Ten Things to Know About Your Medical School Application

A professional admissions consultant in a modern office, gesturing toward a whiteboard with the text '10 Common Questions About Medical School Applications.' The office is filled with medical-related items such as a stethoscope, books, and a laptop displaying a personal statement document, symbolizing the complex and important nature of the medical school application process. — Ten tips for getting your AMCAS and secondaries right!

Admissions Consultant Answers 10 Common Questions About Medical School Applications

Medical school is, by far, the most difficult and demanding application process. Far more rigorous than an MBA, law school, or PhD application… and for good reason! A bad MBA or lawyer still gets a corner office and a job, but a bad doctor can kill you!

Because applying to medical school is such a rigorous and competitive process, a well-crafted application can make all the difference. To help you navigate this journey, we’ve gathered ten common questions about medical school applications and provided brief responses. This guide is a great place to begin your medical school application process! For additional help, contact us at Gurufi.com. Every year, we help hundreds of applicants refine their AMCAS (and other) personal statements, Work & Activities sections, and secondaries.

1. What is the purpose of the AMCAS personal statement?

The AMCAS personal statement sends shivers of terror down people’s spines. You have 5300 characters (not even two pages) to describe your life, give your “doctor’s origin story” and make it clear why you’d be an amazing doctor. In short, this is the centerpiece of your application. The AMCAS personal statement is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and explain why you want to pursue a career in medicine. It should highlight your motivations, experiences, and personal qualities that make you a suitable candidate for medical school. This statement is crucial because it provides a holistic view of who you are beyond your grades and test scores, allowing the committee to understand your passion for medicine and your readiness for the challenges of medical school. It provides the frame for your application and the lens through which all of your other materials are viewed.

2. How can I effectively describe my clinical experiences in my medical school personal statement?

Tell stories. Next question. Okay, I’ll elaborate a bit! (if you’re interested, check out this video on storytelling we did for MBA applicants. The examples we use are for business students, but the core ideas, themes, and strategies still apply!)

To effectively describe your clinical experiences in your personal statement, focus on specific examples that highlight your involvement, responsibilities, and what you learned from these experiences. Discuss how these experiences shaped your understanding of the medical field and reinforced your desire to become a physician. Be sure to reflect on the impact these experiences had on you, both personally and professionally, and how they have prepared you for a career in medicine.

If you’re doing clinical work, such as volunteering or scribing, I would urge you to use our Scribing Journaling tool to help you begin to put your ideas together.

3. What should I include in the Work & Activities section of the AMCAS application?

A good rule of thumb for the AMCAS personal statement is that you should use that essay to demonstrate, in depth, a few things about your experience, accomplishments, and aspirations. Depth, not breadth, is the key. For the Work & Activities section of the AMCAS, use these mini-essays to show breadth. Complement what you’ve highlighted in the personal statement. For instance, if your personal statement is mostly clinical, then use the W&A to detail research or leadership. Be strategic about your “Most Significant” longer essays to provide / show greater breadth. You want your application to showcase your extracurricular involvement, employment, research, and volunteer experiences. Include detailed descriptions of your roles and responsibilities, highlighting any leadership positions, accomplishments, and skills you developed. Focus on activities that demonstrate your commitment to medicine, community service, and personal growth. Additionally, choose the most meaningful experiences to provide further insights into your character and values.

4. How can I write a strong secondary application essay for medical school?

If the AMCAS is the core pitch you send to all schools, then secondaries are tailored and specific. Writing a strong secondary application essay involves making your responses to each school responsive to what they’ve asked and, more than that, making sure it aligns with that school’s values, culture, and areas of strength. In short, if the AMCAS is designed to show that you’re a compelling candidate, in general, then secondaries are about proving that you’re a great fit for that particular school. Research each medical school to understand its values, mission, and unique programs. Use this information to craft thoughtful and personalized essays that reflect your alignment with the school’s goals. Be concise and focus on answering the prompt directly while providing specific examples from your experiences.

