Podcasts about medical school personal statement

With the fast approach of the medical school application season, we want to share with you 8 expert tips by one of our own MDs. In today's episode we break down what's really important about your medical school PS, what you should focus on, and what you should definitely avoid.   Like the podcast? Check out our website at BeMoAcademicConsulting.com   Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more great tips and other useful information! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeMoAcademicConsultingInc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bemoacademicconsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemo_academic_consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeMo_AC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bemoacademicconsulting   Visit BeMoAcademicConsulting.com to transform your future.

What does it take to get accepted to one of the most well-known medical schools in the world? Check out these Harvard Medical School personal statements to see what you can do to get accpeted!   Like the podcast? Check out our website at BeMoAcademicConsulting.com   Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more great tips and other useful information! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeMoAcademicConsultingInc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bemoacademicconsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemo_academic_consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeMo_AC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bemoacademicconsulting   Visit BeMoAcademicConsulting.com to transform your future.

This week, we share with you medical school personal statement examples that got accepted to several medical schools in the US!   Like the podcast? Check out our website at BeMoAcademicConsulting.com   Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more great tips and other useful information! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeMoAcademicConsultingInc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bemoacademicconsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemo_academic_consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeMo_AC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bemoacademicconsulting   Visit BeMoAcademicConsulting.com to transform your future.

This week, Behrouz, Ronza, and Meng share the secret to writing great med school personal statements. Like the podcast? Check out our website at BeMoAcademicConsulting.com   Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more great tips and other useful information!   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeMoAcademicConsultingInc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bemoacademicconsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemo_academic_consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeMo_AC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bemoacademicconsulting

This week, Behrouz talks about med school personal statement introductions, and how you can use yours to capture the attention of admissions committee members. Like the podcast? Check out our website at BeMoAcademicConsulting.com   Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more great tips and other useful information!   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BeMoAcademicConsultingInc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bemoacademicconsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bemo_academic_consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeMo_AC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bemoacademicconsulting

This statement got me places.

In many cases, caregiving is an amazing way to gain clinical experience in a non-traditional setting. How should you talk about it on your med school application? Links: Full Episode Blog Post Meded Media The Premed Years Podcast MSHQ Facebook Hangout Group secondaryapps.com Premed.tv The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Not getting any medical school interview invites? Let's look at the 8 most common areas students make mistakes in their medical school application. Links: Full Episode Blog Post Meded Media The Premed Years Podcast MSHQ Facebook Hangout Group MCATpodcast.com Application Renovation The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

The AMCAS and AACOMAS are slightly different application services. Do you need to tailor your personal statement to each of them? Links: Full Episode Blog Post Meded Media The Premed Years Podcast MSHQ Facebook Hangout Group Specialty Stories Podcast The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

The medical school personal statement can be daunting, but it is a huge part of your application! Dr. Marinelli breaks the essay down so that you can learn how to craft a compelling and unique personal statement! [2:30] When to start writing your personal statement. You don’t want to write it too early, such as when you’re a freshman in college. Wait until you’ve done a lot of extra curricular activities and leadership experiences in order to provide some commentary on them. If you’re applying in June, December is a good time to start writing. The latest time you should start is in April. [4:09] The introduction. Most people have written plenty of five-paragraph essays in high school, and Dr. Marinelli suggests the same format: an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The introduction paragraph needs to be used to catch the committee’s attention and make them want to continue reading. To do this, Dr. Marinelli advises writing an anecdote in the introduction before getting into a thesis statement. You should avoid clichés, such as “I always loved science and working with people.” Even if they’re true, admissions committees won’t get excited about these. [9:19] The body. Dr. Marinelli recommends talking about who you are as a person. What is it about you that makes you unique? Tell your own story to the admissions committee. Don’t just repeat what you’ve already said in the activities area of your application. Continue with the theme you established in the introduction and relate it back to you as a person. [12:35] The conclusion. Bring the statement back to why you want to become a physician. Everybody’s will be different, but you should at least touch on this desire. You should also summarize and then have a conclusion statement about how you’re sure pursuing medicine is the right path for you. Also, it’s okay for the conclusion paragraph to be only a few sentences.

