The Medical School Application and Rolling Admissions

By Michelle A. Finkel, MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

In recent years the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS)has opened in early May, and pre-meds have been able to submit theirmedical school applications, including the activity descriptors, most meaningful paragraphs, and their personal statementsstarting in the first week of June. Because of rolling admissions, submitting a complete medical school application early in the cycle has distinct advantages at many schools.

Rolling admissions means that an institution takes medical school applications in the order in which they are received and makes decisions about interviews and then acceptances, accordingly. So, as times goes by, there are fewer interview and admissions offers remaining to be made. Years ago I read a great description of the rolling admissions process:

Imagine there is an auditorium full of seats. The doors to the auditorium are opened and people start to trickle in. As they do, some of the seats are taken. As time passes, more and more of the seats are occupied and there is, therefore, less and less space for new folks to sit. Rolling admissions has this same structure. The longer you wait to apply, the fewer slots are left for you.

If your medical school application is not complete, your candidacy may not be evaluated early when there are more opportunities for interviews and admissions. So it’s important that you get started on your written materials as early as possible (within reason, of course) to ensure you have time for multiple drafts, expert review, and the unavoidable errors that will present themselves. Anticipating the workload and submitted as early as possible could make a huge difference in your available opportunities. That doesn't mean you should submit suboptimal written materials; it means you should plan in advanceso that you are offering your best work.

How to Get Strong Medical School Letters of Recommendation

Author: Michelle Finkel, MD

As a Harvard Assistant Residency Director, I bore witness to how weak – or even mediocre – LORs had the potential to bomb an otherwise competitive candidacy. Once you’ve followed directions and asked the right people, it’s time to influence the content of your letters by making the job of letter writing easy.

When pre-meds, residents, nurses, and physician colleagues asked me to write them LORs when I was Assistant Residency Director, the first thing I requested was that they send me background information to make my letter robust…and my job easier. Accordingly, I strongly recommend you create a residency or medical school application “LOR packet,” which can include the following:

1. A brief, well-written cover letter defining all of your important accomplishments
2. Your curriculum vitae (CV)
3. Your personal statement in its final form

4. Your transcripts.

With regard to the cover letter, keep it streamlined. No one will skip the beach or her two-year old’s birthday party to read your exhaustive biography, so you want to thank the writer and highlight your pre-professional achievements in one page. The point of the cover letter is to supplement a letter writer’s knowledge of your candidacy and offer flattering content for inclusion. A professor may know that you made the only A in an organic chemistry class, but her LOR will be more complete, and she will demonstrate a more intimate familiarity with you if she knows enough to write that you volunteer regularly at a homeless shelter.

With regard to the CV and personal statement, these make useful supplements to the LOR packet only if they are in professional and final form. Don’t include rough drafts, as poorly organized background information leaves your writer the impression that you are a disorganized person. Also, only include the transcript if it bolsters your candidacy, demonstrating academic achievement. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot if you have some bad grades or an incomplete you’d rather not showcase.

Bottom line: An applicant who offered me a list of her accomplishments in a tidy, accessible package was more likely to get a strong, comprehensive letter that was submitted promptly. She also distinguished herself from the majority of candidates who requested letters without demonstrating a comparably sophisticated understanding of the demands this process made on my time. If you can make a letter writer's job easier, your forethought is likely to pay dividends in the letter your receive and, consequently, your residency or medical school application as a whole. This is not a court of law, so the savvy applicant can take subtle advantage of her ability to "lead the witness."

Residency Personal Statement for the Preliminary Year

By Michelle A. Finkel, MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

Candidates who apply to certain fields – for example radiology or dermatology - need a preliminary year of training before initiating their specialty residency. I've been asked about submitting the same residency personal statement for both the desired specialty and the prelim year.

It is appropriate to use the same essay with modifications. Ensure you explicitly address why a prelim year in - let's say Internal Medicine - will advance the rest of your career. Of course, you can be honest about what your professional goals are; the reader knows you are applying for a one-year position, but it is important to include a paragraph that focuses on how the prelim program will help you.

