every year I interact with hundreds of
pre-med applicants who are eager to gain
admission to medical school and take the
next step in their journey of becoming a
doctor unfortunately there is a great
deal of misinformation resulting in
several common preman mistakes that
hinder their chances of getting accepted
here are the top six mistakes to avoid
and what you should be doing instead
doctor jabal med school insiders comm a
surprisingly common mistake amongst
pre-meds is going through the
application process without actually
being ready applicants often decide to
apply one year knowing full well that
they may not get accepted and that they
would be a stronger applicant by waiting
one more year but hey if it doesn't go
well they can just apply the following
year with a bit of practice under their
belt seems like a good idea right
actually this is a terrible idea for
multiple reasons first and most
obviously it is a significant waste of
money when you apply to medical school
you'll be using the American Medical
College application service also known
as AM Cass this is a common application
you fill out once and send to multiple
schools and it is the first step in the
application process thereby called the
primary application in 2019 MCAS costs
one hundred and seventy dollars for the
first school and thirty-nine dollars for
each additional school you apply to with
the average applicant applying to
fifteen to twenty schools that brings
the total cost between seven hundred and
fifty five and nine hundred and eleven
dollars but that's just the primary
application fees after receiving a
primary application most schools also
require a secondary app which requires
additional essays and is also subject to
additional fees there are then
additional fees for submitting your
transcript and letters of recommendation
from your college and then there's the
interview process the cost of which adds
up quickly between airfare and lodging
in total it's safe to say you'll spend
more than two thousand or even three
thousand dollars just to apply to
medical school second the application
process is not something you really want
to do more than once certain aspects
like the interview process are
particularly fun and rewarding but most
of it is quite tedious you'll be writing
countless essays handling the
administrative ass
such as score reports and letters of
recommendation and likely finding
yourself somewhat stressed during the
process but lastly and most importantly
being a reapplication or Kansas's of an
acceptance if you apply and don't expect
to get in understand that next year
you'll be earmarked as being a
reapplication the past and did not get
in you'll now have to overcome the
additional hurdle of explaining how
you're an improved applicant this cycle
and why you deserve a second chance
which will also require a complete
rework of all of your essays this is a
position you should avoid if possible
that being said if you do find yourself
as a reapplication our at med school
insider.com specializes in fighting the
weak spots and crafting a compelling
narrative to your medical school
application to maximize your chance of
an acceptance
we've helped dozens of reapplication
become successful medical school
matriculants and we have the highest
satisfaction rating in the industry now
rather than applying prematurely and
then expecting yourself to reapply again
the next year it's best to strengthen
your application and apply just once
apply to win and apply to get in don't
shoot yourself in the foot tying in with
the first point I've come across far too
many pre-med applicants who are
surprisingly nonchalant about the idea
of going to a Caribbean medical school
sure gaining acceptance to a Caribbean
medical school is quite easy but there
is a reason for that
to get a more in-depth understanding of
the pros and cons of going Caribbean be
sure to first watch our video covering
the truth about Caribbean medical
schools I'll give you a hint there
aren't that many upsides so rather than
going the Caribbean route we advise most
of our pre-med clients to do two things
first work on strengthening your medical
school application most applicants are
surprised how much can be done in a
single year and second applied to do
schools if you are unable to secure a
u.s. MD acceptance now for most students
I would recommend going Caribbean only
after one or more failed attempts at
applying to us allopathic and
osteopathic medical schools if you were
to check the application deadlines for
most med schools you'd find dates listed
between October
even February of the next year does that
mean you'd be fine to apply anytime
before that
absolutely not applying early is one of
the most important medical school
admissions strategies now why is that
unlike college or university admissions
most medical schools follow a rolling
admissions process meaning applications
are reviewed sequentially as they arrive
if you are late in submitting your
application many interview slots may
already be filled and now you're
competing for a smaller number of open
spots you may even find yourself in a
position where you don't make the cut
for an interview but you would have had
you applied earlier AM casts opens for
