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Dr. Paul Jr. Toote. The Complete Medical School Admission Guide: From High School to Doctor
The Complete Medical School. Admission Guide: From High School. to Doctor. By Dr. Paul Toote, D.O
Introduction. You want to be a doctor. At least, that is what I am assuming. Otherwise you would not be reading this book! Well, becoming a doctor is a very laudable goal. I don’t say that merely because I shared that goal – I say it because a physician does a lot of good in the world. When you are able to heal the sick, you are performing a wonderful duty for all humanity. Fortunately, with all the breakthroughs in medicine and technology, we doctors are able to do more for our patients than at any other time in history! As our knowledge and resources continue to grow, I am sure that positive trend will continue. Unfortunately, it is not just our knowledge and resources that are growing by leaps and bounds – the world’s population is as well. By the time you read this, it will undoubtedly have crashed through the seven billion mark. That means many more health care professionals will be needed, not only here in the U.S., but also around the globe. That’s why reaching your medical objectives is important not only for yourself, but for everyone you will hopefully be able to help when you’ve graduated from medical school. First…you must successfully pass the admissions process at a medical school. And I’ve designed this book to help you do just that, beginning with your first steps in high school and taking you all the way through the admissions process itself. If you think you don’t really need this book, that all the steps to becoming a doctor are fairly self-evident, I would urge you to reconsider your feelings in this matter. Getting into medical school is not an easy process – I know this first-hand. My dreams of becoming a doctor began when I was in high school – and at the time, I had no idea how daunting that challenge was. The fact is that there are only one hundred and fifty-nine medical schools in all of America at the time of this writing – and they routinely reject over half of their applicants. That’s why being accepted at one is most likely the most difficult task any would-be doctor has in front of him or her – yes, I’m saying it’s harder to get into a medical school than it is to graduate out of one! I won’t say I was lucky to have succeeded in my goal of becoming a doctor, because I know how hard I worked to reach that goal. I have often reflected on those days of struggle and thought to myself, “If I had only known then what I know now….it all would have been a lot easier.”
Chapter 1: Facts about the Field of Medicine. As you contemplate your goal of becoming a doctor, it’s important to be familiar with all the relevant facts about your future choice of profession. This chapter will provide “the basics” about doctors in today’s society – the average length of training, the number of doctors practicing today, the different kinds of doctors you can become, and so forth. With this sort of “big picture,” you’ll be able to gain a broader perspective on this career choice and what it entails. THE TYPES OF DOCTORS
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
LIFE AS A PHYSICIAN
SHOULD YOU BECOME A DOCTOR?
Chapter 3: Choosing Your College Major. When you begin your college or university studies, you will no doubt be concerned about what major you should take to make you the most attractive candidate for the medical school admission board. To be honest, you don't have to be that concerned - and, even more surprisingly, Premed may not be your best choice for a major!
