Becoming a Competitive Applicant for Medical School Part I
Look No Further. Get Started Today. Call: 888-839-9997 e-mail: [email protected] 20 Minutes Free Consultation Medical school admissions committees take the time to carefully scrutinize different aspects of each application. If you know what medical schools are specifically looking for when they review applications, you can better prepare yourself during your premedical career. Knowing why medical schools care about the things they care about is also helpful. Part I. What do medical schools want in an applicant and why? In this section, we review what medical schools are looking for in applicants and why. This is not a list of medical school admissions requirements, but a list of the achievements that make an applicant competitive for medical school. In the second section, we will review how you can become a competitive applicant for medical school by covering all the listed areas. 1) Grade Point Average (GPA): Medical school is academically challenging and admissions committees want to know that you are capable of handling the rigorous coursework in medical school. A good undergraduate GPA is absolutely essential to proving that you are capable of academically succeeding in medical school. 2) Medical College Admissions Test Scores (MCAT): Like the GPA, medical schools use the MCAT score to determine an applicant’s ability to excel in the medical school coursework and to succeed on the medical boards. The MCAT is the great equalizer because it shows not just how you performed compared to students who went to the same college as you, but compared to all medical school applicants. 3) Exposure to Clinical Medicine: Simply proving you have what it takes to do well...
Medical Ethics for the Medical School Interview
Get Started Today Call: 888-839-9997 e-mail: [email protected] 20 Minutes Free Consultation Ethical issues arise every day in medical care. Medical schools and PA schools frequently like to assess applicants’ positions on various ethical issues during the interview. Ethical questions can come up both as prompts in the multiple mini interview or in the traditional interview. While there are no single right answers with ethical questions, it is always a good idea to show thoughtfulness and to take a position when you are asked to express your opinion about an ethical issue or challenged to explain how you would deal with various ethicalscenarios. In general, it is a good idea to take a middle of the road position when discussing your views. Interviewers tend to look less favorably on extreme positions. As you go about discussing your position or navigating your way through a complex medical ethics scenario during your medical school interview, its useful to have some basic knowledge. Here we review some of the key points that will make you sound more knowledgeable and intelligent for your medical school interview. Important Medical Ethics Points to Know: Refusing Medical Treatments If an adult patient has decision making capacity (is not mentally impaired in a way that affects his ability to make decisions), he is free to refuse medical treatments. This holds true even if the medical treatmentcan save the patient’s life. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses who possess decision making capacity may refuse to receive a blood transfusion because of their religious views. Religious reasons are not the only reason for refusing treatment. An adult patient with capacity can...