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This page is for juniors, seniors, and recent alumni who are definitely going to apply to medical school. This page is divided into the following sections:
The different types of medical schools There are essentially two types of medical schools which differ in cost and philosophy. Public medical schools are funded by state taxpayers and are usually affiliated with state universities. UK, UofL, University of Cincinnati, and UNC-Chapel Hill are all public medical schools. Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, and Harvard are all private medical schools. The biggest difference between public and private is cost. The annual tuition at UK is ~$14,000 (for Kentucky residents) and at Vanderbilt it is ~$30,000 (no residency difference). You should note that the UK tuition for non-residents is ~$31,000. The reason that there is such a large difference for residents vs. non-residents at a state public medical school is that taxpayers are paying a significant amount of money to educate a medical student. Statistics show that most students will practice medicine in their state of residence. Therefore, UK is not going to accept a lot of out of state students since they probably will not stick around and practice in Kentucky. The Kentucky state legislature mandates that 90% of the UK class must be Kentucky residents. Most out of state students who get into UK have some tie to the state (for instance, they went to college in Kentucky). If you are a Kentucky resident, you will have a better chance at getting into a Kentucky medical school. All public medical schools are similar to UK in this regard. Private medical schools do not have residency concerns and everyone pays the same tuition. Besides cost, the other difference in public vs. private is the emphasis on research. Private medical schools tend to be more research oriented and want to attract students who have more of an interest in doing research. This statement is not to imply that public medical schools do not do research because there is a lot of excellent research at places like UK. Public medical schools tend to attract more people who are interested in becoming practicing physicians, while private medical schools attract more people who want a career in research medicine. If you want to get into one of the big name private medical schools you will need to have some research experience in addition to a higher GPA and MCAT score. In recent years, most Centre students have attended medical schools in their states of residence. You cannot establish residency in a state by going to college there. Centre students who are not Kentucky residents have a good chance of getting into UK and Louisville because they have Kentucky ties by virtue of their choice of college. Otherwise, medical schools are not very concerned if the college you went to is in or out of state. There are foreign medical schools, but no Centre student has applied to one in the last 10 years. If you are interested you should check their websites and talk to Dr. Workman. The number of schools to which you should apply A common question is "How many medical schools should I apply to?" Most Centre students will apply to the public medical schools in their state of residence at a minimum. Kentucky residents are lucky because there are two public medical schools. Ohio residents have five public medical schools. Apart from the public medical schools, you will need to think about applying to some private schools. There is no point in spending money applying to private schools if you are not interested in attending them. If you are not sure, go ahead and apply to a few if you are qualified. Do not apply to Harvard if you do not have the GPA or MCATs. You can check websites to find averages. It is also very difficult to get into public schools out of your state of residence. In fact, some public medical schools will only accept residents. Once again, you can check their websites or talk to Dr. Workman.
The Application Process Is it realistic for me to start the application process now? MCAT Timing and... ...Preparation
To get the most accurate picture of your abilities you need to make sure that you take a FULL practice test which will last about 4 hours. You need to score a minimum of around a 25 (with no scores below 7 in the three sections) to have a good shot at getting into legitimate medical schools. Obviously, the higher your score, the better chance you will have. What Are the MCAT Preparation Courses Like?If you decide that you need more preparation you can do it on your own or pay for a course at Princeton Review or Kaplan. You can get a good idea how much time you should prepare on your own by looking at how much you would do if you were enrolled in one of the test prep courses. A typical Kaplan course is 24 sessions: nineteen 3-hour evening review sessions, three 7-hour practice MCATs, and two 8-hour practice MCATs. The review sessions are led by instructors and you take periodic practice MCATs where your strengths and weaknesses are identified. The total cost is $1899 for the classroom course and $1749 for the online course. The first course starts September 6 and runs to January 17 (there are other start and end times). There are 18 3-hour classroom sessions and you take five practice tests. Both companies have homework for you to do to prepare for each review session. Disregarding the homework and practice exam times, you would be paying for a minimum of 54 hours. You can access all of the instructional materials at both Kaplan and Princeton at other times and they have online materials. Both companies also offer online versions of their courses. You can also get 35 hours of private tutoring for $5000 (!). How Should I Prepare on My Own?If you decide to prepare on your own, you should use the 54 hours as a goal and mid-November or earlier as a good starting date. Princeton Review and Kaplan have review books that you can buy for about $60 in any good bookstore or online. The AAMC has eight or nine practice MCATs and some other practice materials that you can purchase for a total of about $170. Students who have already taken the MCATs may have practice materials for sale or free and you can share costs with other students. DO NOT study for the MCAT by going over old notes or looking at textbooks. The vast majority of material you have learned in your courses is not covered on the MCAT. If there is a concept you do not understand from reading the review books, then you might want to look at a textbook or talk to a professor. Otherwise, only look at the Kaplan, Princeton, or Exam Crackers (the best in my opinion) review books to see what will be on the test. Other MCAT preparation books are not very good. You should pay careful attention to the math review in the prep books because you do not get calculators on the test.
