Personal Statements
The personal statement is one of the most important portions of the medical school application. It is important to craft it carefully, to be genuine, and to clearly demonstrate why you should be a physician. I recommend to really start focusing on this at least two months prior to the application cycle opening to allow yourself ample time for revisions. If you feel stuck, step away from your computer for the day and go do something that you enjoy!
Work/Activities
You can include up to 15 work/activities in your application. The more the merrier but do not feel the need to have 15. If you only did an activity during high school and not college, try to not include it in this section. Focus on more recent ventures and again it is all about quality, not quantity!
Each section is allotted 750 characters and for three activities you are allowed an additional 1350 characters. These should be very formative experiences that you have held and that you have learned an immense amount from.
Letters of Recommendation
Most schools require a minimum of three letters of recommendation. I would recommend at least four to be safe. You should receive two letters from your science courses (biology, chemistry, math, etc) and another letter from either a physician you have worked closely with or a professor in another subject whom you connected well with over the course of the quarter. One tip for securing letters of recommendation and strong ones at that, attend office hours frequently and take more than one of their courses if that is an option! Being a teaching assistant for a professor is also another great way of receiving a letter.
I recommend using the AMCAS letter writing service because it is free but inter folio is a frequently utilized resource that you must pay for annually but they will store the letters for you. It is better to frequently keep in touch with a professor if you expect a letter from them instead of asking them to write it two years before you apply.
Prerequisite Courses
For many schools the required pre-requisite courses include:
- One year of general chemistry with lab
- One year of organic chemistry with lab
- One year of biological sciences
- One year of mathematics
- One year of physics with lab
- One semester of biochemistry (recommended)
These all count towards your science GPA which is a separate GPA that medical schools also consider as part of their review of your application.
