<p>There is always much discussion on what “hooks” students have to gain admission to medical school. What I am wondering is, is it possible to gain entrance to medical school without a hook? Without starting a foundation, being a D1 athlete, being published a gazillion times, basically saving the world, etc. Can having a stellar GPA and MCAT along with the usual volunteering, shadowing be enough?</p>
<p>^^ You don’t really need a hook for most medical schools. You def. need a hook for top medical schools. As long as your numbers are strong, you have a decent amount of ecs, average lors, average ps and you apply widely you will get in somewhere.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t really call those things “hooks.” They’re just extensions of activities you already like to do.</p>
<p>Met some students along the interview trail who I think had some great hooks. Here are a few examples:</p>
<p>A musician who went to Julliard, worked a few years as a composer, went on tour internationally, came back, and developed an after school music program for “at-risk youth” in Harlem, which is a raging success and quite popular among the local kiddos</p>
<p>A girl who grew up in a tiny town, went to a big school, won a large variety of impressive awards, taught high school math for two years (Teach For America) in inner city Chicago, had a summer internship at a consulting firm, was hired by them after her internship, spent a year consulting about the financial implications of health care reform and health care delivery in the US, was presenting her policy proposal and research in Geneva (ie, the World Health Organization) the day after our interview</p>
<p>A Native American who has lived on a reservation in New Mexico for his entire life, has logged thousands of hours volunteering and working at a clinic in his area, has lobbied local and state lawmakers to improve health care for his tribe, and (unrelated to those) as an undergraduate, was second author for a research paper published in Science</p>
<p>A kid who fluently speaks three languages (English, some language of a tribe in Alaska (where he grew up), and Spanish) and splits time (every summer since beginning of high school, a year between high school and college, a year after college) between Alaska, where he and his father run the village’s clinic (and why he’s fluent in that language) and a rural village in Bolivia where his mother grew up, where he is part of a four-man medical team that delivers the only medical care to people in something like a 100mi radius (and serves as a translator and assistant)</p>
<p>I’m not joking. Oh, and to top it off, each (claims to) have a GPA > 3.8 and MCAT > 35. Their undergrad schools were Julliard (with post-bac at NYU or Columbia, don’t remember which–got a master’s at the other one), Yale, University of New Mexico, and University of Chicago, respectively.</p>
<p>Most people accepted to Med. School do not have hooks. Yes, most people are not in this category: “Without starting a foundation, being a D1 athlete, being published a gazillion times, basically saving the world, etc”. More so, while stellar GPA is advantage, 3.6+ will also be OK, and while top MCAT scorers have more doors open, 32+ will be just fine. Apply to wide range of Med. Schools that match your stats and your rate of acceptance will be high. My D. did not even mention her 3 foreign languages in any application because by her standards she is not fluent. Well, I personally witnessed her speaking freely to native in Spanish (who did not know English) as well as another language. Her application just states 1 semester of Spanish, which is true.</p>
<p>A hook is required for pirate school, not for medical school. A peg leg is what really seals the deal, though.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, Please continue to post. As the mom of a future med school applicant your posts give me hope for just a “regular” smart kid :-).</p>
<p>LOL dudecollege, I agree</p>
<p>Now that, dudecollege, made me laugh!</p>