Advantages of Test Preparation Courses
Disadvantages of Test Preparation Courses
Advantages of Preparing on Your Own
Disadvantages of Preparing on Your Own
Final Thoughts The MCAT is a half-day test that can have a profound impact on acceptance or rejection to medical school. Centre students tend to do well on the test. Some take the test prep courses and others study on their own. Only a few students in the 2008 graduating class from Centre took a prep course. You should talk to students who have taken the MCAT and find out how they prepared. Remember that what works for you may be different than what worked for them. Mandatory Meetings and Forms
The HPAG Interview In order to more accurately present you as a candidate the HPAG will interview you in the spring. Interviews are 30 minutes and are done by Dr. Workman and one other member of the committee. The Composite Letter of Evaluation You are probably wondering what the composite letter of evaluation is. The HPAG solicits evaluations from up to five science professors and up to three non-science professors, administrators, or staff members. You indicate to the HPAG which professors know you the best and the HPAG sends them the evaluations. Your professors will evaluate you on academic abilities, personal attributes, and professional promise. You can see a copy of the evaluation form here. Your professors will check the appropriate boxes and write as many comments as they want. The HPAG collects all evaluations for applicants and compiles them into one composite form. The HPAG will also include a brief paragraph comparing you to other applicants from Centre in the last few years. You can see an example here (note that two professors wrote extensive letters for the applicant that were also sent to the medical school). There are a few details of the composite that you need to understand:
The AMCAS Application and Personal Statement AMCAS is the abbreviation for American Medical College Application Service. You will apply to most medical schools in the US through AMCAS (the Texas medical schools have their own service). The way AMCAS works is that you fill out their application and indicate which medical schools you want that application sent to (it acts like a common application). The medical schools then look at the AMCAS application (which includes MCAT scores) and decide whether they want to reject you or get more information from you. If it's the latter, they send you a secondary application which you must complete. It takes AMCAS and the medical schools some time to process applications, so IT IS VITAL THAT YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATIONS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. You should plan on submitting your AMCAS application in early June. Every year there are a few Centre students who get rejected at medical schools because they failed to submit their applications early. Medical schools have rolling admissions. Thus, the longer you wait, the worse your chances. If you submit materials on the deadlines, you probably will not get into medical school. The AMCAS application is web-based (you need access to the internet!) and a little time consuming. The only difficult part is the Personal Comments section. You must write a 5300 characters + spaces essay about anything you want, although it is best to write it on why you want to be a physician and what qualities you have/things you have done that make you a good candidate. You should start trying to write this essay long before you even fill out the AMCAS application. Dr. Workman will help you edit your essay and it is much easier to do that if you are on campus. Some general pieces of advice are:
Unfortunately, after you have submitted your primary application to AMCAS, some schools want you to give them even more material in a secondary application. Most secondary applications just have some short essays for you to do, but it is vital to turn these in as soon as possible. You may want to have non-Centre people submit a letter of evaluation to the medical school. For instance, if you have worked with a physician or done research off-campus, those supervisors or principal investigators may be good evaluators. Medical schools will not schedule you for an interview without a completed secondary. Most medical schools have an early decision option. The way this option works is that you apply to only one school and opt for the early decision option. The deadline is August 1st and you are guaranteed a decision by October 1st. You may not apply to any other medical schools until you are rejected by your early decision school. If you are accepted early decision, you must attend that medical school. The important message here is that you must be sure that you want to go to a medical school and reasonably confident that you will get in before you try the early decision option. If you do not get in early decision you will be at a huge disadvantage at other schools because you will need to fill out their secondary applications and probably will not get an interview until very late in the cycle. In the last 10 years only two Centre students have applied early decision and both at UK. UK takes quite a few students early, but UL does not. Be sure to consult with Dr. Workman before applying early decision. The best option is to apply normally, but get your materials in as early as possible! Studying Abroad and Applying to Medical School Studying abroad is one of the best opportunities you can have at Centre. Many students