Given med school students come from anywhere, is there a reason a boost is needed. I think more come from certain schools because those school have more higher academic profiles but I don’t think a school name or guidance matters. There’s so much guidance on line and so many programs to apply to. I don’t think there’s a gold passport, is what I’m saying.
Here’s the Va Tech link again it works for me
If not, just google medical shadowing + Va Tech.
No, if they had a success rate with students coming right out of undergrad they would have said that. First attempt includes 30 year olds/mid career folks, one or more gap year, and all the post-Bac graduates….
Thanks for sharing this. The link is working now.
But my guess is that medical school students who come from everywhere do not contrast with some schools may be better than others. Some students may have to work extra years just to catch up with others. These may not be reflected from the data.
If the extra help may speed up things, that would work in our interest.
Can you please explain this? Are you saying that students at “better” schools do not do glide years and students at “lesser” schools need extra years to catch up?
That is how I am interpreting what you wrote, but I may be wrong in my interpretation.
That’s because Skidmore uses a health professions committee letter to control which pre-meds are allowed to apply to med school. The HP committee provides LORs only to those students whom they believe have the very best chances to gain an admission. No HP letter = no med school application.
HP committees hold a huge amount of control over students. And one of the goals of HP committee is to keep the applicant success rate high.
And applying without a HP letter when your school offers one is huge red flag on your application. Students are asked to explain this omission on secondaries.
(Med schools have 2 step application process. One first sends out an application through AMCAS, AACOMAS or TMDSAS to those schools one is applying to. Then the individual med school will send out a more detailed, school-specific application, called a secondary application, to individual students.)
Additionally, different undergrads count med school admissions differently. Some only count a MD acceptance. Some count only MD and DO admissions. Some count any admission to a med school, including overseas med schools. (Most of which will admit anyone with a big enough checkbook.) Still others count an admission to any advanced health care profession program (MD, DO, PA, NP, OD, DMD/DDS, PsyD, DPT, MOT, DC, etc) as med school admission.
Also absent from the HP data is information about whether the student has completed a grade-enhancing or career-changer post-bacc program at another undergrad before applying to med school. Or completed a SMP (Special Master’s Program) program. Or how many years post-grad the student applied to med school. Given that most successful med applicants take a gap year or 3 before their FIRST round of applications, simply being a first time applicant tells you nothing about the strength of the undergrad advising at a college.
Glide/extra years aren’t needed “because some students need to catch up” - rather, because Med schools want students who are more mature than just-graduated college students, who have had more experiences and have lived many more things. Some may have participated in the Peace Corps or in TFA, some may have worked at a shelter or a clinic, etc.
There are no shortcuts. No ways to make the path faster.
However, a supportive atmosphere, with easy access to professors and tutors, would go a long way toward helping students who want to join Health professions.
I’m impressed with all the students who made it into Med school btw. It takes intelligence, fortitude, time management, care for others, many many qualities.
Agree.
There’s a saying in med school admissions. Your stats allow you to be shown to the door; it’s your ECs that get you invited inside.
If you want to see what adcomms value in applicants, p. 38 of this document shows the results of national survey of med school admission officers.
Med schools actively seek out students who have shown grit, resilience, perserverance in the face adversity.
It’s one of the competencies med school have identified as being hallmark of a successful medical student.
If you want a look at the other competencies expected of incoming med students, the list is here:
So I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a pre-med hopeful to find their own shadowing and clinical exposure opportunities.
The University of Richmond assists with finding shadowing and healthcare opportunities. That might be another one for you to look into.
It appears that you are from NJ. Rutgers has a very impressive list of volunteer opportunities- I would check it out.
Would your student be willing to contact their pediatrician when they are ready to begin shadowing? How sure are they about premed?
Someone may have mentioned, but Holy Cross has an excellent med school placement rate. The heads of a few hospitals in Boston are from HC.
Ehhhh. Gpa. MCAT. Other stuff. I think you are buying into marketing hype - like kids do of all ranked schools. Many believe it. I don’t. But we all think differently. My College of Charleston (by choice) kid is in a civic minded job with a 12-15 percent acceptance rate. She told me after orientation most were Ivy or Michigan/UNC types. Not all but most (she said, I dunno if that’s correct ).
What did she do ? Took advantage of the opportunities. My son in engineering similar - I was concerned he turned down top ten engineering for barely on the map. Yet got hired with kids from the same school ajd other high ranked schools - he told me I was falling for marketing I now think he was right,
Skidmore will have a higher percentage of high stat and wealthy students than Salisbury, as an example. A higher % of Skidmore students likely have interest in med school than at Salisbury.
And yes, their figures are jacked up given the committee sort of has it figured out - who will and won’t get in.
All things equal, are their odds better than the kid from Salisbury ? I think not.
Vandy - arguably the top cancer hospital. Here you go - there’s many areas of medicine and most look like this.
LSU
FSU
UTK
UNC
UAB
Vandy
UGA
Indiana
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Emory
Go to later years - a similar mix of elite and non
Lipscomb
Florida A&M
Fordham
Northern Illinois
Luther
Murray State
U Puerto Rico
Auburn
Rutgers
Colorado
Utah
and lots of UNC, Princeton types too but less than half.
And they all come from different levels of med school too.
Not a medical school parent but I’m guessing, like law school, the secret sauce is your student. They need to drive their future - including opening the doors through persistence
There is no shortcut available. But yes there are programs to help those interested become more informed but I don’t think they create shortcuts per se.
You’ll also find healthcare living learning communities at some schools which might excite your student.
Good luck
I’m going to be a little contrary here.
It doesn’t matter what the placement rate to medical schools is from some undergrad school. What matters is whether your kid gets accepted.
Medical schools honestly really don’t care where you attended undergrad school for the most part (it’s not a high priority item when they are considering admission). What matters are your grades, MCAT scores, volunteering with underprivileged groups, patient facing experience, LOR, and in some places research.
BUT many many doctors do their volunteering, patient facing experience, shadowing during summers or school vacations, or during glide year(s). And some actually take the required courses for medical school applicants after undergrad also (remember, not every doctor decides to apply to medical school during undergrad).
@WayOutWestMom noted the important things when looking for undergrad schools, I want to reemphasize finding a place where the student thinks they will be happy and do well for their undergrad years. Happy students perform better than unhappy ones.
CNA, MA, EMS are not volunteer. They are JOBS..you can call them internships if you want to…but they are JOBS related to medical care. And they are excellent ways to demonstrate to medical schools that the applicant has some understanding about what they might see if they enter the medical profession.
What sorts of internships do you think would be better than working as a CNA, MA or in EMS?