A second perspective on the unique journey to medical school!
1. Engagement with extracurricular activities during undergrad:
a. I always felt I did not have many extracurricular activities and was quite worried when I decided I wanted to apply to medical school. But when you sit down and reflect on different parts of your life and how they shaped you into the person that you are today, you’ll find things that are surprisingly applicable to medicine! I volunteered in student governance and did some summer research during my undergraduate program.
b. Entries into the top 10 experiences do not have to be related to healthcare, it’s more important to be genuine and reflect on how past experiences shaped you. The purpose of the top 10 mini essays is to demonstrate to the admissions team who you are and what kind of physician you will make in the future.
2. Preparing and studying for the MCAT
a. Practice.
b. Practice.
c. Practice.
d. It is important to learn the material, but most science related undergraduate programs cover most of the topics. There are many good resources out there, but regardless of which you choose, do not neglect the importance of doing lots of practice! AAMC offers many official MCAT practice resources free and paid, take advantage of them!
3. Application process: how to stand out? Anything you would have done differently?
a. The application process at the University of Calgary is very transparent and there is a lot of good information coming out from the official admission blog. The most valuable resource to read and remember well would be the applicant’s manual, which contains the most up to date information on how to best express yourself through your application.
b. Be aware of deadlines and always leave lots of time for yourself to review your application. I found a very important part of my own application process was to take a break before submission and return to do a final review with fresh eyes.
c. The interview is likely the most important step, but there are also many resources out there to help you with that!
d. No application process is perfect and there are countless qualified applicants who apply to these medical programs, so if you are not successful in an application cycle, don’t be discouraged and try again next cycle.
e. Dr. Ian Walker said on his 2018 admission blog entry: “Applying to medical school is stressful… Also know, as we do, that there are WAY more qualified applicants than there are positions, so resist the temptation to take the results of the process personally.”
4. Additional thoughts
Remember that life is a marathon and physicians need to be lifelong learners. As important as it is to achieve these academic milestones it is even more important to take care of your physical and mental health. This is the single best piece of advice I wish I could have given to myself when I was applying to medical school.
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