3 Things Medical Schools Are Looking For:
Vista House View of the Columbia River Gorge
I know that a fair amount of my interview season has already gone by, but that also means that there are a whole new batch of people who are itching for next year’s AMCAS/AACOMAS/TMDSAS applications to open. I wanted to share some insight I’ve gained from my own applications/interviews regarding what medical school admissions committees are looking for. When curating your applications, make sure to be able to fully address these three things!
P.S. I’ll be updating you on my list of schools I’ve applied to, gotten interviews to, and have acceptances from later this week!
What adcoms are looking for:
So far, there has been a theme in what schools seem to be looking for on interview days. I’ve found that there are three main categories they hope to address: motive, knowledge, and capability.
MOTIVE: Your motive is your “why”, why does it matter so much to you to become a doctor? This one is hard for a lot of people and requires some soul searching - but I would argue that it is the biggest thing you need to figure out. Come up with a good reason that you can actually speak to. Get a trusted friend or family member who is willing to tell it to you straight and talk it out with them, let them tell you if your reasoning is strong or not. If it’s not great, and honestly anyone who says it’s great first time around is probably not the right person, take their account seriously. This person is close to you and already holds you in high esteem, the flaws they see in your story or logic are just going to be all the more clear to someone who’s job is to judge you for it. It’s best to do this before you start working on your personal statement, as it will be a great foundation for you to write on.
KNOWLEDGE: I don’t mean knowledge as in how much cool information you know from your prerequisite classes. I mean knowledge as in knowing what you’re getting yourself into when you sign up for a career as a physician. This is usually done by actually talking to doctors, doing research on their day to day lives, volunteering or working in a clinical setting, shadowing, or having hospital centered life experiences. Shadowing doctors can be a very important part of an application, but the purpose is not for you to come out of the experience knowing the ins and outs of medicine. The purpose is for you to understand what you’re signing up for, from the eyes of the provider rather than the patient. Shadowing doctors is a great way to show this, but it’s definitely not the only way. If you don’t have the opportunity to shadow someone, understand that you’re going to need to find a different way to express that you know what you’re getting into.
CAPABILITY: This is where you’re showing that you’re smart enough, resilient enough, patient enough, and empathetic enough to become a good physician. You want to portray yourself as someone that a school would be proud to have given their stamp of approval. This is where doing well in classes, getting a good MCAT, showing kindness and care for others in your hobbies and extracurriculars, and showing your abilities to get past failures plays a role. They want to know that you can do it, even when you don’t want to or when you feel like you can’t. This is where consistency in your activities and your academic performance will really shine.
These three topics are definitely not the only thing that adcoms look for, but I would argue that they are the foundations. Any severe limitation in these categories will be a large hinderance on your application. If you need any help or further advice on how to get or show your motive, knowledge, and capability, please feel free to contact me!