Undergraduate Timeline

The timeline of events generally follows as:

• Freshmen year - open file, start pre-med courses, volunteering, and shadowing
• Sophomore year - finish pre-med courses, continue volunteering and shadowing
• Junior year - continue volunteering and shadowing, prepare for the MCAT and take the exam
• Senior year - interviews

Medical School Requirements

There are some basic requirements that everyone who applies to med school must meet. These include:

1. Any major that results in a bachelor's degree - med school applicants come from a variety of majors, and you don't have to major in pre-med or biology. For instance, I majored in electrical engineering. Associate degrees, however, do not qualify

2. Pre-Health Advisory File - many undergraduate schools have a committee that will keep all of the following information in a file, which you must open (as early as freshmen year) 

3. Pre-med courses:

• Biology (2 semesters)
• General chemistry (2 semesters)
• Organic chemistry (2 semesters)
• Physics (2 semesters: calc-based NOT required)
• Math (2 semesters, 1 of calculus*)
• English (2 semesters)
• *Calculus not required by all med schools
• **Some schools also require a behavioral science (ex. psychology, anthropology)
• ***The above list covers the majority of medical schools, however, some may have additional requirements (ex. biochemistry)

4. Clinical Volunteer Work - a minimum of 50 hours to show you're comfortable with patients and the hospital setting

5. Physician Shadowing - a minimum of 50 hours to show your interest in becoming a doctor

6. MCAT - the medical school entrance exam, consisting of material from the pre-med course requirements. Aim to take this junior year

7. Committee Letter (CL) and Letters of Recommendation (LoR) - many undergraduate schools will compose a CL, based on your LoR and file (indicated above). Your LoR will usually be from 3 science courses, 2 non-science courses, and 1 volunteering/shadowing activity

8. Personal Statement - an essay about you. Why do you want to be a doctor and what events in your life have influenced that choice? No more than 5300 characters

9. Resume - you as an applicant, including all work experience, volunteer experience, etc. Much of your AMCAS application for medical school will be derived from this.

When and Where Can You Check Your MCAT Score?

Oddly enough, many people don't know how to check their MCAT scores.Unlike the SAT or AP exam, your score will not be mailed to you. Instead, it will be found solely online, at the MCAT THx system, usually one month after your exam date. You can find the score release dates here.

AAMC claims that scores are released at 5pm on the date indicated. However, people have experienced scores day(s) after, or hours earlier. My score was release at around 3pm on the indicated date, so if you can't wait, I suggest you start checking the THx system around then.

Here's what your score report will look like when it's available. Fortunately, the AAMC gives you your summed score as well, so when you're a nervous mess, you won't think your 35 is a 25 (or a 45...):

AAMC THx System MCAT Scaled Score Report

Additionally, you can take a look at your percentile in each section, and for your overall score:

AAMC THx System MCAT Percentile Report

Hopefully that clears up some questions, and you'll know what to expect when your scored is released.

The Importance of June 1st

If you’re submitting your med school application at midnight before the December deadline, I hope you’re preparing your application for the next cycle. Although the med school application process is similar to that of the undergrad common application, the “deadline” should be renamed “dead-end”. You should be applying when applications open, not close, and I’ll explain why.

All applications for med school are handled through AMCAS, a part of the AAMC (who also handles the MCAT). AMCAS opens up May 1 for the concurrent year’s application cycle, and allows you to submit your application June 1. The big difference between most undergrad schools and medical schools is that the admissions process is rolling. That means that as soon as a school sees an applicant they like, they accept them. What that means for you is the later you apply, the less seats that will be available, and arguably, the more competitive it gets.

Applying late has a snowball effect, too. The application procedure consists of a few parts - the primary application, verification, and the secondary application. The primary application is what all schools see, and what you’re submitting to AMCAS. Once you submit your application, it will then be verified by AMCAS. AMCAS verifies your application with your final transcript, and MCAT score. Once verified, AMCAS pushes your application to your selected schools, who then send you their secondary application, usually some essay questions.

Back to the snowball effect. Because a minority of people apply the first few days of June, your application will be verified within a couple days. As the application cycle proceeds through the summer, the number of applications AMCAS receives increases, and the longer it takes for them to verify - this can get as long as a month. By the time you get your secondary application submitted, schools will be overwhelmed with them and you may miss out on an interview opportunity because of the mass of applications.

With rolling admissions, time is critical. But you have control of a few things.
1. Plan to take the MCAT before May 1 so your score will be available before June 1
2. Start filling out your application in May so you can submit it June 1. There is a lot of tedious information such as all your college courses, activities, etc (more about the actual application in a later post)
3. Order your final transcript early. You want to be first in line when everyone rushes after graduation to have final transcripts sent to employers and grad schools. Don’t get stuck in your school’s bottleneck.

I cannot understate the importance of submitting all aspects of your application early - including your secondaries. I brushed off one of my secondaries and didn’t submit it until November. I received an interview in February and my interviewer said “you’re basically interviewing for a waitlist spot. With your stats, I can guarantee you’ll get it. But if you had applied earlier, I could have guaranteed you an admission.” He was right - I was waitlisted and never got off of it.
The main point is to submit your primary on June 1. If for any reason you can’t, submit it as soon as possible. Admittedly, I submitted mine June 22 because I didn’t plan ahead - I took the May 21st MCAT and had to wait for my score. Know your important dates and keep track of them - timing is critical.

What This Blog Will Cover

6 main categories:
Requirements – courses, shadowing, community service, letters of rec, research, ECs
MCAT
Application - AMCAS, recommendation letters
Interviews
Recommended - optional but helpful “resume-boosters”
Life in Med School - an inside look at what your future holds ahead

Credibility

Before you take someone’s advice, you want to make sure they’re credible. Unfortunately, many of the books and review courses out there aren’t even prepared by former pre-meds (I use this term loosely - anyone planning on going to medical school. regardless of major, is considered a pre-med). Your review course instructor is telling you how to take the MCAT, but do you know how well he did? How was the rest of his application? Where did he apply and get in? Most probably, he’s not even in medical school. Similarly, many of the MCAT books are written by PhDs. As important as the MCAT is (and I won’t ignore it in this blog), it’s not the only thing.

Without a doubt, the resources I mentioned aren’t useless - I used many of them for my preparation - but what they don’t tell you about is the pre-med journey. I have been through the whole process, from the MCAT to matriculation, and I am now a second year medical student at Jefferson Medical College. And unlike those other resources, I won’t hide my strengths and weaknesses. With that being said, here is my credibility:

MCAT Scaled Score

I went through what you will, and at times it seems like there is no clear path ahead. But there is, if you know where to look. Getting into medical school is a feat in itself - there is little room for error. My guides will benefit you so you can use your time wisely to make your application as competitive as can be. Not only are you getting inside information, you will also learn how to apply it - from an MS2. Welcome to Pre-Med Insider.


Contact me directly at neil@premedinsider.com if you would like to request a post about information not on the site.