The Med School Pulse

During your freshman year of college orientation, everyone wanted to know what your major was and most likely you responded confidently, “Pre-med.” Now, in your Sophmore, Junior or even Senior Year, you may find yourself re-thinking your decision to apply to medical school and a recent article published in the student newspaper at Penn shows that you are not alone.

The article highlights the positive aspects of changing your career path- mainly that all of the skills and knowledge that you gained by taking your pre-med classes is greatly in demand, even if you don’t want to become …

GTL, MVP, the shore store…  No matter how many midterms, finals, or lab reports due, countless pre-meds turn into Jersey Shore during the week for that sweet hour of honest procrastination.  So in honor of Jersey Shore’s last season, team MCAT at Kaplan wants to poke a little bit of fun at our favorite guilty pleasure.  If the Jersey Shore cast were pre-med…

The Situation:  The man. Or so he thinks, might be more concerned about hitting the gym than learning the organic chemistry reactions for his next midterm.  This student could probably turn GTL into GTM – Gym, Tan, …

With the London Summer Games upon us, the whole world is tuning in to watch the athletes that have spent years preparing and rehearsing for their particular sporting events. There are a lot of things to take away from London Games’ athletes, particularly their hard work and dedication to following their dreams.  Just like studying for the MCAT there are long hard training days where self-doubt can creep in! So what can we learn from these elite athletes?

Physical Sciences –This is the first section of the MCAT and one that most pre-med students need to spend a significant amount …

Welcome back! In part 1 of our discussion on important factors to consider when choosing where you should apply to medical school, we reviewed some of the most commonly considered ones; location, career aspirations, and cost.  Today, we’re going to review two additional factors, curriculum and fit.  Curriculum and fit are two aspects of a medical school that most students do begin to consider or perhaps even fully understand before starting the interview process, but they can be just as important as the previous three we discussed.

Curriculum:

Medical school basic science curricula, across the board, are a lot more …

Every premed student has questions about getting into medical school; from the personal statement to the interview, the admissions process can seem like a daunting and confusing endeavor. Compounding the problem is the fact that nearly everyone you’ll speak to seems to have their own opinion on the best approach to take – one person might suggest listing certain experiences on your application, while another will say the complete opposite! Much of this advice is anecdotal and may not apply to your situation – you aren’t the same person as the friend of your cousin’s wife, so you shouldn’t necessarily …

Time and time again I get asked “Patrick, I feel like I am drowning! There are so many science concepts to remember on the MCAT. Do you have any tips to keep it all straight?!” And my answer is simple; all one needs to do is to relate it to an example in everyday life. Rote memorization has its time and place in studying, but the MCAT rewards the student who is able to go above and beyond to UNDERSTAND the concept in all its intricacies. With this in mind I often push my students to think of common …

Earlier this month the Association of American Medical Colleges formally approved the first major content changes to the MCAT since the test was last revised in 1991. Since the AAMC’s announcement there has been a flurry of discussion about the new exam as students, pre-medical advisors, and medical schools all attempt to understand how they will be affected, and what they can do now to start preparing.

The first step in preparing is naturally to understand exactly what the changes will entail. While the AAMC has published a 150-page MCAT²⁰¹⁵ Preview Guide that details exactly what the new test …

As you’re already well aware, there’s a lot of science that you need to learn as a pre-med student. From physics to chemistry to biology, the number of laws, equations and concepts for you to understand and memorize can seem daunting, so it’s important that you find an easy and effective way to internalize those facts. While many students turn to handy mnemonics like RED CAT (for electrochemistry) and Kung Pao Chicken Over Fresh Green Sprouts (for taxonomy), I find that many students also enjoy learning about the stories behind how a certain principle or phenomenon was discovered and …

If you’re like most pre-medical students, you’ve felt lost at some point on your path towards becoming a physician. Whether it’s been when choosing your courses for the next two years, putting together a plan for the MCAT, or figuring out how to get letters of recommendation, the path to medical school is filled with twists and turns that can easily be frustrating if you don’t understand how the system works. In their frustration, many students turn to peers, to friends who have already been accepted, and to online forums like the Student Doctor Network to get their …

It’s 1:00 am and the library is really starting to clear out. You are starting to think about heading home, however, that dreaded organic chemistry exam in the morning has you thinking you should stay for a couple more hours. As you start to nod off, your friend from class mentions they have a “magic pill”; this pill allows them to stay up all night long studying at an even faster rate than they ever have before AND they are awake for their morning exam!

In colleges all across the country, and especially in the hyper-competitive pre-med world, this situation …