5. What are common mistakes to avoid in medical school personal statements?

Common mistakes to avoid in medical school personal statements include:
1. **Being too vague:** Provide specific examples and detailed descriptions rather than broad generalizations. If you can’t match a story to an assertion, don’t make it.
2. **Focusing too much on others:** While it’s important to acknowledge the influence of mentors, make sure the statement centers on your experiences and insights. After all, this is a PERSONAL statement, so make sure that you remain the main character in it.
3. **Ignoring the prompt:** Ensure your essay answers the specific question or prompt provided by the application. This problem often arises when, perhaps late in the application process, you can’t find the juice to write one more new secondary, so you figure that you’ll just try to shoehorn in an old essay… even if it doesn’t quite fit. Don’t do this.
4. **Neglecting to proofread:** Spelling and grammatical errors can detract from your professionalism. Proofread your essay multiple times and consider having others review it.

6. How can I convey my passion for medicine in my personal statement?

Again… storytelling. To convey your passion for medicine, share personal anecdotes that illustrate your commitment and enthusiasm for the field. Discuss formative experiences that inspired you to pursue medicine, such as volunteering in a healthcare setting, shadowing physicians, or overcoming personal health challenges. Reflect on what these experiences taught you and how they solidified your desire to become a physician. Authenticity is key, so be honest and heartfelt in your writing.

7. What experiences should I highlight in my medical school personal statement?

Highlight experiences that demonstrate your readiness for medical school and your suitability for a career in medicine. These may include:
1. **Clinical experiences:** Volunteering, shadowing, or working in healthcare settings.
2. **Research projects:** Participation in scientific research that showcases your analytical skills and commitment to advancing medical knowledge.
3. **Community service:** Involvement in volunteer activities that reflect your compassion and dedication to helping others.
4. **Leadership roles:** Positions in student organizations, work, or community groups that highlight your ability to lead and work collaboratively.
5. **Personal challenges:** Overcoming obstacles that have strengthened your resilience and determination to pursue medicine.

8. How do I handle the ‘Why this medical school?’ secondary essay?

To effectively handle the ‘Why this medical school?’ secondary essay, research the specific features and programs of each school. Identify aspects that resonate with your career goals, values, and interests. Discuss how these features align with your aspirations and how you would contribute to and benefit from the school’s community. Be specific about what attracts you to the school, such as particular faculty, research opportunities, or unique programs, and explain why these aspects are important to you.

This is an important thing to answer, so I’d even hop on forums or LinkedIn to cold-chat with current students there to gain insights. As you research schools to apply to, ask yourself over and over, “could I see myself thriving here? Why?” The answers to these questions could help to guide your secondaries.

9. How can I make my AMCAS application stand out?

In addition to the tips I’ve laid out above, make sure that you avoid overused topics. Don’t begin the essay at the bedside of your dying grandma or talk about how the first time you saw a doctor it was like their white coat was a superhero cape… those tropes have been overused.

10. What should I focus on in the ‘Most Meaningful Experiences’ section of the AMCAS application?

In the ‘Most Meaningful Experiences’ section of the AMCAS application, focus on providing detailed descriptions of experiences that had a significant impact on your personal and professional development. Discuss what made these experiences meaningful, the skills and insights you gained, and how they have prepared you for a career in medicine. Reflect on your growth and the lessons learned from these experiences, and explain why they stand out among your other activities.

The main tip I would give is that you should look to complement your personal statement. If there are things that you didn’t cover in your personal statement and you think they’re important, use your Most Meaningful essays on them. Remember, you should view your application holistically, and don’t try to jam everything into just the personal statement. The entirety of the application should cover all the main topics and strengths, so make sure that your personal statement provides enough space for the most important 1-2 ideas to breathe and have a full genuine impact. Then, use the Most Meaningful to show that you’ve had a well-rounded set of experiences and accomplishments.

As the husband of a doctor and the brother of two doctors, I know just how meaningful a medical career can be, so try to approach all of this from a position of optimism, excitement, and joy. Yes, it’ll be a slog, but people who are enthusiastic, confident, and positive in their mindset tend to be more interesting and attractive to admissions committees. Yes, this is the start of a long process and a difficult journey, but it’ll be worth the investment.

For more help with your personal statement, check us out at Gurufi.com. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top medical schools. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements, AMCAS W&A, and secondaries that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook,Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Three Tips for Scholarship Essays

A stressed graduate student sits at a cluttered desk with papers, scholarship applications, and a laptop. The student is holding a pen and jotting notes on a notecard, with symbols of leadership, community involvement, and achievements in the background, including a trophy, a community service medal, and a graduation cap. A thought bubble shows images of dollar signs and a graduation gown. — Getting a scholarship is often as stressful as getting in.

