Med school prep

[Anonymous]

Time has changed, especially after covid. If your child recently admitted to med school, can you share what they have learned, especially in the realm of extracurricular and shadowing.

[Anonymous]

Nothing has changed. It is the same.

[Anonymous]

Get A’s, get a 520, do research and med ECs.

[Anonymous]

What has changed OP?

[Anonymous]

Have to speak Spanish fluently

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have to speak Spanish fluently

Not true… but if you do speak, it’s helpful

[Anonymous]

Apply to at least 30 schools. Sometimes up to 50.

Make sure you have As in the right courses and at least a 528/3.75

Lower your expectations even if you’ve got research, EMT experience, and sterling ECs. It’s really rough out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apply to at least 30 schools. Sometimes up to 50.

Make sure you have As in the right courses and at least a 528/3.75

Lower your expectations even if you’ve got research, EMT experience, and sterling ECs. It’s really rough out there.

528 is the top. PP probably means at least 518

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apply to at least 30 schools. Sometimes up to 50.

Make sure you have As in the right courses and at least a 528/3.75

Lower your expectations even if you’ve got research, EMT experience, and sterling ECs. It’s really rough out there.

My DC had a 3.9 (from a different school), 522 and several hundred hours of research and ECs and did ok.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors (who are both doctors) have a daughter who was accepted to the state flagship med school where we live.

She went to the most competitive charter school in our small city, which is less competitive than most DC private school or suburban magnets. It is very heavy on test prep and she had multiple 5s on AP exams and a terrific GPA.

She went to the honors college of our state flagship on a nearly full scholarship. This school is ranked around 100 for universities nationally.

She started as a bio major, did research through her junior year, did all the med school pre-reqs then ended up switching her major to Spanish. She already spoke Spanish fluently.

During her final two years of college she was a medical scribe and spent summers as a camp counselor.

Graduated with high honors, I think it may be phi beta kappa or something?

Spent two years after undergrad prepping for /taking MCAT, preparing her applications and working at the hospital in our city. I don't know how many apps she did or how many interviews she had, but I know she had at least three interviews -- one was at a DO school in our state, one was at the state flagship med school and the other was at another neighbor state flagship med school.


A daughter of a friend just completed her first year of medical training at a relatively new, but accredited, DO school in a very rural area. It may be like the worst one in the US but she will still be a doctor. She played a d1 sport in undergrad, majored in sociology and had a terrible gpa (like sub 3.0). She graduated and worked in marketing for a year and then had an epiphany she wanted to go to med school. She moved home and went to the local state college (which is ranked sub-300) to do all her pre-reqs. She did all her pre-reqs and worked part-time as a medical assistant and took her MCATS over the course of 3 maybe 4 years. She applied to many, many, many lower-ranked med schools. I am not sure what interviews etc. she had, but she ultimately ended up at this DO school.

[Anonymous]

scary stories

[Anonymous]

DD is premed. The premed requirements (math, statistics, biology with lab, chem with lab, physics with lab, Orgo with lab, English) are brutal. Spent all of her summers during research. I'm not sure how anyone these days could go directly from undergrad to med school without taking a gap year cause it would mean taking the MCATs as a junior! How does any premed find the time to study and take the MCATs which is 7.5 hours long?! In addition to the MCATs, many med schools also require other tests such as the Altus Suite. There are primary and secondary applications, not to mention interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is premed. The premed requirements (math, statistics, biology with lab, chem with lab, physics with lab, Orgo with lab, English) are brutal. Spent all of her summers during research. I'm not sure how anyone these days could go directly from undergrad to med school without taking a gap year cause it would mean taking the MCATs as a junior! How does any premed find the time to study and take the MCATs which is 7.5 hours long?! In addition to the MCATs, many med schools also require other tests such as the Altus Suite. There are primary and secondary applications, not to mention interviews.

My DC didn’t find the pre-recs brutal but did agree that taking a gap year made sense. It’s more like half a year extra in terms of when you actually start at med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors (who are both doctors) have a daughter who was accepted to the state flagship med school where we live.

She went to the most competitive charter school in our small city, which is less competitive than most DC private school or suburban magnets. It is very heavy on test prep and she had multiple 5s on AP exams and a terrific GPA.

She went to the honors college of our state flagship on a nearly full scholarship. This school is ranked around 100 for universities nationally.

She started as a bio major, did research through her junior year, did all the med school pre-reqs then ended up switching her major to Spanish. She already spoke Spanish fluently.

During her final two years of college she was a medical scribe and spent summers as a camp counselor.

Graduated with high honors, I think it may be phi beta kappa or something?

Spent two years after undergrad prepping for /taking MCAT, preparing her applications and working at the hospital in our city. I don't know how many apps she did or how many interviews she had, but I know she had at least three interviews -- one was at a DO school in our state, one was at the state flagship med school and the other was at another neighbor state flagship med school.


A daughter of a friend just completed her first year of medical training at a relatively new, but accredited, DO school in a very rural area. It may be like the worst one in the US but she will still be a doctor. She played a d1 sport in undergrad, majored in sociology and had a terrible gpa (like sub 3.0). She graduated and worked in marketing for a year and then had an epiphany she wanted to go to med school. She moved home and went to the local state college (which is ranked sub-300) to do all her pre-reqs. She did all her pre-reqs and worked part-time as a medical assistant and took her MCATS over the course of 3 maybe 4 years. She applied to many, many, many lower-ranked med schools. I am not sure what interviews etc. she had, but she ultimately ended up at this DO school.

Wow that sounds awful familiar like our friend's daughter. She got her BA in Biology and completed the pre-reqs, but did not have a great GPA. She also moved back home, worked as a scribe and took the MCAT 2x, with not great results. Then spent one year to get her medical master's (MS) degree and spent another year prepping for the MCAT. All while still shadowing a Dr and working as a scribe. This time the MCAT was good enough, as she applied to med schools. Over 30 she told me. She ended up at a DO med school. In all it has been 5 years since she got her bachelors. She was determined.

[Anonymous]

What is a medical masters degree?