When It Rains, It Pours

I've always really liked that saying and I think it's generally true. Maybe this is because we tend to notice things in groups. Like when you're already having a bad day it's easier to find fault in more things or if you're feeling really great about something you're more likely to be happy about other little things you might not have paid attention to normally.
The reason I bring this up is because during the [re]application process there will be good days and bad days and usually they'll be extreme. Yesterday, for example, was a bad day. I'm still waiting on one of my recommendation letters to be sent in (if you're reading this, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! jk jk I love all the people who wrote my letters but still, I'm working on a deadline here), I've been applying to all the research jobs available in Chicago and having very little luck, and to top it off I'm starting to get a bit concerned about managing application costs.
During weeks like this it's important to remind myself to slow down a bit and focus on the good, like getting my application in early which was HUGE. I've been checking the AMCAS site every day and I should be verified by the end of this week which is amazing considering last year it took over 6 weeks for verification and I only applied a few weeks late. I've also been making a list of essays that I can pre-write so that when my secondaries start coming in I'll be able to turn them around in 24-48 hours (this, at least, is the goal). So if you're in the same boat then take a breath and relax. This is a marathon, not a sprint. We'll get there!

Social Media & Medicine

Sometimes I’m not sure how I feel about the prevalence of technology in our daily life. There is definitely a line to be crossed when it comes to being on your phone constantly versus interacting personally with someone. I don’t think anyone enjoys taking the time to hang out with a friend only to have them sit there and play a game on their phone or text or check Facebook constantly.

On the other hand though, I do think that the widespread use of social media can be a really positive thing, depending on the circumstances. Social media allows us to get close to people we wouldn’t normally be able to. While for many of us that means following celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Amanda Bynes on Twitter so we can get the latest updates on their ridiculous antics, we also have the opportunity to use sites like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr as a way to get connected to medical schools, cutting edge science news and application resources.

+AMCAS has a very well managed Twitter account and you can expect a timely response to any question you ask them regarding applications. They also tweet helpful advice and information on transmission deadlines which I find useful. The +The New York Times Health Twitter is another of my favorites because I love the articles they post and the AAMC recently started a creative Tumblr resource that highlights new medical research. You can also join special Google+ groups related to specific fields of medicine and connect with others who share your interests.

The great thing about being able to follow med schools in particular on social media is that you get a unique look at how they work. From the pictures and stories they post and links that they tweet, you can get a glimpse into their on-campus dynamic and the kinds of activities they support. Some schools will tweet about breakthroughs in research or innovative medical technology, others take a different approach and post about events put on by the school or their participation in the community (RushMed recently tweeted pictures of students at Pride2014!).

As a journalist, it’s really fun to see social media being used for this kind of purpose. I especially like that I can follow all the schools I’ve applied to on Twitter. They’re getting the word out about cool science-y things and using the internet as a platform to show what they value as a school and I get to be a part of that. I like that I can interact with them and have gotten positive responses from several schools on a few things I’ve posted. It helps to show that these schools are accessible and they want to open up a dialogue instead of being aloof and uninvolved. I'm excited that more and more schools are realizing that social media is a great way to connect with people in their neighborhood, future students, and the greater scientific community. It's an effective way to use the internet as a wonderful tool to do great things. 

The Cost of Applying to Medical $chool

(See what I did with the title there? Haha)

Everything seems to be getting more expensive these days and applying to medical school is no different. For the primary AMCAS application this year the processing fee is $160 (which covers one medical school designation) with an extra $35 charge for every additional school you designate. This might not seem like much until you consider that in the 2011 AMCAS application cycle students applied to an average of 15 schools.

Secondary application fees typically run from $25 to $100, so roughly $60 per school and then there are incidental expenses that you might not even realize exist. These include small fees for transcripts or letters of recommendation transmission and the cost of taking the MCAT ($270) and any associated exam costs (like MCAT prep books or a course, which end up being several hundred to thousands of dollars).

Total fees for the MCAT, AMCAS and secondary apps together can range well into the thousands and that’s not even taking into consideration the costs associated with interviews such as flights, hotel, etc.

Luckily, there is help. The AAMC fee assistance program (FAP) is “available to individuals with financial need” and helps applicants by reducing various fees and offering complimentary resources such as free online MCAT assessments. If you received fee assistance benefits from the AAMC, most schools will also waive the fee for your secondary application. Eligibility is determined by poverty level guidelines; if your total family income is less than or equal to 300% of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined poverty level for your family size then you can receive assistance.

