Get into school fall 2011

Its that time of year to start putting everything in order to have you application in opening day. No matter what kind of candidate you think you are, it will be to your advantage to have your application in as close to the beginning of the cycle as possible. Many schools accept students throughout the entire process its just at the beginning you are competing for far more spots than those who are applying in the fall. For the most part the beginning of June is usually the soonest you can turn in your application materials. You may think that you have plenty of time but the medical school application is long and it takes a lot of time to turn out polished personal statements and essays and no matter how much time you spent studying for the MCAT you will wish you studied more. Here are a few things you might want to consider doing in preparation for your acceptance into medical school.

• Start studying for the MCAT. The Library has some materials for studying but you may consider buying some materials on your own. There are DVD's, work books, study guides, computer programs, and flash cards you may want to consider. If you are broke like me you may find great deals from friends who took the MCAT last year and share costs by finding a study buddy. If you have the money and time you may want to enroll yourself in a Kaplan MCAT course, these classes are expensive but some people need to be motivated to study, and they do offer a full review with practice tests, online materials, access to a tutor and test taking strategies. I have heard mixed reviews about Kaplan so I would suggest learning more before committing the $1500+ down payment. Kaplan is constantly visiting campuses offering free trial classes and tests for those interested.
• Since BYU-Hawaii doesn't have a premedical committee yet it is up to you to work out your own letters of recommendation. I would suggest for your own sake that you register for interfolio or other similar online document service, which will cost somewhere in the $35 range for a years worth of service. By doing this you will comply with all the rules regarding your letters of recommendation while making it easy on your letter writers. Its an easy process which is quick and easy to use. I have used Interfolio and found that my documents are sent in a timely manner, either electronically or through the mail. Each delivery you send (which can contain several letters) will set you back $4-6.
• After you have signed up for your document service start asking for letters of recommendation. It might be a good idea to ask your potential letter writer if they feel comfortable writing you a good letter of recommendation. Even at this small school your letter writer might not feel they know you well enough or perhaps you they don't have enough good things to say about you. If this is the case, tell them thanks for their time but don't pursue a letter any further it is a waste of both of your time. I know there is a misconception out there that letters from prominent people are better but the reality is for a letter to be a good letter they have to know you and be able to say a few nice things about you. One way to assist your letter writer is to share with them some personal information about yourself; your career goals, major accomplishments, etc which will aid them in portraying you in the most favorable light to admissions. (Don't lie, the stories are many and easy to find of applicants blowing their opportunity to gain admission into medical school for fabricating stories to 'strengthen' their application. The medical admissions staff are good at their jobs and know when you aren't being truthful, plus why risk it?)
  
• In my experience with Interfolio once I had talked with my letter writers I was able to send the official invitation via email through my interfolio account. Along with the invitation the email comes with the instructions on how to submit the document and once your letter writer submits the letter Interfolio sends you an email informing you that your letter is in. To be prepared (since different schools ask for different things) get 3 or 4 from science professors (since we don;t have a premedical committee at our school you will be asked to send extra letters in lieu of a committee letter. You might also need 1 or 2 letters from non science professors, an ecclesiastical leader (if applying to a religious institution like Loma Linda or Creighton), an old boss, a physician you shadowed (DO schools usually require the physician be a DO MD schools don't typically care), and a place you volunteered. This process of asking and reminding and reminding takes a lot longer than you will anticipate so it is good to start asking earlier and be persistent. You will have to walk the thin line between dedication and annoyance to ultimately get the letters you are looking for so start asking early, preferably before finals and vacations when your letter writers can take time to put together a solid letter.
• Buy the MSAR or visit your libraries copy on a regular basis. This book is a list of all the medical schools along with information about each individual school. Study this book religiously and keep a list of schools you feel competitive in applying to. (A hint; state schools to which you are not a resident will be extremely difficult if not impossible to get into, so start in your home state then look into private schools).
  