At Gurufi, we know that getting in is often only half the battle! Paying for it can be just as -if not more- stressful as applying. With the average cost of graduate school starting at nearly $50,000, getting a scholarship is an important way to defray costs and save a little money, as well as bolster your resume for the future. Writing an impressive scholarship statement is essential to your success, and keeping these tips in mind will put you on the right path.

Identify the key themes appropriately and use language that reinforces those themes. This can’t be stressed enough. Read the statement and make sure you understand exactly what they’re asking for. Most scholarship applications will explain precisely what kind of person they feel meets their qualifications, and all you have to do is interpret that correctly. While it will vary from essay question to essay question, you’ll typically see key themes related to leadership, community involvement, or milestones/successes in life. So that you don’t miss them, it’s a great idea to write these key themes on a notecard and brainstorm each one. Identify stories, successes, or key pivotal moments in your life or professional / academic journey that demonstrate these themes or attributes. Repeat the theme in your thesis statement and use it as the backbone for your whole essay.

Know your audience and cater to them. You’re not writing an essay that has to appeal to thousands of people. This is a targeted piece of writing designed to evoke a positive response from at most, a large committee, and at least, one or two individuals. This audience has a specific goal, and that goal is to find an applicant or applicants who they feel, in their completely subjective opinion, accurately and appropriately represent the organization, charity, company, group, estate, individual or other entity who will be providing the scholarship. Cater your language, your words, your stories, and your approach directly to this narrow audience. As long as you’re able to do this without pandering, your words will resonate with the committee in a positive way, and that can only help.

Make it personal. Your ultimate goal with a scholarship essay is to ask a committee of people to see you as something more than words on a page. You want them to see you as a person – a student, striving for success and overcoming burdens one at a time as you work hard and tire thanklessly to achieve your dreams. As you give examples in ways you’ve demonstrated leadership, or helped your community, or achieved certain goals in life, be specific. Show how these events impacted you emotionally and personally, and don’t be afraid to let your passion show through.

These three tips will provide you with some guidance as you tackle your scholarship essays. Remember, too, that sincerity and enthusiasm go a lot further than flattery and exaggeration, so be honest and transparent as you write. These committees don’t expect someone perfect – they want to find someone who they’ll be proud to call a scholarship recipient as you grow and succeed in life. Show them that you’re someone worth investing in.

For more help with your personal statement, check us out at Gurufi.com. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top Masters and Ph.D. programs in STEM, humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Mistakes to Avoid on Your AMCAS Work & Activities Section

Applicant preparing their Work &Activities section for their AMCAS medical school application — Be thoughtful about your Work & Activities section!

Every year, our editors at Gurufi help scores of candidates earn admission to their dream medical school. In the fifteen years I have been helping applicants, I have noticed that far too many applicants don’t put enough time or thought into their Work & Activities sections.

Crafting the Work & Activities (W&A) section of your AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) application is a crucial task that requires careful thought and precision. Unfortunately, while many people spend weeks or ever months fine-tuning their personal statement, they treat this vital section almost as an afterthought. The W&A section allows you to showcase your experiences, learning, and growth in a succinct yet comprehensive manner and provides the reader with a clear overview of your overall strengths as a candidate. Here are some essential tips to help you make the most of this opportunity.

Focus on Your Actions, Learning, and Growth

When describing your experiences, it’s important to clearly articulate what you did, what you learned, and how you grew from each activity. Admissions committees are looking for evidence of your dedication, skills, and personal development. Applicants will sometimes get this wrong by spending too much time describing what the organization does or talking too much about things that don’t relate directly to their roles or tasks.

What You Did: Describe your specific responsibilities and actions. For instance, if you volunteered at a clinic, detail the tasks you handled, such as assisting with patient intake or organizing health education workshops.

What You Learned: Reflect on the skills and knowledge you gained. Did you develop better communication skills, learn about healthcare disparities, or gain insight into patient care?

How You Grew: Explain how these experiences influenced your personal and professional growth. Did they strengthen your commitment to medicine, enhance your empathy, or inspire you to pursue a particular medical specialty? If you struggle to nail this down, think about who you were before you started and who you were afterward. How are these different people?

Highlight Promotions and Expanded Responsibilities
If you received promotions or were given additional responsibilities, make sure to mention these. They demonstrate your competence, reliability, and the trust others have placed in you. For example, if you started as a volunteer and later became a team leader, highlight this progression to show your leadership and ability to take on more significant roles.