I think it’s really important to highlight these kinds of programs because there are many economically disadvantaged students that have the intelligence, drive and passion for medicine that would not be able to apply to medical school without help. I hope that in the future, this kind of assistance can be extended to help defray the costs of attending medical school as well, so that one day students can graduate without being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (gasp!). I know, it sounds totally crazy, but how amazing would that be?

You can find more information about the financial cost of applying to medical school here and if you know of any additional resources that help with application fees, please let me know!

Holistic Review, An Exciting Trend in Medical School Admissions

Over the past few months I've come to realize that there are quite a number of schools that employ holistic review as a part of their admissions process. While this is a huge step in the right direction (in my opinion!) the problem is that it's difficult to find a lot of information on exactly which schools participate. To remedy this, I did some research on my own and came up with a pretty impressive list.

First though, a bit about what holistic review is. This NEJM article which I posted previously states that the process "emphasizes attributes, including learning ability, that are associated with excellence in physicians. Applicants are evaluated according to criteria that are institution-specific, mission-driven, broad-based, and applied consistently across the entire applicant pool at a given school." That's kind of a mouthful!

Basically, holistic review considers the achievements of each applicant in context of their life experiences. It's a way of looking at an applicant as an individual and giving equal consideration to the many qualities that may contribute to their success in the medical field rather than just their MCAT scores and GPA. In particular, "adversities overcome, challenges faced, advantages and opportunities encountered, and the applicant's demonstrated resilience in the face of difficult circumstances" are all considered impactful and are assessed in this comprehensive approach.

I think the fact that this trend is gaining momentum is fantastic for several reasons. One is that we belong to an incredibly diverse society. America is a "melting pot," to borrow from popular vernacular, and our society consists of people from countless walks of life. Our physician population needs to reflect this diversity in order to deliver a higher standard of patient care. I feel particularly strongly about this as the daughter of an immigrant parent from Portugal who has only ever met one Portuguese, female doctor in her entire life.

Secondly, holistic review allows for greater consideration of nontraditional applicants. A student involved with exciting and challenging work or research but with minimal clinical experience may have cultivated vital qualities that will make them an amazing doctor. When you take the time to evaluate this student on the basis of all his experiences, you may see something in him that you might not see in a student who has a lot of volunteer experience but has never had to handle the responsibilities of being in the workforce.

Finally, there seems to be a dearth of physicians nowadays practicing medicine who are not very good doctors. I mean that in the sense that they can't connect, they aren't warm or caring, and they're ultimately unable to deliver proper care to their patients. I can think of over a dozen times I've talked with family members or friends who had a horrible experience at a hospital or with their primary care physician because their doctor simply didn't listen, didn't want to help or was just plain rude. I think that when looking for someone who will make a good future doctor, attributes like their ability to interact with their peers, cultivation of leadership skills, and demonstrated care for others are just as important as a good academic record.

Boston University, mentioned in the NEJM article as a pioneer school to transition from a more traditional admissions model to a holistic approach, is just one of the many schools I found that either explicitly state or otherwise imply that they are utilizing holistic review. In 2010 the AAMC launched a project on "Integrating Holistic Review Practices into Medical School Admission Processes." I came across this report that they published as a result and was impressed by the amount of information and the schools that participated. I won't go into the details because I think it's an important read but I will say that it's refreshing to see the amount of work that's being put into changing the way medical school admissions work (for the better!).

To make my list, I included all of the schools that were a part of the AAMC advisory committee and working group as well as all the schools that I've come across on my own that mention they employ holistic review. While it is by no means complete (I didn't look at every single school in the US), it is fairly large and I hope will be helpful. If you know of any others, please feel free to comment and I will add them! I update this list every application cycle so feedback is greatly appreciated.