What is the best way to find shadowing experiences? Is there an ideal time to get all of your shadowing done? Let's find out! Links: Full Episode Blog Post Meded Media Nontrad Premed Forum The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Dr Jessica Freedman discusses the fundamentals of writing a medical school personal statement and provides medical school personal statement examples on how to write a good medical school personal statement   How To: Master The Med School Personal Statement   Your medical school personal statement is a crucial opportunity to show medical schools who you are as an individual, the major influences and background that have shaped your interests and values, what inspired you to pursue medicine, and what kind of a physician you envision yourself becoming. But with tight limits on space, it can be tough trying to decide what to include. So think strategically about how you want to present your personal “big picture.”   When a medical school admissions reviewer finishes reading your personal statement, what are the most important things you want that person to remember about you? Does it sum up your personality, interests, and talents? Does it sound as if it’s written from the heart? It’s pretty obvious to most admissions reviewers when applicants are trying too hard to impress them. Being authentic and upfront about who you are is the best way to be a memorable applicant.   What Is The Medical School Personal Statement and how to write a medical school personal statement.   The medical school personal statement is the major essay portion of your primary application. In it, you should describe yourself and your background, as well as any important early exposures to medicine, how and why medicine first piqued your interest, and how you became increasingly fascinated with it. It’s also key to explain why medicine is the right career for you, in terms of both personal and intellectual fulfillment, and to show your commitment has continued to deepen as you learned more about the field.   The personal statement also offers you the opportunity to express who you are outside of medicine. What are your other interests? Where did you grow up? What did you enjoy about college? Figuring out what aspects of your background to highlight is important since this is one of your only chances to express to the admissions committee before your interview what is important to you and why.   The next paragraph should be reserved for describing any post-college activities, including employment, research, volunteer work, internships, etc. Make sure you leave room for a strong, upbeat conclusion that sums up all the highlights of your pursuit of medicine, and that clearly conveys your passion for and dedication to the field.   How to write a medical school personal statement   If possible, start your statement off with an anecdote that ties into your interest in medicine. This could be a medical event that happened to you or a family member, or a patient with whom you had a special bond. Other topics include an experience that challenged or changed your perspective about medicine; a mentor or another inspiring individual; a difficult personal experience; or obstacles that you’ve had to overcome. Whatever it is, turn it into a mini story, and make it personal and exciting, pulling the reader into your journey immediately.   In your writing, try to balance your intellectual curiosity about the clinical and scientific side of medicine – the “hard” side of medicine – with the “soft” side, the human element. Even if your main goal is to be a physician scientist, it’s absolutely critical to establish your compassion and empathy for patients, and to make it clear you can establish a connection with many different types of people. Along the same lines, it’s a good idea to offer some examples of your cultural competence – your openness to the different perspectives, cultures and backgrounds your patients will undoubtedly have.   Additional medical school personal statement tips:   Related Article: Best Medical Schools by State, https://mededits.com/state-medical-school-information/   Related Article: Successful Med School Personal Statement Examples Stand out from the crowd with these valuable tips. https://mededits.com/medical-school-personal-statement/medical-school-personal-statements-that-can-beat-52323-applications/   Related Article: How to Write: AMCAS Personal Statement, https://mededits.com/medical-school-admissions/personal-statement-amcas/   Related Article: How To: Master The Med School Personal Statement, https://mededits.com/medical-school-admissions/personal-statement/   MSAR:   https://bit.ly/2PoVN7E   MedEdits Blog: https://mededits.com/blog/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MedEdits/ Twitter: https://bit.ly/2W3Q8H9 Instagram: https://bit.ly/2VX4d96   FREE Medical School Personal Statement Consultation Free 15 minute consultation: https://mededits.com/free-15-sign-up/ Subscribe to the MedEdits' YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/2u63WER