Avoid Jargon
Medical and scientific jargon can be confusing and may not convey your experiences effectively. Moreover, individual organizations often use idiosyncratic title names or other descriptors that don’t mean anything to people outside the organization. Use clear and straightforward language to ensure your descriptions are easily understood by all readers. Instead of using technical terms, explain your activities in a way that highlights your contributions and impact and think about how you might describe what you did to a loved one who isn’t in the medical world.

Choose Strong Verbs
The verbs you use can significantly influence how your actions are perceived. Strong, active verbs convey confidence and decisiveness. For example, instead of saying you “helped with patient care,” say you “provided patient care” or “coordinated patient services.” This subtle change makes your role sound more impactful and direct.

Be Succinct but Complete
You have only 700 characters for each entry, so brevity is essential. However, being succinct doesn’t mean using incomplete sentences or resorting to “CV speak.” Write in complete sentences to ensure clarity and coherence. Focus on the most critical aspects of each experience and eliminate any unnecessary details.

Plan Your “Most Significant” Experiences Thoughtfully
Deciding which experiences to designate as “most significant” should be done in conjunction with planning your personal statement. Because you get an extra 1325 characters, you can obviously cover a lot more ground, which is a huge benefit. Taking a strategic approach ensures you provide comprehensive coverage of your strengths and avoid redundancy. Your personal statement will delve deeply into your motivations and key experiences, while the Work & Activities section can highlight a broader range of accomplishments.

Review Last Year’s Secondary Essays

Looking at the secondary essay prompts from the schools you’re applying to can provide valuable insights. Most schools reuse essay topics for multiple years before changing, so understanding what they’ve asked in the past can help you align your “most significant” selections with potential secondary essay themes. This foresight can save you time and ensure your application remains focused and relevant.

Emphasize Breadth in Your Work & Activities
While your personal statement focuses on the depth of your decision to pursue medicine, the Work & Activities section should emphasize breadth. This is your chance to demonstrate the variety of your experiences and how they collectively prepare you for a career in medicine. Highlight diverse activities such as clinical work, research, volunteering, leadership roles, and extracurricular pursuits to present a well-rounded picture of your qualifications.

Apply the Same Care as Your Personal Statement
The Work & Activities section is just as important as your personal statement, so it deserves the same level of care and attention. Meticulously proofread your entries, ensuring they are free of errors and clearly communicate your achievements. A well-crafted Work & Activities section can significantly enhance your application and leave a lasting impression on admissions committees.

Example Entry
Here is an example of how to succinctly and effectively describe an experience:

Volunteer at Community Health Clinic (June 2020 – Present): Coordinated patient intake, assisted with health screenings, and organized educational workshops on nutrition and wellness. Developed strong communication skills and a deep understanding of healthcare disparities. Promoted to team leader, overseeing a group of 10 volunteers and managing clinic operations during weekend shifts.

This entry clearly outlines the responsibilities, learning outcomes, and growth experienced, all within the character limit. Note that the above provides a 388-character breakdown of the job. From there, you could add another 312 characters where you could briefly mention something like the most important task you accomplished, how this informs your thoughts on medical school, where this fits within your journey to medicine, or where you hope to go from here.

Conclusion

Writing the Work & Activities section of your AMCAS application requires careful planning and thoughtful execution. By focusing on your actions, learning, and growth, using clear language and strong verbs, and strategically selecting your most significant experiences, you can create a compelling and comprehensive account of your qualifications. Remember, this section is a vital component of your application, so give it the attention it deserves to ensure you stand out in the competitive field of medical school admissions.

Our editors at Gurufi have years of experience helping people put together their W&A sections. You can check us out here if you need help revising them, including making them fit within the tight character caps!

Important Changes to This Year’s AMCAS Application

Two medical school applicants, one male and one female, navigate an obstacle course wearing white coats, stethoscopes, sneakers, shorts, and gym socks. They carry piles of applications while sweating, facing various hurdles, climbing walls, and balancing beams — Know the new obstacles AMCAS has erected!

With the AMCAS portal opening May 1, many medical school applicants have already begun this process in earnest. Of all the graduate and professional schools, medical school has the most intense, time-consuming, and onerous application, and changes to it can send shivers of panic up the collective spines of aspiring physicians. Not to worry, at Gurufi, we have nearly 15 years of experience helping applicants earn admission to their top choice medical schools. We’re here to help!

