it's more difficult to get into medical
school now than it has ever been it
seems that every year more and more
pre-meds apply to medical school and yet
the number of first-year positions stays
relatively the same if your dream is to
become a doctor you will have to avoid
the pitfalls that so many pre-meds fall
into and the first step is understanding
what those pitfalls are dr dubal
medschoolinsiders.com according to the
double amc over 62 000 applicants
applied during the 2021-22 application
cycle and only 23 000 matriculated
that's an acceptance rate of only 37
and a decrease of about 5 compared to
last year if you're a pre-med just
starting your future doctor journey
these can be worrisome statistics there
is a silver lining though getting into
medical school isn't like winning the
lottery there are steps you can take and
mistakes you can avoid that will help
ensure acceptance even when the odds
seem stacked against you here are five
reasons why pre-meds fail to get into
medical school and what you can do to
avoid them let's start by addressing the
elephant in the room the number one
reason why most pre-meds fail to get
into medical school is sub-optimal hard
components this means a low gpa and or a
low mcat score now i already know what
some of you are gonna say in the
comments if you browse reddit or student
doctor network long enough you are bound
to come across a post that says i got
into medical school with a 2.0 gpa and a
495 mcat or maybe one that says i have a
4.0 gpa and a 528 mcat and didn't get
into any medical schools after reading a
few of these you might start to think
that having a good gpa and mcat are not
that important for your medical school
admissions not quite it's true some
pre-meds get into medical school with
low gpas and low mcat scores the
converse is true too a killer gpa and
mcat is no guarantee of acceptance
either these individuals are the
exception though not the rule and there
are other factors at play that determine
one's competitiveness as an applicant
the reality is that if you have a high
gpa and a high mcat objectively you are
more likely to get into medical school
than if you had a low gpa and a low mcat
this isn't just my opinion either if you
look at the data from the double amc
higher gpa and mcat scores are
correlated with higher medical school
acceptance rates to convince yourself
otherwise is foolish and will only hurt
your chances of getting into medical
school if you find yourself in a
situation where you have a low gpa or
mcat the good news is that there is
still hope you don't have to give up on
your dreams of becoming a doctor there
are students who have been in your exact
situation who have still gotten into
excellent medical schools and gone on to
become wonderful doctors you do have to
be realistic with your chances though
realize that if you have low numbers you
are going to have to work hard to
compensate you'll either have to improve
these metrics or shine in other aspects
of your application to have a realistic
chance of a medical school acceptance
the next reason that pre-meds fail to
get into medical school is that they
adopt a checkbox mentality they google
medical school application requirements
and use the search results as a sort of
checklist okay i need a 3.7 gpa check i
need a 511 mcat score check i need 200
hours of volunteer work check and i need
200 hours of research experience check
they believe that if they can just
complete every item on the checklist
then they'll be guaranteed acceptance
unfortunately this isn't the case
although there are certainly worse ways
to approach getting into medical school
the problem with the checkbox approach
is that you don't end up pushing
yourself beyond the typical medical
school applicant as a result you become
the typical cookie cutter applicant
indistinguishable from the tens of
thousands of other premeds whose
applications look nearly identical if
you set your sights on completing the
bare minimum then that's all you'll ever
achieve to truly maximize your chances
you need to push yourself beyond the
typical medical school applicant instead
of checking boxes you need to craft a
compelling narrative you do this by
pursuing opportunities that you are
passionate about which can sometimes
mean diving deep into your interests
outside of medicine if you're passionate
about cycling or swimming for instance
lean into that if you're interested in
making a meaningful change toward a
social cause you care deeply about lean
into that medical schools don't just
want applicants that excel academically
and clinically they want well-rounded
applicants who can bring a new and
interesting perspective to their medical
school deeper experiences also show
commitment and perseverance two
qualities that are necessary for any
successful medical student becoming a
doctor is a long arduous road and
admissions committees need to see that
you have the capacity to follow through
on longer term goals reason three that
pre-meds fail to get into medical school
is that they either don't apply to the
right schools or they don't apply to
enough schools when choosing where to
apply there are a variety of factors
that you need to consider there are the
obvious ones like average gpa and mcat
of matriculants but also things like
location class size and mission
statement that you need to consider as
well take location for instance many
medical schools receive funding from the
state government and tend to heavily
favor in-state applicants if you apply
mainly to out-of-state schools with low
out-of-state acceptance rates you're
setting yourself up for failure by
prioritizing and applying to your
in-state schools you can sometimes
improve your odds by orders of magnitude
next is class size a school that has 50
spots available is often going to be a
lot more selective than a school that
has 250 spots available also consider
the mission statement of the schools
that you're applying to if a particular
program heavily prioritizes research and
you have little to no research
experience it may not be worthwhile to
apply to that school conversely if
they're heavily focused on primary care
and you're leaning towards neurosurgery