What do adcoms look at first? What do they do with the data you give them? On this episode, I'll talk about the adcom's perspective on your application. Links: Full Episode Blog Post ApplicationRenovation.com Apply to Application Renovation SecondaryApps.com PMY 35: How to Fix Your Medical School Application After Starting Premed Poorly PMY 356: Why Aren’t These Med School Applicants Getting Interviews? The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Nick recently separated from the Navy and is now working on his undergrad. He needs some tips/tricks on how to finish and some ideas to feel less alone. Links: Full Episode Blog Post Nontrad Premed Forum The Premed Years Podcast The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Nick is a former premed student-athlete who didn't do well in school and went into business. Now he's accepted to medical school after fixing his GPA. Links: Full Episode Blog Post The Premed Playbook: Guide to the MCAT The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Our poster today is wondering about his past IVY league undergrad GPA and MBA GPA and if he has a chance to get into a 'good' medical school. Links: Full Episode Blog Post Nontrad Premed Forum Facebook Premed Hangout The Premed Playbook: Guide to the MCAT The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Session 69 Dr. Pamela Mehta is a general private practice orthopedic surgeon. She has been out of training now for ten years and has been in private practice for two years. We get into a great discussion about what led her to private practice, post-training, types of patients, and what she likes about orthopedics. We talk about what it's like to a be a woman in a male-dominated specialty and much more. By the way, The Premed Playbook: Guide to the MCAT is going to be available very soon. Written with Next Step Test Prep, we will soon be putting it up on Amazon and other stores as soon as possible. Go to MCATbook.com to sign up and be notified. Also check out our other books The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Interview and another one coming up in August is The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. If you have any suggestions for physicians whom you think would make great guests (only attending physicians), shoot me an email at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net. [02:00] An interest in Orthopedics Initially, Pamela didn't expect she wanted to be a surgeon because she expected she was going to find herself in primary care, her primary reason she went to medical school. In fact, she saw herself as either a pediatrician or family medicine doctor. And during her third year rotation, she put trauma surgery first, with the intention of just getting it out of the way since she wanted to practice so when she gets to the family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric rotation, she will be in good position to get good letters. During her first day at the trauma surgery rotation, she just couldn't believe how excited she was. She was amazed by how the ER doctors, surgeons, and nurses were working together to get the patient up into the operating room as efficiently as possible. And when she was asked to scrub in, Pamela says she will never forget that feeling. From that day on, she made a complete switch and decided she was going to do surgery. "I could not believe how excited I was and just the adrenalin that was pumping when trauma came into the trauma bay." It was actually a blessing in disguise when she had the whole year to figure out where she was going to do her fourth year sub-I's in. This gave her time to choose which clinical subspecialty she wanted to do. [06:15] Pushback as a Female Surgeon Pamela admits that when she was still attending USC, she got told many times by other orthopedic surgeons, residents to instead do other specialities like radiology or anesthesia or PM&R. And she she didn't really understand why she can't do it as well. And she was told orthopedics was difficult in terms of lifestyle or having a family. Good thing, she went to a very supportive residency in Columbia University in New York City and out of the six people in her class, two of them were women and the class right before them, four were women out of the six. She felt really protected in that she never felt she was a woman there in terms of feeling discriminated against or not taken seriously. However, it was a different case when she began entering into the workforce. When she started interviewing for jobs, she faced a lot of the discrimination. "If you are a female and you want to go into a male-dominated specialty, you absolutely should but you do have to have a thick skin. That's life." Pamela adds that having a thick skin is important being in a male-dominated specialty. In fact, sometimes you even have to be more perfect than your male counterparts. Because when you slip on something as a female, there are those that will think it's because your'e a girl. [09:00] Patient Types and Her Choice to Do General Orthopedics vs. a Subspecialty Part of the reason she loves orthopedics is she loves taking care of children, young adults, and seniors. She treats fracture work when people break their bones and they have to go to the ER and can't walk. She handles patients with sports injuries as well as arthritis patients, especially older patients that can't walk or are debilitated, for which she does joint replacement surgery as well. Pamela thinks it's rare for a resident to graduate and not do a fellowship especially in the more competitive environments like the bigger cities. But she just likes general orthopedics. She likes the bread and butter orthopedics. She likes taking care of all kinds of issues from sports injuries to fracture work to arthritic patients. So she took the leap and decided not to do the subspecialty. Finding a job wasn't that much of a difficulty for her too. "Once you're in your job, you really learn so much on the job in your first couple of years as an attending and a brand new surgeon that the fellowship stuff doesn't matter as much." From a marketing standpoint, once you're out of practice, Pamela suggests it's in your best interest that if you're in a big city, you have to be able to market yourself as a certain subspecialist. [11:35] Private Practice Pamela recalls being in a large group composed mostly