Transcript Premed Tips & Advice
THE IMPORTANCE OF ACADEMIC PREPARATION
Medicine Needs YOU
… African Americans, Latinos/as, and Native Americans comprise 25 percent of the U.S. population, but only 12 percent of US medical student graduates and only 6 percent of physicians in practice... taken from http://www.AspiringDocs.org
So we’re offering our advice in hopes that you will be able to join the ranks and thereby increase the percentages.
Important Considerations:
There is no magic formula for getting into medical school.
We, Penn Med students, didn’t have an identical journey to medical school.
How to Get Ready for the Medical School Application
Process
Rule #1: Decide to devote a significant time commitment to preparing for medical school Rule #2: Research national medical school acceptance data based upon GPA and MCAT scores Rule #3: Review academic qualifications, curriculum, first year class profile and demographics of medical schools which interest you Rule #4: Seek advise from those well-versed in the medical school application process Rule #5: Develop your plan for success
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
Confer with premed advisors, faculty mentors, and medical students who can support you through the medical school preparation process.
Attend a medical school recruitment fair to learn from representatives about their schools http://www.aamc.org/calendar/careerfairs
The MSAR aka Your Best Friend The Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) profiles ever medical school in the US, Canada Check the MSAR well before applying to see what that school’s numbers are, their requirements, and their curricula For example, more and more schools require biochemistry, and same require two semesters of calculus
Another Essential Text: MOUSMS
*
Review Minority Student Opportunities in US Medical Schools (MOUSMS) – learn about recruitment, applicant and matriculant data by gender, race and ethnicity; summer programs, educational partnerships, etc.
My Credentials I am a wonderful, amazing person who rescued children from burning houses built 50 houses with my bare hands by myself for 50 different families volunteered in the ER holds leadership positions in 10 different organizations it doesn’t matter that I have a 2.9 GPA and a 25 MCAT score, right???
Sorry, It Does Matter Don’t bank on being the outlier case It’s stressful to take that risk (both financially and emotionally) No one will see how wonderful you are unless your numbers get by the screening
THE NUMBERS
The Numbers
Medical School Admission Committees WILL NOT read every applicant’s personal statement and the rest of the application.
Every school has to screen its applications to reduce the number of applications they actually have to read Once the screening process is done, then they start reading the applications
What Do They Screen?
GPA MCAT
(Medical School Admissions Test) Fact and Figures https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/ Table 19: MCAT scores and GPA’s for Applicants and Matriculants to US Medical Schools by Race and Ethnicity, 2009
Calculating Your Chances: Applicant Pool and Matriculants, 2008-2010 ( taken from Table 24 AAMC Facts and Figures- https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicationt/matriculant) GPA: 2.80 2.99
Acceptees 18-20 17 21-23 56 24-26 27-29 MCAT 30-32 89 65 33 8 33-35 .
36-38 .
39-45 Applicants 216 259 220 118 51 13 .
.
Acceptance Rate 2.7% 6.3% 21.4% 26.3% 36.8% 50.0% .
.
For example, if you have a 2.9 and a 25 total MCAT…
2009-2010 Penn Med URM Median Applicant Pool and Matriculants GPA 2009/2010 Science 3.48
All Other 3.67
URM Applicants
Overall 3.48
MCAT 2009/2010 VR 9.0
PS 10.0
BS 10.0
WS P GPA 2010 Science 3.68
URM First Year Matriculants
All Other 3.77
Overall 3.71
MCAT 2010 VR 11.0
PS 12.0
BS 12.0
WS Q Max GPA 4.0 Max MCAT 45 T (15 each section)
Questions?
2008 and 2009 Coordinator: Amanda Crichlow, MS4 [email protected]
2010 Coordinators: Juron Foreman, MS4 [email protected]
Derek Mazique, MS1 [email protected]
Alyssa Reyes, MS1 [email protected]