Getting Into Med School

The Primary Application Part 1

This series is going to be VERY long so brace yourselves!

I decided to do a few posts about the med school application process because I found it extremely helpful to read about other people’s experiences and helpful tips while I was applying. If you’re not pre-med or interested in the pre-med journey, you can skip this lol

Before I start, here’s a little bit about my experience so far:
I applied to medical school this cycle and I'm currently at the interview stage. I tend to doubt myself a lot so I was uncertain about my chances of getting into med school. I applied to every school in California and I was apprehensive because it's well known that California schools are some of the hardest to get into. But my application must have been better than I thought because off the bat, I started getting secondary applications and interview invites. Apparently AMCAS doesn't allow schools to send out acceptances before October 15th but I received an acceptance on October 7th and the 15th from another. And they're both California schools!

The first school: Because it’s a UC school, they screen applicants before sending out secondary invitations. After I finished my secondary, I asked Will to look at it and write his corrections separately. Unfortunately, he wrote all his corrections in parentheses within my answers. So an example would be: “I didn’t (did not) realize that…” And I submitted the secondary like that! After I submitted and paid I freaked out (understatement of the year). Every website was clear that typos are a huge no-no. I counted that school as a loss. But to my surprise, they invited me for an interview. After the interview, I was sure I didn’t get into the school. In fact, most of my texts from that day say a variation of “well… bombed that one. I don’t expect to get in.” But I ended up receiving my acceptance email only 11 days after the interview.

The second school: Because of my lack of financial resources, I almost didn't complete my secondary for this school, even though it was among my top 5 dream schools. I saw their freshman profile for last year's class and my GPA was nowhere near the average. Also, I knew that they were selective. But after meeting a girl who was about to start school there, I went home and finished my secondary immediately. Only 16 hours later, I got an interview invite from them. I left the interview knowing that I did well but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I prepared for a rejection. On October 15th, the official first day schools can send out acceptances, I received my acceptance email from them.

Because I have already gotten into one school in my top 5 list, I have declined 3/8 interview invites and I only plan on going to a few other schools to interview (two of which have already invited me). I unfortunately don’t have enough money to fly to a lot of interviews. I will keep you all updated about future acceptances (and rejections) :) I wanted to share how I got this far in such short amount of time. I hope this helps everyone reading who plans on becoming a physician!

So without further ado, here is:

*Disclaimer: these tips all worked for me but everyone will have a different journey to med school and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.*

• The most important quality of a pre-med student: PASSION! It’s so much work and it can be exhausting. But if you’re really passionate about being a doctor, it won’t overwhelm you. The entire foundation of your future rests on your passion.

Here’s the timeline I followed:

What makes up the primary application

- Identifying, contact, and biographic information
- Languages - what you speak and how well. If you’re applying to California schools, I recommend learning Spanish.
- Childhood information - try to answer all the questions and stay away from the “do not know” answer
- Disadvantaged Statement - explained below
- Family information and some applicant information (like were you in the military etc.)
- EVERY class and EVERY grade. Yes, EVERY. Including high school AP classes. It’s so tedious
- High school and University information
- GPA
- MCAT and other test scores
- Experiences - explained in the next post
- Personal Statement - Advice on this will be its own post (coming soon!)
- Letters of Recommendation
- Medical Schools

AAMC Fee Assistance Program (FAP)

Whether or not you think you'll be approved, I suggest applying for FAP. The worst that could happen is that they'll say no.

They’ll waive one AMCAS application for up to 15 schools ($664 value) and give you a free MSAR ($25 value, I’ll explain what MSAR is under the “how to pick schools” section). Also, MCAT registration will only be $115 (discounted from $300 per exam) for up to four exams. You’ll receive complimentary MCAT exam prep products ($125 value) and some other MCAT resources.

Disadvantaged applicant (1325 characters)

Applicants who consider themselves disadvantaged should fill out the additional short essay. I know it helps with financial aid and scholarships when schools start but I'm not completely sure what each school does with that information. It does not negatively affect your chances of being accepted though. It can only help :)

I think when writing about your disadvantages, you should end with what you learned. How will these challenges help you become a better physician?

A few examples:

• - Lack of opportunity growing up
• - Having to overcome significant obstacles which may have adversely affected you
• - Financial problems and low socioeconomic status
• - Grew up in a low-income community
• - Underrepresented in medicine
• - Worked 30+ hours a week during college to support yourself and your family
• - First generation college student
• - High school had a low API score when you graduated
• - Immigrant/English is not your first language
• - Mental/learning/psychological disability (should be getting treatment for it)

Primary Application tips to be continued :)

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comment section below. Or you can email me directly using the “contact me” section at the bottom of my blog.