of men. And once she had children, she realized it was very difficult to work in a large group of men. They didn't seem to understand if she needed to drop or pick up her kids. So she was looking for that flexibility to do what she wants and when she wants it on her own terms. "I just really wanted the flexibility to do what I want, when I want on my own terms." Ultimately, she made her decision after her second child to go out into private practice. Not an easy decision to make though considering she already had a job that had a stable paycheck and great benefits. It was definitely a risk she decided to take, considering too she was confident that she had several years of experience and the surgical volume under her belt. And so the rest is history as she's now practicing for about two years. Being her own boss, she calls the shots as to when she wants to see patients and when she wants to do cases. She may be a lot busier than she was before, but it's all on her own terms (and she's making more money now than she did as well). [13:40] Diagnosis in Patients Coming to Her Pamela says mostly anyone that comes to them still needs a diagnosis. She often has patients that have been either to the primary care doctor, a chiropractor, a physical therapist, etc. Oftentimes, they'd come up with some idea but they don't have the answer yet. Pamela says that they mostly have to diagnose the patient from beginning to end. In orthopedics, Pamela explains that there's not a lot of non-operative care that you do before you actually do any kind of surgery. Additionally, Pamela explains that because orthopedics is not a big part of medical school and a lot of primary care doctors don't actually know how to diagnose these problems. So there are patients coming in diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in their hand, for instance, and really, what they have is a trigger finger. In some ways, it's always much more complex because sometimes you're being led in a different direction from what says on the referral than when the patient comes in and you have to start from the beginning and not really trust anyone else's diagnosis. "There are patients coming in diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in their hand and really what they have is a trigger finger." Pamela recommends to primary doctors to carry with them The Handbook for Fractures. Also, it would be better to shadow an orthopedist at some point in your residency training. She has tried as a private practitioner to go out in the community and give out her numbers, telling primary are doctors that they can always reach her if they have any questions. Building a relationship with an orthopedist in town as a primary care doctor is a good idea too to have someone to pick their brain and ask things. And out of the percentage of patients they end up taking to the operating room, Pamela would say 70% when she used to work with that large group. There were a lot of layers of primary care/physical therapy/PM&R that was seeing the patient before they finally got to orthopedics. On the other hand, Pam thinks that if you're in private practice or in academics, the percentage can be at 30% to 40%. This being said, she explains you never say no. You see anyone and everything. So you're less protected when you're out in private practice and not part of the large multi-specialty group. [17:50] Typical Week, Taking Calls, and Work-Life Balance Now that she can do whatever she wants, she has a set schedule. Mondays would be her OR days. Tuesdays to Fridays would be clinic days with a mix of procedure work, doing injections and regenerative medicine like PRP and stem cells. Then closer at the end of the week, she will do a second OR slot where she'll take some fractures that have come through on call or thru the ER. In terms of taking calls, Pamela says that if you decide to affiliate with certain hospitals and usually they'd ask you to take ER calls.  This means you're on call a few nights of the month. Although you can do as little or as much as you want. If you're a part of the group in private practice, you will join up with some other colleagues and take group call for your private patients that come through your office. Pamela is part of a larger call group of eight but she considers this as pretty light and not anything too crazy. Although it becomes a little bit more intensive if you're affiliated with a large trauma hospital where you're in-house and doing a lot of fracture work over night. "Usually when you're brand new, you want to take that ER call because that's how you get some patients into your office." Pamela believes she has enough family time. Her husband is an ortho spine surgeon so he thinks there's balance that comes with that. They work together in terms of fitting their schedules in. They also make sure they block weekends for family time. She takes her partnership with her husband some credit for being able to manage their work-life balance. [21:30] The Path to Being an Orthopedic Surgeon It basically takes four years of undergraduate training and then four years of medical school. Usually in the end of your third year and beginning of fourth year, you have to do an orthopedic rotation usually your home program. Then you can choose to do a couple sub-I's away. Pamela applied to about ten orthopedic programs and went on about six or seven interviews. She matched to Columbia where she did a five-year program. Their first year was a mix of general surgery and orthopedics. Then PGY-2 year is what they call their ortho intern year so you're like the scut monkey and you do all the consults in the ER. Pamela describes this as your most work-intensive year. The rest of your three years are focused on operating and operative skill. You can then choose to do a fellowship. All orthopedic fellowships take one year. Pamela thinks this is good since it shouldn't really be that long. Examples of fellowships available are spine, sports, joint replacement, hand, foot and ankle, and peds. Pamela explains that if you want to be competitive in residency since this field is highly competitive, you have to honor your rotations in your third year as they look at that. Then get good letters of recommendation. Do well on your boards. In fact, when Pamela had pretty average board scores and when she got those board scores back, many people told her