Medical School Applications 101: Part II-Applying and Interviewing
Aug 18 '00
This is part II of what it takes to get into medical school. This is about the application process. You may want to consider reading part one which addresses the pre-applications process.
Once you have completed the pre-application work, it is time to start applying. From this point on, you need to fit into other peoples’ schedules. Deadlines are real but don’t mean anything. Don’t get in by the deadline…its already too late…get things in early.
Before you apply, your undergraduate school’s premedical committee may also want to interview you. If so, you may have to submit certain documents to them (Brandeis wanted a personal statement, an activities list, and 3 professor recommendations). They will interview you and ask you various questions. The committee will then discuss you and write a combined evaluation/recommendation based upon your interview, grades, and what you submitted. This committee typically wants you get into medical school, so it should not be adversarial. Their evaluation will be honest. If you don’t seem to be an attractive candidate, their recommendation will not be good. If they can’t recommend you, they will probably tell you, so don’t worry too much. The committee’s evaluation may replace or supplement your professors’ recommendations.
At this point, medical school is still 17 months away.
All this has to take place before you take the MCAT. You should take the MCAT in April, so plan ahead. Register early. Why April? You need to have your scores in hand before June 1st (for reasons that will become apparent). If you don’t do well, you can take the MCAT again in August. You need 10’s across the board (verbal, physical, biological) to be competitive (the three MCAT sections are each scored out of 15). The written component is less crucial; most schools haven’t figured out how to evaluate it yet. So long as you score in the top 50th percentile, you should be fine. Take a prep course if you want. I personally didn’t like Kaplan, but others swear by it. Test prep is expensive and we haven’t begun to spend money yet. At the very least, get the MCAT practice items from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). They are cheap and worth it. Did you get that portrait taken? You’ll need to put a picture on the MCAT registration form. If you’ve forgotten, a passport photo will do…but you still need to have a nice photo taken. One last MCAT note: it costs about $150 to register.
Starting in April, you can download the AMCAS-E from www.aamc.org (Win 9x only at this point). This is the electronic common application for most medical schools. Most schools take the AMCAS application (I believe that 6 don’t). Check your local listings. The electronic version is superior to the written application. Everything comes out looking much nicer and it looks so much cleaner. It also uses drop-down and check boxes for ease of data entry.
The application is in 4 major parts: demographics, activities, personal statement, grades. The forms are easy to fill out, but you must be careful. 1) You need to enter you transcript and translate it into AMCAS credits and grades. If you set it up properly the program will do it for you. Everything you enter will be verified. If you make a mistake on your transcript, there may be a delay. 2) You need to list everything you have done in the last three to four years and describe them in only a few lines. Having the pre-prepared activities list will make your life easier, since you’ve already done most of this. Use active verbs and make the descriptions sound good. This is as important as the personal statement: you need to shine. Cut and paste your personal statement into the “comments” section (it will be obvious). If you’ve done all the precursor work, the application is mostly just copying your transcript. One last thing: proof-read. Mistakes look bad. Remember there are 100 other people who want that same slot.
You also get to pick which schools to which you want to apply on the AMCAS application. Talk to your advisor. Some medical schools show preferences towards some undergraduate institutions. State schools like state residents. Have safety schools (there really aren’t any true safeties…don’t be set on any one school). Look at the curriculum of each; is it integrated or standard. Find out when clinicals start. Examine the match lists. Some schools consistently match to certain residencies. Can you live in the area? Basically, investigate. While you can’t be too picky, try and pick places where you would do well. Be selective about where you apply and be realistic, because there is a fee to apply for each school. 12 schools will cost just short of $500. Have a good mix so that you are assured of getting in somewhere and make sure you have satisfied or will satisfy the requirements of each school. When you send the application, you will also need to send AAMC an official transcript from any college you attended, this includes summer programs, and night courses. (BTW, with the AMCAS-E, you actually mail them the disk. As far as I know there is not a way to send it electronically).
The SINGLE most important thing you can do is mail your application on June 1st. I can’t stress that enough. Most medical schools have rolling admission policies. You need to be at the top of the list. Schools have to fill up their class by a certain date to comply with AAMC rules. If you haven’t been accepted by that date (in mid-January or early February) then you have to wait for someone to withdraw before they accept someone else. Monitor you application on the web. It will take at least 3 weeks for it to be processed and sent to your schools. Any problem may cause a delay. Catch them before they catch you.
Now you play the waiting game. Schools will send you secondary applications which supplement the AMACS application. Some schools send secondaries early, some later. Expect them to start arriving in early August or September. Take this time to carefully plan your school schedule. Try to have a day off during the week; typically a Monday or a Friday. This will make completing secondaries and going for interviews easier. When you can’t take waiting any longer, you will start to receive secondary applications.
