Jacob Frenchman4th year BIOSC major and soon-to-be med student Like many of my Pitt classmates, I applied to medical school during this application cycle (2021-2022). The medical school application cycle has been filled with hard work, moments of stress, and moments of relief, much like the rest of the pre-med process. I have also learned some valuable lessons about time-management, interviewing, and self-reflection. In my blog posts this semester, I am going to break down the three major blocks of the application cycle and include some perspective on what I think worked well for me, and what I wish I knew before I started. Specifically in this post, I will be reflecting on my experience with the primary application (the first official step in the cycle). The Primary Application. The first official component of the medical school application cycle will be the primary app. Think of it as your high school common app because it is one document distributed to every AMCAS school you apply to. The primary application will include demographic information, academic record, a work and activities (W&A) section, personal statement (PS), MCAT scores*, letters of recommendation*, and your school list*. When entering your entire academic record there are a few things to keep in mind: you must include EVERY college level course you have taken (including high school dual enrollment and community college) and you must send AMCAS transcripts from every institution you took a course at. Additionally, you must enter all your courses and grades manually, which is a bit of a pain, but probably the simplest aspect of the application process! The W&A section and Personal statement are going to be the brunt of the work in your primary, but do not underestimate their value in your application. There are a variety of strategies on how to structures these essays; but ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how you want to write them. The most important pieces of advice I was given was to make sure your story comes through in them and find a few trusted mentors to review, review, and review your essays some more. Lastly, I was always reminded to remember that the prompt for the personal statement is “Why medicine?”, not “Why would you be a good doctor?”. I placed an asterisk next to MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, and school list because the primary application can technically be submitted for processing by AMCAS without your MCAT score, all your letters of recommendation, and a completed school list. You only need to send your primary to 1 school to initiate the verification process. For me, I took my MCAT the last week of May and submitted my primary for verification a week later in June without my official MCAT score or every letter of recommendation completed by my mentors. So, once I received my official MCAT score a month later, I added additional programs to my school list in the AMCAS portal and then delegated all of my letters of recommendation to each specific program I was applying to. This strategy can be intimidating because you are beginning the process without a vital piece of the application, but if you took all the AMCAS full lengths (FL) under exam conditions, and barring any very unpredictable MCAT test day issues, using the FL average to guide your school list can help you get an idea of the programs you will be most competitive at on paper. When I employed this strategy to begin the verification process, I only applied to programs I knew I would apply to even if I bombed my real MCAT. For me, this was only my in-state programs. This worked out very well for me because my primary application was officially verified 2 days before my MCAT score release. So, as soon as I received a score, I added additional programs into AMCAS and started receiving secondary applications the next morning. For reference: the cycle usually opens the last week of May, and you want to submit your primary either that week or during the first 1-2 weeks of June because it will take 4-6 weeks to have everything verified by AMCAS. The longer you wait to submit the primary, the longer it will be until you are verified, which delays when the primary is sent to your school list. Therefore, further delaying when you receive secondaries from your school lists. A good rule of thumb is to complete your primary as fast as possible without sacrificing the quality of your W&A/PS — I know, how vague. Thank you so much for reading this first installment of my experiences with the med school app cycle, I hope you enjoyed it at least a little! I tried to include the most essential information, but there is so much, and this was barely scratching the surface! If you want to discuss the application process, feel free to swing by my office hours on Wednesdays 2-3 PM in Clapp L10 or on zoom!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Pitt Bio BlogThe Pitt Bio Blog is maintained by the Department of Biological Sciences Advising Office. Posts are authored by our students Archives
January 2022
Categories |