to take a year off and do some research or switch gears. But she was pretty determined so she pit three places to do her sub-I's and really hustled her way through to leave a good impression on people. Hence, she was able to get more letters. If you have good board scores, that doesn't make you a shoe-in but it does help you chances quite a bit. But if you don't have good board scores, it's that much more important to just impress people a lot and get really good letters. "If you don't have good board scores, it's that much more important to just impress people a lot and get really good letters." [24:30] Bias Against DOs Pamela says that that one of the best orthopedic surgeon in that big group she used to be a part of was a DO. He operated better and more efficient than any of the rest of them. He was the most revered and the go-to guy for questions and opinions. Currently, she works with an orthopedist in town who's also very well-trained. All this being said, she really doesn't think there's much bias at this time. It really doesn't matter that much anymore once you're out in practice. "Any place that is that unaccepting, whether you're a female or you have children or you're a DO, then that's not really a place you want to be at." She adds that people could be caught in the idea that we have to be in the best place, but it doesn't work like that. It has to be a place that's going to support you in your endeavors. [26:20] Working with Primary Care and Other Specialties Pamela recommends to primary care physicians is to get the x-rays done as it's very hard for them to evaluate patients without them. You can also get someone started on physical therapy unless it's a broken bone. It's nice to get knocked out of the few non operative treatments before sending them to a specialist. It's all about making a little effort to give patients a little bit of treatment before they get to the specialists. Other specialties they work the closest with are pain management, PM&R, and internal and family medicine. Whether there are special opportunities outside of clinical medicine, Pam says there's the whole medical legal world where people ask for you to review charts. So there's a lot of personal injury work you can do. It can run a whole gamut of doing an independent examination. There's a lot of things you can do outside of clinical medicine in terms of just dealing with traditional insurance companies. Another nice things with orthopedics is they have a lot of sports games so you can go to the local high school and junior high schools or community colleges and ask if they need someone to come and be there on the sidelines for the games. [29:20] What She Wished She Knew and Her Advice to the Male Doctors What she knows  now that she wished she knew back then was that Pamela found herself so naive and energetic in medical school. She thought it wasn't a big deal she was a female even if people were hesitant about it. It was okay for the most part but she did wish she had more female colleagues instead of all men colleagues all the time. There's only 5% of them female orthopedic surgeons practicing outside residency. In training it's about 14% and they dropped down to 5%. She sometimes feels this is a little bit of a struggle, not feeling the camaraderie that many female-dominated specialties have. But in terms of the actual work, she is happy about it. In fact, she couldn't imagine doing any other field. That said, she thinks that when you're in medical school and one specialty is not working out for you, keep an open mind to think about two or three other different specialties. "Keep an open mind to think about two or three other different specialties." Pamela says that the deterioration in numbers in female orthopods from residency to practice is more of a system problem. And unfortunately, there's still a lot of discrimination in medicine more so in the surgical field. This said, the way to do it is for men to really accept females into their "circle" and recognize they're a large part of the workforce and they have something to contribute. Pam suspects because this is the age people start their family and if people in the workforce aren't more open to that, this is something people need to accept. And we need to nurture that. People from training to stopping work is just a scary number and odd. [33:20] Things She Likes the Most and Least What Pamela likes most about being an orthopod is the variety of the things she gets to do. She gets to do big open surgeries and fixing things with plates and screws. She also gets to do smaller surgeries like just playing video games. On the flip side, what she likes the least as with any other surgical field is infection and pus. In terms of the major changes coming to the field, Pamela says orthopedics is a very dynamic field that there's new stuff coming all the time. They're improving all the implants they put in. There's a huge wave of regenerative medicine with stem cells and the different ways to garner those stem cells. If she had to do it all over again, Pamela would still have done the same. Lastly, she wishes to tell students that this is a great field with a lot of variety. You get to operate and get to see patients in the office. You get to have fun with your colleagues. You get to treat patients that really want to get back to their active lifestyle. For the most part, they're generally healthy. Just show your passion and dedication for the field and you can achieve anything you want. "If you're a medical student that struggles with low board scores, don't let it get in the way. You can do it. It's very possible to do it and even without taking the time off." Links: Handbook of Fractures The Premed Years Podcast ryan@medicalschoolhq.net MCATbook.com The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Interview The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Session 280 This week we’re taking questions directly from the MSHQ Premed Forums. If you’re not familiar with the forums, check them out and join the conversation! For The OldPreMeds Podcast, we have a sub forum called the Nontrad Premed Forum. We also have the General Premed Forum where traditional students (nontrads welcome too!) can ask questions. In this episode, we have pulled out questions from the forums and discuss them here. Also, make sure to register there so you can join