• Work on your personal statement. Have lots of people look at it. Get an English professor to do the final once through. A lot of people who would otherwise be very competitive applicants blow off the personal statements and get rejected. This is the one area outside of the interview you can express yourself and where admissions officers can weigh the intangibles. I was told by an admissions officer that a good statement won't necessarily get you into the school on its own but a poorly written one will sure keep you out. If you don't know where to start, begin by looking at personal statements of people who were accepted.
• If your MCAT or GPA are lower than average you may want to consider DO programs which typically look at many other factors in determining admission to their school. Osteopathic medical education typically emphasizes more the primary care aspects of medicine and consequently most DO's pursue primary care residencies but in spite of this you are still free to apply for whichever residency you wish and there are DO's in virtually every area of medicine (even teaching in MD schools). The major differences between Allopathic and Osteopathic medicine are DO's used to be more holistic in their approach while MD's were more symptomatic. These differences have narrowed in time but what remains today is the Osteopathic approach still emphasizes the musculoskeletal relationship with disease and as a result teach Osteopathic Manipulation Technique, which some DO's find useful while others learn it and never use it.
• Foreign Medical Schools are an option for some students. There are thousands of foreign schools but only a handful of reputable institutions. In the Caribbean St. George's,Ross, American University of the Caribbean, and SABA are the biggest names in turning out doctors in the US. These programs usually involve 1.5-2 years of the science curriculum taught in the Caribbean followed by clinical rotations at U.S. or English hospitals. You have to be careful to make sure that upon completion you will be able to practice medicine in your state. Only New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California actually pay to evaluate the schools and the rest of the states tend to fall in line with one of these. States like Idaho, Colorado, and Texas have a reputation for being a little harder for foreign medical school graduates although they do have foreign graduates practicing within their borders. If you are interested in applying to a foreign school make check out whether or not you'll be licensed to practice in the state you intend to live, whether or not you qualify for federal loans, and what the USMLE pass rates are. You will be surprised at the disparity of foreign medical schools. Some are on par with US medical schools in USMLE pass rates, residency placement, and technology. It fascinates me to this day how some of these schools can do it with an 'inferior' student population which is a testament that there must be other factors for predicting future success outside of grades and test scores. Another thing to keep in mind is that foreign schools typically accept students 3 times a year and have no application deadline which makes them a viable back up plan in the case you don't get in and you have no desire to get a masters degree, or enroll in a premedical post bacheloriate program.

Keep in mind that everything discussed in this post will probably take more time than you think, so start working on you application today, give yourself deadlines, make goals because you will benefit from the preparation of not only getting your application in on time but also done right. Don't wait until the end to start throwing it together. Good Luck and if you have any advice you would like to make please do so in the comments section below (no registration required)

If the flux capasitor was real I'd go back in time and....

There are a few commonalities in what those applying for grad and preprofessional schools say they wish they would have done differently. Maybe it was their choice in major, many begin college thinking that they had to major in the hard sciences to get into the schools they wanted, when in reality the statics say prove almost the opposite. Schools love diversity and they love excellence so you can major in what ever you want (as long as you still perform well on the prerequisites) as long as you do well.
Another point brought frequently is studying for the mcat early and taking the mcat in the spring. It is one of the biggest tests you'll ever take and cramming the night before will not help you out one iota.
Start filling out the application in the winder and spring. (you don't have to send it out until you're ready) Its not going to get filled out over night or even in a whole week. If you want it to come through perfectly write personal statements and rewrite them, email them to friends and family, get an English professor to look over it, use everyone in your circle of influence to write it.
Sign up to interfolio, it costs about 20 dollars per year but this is a great deal considering how difficult it is to collect letters of recommendation. (a side suggestion, ask your writers if they could honestly write a good letter about you early on and be persistent in reminding them to do it) You can then easily have them write a letter and mail it to interfolio where its archived or they can send it electronically. Get lots of letters, we don't have a premedical committee so you will need at a minimum 3 science professors and one non science professor. Secondaries might ask for people you shadowed or worked for, or served with. So its not a bad idea to get these ahead of time preferably before too much time goes by and your writers forget details about you.
So a quick recap major in something you love, where you genuinely have interest. Plan your schedule so you can succeed. You cannot spend too much time preparing for the mcat so start early. The application can be filled out without paying anything or having to turn in anything so take a look at it, begin filling out the information, at least start figuring out what you need to work on and getting organized. Get good letters of recommendation, use a service like interfolio to store them for when you're ready to send them out.
And lastly be sure that you're going into medicine for the right reasons; money, and prestige, approval of parents for example are not good reasons to go into debt and work insane hours doing something that is hard. admissions officers can see right through you if there is no genuine desire to follow a career in the health care industry and they can spot the delusionals who have this pipe dream of making six figures and having people worship you as an authority figure. There are easier more secure ways which require a lot less sacrifice to make tons of money, and if that's what will make you happy medicine is probably not the right career for you.
If you are reading this and you have any other regrets or suggestions please feel free to post them below in the comments box.

