Getting Personal With Your MD Application

  In the 2011-2012 application year, about 44,000 people applied to medical school in the U.S . Each school receives about 3,000 to 5,000 applicant depending on the school's reputation and excellence. Each school enrolls a class of about 100 students. Not matter how many schools you apply to, those odds are slim. If you've done everything right, you should not let these numbers discourage you. But, how do you make sure you get picked out from a thousand others for an interview? Although GPA and MCAT scores are important, at this level they serve more as a cut off point. You passed the first test, but why would they pick you  between someone else with the same numbers? This is were your application comes in.

    Besides the transcripts, courses, scores, and basic biography, the application contains a section for extracurricular activities, and of course, the personal statement. These are your chances to point out what makes you different. You are not just a 3.6 GPA with a 28 MCAT. You are the president of the poetry club who has done lung cancer research for two years and works at a retail store to pay your expenses. The activity itself is not as important as the conclusions that can be drawn from it."President of the poetry club" means you have practiced leadership skills but also that you have dominance in the humanities as well as the sciences. Describing work experience tells schools that you have not been spoiled all your life and you know what it is to earn what you have and also that you managed good grades while working a certain amount of hours. When it comes to the application details such as these can be vital. 

      The AAMC application contains 15 slots for extracurricular activities. If you have less, search among your high school extracurricular. If you have more, try to compress them by category. For example, "physician shadowing" can be one category, "pre-med club" can be another if you participated in one, and so on.  The important thing is to make it as unique as possible. Show that you are a well-rounded human being, that your life has not revolved around studying for four years. There are three slots of these fifteen that can be marked as significant to your desire to become a physician. Although you have a limited amount of words, personal stories and experiences can and should be included in this area. Anything that couldn't fit into your personal statement can be re-located here. 

      Don't be shy, especially with the personal statement. Don't enumerate in length all of your activities in it. Talk about choices, difficulties you have faced in your life, your family, their history and anything that has shaped you into what you are. Think about it like a visit to the therapist. But instead of seeking for help, write about what you have done to overcome those difficulties and what you learned from those experiences. Life experience may not be an official requirement for medical schools, but it is one that makes you stand out. There may be experiences that are too personal, that you won't mention to just anybody. But they make you real to the admissions' people, so they must know.

       What makes you  unique, whether it's you hobbies, sports, music, or your family paints a picture to medical schools about the kind of doctor that you will be. This picture is what will get you interviews.