<p>In what ways are med school and college admissions similar and different? For example, are essays, race, and leadership still very important? Is it still holistic? Are there admit weekends for admitted med students like there are for admitted college students?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Nothing is similar. There are scheduled Second Look events (not weekends, usually in a middle of the week) at Med. School. However, if couple schools have it on the same days, you are out of luck. Nobody will show you around outside of Interview visits and these Second Look events. Everybody is extremely busy at Med. Schools. To have a reasonable Med. School application, you have to show reasonable amount of EC’s, Medically related and hopefully others in your are of interests, otherwise your application simly is not going to be competitive enough. Yes, essays are included. URM status is always a hook, while there is huge number of ORM applicants.</p>
<p>
This reminds me of a second look that DS went to at one med school where there are supposedly about 40 percents of ORM students year after year due to the research nature of that med school. You would think there may be same percentage of MS1-4 (existing) ORM students who would volunteer to help with the second look event. No, it is not the case. There were very few ORMs existing students showing up there.</p>
<p>A shout to ORM students: Go out to do something other than academics more. The PhD track is more about academics, but the professional school track is not so much. I remember BDM once said the most important attribute of MS3-4 students which would contrbute to their clinical year grades is their public speaking ability. Sometimes I think maybe this is a reason why liberal-art educated students (especially those on the humanity side) tend to have an edge on the proferssional school track. This is because these students mostly discuss and interact with the professors and other fellow students in the class room all the time (in a small class), while the STEM students are busy in writing down notes most of the time. While humanity students discuss extensively and write one paper after another, the STEM students work on the problem sets, curl up in the lab and quietly prepare for upcoming written tests. This may be a downside of being a STEM major. These STEM students could make it up by activiely participating in the club though (while keeping an eye on their GPA :)). (Still not all STEM students are “forced” to interact with professors and peer students in almost every class, unlike what their humanity students would do.)</p>
<p>BTW, I once notice that, even though the average MCAT scores for admitted ORMs are similar to other non-URMs students, there are relatively more ORMs (percentage-wise) whose MCAT scores are in the high range (e.g., 37+ or 38+). This may mean that these students may not be able to distinguish themselves by relying on this number, especially if these students apply to the same set of schools. (That is, the med schools may not need so many of these high stats kids because they may have several other needs that are more difficult to meet – maybe with the exception of a single specific med school :)) But this is just my speculation.</p>
<p>The two institutes are completely different. Yes, you should do and continue leadership and volunteering, but do aim some of them towards humanitarian causes.
For college, you basically apply and hope you get in with the unique stats you’ve presented.
For med school, you do apply but you have to do a lot of prereqs beforehand.
Med school list of things:
<p>I am not saying that you should try to FIT the med school agenda to try to make a formula (cause although tempting…it’ll end up sucking your life away when you know how creative you are from the inside). The top 4 I’ve listed are there because they are actual requirements. Other than that, be yourself and enjoy college. You won’t get this sort of luxury once your step into med school. There’ll be a whole lot more specializing once you began grad.
I would also say that unlike high school summers…your college summers will mean something (in fact a lot). So don’t just take a chill pill and lay at the side of the beach all summer. You will be released from school a lot earlier and hence will have a lot of time to waste. If you let that time waste like you did in HS…you will regret it because in essence, summer is just abt the length of your academic semesters. Med schools note this.</p>
<p>mcat2,
ORMs…at least 40%, our perception was even higher. They are just very hard working bunch, nobody can deny them opportunities…they know what it takes, sweat and blood…</p>
<p>Lifeulife,</p>
<p>Thanks so much! That was very helpful and was the kind of response I was looking for! :D</p>
<p>Summer time, well if you get into something, good for you, if not, do not worry, enjoy as much as you can. Spend time with your HS friends, they will be gone after graduation from college, here is your chance to bond a bit more. D. actually was much more busy in summers of her HS years than during college. It just happen by virtue of available opportunities. As economy got much worse, opportunities disappeared. She had to do all her ECs during school year (and she had crazy amount by her pre-med advisory opinion). She had no problen to get into activities of her choice at her UG, home town - forget it, nothing, volunteering has waiting lists. So, get whatever you could but do not get too frustrated. I am happy that D. mostly just chilled in her summers, Med. School is where real push begins, relax while you can, no such chance later.</p>
<p>Miami is correct and in fact I experienced this as well. Professors simply fill up their spots pretty quickly with the amount of upper classmen they have. However, I think that if you are someone who doesn’t do much over the academic semesters in extracurricular acts, then you should consider setting 2 months of your summer atleast doing something productive towards your application. I think that for me, it gives me a greater sense of liberty shadowing doctors and viewing their environment during the summer because I do not have to worry about studying for the next test or other commitments that may trouble me during the academic year. Additionally, if you do a little bit over the summer early on, you may even discover that this sort of stuff isn’t for you. Academic performance is not the only thing that indicates your success and happiness in medicine. </p>
<p>Perhaps, what is best said is that don’t try to overwork your summer but don’t be a deadbeat either. If you want to be a doctor, have some active rhythm and make yourself be used to the future you’re setting for yourself. You don’t have to be doing research at a renowned uni or even your home uni. You just have to do something passionate that’ll make you relax.
IE: I like to be a camp counselor because I like to feel how my professors give me orders lol (jk). But seriously, I become a kid with the kids I monitor and mentor. They are awesome and they make me forget the stresses of college. At the same time, I’m showing med schools who I am and what I want to be after med school (someone specializing in pediatrics? Or just someone who likes to converse with people).</p>
<p>Are difficulty of courses taken into serious consideration like in college admissions, or does GPA matter far more?</p>
<p>GPA matters far more since the first round of screening is very numbers driven; however if your transcript is filled with astronomy for poets and underwater basket weaving type courses, adcomms (who really do know how to read a transcript) may move your app to the bottom of the "let’s invite this person to interview " pile.</p>