A good thing to do!

For those of you who are planning on applying to medical school (or any graduate school) you should follow the lead of our co-founder and fist president Will Ellis and document every hour you serve. Trust me, you will thank me later because the application process is way longer than you think and you don't want to make it any longer by trying to track down all your hours, through digging through your email inbox, your family calender, etc. So my advice to you is take time each week to log your hours somewhere safe and where you'll be able to find it. Below is just a sample from Will's service hour log to give you an idea of what you should being recording.

Will's Service Hours and Activities

Date	Service	Start to End	Total Time
8/18/07	TVA Farm- weed-wacked, organized equipment	8:30-10:30am	2 hrs.
	Student Orientation- Campus tour
	Student Orientation- PCC tour	1 pm- 6 pm	5 hrs
9/15/08	Kapaka (Welfare) farm	6 am- 1 pm	7 hrs.
11/3/07	Honors program- USS Missouri yard work	7:30- 2 pm	6 ½ hrs.
11/8/08	Wrote essay for honor’s program newsletter (Hokuloa)	10 pm- 4 am	6 hrs.
11/9/08	Research for Dr. Gold	3- 3:30 pm	½ hr
11/16/08	Phi Kappa Phi meeting- conducted meeting	6-8 pm	2 hrs.
11/26/08	Donated blood	10-10:30 am	½ hr.
11/21/08	Research for Dr. Gold	4-4:30 pm	½ hr.
11/27/08	Research for Dr. Gold	8-9 am	1 hr.
	Brainstorm- BYUH college bowl academic competition	6-10 pm	3 hrs.
1/12/08	Club presidency training	8-11 am	3 hrs.
1/14/08	Pre-med club presidency meeting	5:30-6:30 pm	1 hr.
1/15/08	Pre-med club booth set up	9- 11:30 pm	2 ½ hrs.
1/16/08	Pre-med club booth (Club sign ups)	12-1 pm	1 hr.
1/17/08	Pre-med club booth (Club sign ups)	10-12 noon	2 hrs.
1/18/08	Pre-med club booth (Club sign ups)	12-2 pm	2 hrs.
1/26/08	MCAT student prep session	2-3 pm	1 hr.
1/29/08	Donated blood	2:45-3:15 pm	½ hr
2/17/08	Pre-med club presidency meeting	2-3:30 pm	1 ½ hrs
2/22/08	Babysat for Hung family	1- 2 pm	1 hr
2/16/08	BYUH Food-fest- Sanitation booth	5-9:30 pm	4 ½ hrs
3/15/08	TVA Farm- helped build shelter	8-10 pm
	Blood Donation sign-ups- Pre-med club	12-2 pm	2 hrs.
	Blood Donation sign-ups- Pre-med club	1-3 pm	2 hrs

Q&A with a 3rd year Med Student

Casey Lythgoe is a third year Medical Student at Medical College of Wisconsin, which was formally associated with Marquette, it is a private Allopathic (MD) school with a good reputation (ranked #52 top medical school by U.S. News and World Report). Casey (soon to be Dr. Lythgoe) graduated from BYUH in 2004 and sympathizes with us seeing how we don't currently have a pre-med adviser.

Q-How did you decide which schools to apply to?

A- I applied broadly: to my state school and every other private school out there who accepts a significant number of students from out of state. My MCAT wasn't the best (28) so I hoped to get lucky by applying everywhere.