Here are some of the changes to this year’s AMCAS that you need to be aware of. These changes reflect a broader shift toward a more holistic review process. As such, in addition to noting specific things you should be aware of, also note how these changes are strong indicators of how much admissions committees care more and more about whether applicants have demonstrated leadership, care about public health, and have a service-oriented mindset when it comes to medicine as a career. Thus, these changes aim to capture a wider array of applicant experiences, providing admissions committees with a deeper understanding of candidates’ backgrounds, experiences, and motivations.

1. Social Justice/Advocacy Experience Type

One of the most notable additions to the AMCAS application is the new Social Justice/Advocacy experience type in the Work & Activities section. This category allows applicants to highlight their involvement in social justice or advocacy efforts, demonstrating their commitment to advancing the rights, privileges, or opportunities of a person, group, or cause. Examples of activities that fall under this category include registering people to vote, advocating for civil rights, reducing health inequities, addressing food deserts, or advocating for vulnerable populations such as children or the homeless.

Note that this doesn’t necessarily have to be healthcare-related social justice work, as the above list indicates. Medical schools recognize that doctors must be prepared to work with diverse populations and advocate for health equity. By including this experience type, the AMCAS application aligns with the values of medical schools that seek to produce physicians who are not only clinically competent but also socially conscious and dedicated to addressing systemic issues.

Practical Advice: considering using one of your “Most Significant” entries so that you can have an additional 1325 characters to explain, at length, what you did, why it was important to you, what you learned, and perhaps how you think this work has given you an important perspective on the kind of doctor you aspire to become.

Replacement of the “Disadvantaged Status” Question with “Other Impactful Experiences”

The second major change to the AMCAS application is the replacement of the Disadvantaged Status question with the Other Impactful Experiences question. This new question aims to promote a holistic review by allowing applicants to provide additional context about the challenges they may have experienced in their lives. The Other Impactful Experiences question is designed for applicants who have faced or overcome challenges in various areas, such as family background, financial circumstances, community setting, education, religion, or other life experiences.

This change provides a broader scope for applicants to share their unique stories and backgrounds, allowing admissions committees to better understand the hurdles they may have overcome. It also reduces the stigma associated with the term “disadvantaged” and offers a more inclusive platform for applicants to express their personal journeys and resilience.

Practical Advice: Any time you are discussing status, you want to make sure that you go beyond describing the status. Ultimately, the idea that you hope to convey is that a particular status is connected to experiences, worldviews, certain kinds of empathies, and connections to causes or problems that are personal to you. This is partly a function of wanting to make sure you convey yourself as a compelling candidate and partly a function of schools wanting to make sure that they remain on the right side of the law vis-à-vis new affirmative action rulings by the US Supreme Court.

Addition of Drop-Down Categories for the Institutional Action Question

The third change involves the Institutional Action question, where applicants must report any disciplinary or academic issues they faced during their undergraduate education. Previously, this question was open-ended, but the new format includes a drop-down menu allowing applicants to select “Conduct,” “Academic,” or “Both.” This change aims to provide a more comprehensive view of any institutional action and allows applicants to categorize the nature of the issues they encountered.

The addition of drop-down categories provides more clarity and context for admissions committees. It helps them better understand the type of institutional action, reducing ambiguity and promoting a fairer assessment of applicants with disciplinary or academic histories.

Practical advice: We have written extensively about how to address missteps in your medical school applications. Check out these shorts, here, here, and here (this was done for MBA applicants, but the ideas are the same!):

Optional Field for AAMC PREview® Exam Registration Date

The final change to the AMCAS application is the inclusion of an optional field to indicate an upcoming AAMC PREview® exam registration date. This addition allows applicants to indicate their intention to take the PREview exam, providing medical schools with information on when they can expect the score .

The AAMC PREview® exam assesses applicants’ pre-professional competencies and is designed to help admissions committees evaluate candidates’ readiness for medical school. By including this optional field, the AMCAS application aligns with the growing importance of the PREview exam in the admissions process, allowing schools to plan accordingly for the evaluation of these scores.

Remember, though these changes are important, the underlying components of a strong application remain the same. Take these changes into account as you craft your personal statement, Work & Activities, and secondaries. And, if you need help with these vital documents, Gurufi’s editors collectively have more than 50 years of experience helping students earn admission into the top medical schools in the country! Check us out today.

For more help with your personal statement, check us out at Gurufi.com. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top medical schools. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.