The 5 major components of your AMCAS application.
Yana and Leo Vaks-Aliaga
Ok. You're going to apply to med school. You start moving along that path. Sometimes, it feels like "I have to walk thousands of miles to Mordor and climb to the top of Mount Doom." You wonder, how the hell am I going to do that??? Well, it helps to have a map that breaks each saga down into smaller chapters.
Your med school application is composed of 6 major categories: GPA, MCAT, Extra-curricular activities (ECAs), personal statement, letters of recommendation, and the interview. The first 5 of those are what you need to prepare for the primary application (AMCAS). Take each one of those 5 categories and devise strategic plans for developing them, almost like a roadmap:
1. Protect your GPA like a hawk. Yes, you need to do premed ECAs, but if they begin compromising your GPA, cut back on them. Sure, the whole process may take you longer, but too low of a GPA will make it much more difficult.
2. MCAT is a whole separate discussion... but you need a roadmap for this as well. Too complex to adequately address in such a short space. The nice thing about the MCAT is that it is a one-time performance (as opposed to years of building up a GPA) and can help offset a lower GPA.
3. ECAs - depth & length are better than a smattering of superficial activities. Choose activities that will help you answer these two questions: "How do you know what doctors do?" and "How do you know you'll like doing what doctors do?" Keep a journal, jotting down a line or two about meaningful experiences during these activities. If you realize you can't come up with to many meaningful things to write, change the activity or change your mindset/approach to the activity. And then there's knowing how to write about them on your AMCAS...
4. Personal statement - start now. Even if it's early on in your premed path. Just start now. The first few drafts will suck, it's inevitable, and it's not your fault, it's just part of writing. My first few drafts for med school and residency application were total garbage. You have to first write that cliché & boring garbage in order to get to the good stuff later on. Things to watch out for are not starting soon enough, not going through enough revisions, not having enough people look at it. Keep a journal during your premed activities - it will provide a wealth of material when you write your PS.
5. Letters - really helps to form relationships w your profs. But you need to know to do that at the start of the course. Go to office hours. Be visible. Always ask if they can write you a "strong" letter. Read the great MiMentor article Dr. Jorge Torres wrote about tips for getting LORs.
These are all very cursory descriptions. It really is a whole strategic plan you need to create (of course, knowing that it will change as time goes on & new circumstances arise). Knowing what I know now, concerns I'd have about the med school application process are not having each one of these categories developed to the best of my ability.
This is part of a larger explanation of how to make a premed roadmap that Yana and I use when we work with premeds. We'll make a more complete post about this as time goes on, since each one of these categories has its own intricacies. Perhaps a series of posts about each one.