Q-Besides the obvious GPA and MCAT what other things can improve yourodds of getting into med school?
A-Go get some experience in health care. I know this is easier said than done: I volunteered at the hospital in my hometown of Ogden UT. I tried anything to get to speak with and hang out with surgeons. I got lucky a couple of times and saw some operative procedures. Try to get as much of this type of experience as possible. Sure you may be able to get paid as a CNA, but wiping people's butts doesn't really tell you what being a doctor is like, you need to hang with the docs to get a feel for what they do.

Q-Is it possible to mitigate a low GPA or MCAT and still get into school? have you heard of anybody getting in despite one of these strikes against them? and what did they do to draw attention away from the negative aspects of their application? (basically is it possible to redeem yourself? and How?)
A-I believe so, and many of my classmates with sub-30 MCATs would agree. I had a relatively high GPA at 3.85 or so, and I think that counterbalanced my relatively low MCAT of 28. Get some research experience to help out your application. If you live near a major university during the summer, many scientists will have projects that you can do if you are willing to volunteer your time, who knows you might even get published! Again volunteer in health care related activities, and this will offset some of the more negative aspects of your application. Recently, we had a guy come through interviews with great grades and a 36 on the MCAT with no research, no health care experience. It was easy to reject this candidate. Being well rounded can make up for other faults in your application.

Q-What information did you find most useful in getting accepted into medical school?
A-Unfortunately, I had no advisor either and turned to websites like studentdoctor.net for advice. If you have been to the website, you'll find that the advice is poor and the company is worse. Each person's experience will be different, but I can offer mine as an example in context for anyone who wants to pick my brain. See some of my comments below.

Q-What would you have done differently knowing what you know now about the admissions process?
A-I would have studied harder for the MCAT and taken practice tests that are RECENT and UP TO DATE. As many tests as possible, is the advice I can give you. Also, I wouldn't try to be a superstar when it comes to admissions essays: you're likely not a Pulitzer prize winning author so don't try to be. Just be yourself. Explain why you want to be a doc, usually without saying "I want to help people" EVERYBODY says that and no one in admissions believes it unless you have a really credible story. I wanted to be a doc because I love how surgeons can open a person, remove something that has gone wrong, sew the person up, and the patient is better off for it, THAT is AMAZING! It less to do with helping people as it does my fascination with the science of medicine. It is OKAY to love medicine. Yes, you will help people, but that doesn't have to be your main concern. Social workers help people all day, so why do you want to be a doc and help people. Oh, yes, and apply early! Enough said.

Q-What does MCW look for in the application/interview process?
A-See my post above. Be well rounded. Know what you're getting into. Study hard and do well in all your courses.

Q-What was the best way to study for the MCAT? (group study, Kaplan,flashcards,etc)
A-I'm probably not the best person to ask about this considering my MCAT score. I studied alone and used some out of date practice tests. I set up a study schedule according to the list of topics to be covered by the MCAT. I believe this list is somewhere on the AAMCAS or AAMC website. I gave myself a month to do practice tests, and would time myself with the same watch I used in the test. Go back and review the ones you got wrong and take another test. I didn't find it necessary to do a full practice test: the day of the MCAT you'll be so hopped up on adrenaline, that the time will fly. Don't worry about preparing yourself for the "marathon" like aspects of the MCAT. Some guys used kaplan: one scored better than I did, two scored worse. I was good at setting apart time to study every day and sticking to it. Ultimately, each person studies differently and each must decide which approach will work best for them. Remember that understanding a concept is different from knowing it cold!

Q-Does your major(and minor if you have one) count in choosing who gets into med school? (There is a sacrifice of GPA to take harder more challenging courses relevant to medicine rather than taking the bare minimum requirements and filling your schedule with fluff)
A-Again, most schools take into account the whole picture. I was a biochem major. I have a buddy who was an English major. Whatever you do, do it well. Taking courses that are relevant to medicine is irrelevant ironically. You'll find that in your first year of med school, you will breeze through everything you learned in 1 year of biochem in 4 months, less depth in some areas, more depth in others, and a completely different emphasis: you may have studied DNA but do you have any idea what a patient with xeroderma pigmentosa looks like? You may have taken a course in anatomy, but again the focus is different in med school: I had NEVER taken an anatomy course in my life and felt very comfortable in anatomy and received very high scores on all my tests. Once again, take courses you are interested in and courses that will prepare you for the MCAT, and enjoy both of them. Don't worry about whether they are fluff if you enjoy it and can talk about it in an interview, it's worth its weight in gold.