data entry in early May with application
submissions opening in early June but
know that once you hit submit your
application is not immediately sent to
medical schools AM Cass first has to
verify your application as well if you
submit early expect the verification
process to be relatively quick if
however you wait until July it can take
several weeks my general recommendation
is to apply as soon as possible ideally
within the first two weeks of June July
is not optimal but it is fine in most
cases now applying in August is
borderline at September would be
considered too late of course exceptions
exist and that's something that our
advisors can take a look at with
one-on-one guidance it happens every
year a student with stellar numbers a
three point nine nine GPA and 99
percentile MCAT score does not get
accepted usually they have very few
interview invites which points to poor
primary or secondary applications must
commonly they have several interview
invites but no acceptances this points
to weak interview skills we had a few
students approaches who were in this
exact position after working with us
they didn't only get accepted but are
now attending prestigious programs now
how did that happen it's a matter of
understanding that the application is
multifaceted and your numbers are only a
part of the whole picture a big part of
an effective and optimized medical
school application is conveying an
effective narrative as to why you will
be an excellent future doctor and asset
to the program and bring value and
diversity to the upcoming medical school
class conveying this narrow
starts with a nuanced and strategic
personal statement am cast application
and secondary essays congruence and the
interview along this narrative is also
required to get an acceptance offer now
tying in with the previous point put
yourself in the shoes of a medical
school admissions committee member they
are bombarded with thousands of
applications every cycle yet they only
have 100 or 200 seats to fill of all the
hundreds of highly qualified applicants
why should they pick you imagining the
perspective of someone from the other
side is one of my favorite tools not
only for medical school and residency
admissions but even as a strategy to
perform better on the MCAT or USMLE step
one as a medical school admissions
committee member
what would you care about what would
concern you or make you apprehensive
about an applicant what would you want
to see once you understand these
principles it becomes more readily
apparent why certain elements and
narratives are more effective in medical
school applications compared to others
demonstrating a commitment to medicine
maturity resilience and the ability to
handle the rigors of a medical school
curriculum are going to go a long way in
improving your odds effectively
communicating these and other traits in
a nuanced indirect and interesting way
is going to be much more effective than
claiming to be those qualities it is
great to have another pair of eyes
looking at your essay whether that's
your mom friend aunt or mentor improving
your writing is never going to be a bad
thing but while effective storytelling
and writing skills are important they're
just one element of an application and
personal statement you also have to
consider what the admissions committees
are looking for last cycle we had a
student with a relatively well-written
essay the essay opened as many do with a
personal anecdote related to medicine
while what was written was completely
innocent and well intentioned the
physician advisor who was editing the
students essay pointed out that the
story used could remind some physicians
of drug seeking behavior a negative
association like this is something you
should absolutely avoid in your personal
statement for those of you who are
unfamiliar drug-seeking behavior refers
to when a patient presents most commonly
in the emergency department with the
desire
to obtain painkillers it is a massive
headache and not something you want your
admissions committee member to be
thinking of while reading your essay if
you are a reapplication more important
to get these soft elements of your
application just write the personal
statement am cass or a coma or TMD SAS
applications the secondaries and of
course the interview if you need help
look no further than med school insiders
our team of advisors has served on
medical school admissions committees so
they know firsthand how to make an
applicant stand out and how to get them
accepted you can learn more about our
pioneering approach and why we have the
highest satisfaction rate in the
industry at med school insider comm /our
method the first 20 customers to sign up
for our services will receive $30 off
their purchase using the coupon code get
accepted 2019 link in the description
below now if you're applying to medical
school this year I wish you the best of
luck if you have any video topic
requests let me know down in the
comments below my priority is always
providing you guys with value and
helping make the journey to becoming a
doctor a little more manageable and a
little more fun make sure you're
subscribed with the notification belt
enabled and I will see you guys in that
next one