Chapter 4: Your First Year of College. As a freshman, you'll have a tremendous amount to experience and take in at once. You may be living away from home for the first time in your life - and you may not know anyone on campus when you start. You'll also have to take more personal responsibility for your academic progression, in terms of choosing classes, picking a major and building an impressive overall record that will serve you well when it's time to apply to medical schools. Your parents and your high school teachers will no longer be looking over your shoulder to make sure you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing
THE FIRST STEPS OF YOUR PREMED PATH
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
VOLUNTEERING WHILE IN COLLEGE
FINISHING UP AS A FRESHMAN
Chapter 5: Your Second Year of College. When you become a sophomore, you'll be well past the introductory phase of college life. To fulfill your future goal of becoming a doctor, you should have made some strong campus connections, excelled in your coursework, taken the medical school freshman prerequisite classes and discovered which ongoing volunteering opportunities and extracurricular activities are a good fit for you
STAYING ON THE PREMED TRACK
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
PREPARING FOR THE MCAT
PURSUING A RESEARCH PROJECT
TRANSFERRING SCHOOLS
FINISHING UP YOUR SOPHOMORE YEAR
Chapter 6: Choosing a Medical School. The traditional time for undergrads to apply to medical school is near the end of their junior year. That's why, as you enter your junior year, it's very important to begin assessing the 150-plus North American medical schools out there and begin winnowing down the list to the ones that would be the best fit for you as you move forward. This is obviously a process that you'll need to put a lot of thought and consideration into - as well as a great deal of research
2. Location
Chapter 7: Your Junior Year
BEGINNING YOUR JUNIOR YEAR
PREPARING TO APPLY
To enable that to happen, provide the person with a list of all your accomplishments and awards, as well as a resume, so they can quickly familiarize themselves with your overall record. Also feel free to discuss your current pursuits, particularly if this is a person that you haven't seen on a regular basis in a while. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for the person to write as great a letter as possible. These letters are a very important part of the med school application process. Most medical schools require a minimum of three letters of recommendation - and many require them to be from your college faculty and, even more specifically, from the science faculty. Review the requirements of your medical school finalists to make sure you can handle all different contingencies when it comes to your letters of recommendations
Chapter 8: Preparing for and Taking the MCAT
UNDERGRAD COURSEWORK AND THE MCAT
YOUR MCAT PREPARATION TIMETABLE
REGISTERING FOR THE MCAT
GETTING READY FOR THE BIG DAY
Chapter 9: Your Medical School Application and Interview
MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSION PRIORITIES
YOUR MEDICAL SCHOOL APPLICATION
WRITING YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT
YOUR SECONDARY APPLICATION
YOUR MEDICAL SCHOOL INTERVIEW
PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW
Chapter 10: Your Senior Year
STARTING YOUR SENIOR YEAR
AFTER YOU'RE ADMITTED
IF YOU DON'T GET ADMITTED
YOUR SUMMER BEFORE MEDICAL SCHOOL
Chapter 11: What to Expect From Medical School
YOUR FIRST TWO YEARS
As you begin medical school, you'll want to do a lot of "meet and greet"; getting to know your new "family," your medical school classmates, as well as the school's faculty and administrative people you'll need to interact with. You will most likely also be in a completely new location, so you'll be getting used to the region for the first time as well. This makes for a lot of changes at once, much like if you spent your undergrad years away from home, but your coursework will keep you focused on what's important. You can expect to be required to learn a large amount of information in a brief amount of time and you can expect frequent exams on that information. Hopefully, when you researched your medical school, you learned what type of teaching system they favored (lecture-based or problem-solving based), so you were prepared and are comfortable with that system. If you find you are having problems with that system, and those problems are severe, discuss the situation with the school's faculty. You may even want to take the extreme step of transferring to a medical school with a system more to your liking
YEARS THREE AND FOUR
Chapter 12: What to Expect From Residency
ABOUT RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
PROGRESSING TO A LICENSED DOCTOR
Chapter 13: Eight Mistakes to Avoid Along the Way
MISTAKE #1: NOT TAKING YOUR DREAM SERIOUSLY
MISTAKE #2: NOT DOING ADEQUATE PLANNING
MISTAKE #3: NOT CREATING A TIMETABLE
MISTAKE #4: NOT TAKING THE MCAT SERIOUSLY
MISTAKE #5: NOT TAKING YOUR MEDICAL SCHOOL INTERVIEW SERIOUSLY
MISTAKE #6: SETTLING FOR A PASSING GRADE. Your GPA will be just as important as your MCAT score to your being considered as a viable medical school candidate. If you have a tough course as an undergrad and don't try your hardest in it - or if you have a class that you simply don't care about and only end up doing the minimum amount of work - your GPA goes down and so do your chances of medical school admission. Trust me, every other applicant's GPA will be perilously close to 4.0, if it isn't actually 4.0 - so do your best in every class. MISTAKE #7: BEING OVER-CONFIDENT OF BEING ADMITTED
MISTAKE #8: NOT GETTING HELP ALONG THE WAY
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