Q-Is there any other advice you would give to an undergrad student interested in becoming a doctor?
A-Now that's a broad question...I love what I do every day. Sometimes it is meaning less scut work. I like that a lot less. Sometimes I get to be first assist on an inguinal hernia and do all the dissection down to the inguinal ligament, or use the bovie during a lumpectomy. If you are excited about medicine now, just wait until you have a part in actually doing it. If you're married prepare your spouse now for the rigors of medical school. Some days I come home after 12 hours of work and spend the rest of the night studying. Some rotations I hardly study at all, but largely it is a lot of time put in to do well. I might also advise you to live your life to the fullest while you have the time. Not only for the fun you'll have, but so that you can tell your attendings in school about the different life experiences you've had. I was surprised to meet so many people that had not stopped going to school since they started high school. Never been out of the country, never did anything different etc. Of course, they still got accepted to med school, but again I believe in being well rounded.

Make your break fun and productive!!!

With the Christmas break coming up and for many of us a 6+ hour flight each way I thought it would be nice to share the idea recreational reading (if focused) might help plant the seeds of thought and help formulate informed opinions that you will be expected to have when you are writing personal essays or being interviewed. A good GPA and test score are only part of what is necessary to get into the programs you are aspiring to; experience, personal statements and interviews are equally regarded and in most instances can mitigate a below average GPA or Test score. Not only will reading make you informed and prepared for discussion on a number of different topics, you will be able to cite examples which shape your opinions, and most importantly you will be influenced as to what you are going into and why. Interviewers and admissions people can tell when you are sincere and knowledgeable and can tell when you aren't. In fact I think they can see through your soul so please give them something good to look at, for your own sake. This break I encourage all of you to find at least one book that focuses on an area in which you are interested in and read or listen to it. I personally prefer audio books which I listen to instead of music when I'm driving in the car, working alone, or walking around campus and here are some of the books I've read in the past year (there are more below this post). For example if you plan on going into cardiology and you get asked in your interview "what area of medicine do you want to go into?", you will be able to prove that this aspiration isn't a pipe dream but something you actually know quite a bit about. If you have read King of Hearts: the True Story of the Maverick who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, you will have an in depth understanding of the major advances and the obstacles overcome in the field of open heart surgery, you will have a small glimpse into the life of a cardiac surgeon and you will know the Who, What, When, Where, and Whys of different treatments for heart disease.
If you plan on going into Public Health or doing service in poor under served areas of the World it would be prudent to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Paul Farmer to Cure the World. Paul Farmer was a poor boy living with a big family on a bus and later in a boat ran ashore who was self taught earning a scholarship to first Duke than Harvard Medical School where he bought his text books and left to Haiti where he served the people there only coming back to Boston for exams and to raise money and acquire supplies for the people of Haiti. Paul Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health who have worked very hard to irradiate multi drug resistant strain Tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru, Russia, and other countries. Upon reading this book you will see some of things that are required in this type of service along with the problems and barriers you will encounter along with the example of someone who was able to successfully overcome these obstacles.
In the books Better: A Surgeons Notes on Performance as well as Complications: A Surgeons Notes on an Imperfect Science you gain a better understanding of the problems medicine encounters: learning/practicing, malpractice, career burnout, ethical issues, diagnosis, treatment, etc. These two books will give you a broad look into the world of medicine and inspire the reader to think of the limitations of this science which in many ways is an art.
Outliers: the Story of Success tells the reader what makes some people excel while others struggle. If anything you will be inspired and seek perfection after reading this book. On Call in Hell is a great book for anyone considering entering the military in a medical profession, you see first hand the account of a D.O. who served in the Navy as a field surgeon in Fallujah and the tolls that his experiences had on his life, both good and bad.
and there are more posted below if you are looking for something I recommend them all but don't limit yourself to my selections ask around look at reviews and pick something you think is interesting and if there are no books about the medical field you don't find interesting perhaps medicine isn't your thing and you should focus on another area where you are interested.

Average GPA and MCAT for various US medical schools

http://www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/downloads/gpamcat.pdf