an amazing, collaborative community of students and feel free to throw in some questions there. Meanwhile, here are some special announcements: First, we have The MCAT Book coming out soon! Go to mcatbook.com and click on the "Let Me Know" button. Put in your name and email address so you can get notified. Second, I'm currently working on The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Just go to the personalstatementbook.com and sign up to get notified once it comes out. Back to today's episode: [03:58] Nursing Major or Premed? "I'm a freshman in college and I've been dealing with "which major problems" since high school. I'm indecisive once it comes to choosing a major. I want to choose nursing not because it's a shorter education route but because I plan on having it as a backup plan if medical school doesn't work out for me. Except, I want to go to medical school but I have lots of self-doubt about my ability mentally and physically to graduate from med school. I also consider having my major be premed because I know if I don't get any prereqs done at the end of four years, I'll have to go back for another two and a half years of college to complete those prereqs before even applying to medical school." You don't need to worry about your major. When it comes to applying to medical school, you don't need to worry about what major you have. It just doesn't matter. The thing that matters the most are the prereqs. "A lot of schools are getting away from having prereqs but you still need those to prepare yourself, to give you that science foundation to do well on the MCAT." Now, a lot of medical schools are getting rid of a lot of prereqs, but you still need to do well on the MCAT which means you still need to take the prereqs anyway And most of the prereqs are centered around doing well for the MCAT. [05:30] The Backup Plan This student has some self-doubt and that's normal. We all have self-doubt. But if you let that dictate having a backup plan, you definitely do as little as possible to succeed in your goal of becoming a physician. Being a nurse is a great career, but if you want to to be a physician, get rid of that backup plan and bite to the nail to achieve that goal. At almost every point of the medical journey, there will always be that self-doubt - as soon as you start medical school, during clinical rotations, internships, or as soon as you becoming an attending. It doesn't end. It's called impostor's syndrome. So you have to let that go and fight through it. Know that if this is what you want, you would do whatever it takes to do it and not have a backup plan to fall back to. On a side note, most schools don't have a "premed" major although there are a few schools that do. But most don't. You can just major in chemistry, biology, exercise physiology, history, Spanish. You can major in whatever you want as long as you get those prereqs. [07:42] Taking Prereqs Classes Out of Order "Some of the classes which I'm retaking were originally taking decades ago. And so, I've forgotten much of the material. Recently, I went to a premed admissions fair where several admissions advisors from some east coast medical schools told me to redo my course work to "prove" that I could still handle academically rigorous material. For example, one advisor told me to retake physics. Because when I last took it decades ago, I got a B in the first part. I could never full understand forces on inclined planes. So to retake physics, I need calculus which I have forgotten. I originally took three semesters of Calculus back in the 80s and did well on all but the third part. That was for my first non-science degree. Then for my second degree, I had to retake these Calculus courses in 2006. I got a B in part 2. Although I realized that Calculus has not changed much, I found the material much harder to understand and comprehend during my second time through. I have been out of school for many years and this challenge to keep up with college students half my age. Now I have the opportunity to retake Calculus I and III on the quarter system on a more rigorous school than the one at which I took the original Calculus courses. However, because of my work, Spring quarter which starts next month, I cannot take Calculus 1 before Calculus 2 and only Calculus 2 fits my schedule this spring quarter. I could then take Calculus 1 during the summer. I've asked others in my program who have gone through the same sequence. Some took them simultaneously, some also took other measures of classes. For example, several students were taking Biochemistry and General Chemistry at the same time. Usually, General Chemistry comes before Biochemistry." "You don't have to keep up with college students. Your only competition is yourself." [09:39] Will It Hurt Your Application? Can you take the out of order? Yes. Is it ideal? No. There's a reason there's a 1 and 2. Each class is supposed to build on each other. Of course, you can do it. You're going to have to teach yourself some of the concepts. The biggest question is whether it will hurt an application? No. The admissions people are telling you to do it. It's only going to help your application assuming you do well in the classes. This is common for nontraditional students. They take courses a long time ago. The go out and have their career and have their family. Then at one point, they wake up and realize they've always wanted to be a doctor. From that point forward, they seek out what they need to do to get into medical school. A lot of them will contact schools and a lot of them will advise to take more recent course work to "prove" that you can handle the coursework. It's not wrong. Medical school is hard. Just because you were a good or decent student 20 years ago, doesn't mean that you have the same aptitude today or the same willingness to do it. Going to school and being a student are different than being an employee. "Are you really that interested in being a student or is the idea of being a physician greater than the allure of retaking classes and being a student first?" And this is where "prove it" comes from. You need to do well in the classes and succeed. You also need to get that upward trend going. At the end of the day, you have to show the admissions committee that you can still be a student and you have a semester or two of coursework to show them that. So this is