who apply to medical school have studied abroad. The medical school entering class of 2008 from Centre had 13 of 14 students who studied abroad for at least one term. If you plan to study abroad in a long term, scheduling classes, the MCAT, and interviews can be tricky. Do NOT plan to take the MCAT abroad since it is a hassle and you will be having too much fun traveling. Quite a few students over the years have delayed their application to medical school in order to participate in a long term study abroad experience (or some other opportunity). None of them regretted their decision. You may have enough time to study for the MCAT after you return in the spring since it is offered in May, June and July. Taking the MCAT in August is an option, but you will be behind in interview scheduling. Most medical schools will try to schedule interviews when you will be in the country, so a fall or spring term abroad in your senior year is no problem. Be sure to work with Dr. Workman if you plan to study abroad. Some of your terms may be difficult, but you should not have to resort to summer school to get all of your medical school prerequisites completed on time. If a medical school decides you are an acceptable candidate based on everything it sees about you on paper, you will be invited for an interview. Interviews differ in format from school to school. Most schools will have at least one individual interview and some may have a group interview. The interviewers are normally members of the admissions committee. They can be clinical faculty, basic science faculty, residents or medical students. Sometimes the interviews are blind which means that the interviewer does not look at your file. No matter how good you look on paper, a bad interview can keep you from being accepted. A few things you should keep in mind:
You will interview with the HPAG in the spring and they will give you some feedback on the answers you are giving. Centre students who have been rejected on the basis of the interview usually came across as too arrogant or too shy. On very rare occasions a Centre student has had trouble with one of the interviewers (the interviewer asked inappropriate questions or was not paying attention to the student). If that happens, tell Dr. Workman and he will contact the medical school. Options for the Wait Listed or Rejected Applicant If you interview before October (and are not an early decision applicant) you will hear a decision on October 15, otherwise you should hear a decision a few weeks after your interview. If you are wait listed there is a real possibility that you can be accepted as late as a few days before medical school classes start. In the past five years some Centre students have been accepted off the wait list in July and even August. If you are rejected the best option for you is to wait a few days to calm down and be sure to avoid saying anything drastic to the medical school. They will understand that you are upset, but you do not want to jeopardize your future chances. You should discuss things with Dr. Workman first. The most obvious reasons that you could be rejected are because your grades and scores are too low. If the MCAT is the problem you will need to prepare better for it, perhaps even taking an MCAT preparation course. If grades are the problem you may be able to take some graduate level courses, enroll in a post-baccalaureate program, or enroll in a graduate (masters or Ph.D.) program. There is a searchable database of these types of programs located on the AAMC webpage. Usually, the lower your GPA, the longer the program that you will need to enroll in. Be aware that if you enroll in a masters or Ph.D. level program, the medical school will expect you to finish that program before they will accept you. You may have too little experience in medicine, but that is a straightforward deficiency to rectify. It should be relatively easy to get a job in the health care field. If the problem is not grades, scores, or experience then you have some sort of a personality problem. Perhaps you came across as too arrogant or too shy. Personality problems are the hardest to change. The medical school admissions people will never come right out and tell you that your personality was the problem, but you can infer that from what they do tell you. They will tell you if your grades or scores are too low or if you have insufficient experience. When shyness is the problem then you will have to find a job or volunteer position where you are forced to interact with other people. Arrogance is harder to cure, but you could do volunteer work in an under-served area. Of course, the next time you interview would be crucial. Shy people need to be more aggressive than they think is necessary and arrogant people need to tone things down. Dr. Workman will work with you to improve your re-application to medical schools. The medical school admissions people are also very willing to advise you, provided you approach them in a mature fashion. It is essential for you to improve your application in the ways that are suggested by the medical school. Just re-applying will not help you. If you are accepted at a medical school, you may defer your matriculation for a year. The medical school will want a valid reason for the deferment. Valid reasons include work, a travel opportunity associated with medicine, or research (including such things as Fulbrights). Individual medical schools have their own policies so get in touch with them if you are thinking about deferment. |