe me, its not. Time will pass anyways, so make it meaningful for your future, and the future of others who are less advantaged than you. Medicine is a beautiful thing we can learn and use to transform our world.
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