Am I Ready To Apply To Medical School?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if you’re ready:

1: Are you absolutely sure you want to be a doctor, and can you clearly explain why?

You will need to be able to CLEARLY explain to the admissions committee, through your personal statement and interviews, that you know why you want to pursue this career. Becoming a doctor will require you to sacrifice 7-10 years of your life in training, and you will probably end up with a lot of student debt from it.

Saying that you want to be a doctor to help people is not going to cut it. You have to be more specific and have enough experiences to show that you’re serious about your commitment.

Make sure you can explain: What is it specifically about becoming a doctor that you find appealing? How is this different from what you could accomplish as a nurse, medical tech, MA, Physician Assistant, or other healthcare professional?

For more guidance on how to write a great personal statement, make sure to listen to Episode 38 or see our Personal Statement Guide (which includes a few examples).

2: Have you had enough exposure to clinical medicine to show that you know what you’re getting into?

Ask yourself:

  • Have you shadowed a variety of doctors and specialties? Ideally, you should aim for 40-50 hours of shadowing experience. It helps to shadow a few different specialties.

  • Have you done paid or volunteer work that has given you direct patient exposure? Some experiences that are great for getting clinical exposure include:

    • Work as an MA, CNA, tech, phlebotomist, nurse, or pharmacist.

    • Volunteering as an interpreter or patient advocate at a free clinic.

    • Volunteering with hospice patients.

We have seen applicants that have thousands of hours of clinical experience (either paid or volunteer). You don’t need thousands of hours to be competitive, but you need enough to show that you really understand what it’s like to help care for patients as a physician. A longitudinal clinical experience (a few months to years) can really help get you the experience to demonstrate this.

3: Have you shown that you are a caring & compassionate person through service or volunteer activities?

The fact is: medicine is a service-oriented profession. If you become a doctor, you will be caring for and serving people A LOT. You will have to show compassion for complete strangers, even when they are irritable or angry. You will sacrifice years of your life in education and training in order to be able to serve people in a unique way.

I can guarantee that all medical schools are looking for applicants who genuinely care about other people, including people who are different from you.

There are a LOT of different volunteer activities that can “look good” on an application. Some examples include:

  • Student groups/clubs

  • Community groups

  • Church groups

  • Humanitarian organizations

  • Free or community clinics

There is no hard and fast rule about how many hours you need to serve or volunteer to apply to medical school. Many schools have minimum requirements, but the most competitive applicants have more than the minimum. We’ve seen students have anywhere from about 40 hours to well over 400.

If you faced a unique situation that limited the number of hours you could spend volunteering, make sure to explain this somewhere in your application. Also, make sure that the volunteer hours you do get are quality hours (e.g. something clinical or something you are truly passionate about).

For more tips on getting quality volunteer experiences, listen to Episode 51 (coming soon).

4: Have you demonstrated that you have what it takes to succeed academically in medical school?

This boils down to two major questions:

  • Did you get an MCAT score > 500? (Note: A 495 and above is accepted at some MD and DO schools)

  • Do you have a competitive science GPA?

    • If your science GPA is less than a 3.4, you will need to show either an upward trend over time or post-graduate coursework (like a post-bac program) with more competitive grades.

    • If you did struggle with your grades, make sure to explain the reasons behind this somewhere on your application (but please don’t spend your entire personal statement doing so). Usually there is an opportunity to do this in your disadvantaged statement or on a secondary application essay.

5: Have you participated in any research activities?

Not all schools require research experience, but many do. If you want to apply to a research-oriented school, make sure you have at least one research experience.

Research does not have to be basic science bench research. It can also be clinical research, social science research, or policy research. Try to find something that you're actually interested in — otherwise, it will be hard to devote time to it and your lack of enthusiasm might show through in your final application.

Some applicants will have a simple semester-long or summer-long research project under their belt, whereas others may have years and years of research and publications. If you’re applying to a typical MD program, a semester or summer of experience will likely be enough. However, if you’re applying to an MD/PhD program, you’ll have to have much more extensive experience with publications.

6: Do you have at least 3 people who can write strong letters of recommendation on your behalf?

Most schools require 2 letters from science professors, and 1 letter from someone else.

When you ask your professor or supervisor for a letter, make sure to ask: “Would you be willing to write me a strong letter of recommendation for medical school?” You’d hate for someone to just say yes and then write you a lukewarm letter!

7: Do you have the personal attributes that it takes to be a great doctor?

The Association of American Medical Colleges lists the following attributes as “core competencies” for entering medical students:

  • service orientation

  • social skills

  • cultural competence

  • teamwork

  • communication

  • ethical responsibility to self and others

  • resilience

  • adaptability

  • capacity for improvement

Will your application as a whole allow these personal attributes to shine through? Can you SHOW how you have demonstrated these attributes through your personal statement, activity descriptions, letters of recommendation, and interviews? Do you have personal experiences that will prove to an admissions committee how you have matured over time and developed these attributes?