not going to hurt your application (as long as you don't do poorly in those classes.) [12:10] Clinical Experience in a Podiatry Clinic This is another common question that comes up. What constitutes clinical experience for your application to prove to medical schools that this is what you want to do? "I'm currently working as a medical assistant/scribe for a local podiatrist. I have lots of good experiences I don't think I would get a lot of other places especially because I don't have any special licensure (EMT, MA, CNA, etc.). I was recently in a discussion with my premed advisor who suggested to me that this experience might not be viewed as actual clinical experience by MD and DO admissions offices. I was surprised by this due to the scope of my experiences. Is this true? Should I try finding a different opportunity to replace this one or will this be able to compare with other experiences in "actual" clinical settings?" So is this clinical experience? Yes, 100%. But is it good clinical experience? No. But it doesn't mean you avoid talking about it in your applications. But it means you should go and try to get clinical experience with physicians (MD and DO). Podiatrists are physicians as well. They're allowed to call themselves physicians. They're as close to MDs and DOs as any other health professions. They just happen to specialize in a certain part of our body. They do surgeries, they operate. They go to medical schools. They have a long curriculum in medical school. They do clinical experiences.But it's still podiatry. Medical school admissions committees are going to look at your experience and ask for the rest of it. Where's the time you spent being around non-podiatry patients? They want you to show them those experiences. Show them how those experiences have led you to want to be an MD or DO. "There's a huge difference in how your actions are speaking to the admissions committee." Scribing at a podiatry clinic, solely, can send a signal that you only want to be a podiatrist, not an MD or DO. Instead, you want to be a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. There's a difference in how your actions are speaking to the admissions committee. So while it is a good clinical experience, it's not the right clinical experience for your ultimate goal of becoming a physician. It's the same thing for any other clinical experience - dentist office, chiropractic office, naturopathic office, etc. If you want to go to medical school, then you need to get clinical experience around MDs and DOs. [15:47] Graduating Early and Applying Early "I'm a first year premed nutrition student but I came into college with nearly 45 AP credits so I can graduate a year early with only taking 12 to 13 credits per semester. everyone has told me that I should a minor or take extra classes and graduate in the Fall of 2020 instead of the Spring of 2020 and apply for admissions for Fall of 2021 instead of Fall of 2020. I would really like to go straight into medical school after I graduate though. So I'm thinking about applying next Spring for the Fall of 2020. I'm just concerned about my extracurriculars. I'm just concerned about my extracurriculars. I didn't realize I wanted to be a doctor until this past Fall. So I haven't gotten involved in any premed clubs or shadowing or research or volunteering. I plan on starting research and volunteering very soon. But I'm worried that if I apply in about a year, I won't have extracurriculars on my application. I'm also worried about the MCAT. I am planning on taking it next spring and there's really no room for error if I don't do well on that attempt since I'm trying to send in my application as early as possible. I'm not sure how setting is going to go yet since I'll be taking OChem 2 and Biochem that semester as well. I guess I'm just wondering what do you all think? I really want to graduate on time without taking a gap year but are my extracurriculars going to be too weak. Will it be too hard to study for the MCAT while taking those difficult courses next Spring?" Graduating early is great. There's less debt that you're going to incur being a student for an extra year. But I also don't agree on applying that early. As mentioned, you haven't done any shadowing, research, or volunteering yet. How do you know you want to be a physician? How have you proven to yourself that this is what you want to do? I would challenge you that you have no clue yet. It may sound great. You may have this great idea of what's next but you don't know. You need to go out and get some clinical experience. You need to go out and shadow. Put yourself around patients. Put yourself around physicians. And then start confirming that this is what you want and then start going down the path of when to take the MCAT and when to apply and so on. I don't think it's a good idea to take the MCAT while still taking Ochem 2 and Biochem. That is a lot! Those are some heavy-hitting courses that are well-involved in the MCAT. To take those courses and to be studying for the MCAT at the same time is going to be very hard. So on top of not being super prepared for the MCAT because you're still taking courses, you're also rushing everything else. And you're still not sure that this is what you want to do. You may think you know, but you don't. You haven't proven to yourself through your actions that this is what you want. Go out and shadow. Go out and get the clinical experience. And prove to yourself that this is what you want. Then after getting that shadowing or clinical experience, you can concisely state in your application - personal statement, extracurrriculars, interviews - explain why it is that you want to be a physician. "Why do you want to be a physician? That is a key question that you have to answer. And it is only through those experiences where you will be able to formulate a solid answer to that question." So go out right now. Take that gap year. Prepare for the MCAT. Get those clinical experience and shadowing experiences. Prove to yourself that this is what you want. Continue those things consistently through the application process and into matriculating into medical school. Taking a gap year is not that big of a deal. Travel. Go out and get some life experiences. Links: Check out the mcatbook.com MSHQ Premed Forums The OldPreMeds Podcast Nontrad Premed Forum General Premed Forum

