We all know medical school is a very selective process. Only the best of the best get chosen to attend medical school and you should be extremely proud if you're one of these lucky students. The reason you were chosen is because you have demonstrated to these schools that you will make a good future physician and have met their academic criteria. But always remember, just because a school rejects you doesn't mean you won't be a good physician; it might be that they just ran out of spots. However, why do most students fail to get into a medical school? Always remember that to most of us, this might be a random process and medical schools will not give a clear criteria for why they accepted some students who appear to have lower stats over others so there is some sort of randomness. With that, according to one admissions committee, most applications fall into one of the following six categories:
1) Do not have a strong academic profile
The admissions committee general rule for a borderline application is a GPA of at least a 3.5+ with a similar bcpm GPA (this GPA only accounts for biology, math, chemistry, physics and any other science related classes you might have taken) and an MCAT score of a 503+. However, remember that people with lower GPA's and MCAT scores have made it but they probably made up for this lack in a strong academic profile in a different way. At the end of the day, most people have much higher GPA's and MCAT scores so in all honestly, I would recommend having a GPA closer to a 3.7+ and an MCAT score of a 505+ to have a decent chance. You can also shift around where your GPA might be a 3.5+ and your MCAT score be a 510+ and you get in. But always remember, the higher, the better. I would recommend playing around with the LizzyM calculator to see how that works. If you believe you do not have a strong enough profile during your undergraduate years, complete a post bacc program or masters! Many of the people I talked to during my interviews had completed a masters program.
2) Submitting poorly written application work
The biggest thing medical schools will use to differentiate you from the rest is your personal statement. This should be the best written piece of work in your entire life. I previously talked about the keys to writing a personal statement but make sure you show your ambition and passion towards medicine through this. Schools will use this essay to decide whether you would make a good candidate for their school or not. Furthermore, there are other written pieces of work such as your "significant activities" where you write about why 3 activities you participated in were so significant. Make sure to turn your application as early as you can with the best quality of work to really catch the eye of the admissions committee. The later you turn in your work, the lazier you can look and the more burned out the readers will be. Have several people look over your personal statement and I would be happy to do so!
3) Not applying to many medical schools
The admissions committee recommends applying to at least 10-15 schools in a cycle. As I said earlier, this is a very selective process so schools will choose very few students to actually interview. To increase your chances, apply to as many schools as you can. I would recommend applying to all your in-state schools, some out of school states around you, and some different schools in locations far away. I personally applied to 20 schools and I will be happy to share that list with you if requested. Note that you will most likely get rejections from 90% of these schools but all you need is one acceptance. I like the odds of 1 out of 20 schools accepting me rather than 1 out of 5. Never overestimate yourself. Also remember that early decision programs, which I talked about in an earlier post, do not let you apply to any other schools until October 15th which is pretty late in the cycle so weigh the benefits and risks carefully and do not make the same mistake I did.
4) Lacking clinical experience
This is one of the biggest problem for medical school students. They'll have all the shadowing, research, and volunteering hours but lack clinical experience. This is why medical schools key in on this criteria. In order to be successful here, you can either work at a free clinic, volunteer at a hospital, scribe, or participate in a pre-med program where you get to closely work with physicians. Personally, I volunteered at a hospital (for around 6-8 weeks in the summer) and participated in running a free clinic at my local mosque. Experiences like these help your application stick out and give you more talking points for your interview.
5) Poor Interview Skills
Previously I talked about how to make a strong impression at your interview. However, according to the admission committee, many students do not have the proper interview skills or background knowledge which leads them to be rejected. Refer back to my interview post to see what skills and knowledge you should acquire before an interview.
6) Your application does not stick out
One of the biggest issues for applicants is trying to make your application stick out. Your application should not be outlandish but should also make you stick out from the rest in a way that intrigues the medical school. You have to remember that everyone has the volunteering, research, and shadowing hours so it is extremely hard for you to stick out through these. However, it is possible. Personally, I participated in the SURF program at U of M which is an extremely selective summer fellowship and I believe it thrusted my application above some others because of its selectivity. However, some other ways to make your application stick out is your personal statement, experiences, and clinical experience. Be prepared to explain why your application should be chosen over others and why it sticks out. If you do not have that stick out factor right now, do not worry. A masters/post bacc will definitely help your chances of sticking out and there are many other ways, you should have to look for these opportunities.
Please remember, I am not discouraging you from applying to medical schools! These are just some common reasons of why medical schools reject applicants based on a review from an Admissions Committee panel. I am just pointing out these reasons so you can check them off as you build your resume and apply so you do not fall into one of these categories. And remember, you do not need to fulfill all of these categories! Most medical schools will reject applicants if they have 2 or more of these reasons but you should always try to the best of your ability to not give them any reasons! Furthermore, people that we might think have 2 or more reasons might still get in! It is a very random process!
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