Non-official list of medical schools using holistic review (31 total):

AAMC Advisory Committee on Holistic Review (12 schools)

1. University of Washington School of Medicine

2. Rush University Medical Center 

3. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

4. University of Arizona College of Medicine

5. University of Miami

6. Duke University School of Medicine

7. Oregon Health & Science University

8. George Washington University School 

of Medicine & Health Sciences

9. Johns Hopkins University

10. Boston University School of Medicine (three cheers for my alma mater!) 

11. Medical College of Georgia

12. University of Colorado at Denver and 

Health Sciences Center

AAMC Medical School Admissions Workshop Working Group (9 schools not on above list)

1. University of Texas Medical School

2. Tulane University School of Medicine

3. Creighton University School of 

Medicine

4. Mayo Medical School

5. Weill Medical College of Cornell University

6. Wayne State University School of Medicine

7. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth 

8. University of Wisconsin Medical School

9. University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Additional Schools (10 schools)

1. New York Medical College

2. Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

3. UC Davis School of Medicine

4. Drexel University College of Medicine

5. Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
6. Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
7. Stony Brook University Medical School
8. University of Vermont College of Medicine
9. East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine
10. Temple University

AMCAS 2014 - Submitted!

Boom. I am already having separation anxiety. I hope everything goes through smoothly!

Me from now until I (hopefully!!) get into medical school

AMCAS For Applicants: Welcome To Your Life For The Next 7 Months

I know I know, I haven't written a post in 47 million years. It's been so incredibly blissful to be done with the MCAT and my Physics class that I have completely neglected my poor blog in favor of catching up on Game of Thrones and taking excessively long naps. To be fair (to myself) I didn't really have a whole lot to say after hell week and needed the down time to rest my poor brain.
Unfortunately vacation can't last forever and I've been slowly gathering all needed materials to get ready to submit my AMCAS app next month (aka three weeks from now). If you don't know, AMCAS stands for American Medical College Application Service and anyone who wants to apply to medical school in the US has to go through them. The main application requires a thorough explanation of pretty much anything a med school admissions committee would ever want to know about an applicant.
So far I've been working on the letters of recommendation and the transcripts portion of the application because those are the two most time sensitive since they rely on someone else to send in official documents for me.
As I struggle to navigate my way through this hefty application I'm beginning to realize that this whole process is actually pretty difficult. I used the common app to apply for undergrad and thought that AMCAS would be similar but it isn't. There are very specific ways you need to enter information (like all of the classes on your transcript) and there are sometimes several confusing choices regarding sending in documents like recommendation letters (do I use the letter packet option or the individual letter?). If you enter something wrong, it can be difficult and time-consuming to fix and the explanation videos (which are a cool feature) aren't always that enlightening. It doesn't help that all the FAQ material is clearly written by a catastrophist who incessantly warns that a mistake in your application could lead to being barred from applying (which is terrifying and led to an unfortunate dream about getting pulled over and having a traffic violation which precluded me from going to medical school. Extremely upsetting).
Luckily, there are many helpful resources you can use to work your way through and make sure you're doing it right. Number one (at least for me) has been friends that have already applied/are currently in medical school. They've been through this whole rigmarole before and I've found are more than happy to help navigate. The second source I've come to really appreciate is my program director at Harvard Extension. I've sent countless emails asking what I'm sure are annoying/redundant/inane questions and he's been very prompt and helpful in his responses. This is probably a good time to give the Health Careers Program props for being so supportive of their students, the aid is greatly appreciated! Finally, the AMCAS website does offer a comprehensive help section and they have an entire instruction manual (which yes, I did read through!) with details on how to fill out the application.
Today I am sending off my transcript and rec letter requests and next week I'll be working through the extracurriculars/work experience/what have you done with your life since high school section (max 15 essays which is A LOT!). I am actually a bit more excited about this part because I do really love writing and this will be my opportunity to highlight a lot of the meaningful experiences that I've had either leading up to or as a result of my decision to apply to medical school. I know a lot of activities I will be including won't necessarily be ones you would expect to find on a medical school application - I've never been a part of a pre-med society, I didn't major in biology - but I think that maybe that will help me stand out. There's nothing wrong with any of the aforementioned things and that will probably be what gets many students into medical school but I'm excited to be applying as a non traditional student and hope that whoever reads my application will be able to appreciate my atypical background.
I also hope that one day I'll be be in a position to do the same. I would love to sit on an admissions committee and look for the students that I can identify with - ones that don't necessarily have a perfect GPA, who didn't know immediately that they wanted to be a doctor, who maybe seem a little too old or not impressive enough at first glance but who have a lot of other qualities that show their dedication and passion, who maybe just need to be given a chance because sometimes (not always) those are the ones who want it the most and are willing to try the hardest. Struggle is the fire that refines and, from what I've seen in my friends, parents, and everyone else I admire, struggling to get to where you want to be is what makes you appreciate it more; it's what makes you great.