13 medical school acceptances....HOW DID I DO THAT AND HOW DID I GET HERE? These are the questions I've been asking myself as I am ending the application cycle and committing to my dream school. As I reflect on my journey to getting here, I really wanted to just put my application out here on the blog to help other students, especially fellow immigrant, first-generation, and minority students as myself get into medical school. Particularly coming from these backgrounds, I know I didn't have the blueprint on how to go to medical school and so I want to share as much as I can so that those coming after me do have the blueprint, the tips, the ins and outs that you gain from having someone you know that went through the process.
So whether you are getting ready to apply and would like tips on preparing your application or whether you are at the start of your pre-med journey and hoping to gain insight into the process I hope that this look at my application helps you.
For more in depth explanations about writing your personal statement and activity descriptions please visit the following blogs:
My Application
The start of the application is identifying information and demographics which I cropped out. Also note that I submitted my application on June 4th, about a week after the submission opened up and was processed at the end of July. My advice is to apply early and also make sure your school transcripts are sent early because waiting for my transcripts to be mailed and received by AMCAS delayed my processing.
Here we have some information about parents. AMCAS will determine if you are first-generation or SES disadvantaged. They marked me as no for first-generation, however I consider myself first-generation in that neither my parents nor grandparents attended a four year college. In addition, my mother went back to school and got her associates while I was in high school once we moved to the United States. You'll also see that they ask you about your siblings as well as family income and how you pay for your college tuition. Other demographics include where you were born, your racial and ethnic self-identification, any military service, and gender identity.
The next portion of the application are your grades, every single class! Here were all my classes and the grades I got.
Next, AAMC will calculate your GPA. The GPA is split into the science GPA, which is biology, chemistry, physics and math classes and then your "all other" GPA. Note that the way how AAMC calculates and how your school calculates will be a little different. Next we have my MCAT score. For more information about my MCAT journey, click here.
Experience Section
The experience section also known as activity and description section is where you can enter up to 15 activities with 700 characters to describe it. You have a max of 3 activities you can select as most meaningful and have another 1350 characters. Here you will see the 15 activities I put on my application from my time in college. Please pay note to the time frame I spent doing them, the hours I spent, and my descriptions which explain my role and impact.
Stay tuned for my blog "Guide to the AMCAS Activity Description" where I am going in depth as to how I wrote this part of the application.
Personal Comments (The Personal Statement)
Next we have the personal statement which is 5300 characters to answer the question "why medicine" and space I used to tell my story. Please read my blog Guide to the Personal Statement for more information about writing the personal statement.
And that brings us to the end of my application! This, however, is not the full application as medical schools also received my letters of recommendations. I used the committee letter, which my pre-health advising office offers, is an evaluation sent to each of the schools followed by my individual recommendation letters. My committee letter was written by my pre-med advisor who was a close advisor and mentor to me throughout my years at college.
The Committee Letter reflects on the following:
Academic information
Family and basic biographical information
Exposure to health care, patients and the clinical setting
Community service
Research
Work experience
Challenges and personal responsibility
Personal passions, talents, skills
Interpersonal skills in an interview setting
I had six letters of recommendation letters. One from my research advisor for my Gemstone research, one from my science professor, one from my advisor for Gemstone Leadership Council and TA, one from my communications professor, one from the head of the UM Scholars Research program, and lastly from my research mentor and physician I shadowed from the UM Scholars program as well. These were all people who knew me well and wanted to speak very highly of me to these medical schools.
Next, each school asked for secondary essays which are additional essay prompts that completed my application. I won't be sharing my secondary essays in this blog because all together I wrote close to 100 essays for the 26 schools I applied to! But stay tuned for a blog on secondary essays where I'll give some advice and share some of my essays.
Finally, medical schools interview each candidate so to be accepted I had to interview with faculty members and current students. All together the application you see here today, my letters, my secondary essays, and my interview performance completed my application to each medical school.
Reflections on my application....why I think I was accepted
As I got accepted into these schools, I often found myself asking "why me", why of all the applicants was I accepted? I would then open back up my application and read through it and reflect on what made me a strong applicant to medical school. First, I was genuine, real, and myself. As I said before, I didn't have a blueprint for getting into medical school. In fact I am the first person in my entire family to apply to medical school. My journey was truly one of me following my passions and that passion I believed showed through in how I talked about my activities. Two, I told my story throughout the application which helped them to connect with me and have insight into who I am, after all to become a doctor takes more than smarts, it requires resilience, perseverance, passion, and dedication which I believe I possess and was able to showcase in the application. Finally my grades showed that I could handle the academic rigors of classes while balancing several roles, jobs, and hobbies.
So what is my advice? First, focus on your academics. I refer to grades as the foundation, set a strong foundation for yourself academically this way you can add on extracurricular on top while keeping your grades strong. You truly don't need all As like I did to get into medical school but you will need to show medical schools that you can handle to rigorous courses.
Find your passions and follow them! Some of my passions include leadership to create diverse, inclusive and community focused spaces, teaching, woman's health, advocacy, and blogging! Whatever it is that makes you happy and excited is where you should spend your time. And have a positive impact wherever you go!
Finally, take the time to prepare a strong application. Give yourself a couple months to prepare for application and use that time to secure your letters of recommendation, draft your personal statement, decide on your school list, and draft your application. This process is long, expensive, and competitive so give yourself the best foot forward by spending the time necessary to prepare.
I hope that by taking a look at my application today it helped to give you some insight into how I was able to get accepted into these 13 medical schools. But please remember that this is simply my one story and my personal journey, as I said I stayed true to who I was throughout this process and each person applying to medical school should do the same. As I look back, I loved my time in undergrad and my journey up until this point and I'm excited to start medical school where I'll learn how to be a doctor while continuing to follow my passions. I'm excited for what is in store and I am excited for everyone who will be applying to medical school in the upcoming cycles, it takes a lot of work but it is so worth it to be able to enter this profession of serving humanity, improving health, and caring for others.
Best of luck to you future doctors!
xoxo
Kyeisha