Secondaries used to be the place where schools started to thin down the applicant pool. People who didn’t cut the mustard weren’t sent secondaries. No longer. Most schools now will send you another form to complete. The first thing they want is more money; between $60-100, most schools want around $75. You can also see why most schools send secondaries to all who apply: more cash. The secondary applications often want more essays, short answers, grades, and activities. Basically, you restate much of what was on the AMCAS application. You may need to synthesize a few new essays. You need to put the same time and care into these essays as you did for your personal statement...only you have to do it faster. Secondaries take work and need to be done on a typewriter. Most secondaries also want a picture, so I hope you’ve had one taken by now. The name of the game is TRIAGE. Pick the schools to which you really want to apply and have the time to do a thorough job on the secondary. See what each application requires. Grades are still important, so you can’t slack and just do applications. You need to turn around the secondaries fairly quickly...your application isn’t complete until the school receives and processes your secondary...remember rolling admissions. Don’t forget to send in your recommendations if you or the pre-med committee haven’t already done so.
You get to wait again, now $1200-1800 dollars poorer. The schools will send cards confirming the receipt of your application. If you don't receive confirmation after a reasonable amount amount of time (3-4 weeks), call. You will get to wait more. If all went well, you will get invitations for interviews. Confirm them immediately and reschedule as necessary. Having that day off during the week will pay off. Not all schools interview on Monday or Friday, so you might have to take sometime off.
Oh, The Pain of the Interview
The interview really is make or break time. They have seen you on paper, now they get to meet you. Since so many candidates look alike on paper, most of the focus is on the interview. The person interviewing you will probably present you to the admissions committee. This person’s impression is crucial to your application. If they don't like you...tough. It’s not fair...it’s medical school! Depending on where your interviews are located and how you can arrange it, this may cost a small fortune. Try to arrange large interview trips. Your undergraduate career center may run mock interviews. Do one. Brandeis video tapes the mock interview and then goes through it with you question by question. You see what annoying habits you have, what makes you look good, and what makes you look bad. Prepare common answers to common questions (such as, “So, why do you want to be a doctor?”). You likely be asked questions about medical ethics, contemporary issues in medicine, and to describe what you’ve done. Be prepared, but not scripted. Being knowledgeable about contemporary issues in medicine is very helpful. Confidence is important too. You have to look your best, consider a new suit. Also, check www.interviewfeedback.com. Medical school interviewees fill out forms that describe their interviews. You can see what their interviews were like before you go.
Don’t forget to arrange transportation to the school. Know how you’re going to get to places. Arrange a place to stay. Sometimes students will host, sometimes they won’t. If you’re staying with a student bring a sleeping bag. Either way, don’t forget your suit.
The day has arrived. You probably won’t know who is interviewing you and at what time until you actually arrive. You will be interviewed by at least one doctor, maybe more. You may also have an interview with a medical student. Try to relax. This is supposed to be fun. When you walk in, have a mental list of high points on your resume that you think make you look good. Make sure to stress your humanitarianism and leadership. Do not let the interview end until you’ve said your list. Do try to work them in subtlety. Most likely your interviewer will want to hear about them anyway. As a note, your interviewer may not have seen your application. Most likely they have, but don’t be afraid to ask. Also, if you haven’t done well in a key class, have a ready answer and try to nip it in the bud. They will ask. Turn it to a positive (or try). There are horror stories of doctors asking crazy things, such as “open this window” (it’s nailed shut...they want to see you under pressure), but that is not the norm. The weirdest question I ever got was, “You have five minutes, here is a marker, teach me something.” You will also have a chance to ask questions...think of a few. Questions about the curriculum are decent standbys (integrated vs. standard, etc). Make sure to ask about things your interviewer will actually know about (a pathology professor will not know about campus life). If you think you were treated unfairly by one of your interviewers immediately file a grievance with the admissions office. The longer you wait, the less they will do about it. They may schedule another interview for you.
While not crucial to the interview, before you leave the campus, ask someone about campus housing. You’re going to have to live somewhere and you aren’t going to have much money. The school I go to has housing: dorm style, apartment style, and family housing. A friend of mine had to find an apartment in Manhattan because his school doesn’t offer any housing. Make sure you know where you can live and what it costs (I pay less than a quarter of what my friend pays). Learn about how the school handles financial aid. Some financial aid programs are better than others. While you may have other things on your mind, these questions will help you decide on which school to attend later. You will be glad you asked when the time comes to make decisions.
The day after you leave, send thank you notes to all your interviewers. This just quickly reminds them of who you are and it tells them you are polite. Remember the 100 to 1 ratio? Anything you do that keeps you in their mind is good (so long as it is positive). You get to wait again. At some point the committee will meet and accept, deny or wait-list. Some schools notify quickly (3-6 weeks) while others send acceptances en masse. The school will tell you what to expect when you come for the interview. Just because you haven’t received an acceptance by February, all is not lost. Most classes fill about 2 times. I have heard of people being accepted up to 2 weeks after the school year begins. Don’t despair. If you applied late, such as in the previous August, you can expect that your acceptances will come later. If you took the August MCAT, your application won’t be processed until September, so the acceptances will be even later. If May hits and you haven’t seen an acceptance, and you still want to be a doctor, now is the time to start over again. That is a whole separate epinion.
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Member: Bram Dolcourt
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After graduating in Chemistry from Brandeis and a short EMS career, I'm a Medical Student.
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