Wednesday, November 6, 2013

What I Didn't Do to Get into Medical School



I had a lot of fun recording a podcast interview with RyanGray, MD of Medical School HQ on Monday night. (The podcast will air later in November and I’ll post a link when it’s available.) The interview got me thinking about applying to medical school, and how much pressure I felt to do everything “right.”

Rather than give you all kinds of advice about being yourself and having confidence, I thought I’d demonstrate how many of my premed fears had no basis in reality.

Here are only some of the things I thought/was told I “had to do”—but didn’t:
1. Bench research
2. Clinical research
3. Get a letter of recommendation from a science professor
4. Get a science degree (Bachelor of Science, preferably)
5. Finish all medical school prerequisites before junior year
6. Finish all MCAT-related coursework before taking the MCAT
7. Take the MCAT during junior year
8. NEVER withdraw from a course
9. Earn an A in every single science course
10. Finish undergrad in 4 years

I didn’t or couldn’t do any of these things, and yet, here I am: a medical student. 

Just saying.

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3 comments:

  1. Very short, but sweet. These are some of my biggest worries. Thank,you.

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  2. thats a lie... letter from science professors are required from ALL US allopathic medical schools

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    Replies
    1. Actually, it's not a lie. :) There are no requirements about who can write letters of evaluation for medical school applicants. Your school may tell you otherwise, but that is their own program requirement, not an AMCAS requirement.

      I had 2 letters from non-science professors & 2 letters from doctors, which were submitted by my premed advisor as a packet (which gets around only having 2 letters).

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