entering college i wasn't even sure i
wanted to go to medical school
fast forward a few years and i was
getting acceptances to multiple top 10
medical schools with
full tuition scholarship want to know
how i did it
these are the pre-med strategies and
tactics that will take you from zero
to hero dr jabal med schoolinsiders.com
despite what you may have been told
success as a pre-med isn't about being
the smartest student in the room
or even necessarily the hardest working
while work ethic is an important
foundation
strategic and intelligent use of your
resources and energy
will more reliably determine your level
of success
the successful pre-med has a willingness
to experiment and
eagerness to improve back in college i
remember being surprised how
most of my classmates seemed to know
exactly what worked for them in terms of
studying
at the same time it made me feel
self-conscious and doubt myself
how come all these other people have
figured out exactly how to study and
what works for them
and i'm still not sure what's best for
me in hindsight i realized
how backwards this was i was a strong
student securing straight a's
and actually setting the curve in the
majority of my pre-med science classes
students with the attitude that they had
everything figured out were holding
themselves back
whereas i was experimenting and tweaking
knowing i could improve my strategies
with this open-minded approach i tried
different strategies i either read about
online or
heard from classmates and professors the
self-assured students
doubling down on what had worked for
them in high school were stuck in their
old ways
limited by strategies that were
inadequate for the college environment
but be careful don't fall for the trap
of treating the pursuit of improvement
as
a means to an end the most successful
pre-meds treat improvement as an
autotellic activity
meaning it's not a means to an end but
rather an end in
and of itself in other words the student
who watches this video and thinks they
need to tweak an experiment to improve
their grades will not get as far as the
student who is intrinsically motivated
to improve
for the sake of improving by finding joy
and reward in the process of becoming
better
you'll unlock a different paradigm this
applies beyond just studying
in terms of extracurriculars i wasn't
afraid to check out many different
activities
and drop the ones that didn't vibe with
me i joined various clubs and
attended dozens of meetings but i often
wasn't captivated by the vision
didn't love the people or it just didn't
work well with my schedule
this doesn't mean to simply jump from
activity to activity
when you find the ones that resonate
with you commit to them and dive deep
but just like dating
don't be afraid to explore before
committing top performing pre-meds
realize that
this process is a marathon not a sprint
if you're anything like i was at the
beginning of college you're probably
overly focused on short-term fun
at the expense of long-term success in
my first quarter
i was wild finally on my own for the
first time
i was prioritizing having fun partying
and
trying new experiences studying was
something i had to do
but it could wait until the night before
the exam
this procrastination ended up increasing
my stress levels
and yielded sub-optimal results for
better or worse
i was diagnosed with crohn's disease in
my second quarter of college and that's
when i finally got my act together
i went from thinking i was invincible
and feeling like i'd be young forever
to facing reality and being laser
focused on my goal
becoming a doctor long-term thinking is
less sexy
it doesn't make for glamorous instagram
photos or bragging rights to your
friends
after all it's a near universal
phenomenon for
college students to brag about how
little they studied for a test
or how little they slept it's like
wearing a badge of incompetence but for
some reason
it's idolized pre-meds who perform at
the peak
understand the importance of regular
review and reflection
this applies most obviously to testing
anytime you receive your test results
back from a professor
sees the opportunity to go over it don't
focus on the actual score
focus on the opportunity to learn from
your results
go back and look through the entire test
even if i did well on a test
i know that i guessed or got lucky on at
least a few questions
i'll make sure to go back find those
questions and examine
what i did to score well on those
questions did i use a specific technique
that worked out well
did i logic my way through it if you get
a question wrong
it's critical to examine why you got it
wrong this isn't just so you can avoid
making the same mistake on your next
midterm or final
but more importantly to highlight
detrimental patterns in thinking or
test taking strategies that can hold you
back in future classes as well
the importance of this principle makes
sense when you realize you can only
improve if you know what changes you
need to make
and you can only know what changes are
necessary if you have an accurate
understanding of where you currently
stand and in which direction you need to
move
you cannot improve your test taking
skills unless you are aware of your
results
what works and what doesn't similarly
you cannot improve your study strategies
unless you are first cognizant of how
you are studying
and you cannot improve your
understanding of yourself or the world
around you without the same
in test taking reviewing and reflecting
is more straightforward but this applies
to other domains of life as well
if there's one habit i wish i started
sooner it's regular journaling
as it provides clarity of thought a
stupidly simple but
incredibly elusive phenomenon
particularly in the modern age of hyper
distraction
pre-meds that rise above the rest aren't
afraid to explore their non-medicine
interests
you've heard me say it before and i'll
say it again avoid the checklist
mentality
as a pre-med i knew there were certain
things i had to get done
but i didn't let a checklist mentality
dictate my actions
i understood the importance of enjoying
the journey and activities i was engaged
in
some students explore non-medical
extracurriculars through
a checklist mentality thinking they'll
become more interesting applicants
as a result i physically cannot face pom
any harder
explore your genuine interests because
they bring you joy
and as a byproduct of following your
interests you'll actually pursue them to
a much greater depth
that depth will not only accelerate your
learning and teach you important
lifelong
lessons but you'll also reach noteworthy
achievements and strengthen your
application as a
secondary outcome in life there are
those who prioritize gaming the system
and others who prioritize fundamentals
think of youtube
you see so many aspiring youtubers
obsessing over the exact tactics and
strategies of how to grow a youtube
channel
to them i say the youtube algorithm
elevates and rewards high quality
content
rather than trying to game the system
focus on the fundamentals of what makes
for good content
that offers value the same concept
applies to the mindset of a pre-med
you can try to game the system and
pursue the checklist mentality to come
out ahead
or you can focus on the fundamentals
developing yourself as a well-rounded
individual
who happens to be a stellar applicant
almost as
a byproduct in exploring my interest
beyond medicine
i was on a competitive dance team for
all four years of college
and we traveled all across the u.s and
canada to attend various competitions
i also explored my interest in graphic
design and took two leadership positions
that allowed me to pursue this further
i didn't do this to become a stronger
applicant but at nearly every medical
school for which i
interviewed at least one interviewer was
excited to talk about these experiences
the last principle of the successful
pre-med is that they understand the
importance of investing in themselves
i didn't come from a privileged
background we pinched pennies
had three of us in a one bedroom
apartment and i had to work in a library
and save for six months to afford my
first laptop
but even still my family always
highlighted the importance of investing
in my own education
we could be frugal with clothes travel
food
tech and just about anything else but
anytime i needed a book or resource
i was reminded that my education is a
priority not to be taken lightly
i could have downloaded the textbook pdf
from a friend and
saved a hundred dollars but the
experience of reading the paper book and
taking notes and
marking it up gave me a marginally
better experience
and that marginally better experience
could be the difference of me getting
through 50 practice questions or just
15. just as people invest in the stock
market to get a return on their
investment
your education is an investment in
yourself
the main difference is that your
education can have a significantly
higher roi
by focusing on my education and
investing in myself
i was able to get into multiple top
medical schools and little did i know
even make me competitive enough to earn
merit-based scholarships that saved me
hundreds of thousands of dollars if you
want to get
more meta this investment paid off
thousands of times more
because without it i wouldn't have had
this level of success with med school
insiders
think about it if i was an average
student that barely got into medical
school
aspiring physicians like you would be
less eager to learn from me
and the quality of my insights or advice
would also be compromised
one of the most important investments
for a pre-med is how they decide to
approach the mcat
if you're a pre-med interested in
investing in your own future
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if you enjoyed this video
you should watch my 6 college mistakes
video or 6 signs that you'll be a great
doctor
much love and i'll see you guys there
[Music]
you