it might not be the best possible fit in
addition to applying to the right
schools you also need to make sure that
you're applying to the right number of
schools there is an asymmetric risk
associated with the number of schools
you apply to the main risk of applying
to too many schools is losing money
whereas the main risk of not applying to
enough schools is not getting into
medical school that year even if you
look at things strictly from a financial
perspective you're still likely to come
out ahead by applying to more schools
each application cycle to medical school
is an expensive ordeal and you want to
ideally only apply once additionally
every year that you don't get into
medical school is not just another year
spent in training but it's also another
year that you miss out on receiving an
attending salary so spending an extra
thousand dollars now can end up saving
you hundreds of thousands of dollars in
missed salary down the road even if
you're a strong applicant it's still in
your best interest to apply to a large
number of schools because it puts you in
a position of optionality and power i
sent out applications to close to 40
medical schools had over 20 interview
invites and was able to gain multiple
acceptances this gave me the power to
choose between schools pick the one that
was the best fit and leverage my
multiple acceptances to get almost all
the cost of medical school covered for
free the fourth reason that pre-meds
fail to get into medical school is that
they don't prepare enough for their
interviews it doesn't matter if you have
a 4.0 gpa a perfect 528 mcat and glowing
letters of recommendation a bad
interview can make or break your entire
application remember interviews are one
of the last obstacles standing between
you and medical school acceptance so
it's vital that you take the time to
prepare adequately start by
familiarizing yourself with the most
common interview questions plan out what
you're going to say and how you're going
to say it but keep in mind you want your
responses to be well thought out while
still sounding conversational you don't
want to come off like you're just
reciting a canned response next know
your application inside and out
everything you put on your application
is fair game for an interviewer to ask
about this is especially important if
you're applying to a highly ranked
research institution trust me they will
ask you about your research extensively
and not being an expert on it will get
your application in the rejection pile
next learn about the schools that you
are interviewing at read about their
curriculum their research interests
their student groups and what other
opportunities they offer if possible try
to pick out one or two unique aspects
about each program then sell these
aspects as reasons why that program is a
great fit for you you want to be able to
show that you've done your homework and
are interested in the unique things that
their program has to offer now all there
is left to do is practice it's one thing
to plan out what you're going to say and
do during your interviews but it's an
entirely different thing to do it start
by reciting answers to common questions
to yourself then move on to practicing
with others and participating in mock
interviews the best mock interviews are
done with doctors or instructors who
have served on medical school admissions
committees they will know firsthand what
interviewers are looking for and what
you can do to present the best version
of yourself while your friends or family
or pre-med advisor can help you sound
good they won't have the nuanced
understanding of what medical school
admissions committees want to hear for
your medical school mock interview needs
visit medschoolinsiders.com in a med
school insider's mock interview you'll
work with a former admissions committee
physician together our team has
conducted thousands of interviews and we
know the process inside and out if you
want to shine on your interviews visit
the link in the description the last
reason that pre-meds fail to get into
medical school is that they listen to
bad advice when trying to figure out how
to get into medical school many pre-meds
will use online forums like reddit or
student doctor network as their primary
source of information although these
forums may contain some solid advice
from time to time it's often buried
under a ton of questionable and even
harmful advice as someone lacking
expertise in medical school admissions
it's near impossible to sift through and
separate the signal from the noise posts
on these forums also tend to focus on
individual cases instead of overall
trends what works for one student may
not work for another so you need to find
someone who understands the overall
trends but can also make adjustments on
an individual level for a more tailored
approach many students will turn to
pre-med advisors at their university for
assistance although this may seem to be
a step up from online forums these
advisors usually still lack the
knowledge and expertise to maximize your
chances of getting into medical school
if you want to hear more about what i
learned firsthand about the world of
pre-med advisors i have an entire video
covering the juicy details when applying
to medical school you want help from
trusted experts who can elevate your
application help you get into your dream
school and even make you so compelling
as an applicant that schools fight over
you and try to win you by covering your
tuition and living expenses as you look
at resources and companies to work with
seek out those who are actual md
physicians not phd or others who didn't
go to medical school look for those who
have achieved stellar results themselves
with a track record of success with
glowing reviews from customers and a
systematic approach so you know you'll
always receive high quality service if
you decide on med school insiders we'd
love to be a part of your journey in
becoming a future physician visit us on
medschoolinsiders.com thank you all so
much for watching if you enjoyed this
video be sure to check out my video on
the best pre-med major or this other
video much love and i'll see you guys
there
you