You shouldn't be surprised to read online that a student with near perfect stats didn't get an interview invite or acceptance. You're more than your stats. Links and Other Resources Full Episode Blog Post Check out my book all about the personal statement: The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Related episode: Can I See Your Stats to See How Competitive I Am? Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” at Next Step Test Prep!

How should you choose your degree? What if you aren't sure you're 100% committed to becoming a physician? What if you doubt yourself? What should you do? Links: Full Episode Blog Post The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. You can preorder it now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Nontrad Premed Forum Next Step Test Prep

Writing your personal statement is hard. Where do you start? What do you write about? Check out the Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement preorders! Links: Full Episode Blog Post Rev Transcription The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Interview Facebook Hangout Group MedEd Media The OldPreMeds Podcast The MCAT Podcast Specialty Stories Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A

I work with many students for mock interview prep and too many of them can't clearly answer why they want to be a physician. You need to know your story. Links and Other Resources: Full Episode Blog Post For more on clarifying your “why” and communicating it in your application, check out Dr. Gray’s book The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Anytime Mock Interview Platform One-on-One Mock Interview Prep with Dr. Gray Related Episode: 5 Biggest Medical School Personal Statement Mistakes Related Episode: 5 Common Med School Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

Ryan discusses the 5 most common mistakes he sees when reviewing personal statements. One of the most common is not giving yourself enough time. Take a listen! Links and Other Resources Full Episode Blog Post Check out my Personal Statement Writing Course to help you tell your story. Related episode: What Should Nontrads Focus on in Their Personal Statements? Related episode: Stop Wasting Space in Your Personal Statement and ECs. Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” at Next Step Test Prep!

Ryan and Allison give a sneak peak inside the Academy, the premiere premed advising community, and share a webinar given on the medical school personal statement. Links and Other Resources Full Episode Blog Post Check out my book all about the personal statement: The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Related episode: 5 Biggest Medical School Personal Statement Mistakes Related episode: Writing Personal Statements for Medical School Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” for 10% off Next Step full-length practice tests or “MSHQTOC” for $50 off MCAT tutoring or the Next Step MCAT Course at Next Step Test Prep!

In today’s episode, I talk with Dr. Greg Polites. For his third time on the show, Greg talks about the dos and don’ts of writing personal statements and why students make mistakes on personal statements. Links and Other Resources: Full Episode Blog Post Check out my book on personal statements, The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Check out my Personal Statement Writing Course. Check out my Personal Statement Editing service. Related episode: How to Write Personal Statements with Dr. Arora Related episode: How to Start Brainstorming Your Personal Statement Draft Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” at Next Step Test Prep!

In today’s episode, I talk with Dr. Vineet Arora from FutureDocsBlog.com about the do’s and don’ts of writing your personal statements. These tips apply to medical school personal statements as well as residency personal statements. Links and Other Resources Full Episode Blog Post FutureDocs Blog / @FutureDocs on Twitter Check out my book all about the personal statement: The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement. Related episode: How to Start Brainstorming Your Personal Statement Draft? Related episode: What Should Nontrads Focus on in the Personal Statement? Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” for 10% off Next Step full-length practice tests or “MSHQTOC” for $50 off MCAT tutoring or the Next Step MCAT Course at Next Step Test Prep!