Getting into med school 5

Requesting Letters of Recommendation

• I think one of the most important things to do when requesting letters of recommendation is to ask your writers early!
• Most schools require a letter from two science professors and one non-science professor. Of course sending in other letters is recommended (especially if the writer played a big role in one of the most meaningful activities you wrote about). But make sure you get the required professors to write letters.
• I would suggest going to office hours and getting to know the professor so that they can write a good and personal letter on your behalf. Getting an A in the class is not enough because a short/bad letter is much worse than not having a letter at all. Some students go to their TA's office hours if their classes have like 200+ students. The TA can write a big part of the letter on your behalf and give it to the professor to finish and submit.
• I also suggest talking to your writer in person and then emailing them after they agree to write the letter. They will most likely ask for a CV and and a statement of purpose (or a rough draft of your personal statement). In the email, you can give them all the details about how to submit or mail the letter to AMCAS. Make sure your email is polite and professional and send it as soon as possible.

Interviews

• Attire: professional, no exceptions. A suit with a shirt and tie for men and a suit with pants or a skirt (with pantyhose) for women. Make sure the skirt isn't too short or too tight. When buying suits, I'd stick to black, grey, or navy blue. Shirts should always be tucked in. A lot of websites say that women should wear heels. I disagree. You'll take a tour of the school before or after every interview so make sure you wear comfortable close toe shoes. If you're comfortable in short heels, feel free to wear them. To my first interview, I wore short heels and brought flats in my bag. After that, I just wore flats to interviews. Many other girls did too. Your jewelry should be limited to small stud earrings (and maybe a necklace if it's understated).
• Your hair should be neat and out of your face. I wore my hair in a top bun to every interview. Don't overdo your makeup. You can wear mascara/eyeliner and a little foundation if you want. But don't wear falsies or bright lipstick or anything distracting. If you absolutely have to wear makeup, go for a neutral look. Also, your nails should be clean and trimmed. I suggest not wearing any colored nail polish but if you do, make sure it isn't chipped and the color isn't too "loud".
• Bringing a bag is optional but I recommend it. I brought a dark maroon bag that was professional looking. They will give you folders and papers so you'll need a place to put them. I also suggest bringing a portfolio folder to take notes. I saw that some websites recommended bringing a copy of your application and CV. You can if you want, but I see no point in doing so. They have all your information already.
• Look up the school and its values before the interview. They will want to know why you applied to that specific program.
• Some schools ask about current events in medicine so read up on that.
• If you're flying to an interview, book your flights early and if possible, fly in two days before the interview. Especially if you're interviewing in the winter (because flights often get delayed/changed/canceled because of snow or other weather problems).
• Be on time!!
• Have a general idea of what you want to say but don't rehearse it. The one question you have to, HAVE TO know the answer to is, "Why do you want to be a doctor?" To help people is not a good answer. Briefly talk them through your journey to realizing medicine was for you. Know the answers to questions about your 15 activities, personal statement, and grades (some might ask why you got a low grade in a certain class).
• Have good questions to ask at the end of the interview. Sometimes they ask if you have any questions for them. Make sure you look up the school. You can ask about specific programs or their experiences, etc. I was genuinely curious about the answers to all the questions I asked and I think they could tell. I didn't just look up what to say. And not every question was medicine-related.
• MMIs:
• Not every school has them but most of the interviews I had were MMI style
• This website explains what they are is perfectly. To sum it all up, there will be different rooms ("stations") and you and your fellow interviewees will rotate through the stations. You'll have 8-10 minutes in each station and each will be very different. You might meet an actor and have to play a role (so they can see how you'd react in a certain situation), you might just be interviewed regularly, you might be given a scenario, you might have to write an essay, you might be in there with another interviewee, etc.
• This YouTube page helped me prepare for the scenarios I faced. I really suggest watching the MMI videos. They were sooooooo helpful!
• Get a good night's sleep the night before. Try to relax (I know it's sometimes easier said than done). Be friendly and fun to talk to.
• My experiences:
• I was fortunate to have an extremely relaxed first interview. It was not at all stressful. I was nervous when I arrived (the school is in LA and it rained! I thought that was a bad sign since it never rains over here). But the dean of the school was so nice and welcoming! She told us to relax and she sat down to informally chat with us. I could almost physically feel the tension leave the room after just ten minutes of talking to her. By the time she left the room, we were all joking and laughing and having a good time. My interviewer, unlike the rest, was dressed pretty casually. We went into a room with couches and a coffee table. The first question she asked was, "Tell me about yourself." And from there, our "interview" just turned into a fun conversation. Seriously, it was like we were old friends catching up. We were laughing and talking and I was getting to know her just as much as she was getting to know me. I don't think it was supposed to be like that but the way I answered the first question led our conversation away from the formal interview and towards the casual conversation. Then we were given a tour and I sat in on a class. After that, I had a student interview. The student had a list of questions to ask so our interview still felt a bit like an interview (but only a bit). She was about my age, went to my undergraduate college, and had the same major I did. We couldn't finish all the questions because of our conversations. Our interview actually ended a little late because we were still talking and we continued our conversation even as we exited the room and went back upstairs to meet the others. I genuinely enjoyed my time there. If it had been under different circumstances, I think we could have even become friends. The dean actually told us the date she would send out the acceptance/rejection emails so on that day, I was had my gmail app open on my phone basically refreshed it every 5 minutes until I got my acceptance email (I felt like crying and had to show my boyfriend to make sure I wasn't making it up in my mind). This is my #1 school (tied with another school).
• The rest of my interviews were MMI style. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan but I think that's just because my first interview was so well. MMIs weren't that bad and those interviews seemed to go by very quickly because of the way they were broken down. I was surprised I never got the same question twice with how many schools I went to with this kind of interview style. So be prepared for anything because they have a wide variety of station questions/tasks. I got accepted into one of them (my backup school) and waitlisted at another (my #4 choice). I'm waiting to hear back from the rest.
• Afterwards I got denied from two schools (I wasn't even invited for an interview), withdrew my application from other schools, and canceled the rest of the interviews I had scheduled.

Waiting

• Honestly I think this is the hardest part :(
• After the interview, send thank you notes or emails to your interviewers.
• If the school allows it, send updates if you've accomplished more after you were interviews (new publications, new volunteer experiences, etc.)

Accepted!

• First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS!
• You can hold multiple acceptances for a while. But then, some time in April, you have to choose one school. If you get accepted into another school after choosing one, you can drop the acceptance you held before and choose the new school or stick with your choice and deny a spot in the new school.
• Withdrawing applications: I withdrew a lot  applications after being accepted into my #1 (tie with another school) choice and interviewing for my (other) #1 and #3 choices. I think it's important to withdraw your application so that you can allow other students to be interviewed/accepted in your place. There's no point taking up a spot you don't want. Thank schools the schools for not denying you, requesting an interview, or accepting you. Then politely decline their offer.

I think this will be the last part of my Getting Into Med School series. I tried to cover the topics not covered in the other posts. But let me know if I missed something! 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 :)