Remember that many residency directors of preliminary programs are very eager to see specialty applicants. In other words, to successfully apply in radiology or dermatology, a candidate must have stellar grades, letters of recommendations, extracurricular activities, and United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores. So, generally faculty at these programs are happy to see residency personal statements from these excellent medical students. Being frank about your career goals will oftentimes be a positive – not the negative you feel you should hide.

Finally, make sure your preliminary year residency personal statement is well-crafted – even if it is not being used for your specialty. As always, substance is key. Just like a lawyer does when s/he is trying a case in front of a judge, you must persuade with evidence. Saying you are a caring person or want to make the world a better place is not compelling, and those claims do not distinguish you from the scores of other applicants competing with you. You need to proveyour value and distinctiveness with academic, clinical, research, community service, leadership, international, and teaching achievements. To the admissions reader – preliminary or specialty -applicants are what they do – not what they say.

Residency Application: ERAS Tips

By Michelle A. Finkel, MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

I've been editing residency personal statements and ERAS activitiesfor a decade now, and I’ve developed a streamlined list of recommendations for those embarking on their ERAS activity descriptors, specifically. Here goes:

1. Include relevant pre-professional accomplishments from college. If you conducted research, for example, list and describe it. Do not include high school achievements unless they were truly unique (worked at the White House, sang on Broadway ;)).

2. While you want to include many strong achievements, you do not want your ERAS to be so long that your reader is tempted to skim it. Be selective.

3. Keep your descriptors to approximately three to seven sentences. Fewer can look lazy and more can look self-indulgent.

4. Use full sentences. It’s a formal application, and you want to make your written materials as readable as possible.

5. Avoid abbreviations. Again, you want to be formal, and abbreviations you think are common might not be familiar to the reader.

6. Make sure you spell out your accomplishments clearly. If your reader doesn’t understand an activity, you will not get “full credit” for what you’ve done. Make no assumptions.

7. Write about yourself and your role – not an organization. For example, don’t use the space to discuss Physicians without Borders. Use it to discuss the specifics of your role at Physicians without Borders.

8. Use numbers to be persuasive. Saying that the conference you organized had 300 participants says it all.

9. Unless your PI won the Nobel, avoid using supervisors' and/or doctors' names in your descriptors as they will be meaningless to the majority of your readers.

10. Get help. Do not submit your residency application, including your descriptors or residency personal statement, without having it reviewed. Don’t submit suboptimal materials for a process that is this important and competitive.

Medical School Interview Questions: Preparing for your MMI

By Michelle A. Finkel MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

Although the majority of medical school interview questions are part of a traditional interview day, an increasing number of medical schools (as well as dental schools) are using the MMI platform. The MMI (multiple mini interview) is a format that uses several timed stations to assess applicants' interpersonal skills and judgment. Sometimes these stations involve actors who have parts in the scenarios. Other times, the candidateis simply provided with a situation and must reason aloud and explain how s/he might handle the story line.

A few things to note about MMI medical school interview questions:

1) They are not always medically-related. You may be asked to manage an everyday problem (e.g. a disagreement at the supermarket or on the street).

2) They are not always situational. You need to be prepared for conventional questions too (e.g. what are your three greatest strengths or why do you think we chose to interview you?).

3) Schools are trying to assess whether you can skillfully employ important techniques and demonstrate professionalism. Underlying topics might include your ability to offer effective counseling, your understanding of patient-doctor confidentiality, your ability to diffuse a heated situation, your capacity to admit wrongdoing, etc. It’s critical that you show adeptness with these sometimes awkward or challenging scenarios.

Bottom line:It is important that you practice MMI questions before you go to your medical school interview.Even if you have excellent social skills and real emotional intelligence, there are techniques you should hone to expertly manage the challenging MMI format. Consider working with a professional or someone who has offered MMI sessions in a formal setting (like a former medical school admissions committee member) to learn how to strategically navigate this up-and-coming format.