The Med School Pulse

With all of the buzz about the new MCAT 2015, Kaplan will be hosting a panel discussion tonight focusing on this test change, what it means for you as a pre-med student and future applicant, and how it fits into the current trajectory of medicine.

Sign up using this link:  The Pulse Series – MCAT 2015:  What You Need to Know … Now!

MCAT 2015:  What You Need to Know … Now!

Monday, April 8, 2013  |  8 PM Eastern

Big changes are coming to the MCAT in 2015. At this event, we’ll explore what those changes are, why …

With the major MCAT revision coming up in 2015, many students are starting to ask:  which MCAT should I take?  Is there an advantage to one test versus the other?

The short answer is:  it’s possible to do either and score extremely well, but you’ll have to plan starting today.

What’s changing in the 2015 MCAT?

If you haven’t read our other articles about the MCAT 2015 exam, make sure to go back and check them out:

• The 2015 MCAT – Thoughts and Statistics
• The 2015 MCAT – What’s the Big Buzz?
• Keeping Up with the MCAT Test

…

We’ve all heard horror stories:  bizarre ethical dilemmas, not clicking with your interviewer, the old “window-being-nailed-shut” story.  But medical school interviews really aren’t that bad.  Perhaps the most misunderstood part of the application, these brief conversations hold the key in that final step of getting you from interviewee to medical student.

Why do pre-health schools do interviews?  What are they looking for?

The interview is all about your ability to communicate clearly and effectively with others.  Medicine is, at its core, a humanistic practice of care for one’s community.  To be a successful clinician, you will have to be able …

When you need advice on something, who do you turn to?  Your friends, of course!

Medical schools don’t have “friends,” per se, so the professional equivalent is the Letter of Recommendation.  In other words, the letters you aggregate become the medical school’s “squad,” each highlighting different attributes of what would make you a great candidate for their medical school.  Luckily, they’re actually serving as mutual friends:  since they know you, they can represent you honestly and in the best possible way.

Here are some of the commonly-asked questions about Letters of Recommendation:

What’s a committee letter?

While you’ll be …

Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year again — as we look into the future and make New Years resolutions, what are you planning to do with 2013?  We hope that taking that next step to becoming an excellent physician is part of that plan, whether it’s taking names on  the MCAT (with the new MCAT 2015 unscored trial section of Psychology, Sociology and Biochemistry questions!), nailing a 4.0 both semesters, or writing a killer personal statement for that AMCAS application opening in less than five months!

And then there are just fun resolutions:  I’m planning on playing the …

The holidays are rapidly approaching, and if you’re applying this year — hopefully you’ll be rewarded by Santa by that “big envelope”:  you’ve been accepted to medical school!  I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed my eight nights of Chanukah:  a welcome break from the (extremely) busy life of a medical student.

Now, if you’re getting ready to apply, you may feel like you’re working eight nights a week!  The life of a pre-med student is no less busy this time of year, between finishing up all of the challenging courses you’re taking, setting a New Year’s resolution to destroy the …

You’ve crafted a masterful personal statement, you’ve chosen your favorite 15 activities*, you’ve meticulously entered every class you’ve ever taken — verbatim**, and you’ve finally hit that blue “submit” button on your AMCAS application.

Everything’s going fantastically since you dominated the MCAT.

But now it’s time to turn your attention to that growing pile of letters:  not acceptances (just yet!), but secondaries.  These school-specific applications feature a host of essays — and they’re the next step on the  path to medical school.  As part of our continuing series on holistic review in admissions, let’s look …

Let’s start today with a simple (?) question:

“Who are you?”

With all respect to Roger Daltrey, this is actually one of the most challenging questions for pre-med students to answer.  And yet, this question is the basis of a major part of your application:  The Personal Statement.

While there just isn’t enough space in a single blog entry to cover every facet of the Personal Statement, there are a couple important themes to keep in mind as you’re coming up with what you plan to write in – what many admissions officers refer to as – “your …

Earlier this month, I had the great fortune of attending the 2012 AAMC Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA.  This meeting represents one of the largest gatherings of medical educators, premedical advisors, admissions officers, practicing physicians and students in the country, all with one common goal:  your education.  This is the group that writes the MCAT, runs the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and creates informative resources like Careers in Medicine to help you plan your future medical career.

One of the “hot topics” in medical admissions these days is holistic review.  While a full detailing of this …

Can Katy Perry (or Technotronic, for that matter) help you get into medical school?  Evidence shows that listening to music — especially uplifting music — can help you “show ‘em what you’re worth” on Test Day.

As a former musicology major at Boston University and as an Elite Teacher at Kaplan Test Prep, I’ve always been interested in the intersection of music, the mind and learning science.  While multitasking in the midst of studying (you know — social media, email, texing and the like) can lead to detrimental effects (see, for example, the Journal of Patient Safety article from …