Medical schools are highly competitive. The national acceptance rate is 43 percent, according to data compiled past the Clan of American Medical Colleges. Use these height 10 tips from doctors and medical students to help you prepare for your pre-health profession.

one. Get Some Medical Experience on Your Résumé

Chore shadow with doctors and other medical professionals. Admissions committees don't await applicants to have existent feel really treating patients. After all, yous're not a doc notwithstanding. But they practice want to know that yous've spent fourth dimension getting to know what your future job would exist like. Job shadowing is a great way to get some medical experience just there are other non-shadowing opportunities that may be bachelor to y'all.

"Med schoolhouse admissions committees want students to have realistic expectations for what a career in medicine volition be similar. says Dr. Sarah Carlson, a vascular surgery resident at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, who has also served on a medical school admissions commission. Every bit an undergraduate, she volunteered to file x-rays at the local hospital, then parlayed that into an opportunity to talk with the radiologist. He explained both how to read ten-ray films, and why he chose his profession. "It's those types of interactions that are important to have under your belt," she says. "Quite bluntly, medicine isn't for anybody, so it's best if yous do some soul-searching and spend some time with the people who have the job you lot want. About doctors are happy to sit with students who are considering a career in medicine."

Other ways to get medical experience include condign a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), a volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT), or every bit a hospital scribe doing information entry. Some applicants are able to proceeds clinical experience by helping to care for family unit members.

ii. Practice Research Projects

Student holding a pippet and looking at a bottle

Demonstrate your easily-on science knowledge. "Undergraduate research experience really shines through on medical school applications. Almost medical schools want students who are interested in enquiry, and the best way to evidence that interest is to come in having already gotten your feet wet" says Dr. Carlson. She did pipetting and ran assays for Dr. Pushpa Murthy'south lab at Michigan Technological Academy. It was a modest part of the research, merely she conveyed the overall affect. "I had to explain at my interviews that the larger scope of the inquiry was well-nigh inositol phosphate metabolism."

Medical student Carly Joseph did long-term research in engineered biomaterials. "Sticking with it gave me fourth dimension to acquire how to think critically and ignited my passion for science," she says. "I started off simply learning about biomaterials from older students in the lab, and then gradually worked upwards to doing my own experiments and somewhen presenting at conferences." By choosing to make research a master priority each semester she was able to form shut relationships with faculty mentors and reach more during undergrad than she ever imagined.

In addition to college-based inquiry programs, you can investigate summer offerings, including those through the National Scientific discipline Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates plan or check out the AAMC database for summer undergrad research programs

3. Put in Fourth dimension Serving Others

Dr. Carlson volunteered with the Big Brothers-Large Sisters organization. So did Joseph. Rake leaves, build an accessibility ramp, make clean the embankment, walk a dog. There are lots of non-clinical options for volunteering that demonstrate your willingness to pay it frontwards and give back.

"They take many dissimilar programs and services." Joseph, accustomed into Central Michigan University's College of Medicine, was office of the Forever Friends program, matched with an elderly adult female she visited a few times each month. "I 've formed a great friendship with her, and hopefully, helped alleviate some loneliness. It 'due south a win-win!"

"Doctors are by and large pretty altruistic people, and med schools want to come across that yous care virtually your customs or have some drive to contribute to the greater good," says Dr. Carlson. "Customs service comes in many forms, and really anything qualifies, from trash cleanup and mentorship programs to working the concession stand at a fund-raiser for a charity—anything that requires some unpaid fourth dimension for a good crusade."

Inquire your pre-wellness professions advisor about volunteering opportunities on campus or in your community, which could include helping at local food banks or blood drives, local shelters for the homeless or those dealing with domestic violence. You could tutor, deliver skilful companionship and Meals on Wheels, or walk the dogs at a local animal shelter. Take an alternative leap intermission and work with Habitat for Humanity or on developing clean h2o sources for Third World countries. Cheque with your school for a list of community and global partners information technology works with who can utilize your time and talents. The mentors y'all develop volition come up in handy when it'due south time to gather recommendation letters—almost schools ask for at least three—and the friendships you develop volition last a lifetime.

four. Choose a Major You Will Excel In

Grades aren't everything, but they're extremely of import. Choose a field of report that will yield a competitive GPA (form point average). The recommended GPA for medical school applicants is 3.7 for MDs (medical doctors), three.v for DOs (doctors of osteopathy), and 3.iv for NDs (Doctor of Naturopathic). While many students who are planning careers in medicine decide to major in biological science, Dr. Carlson earned her bachelor'southward in chemistry. Many of her colleagues majored in even more unexpected fields, including engineering, English language, music, and classics.

"It 's OK if you 're non on the pre-med rails right away when you get-go college; pursue experiences that genuinely interest yous and rely on guidance from your kinesthesia mentors to navigate your path"

There is no such thing as a pre-med major, says pre-health professions advisor Nicole Seigneurie, who works with students preparing for medical careers at Michigan Technological University. "There are and so many different programs students tin apply to." You lot will yet demand to do well in both your cumulative and your science GPA, classes like biology, physics, chemistry, and math, that are required for medical school access. If yous are struggling in any classes, get help correct away.

During her fourth year, Joseph had to take many of the medical school prerequisite classes that were not part of her engineering curriculum and build a Medical Higher Access Test (MCAT) study programme into her schedule.

five. Apply to Multiple Schools

Student sitting at a laptop

Amend your odds past not placing all your hopes on one schoolhouse. Do individual research on each school, says Seigneurie; application requirements tin can vary from school to school and from yr-to-year.

She likewise notes that you can achieve out to admission committees with specific questions about the plan and expectations. And, she says, don't be bummed if at first you don't succeed. Endeavor again. "If you lot don 't get accepted into the school of your dreams, it 'south OK! Schools have many applicants and can 't take everyone," says McKenzie, who was accepted into the Michigan Land Academy College of Human Medicine. "My dad, who has been a family physician for 29 years, oft tells me, "An MD is an Doctor, it doesn't matter where you become to school."

"Don't accept it personally when you get some rejections—they happen at every stage of the game. If you lot cast a wide cyberspace, you'll increase your likelihood of getting an acceptance."Dr. Carlson

Other ways to become noticed amidst the hundreds or even thousands of medical school applications submitted each year: transport supplemental materials beyond your application. For case, "if you've published a newspaper, consider sending a copy of the publication with a handwritten note to the director of admissions, indicating you really hope to be considered for acceptance," she says.

half-dozen. Report Early and Ofttimes for the Medical College Access Test, or MCAT

MCAT scores range from 472-528. Accepted medical students average effectually 508. Recommended written report fourth dimension: 300-350 hours.

Take a course and buy books and study on your own. Discover the method that works for you lot. Take practice tests many times and don't let your practice scores spook you, says McKenzie. "I used the Kaplan book series, and studied by reading, highlighting, and taking notes. The real MCAT was not as hard equally the Kaplan test, in my opinion." The pre-health professions advisor can help yous find the resources you lot need.

You tin also join a pre-health professions order or association at your school, including Alpha Epsilon Delta, the national award social club for health pre-professionals. Members aid each other get ready for tests, forth with hosting speakers and events to help gain cognition and experience.

7. Learn Another Language

"I speak Spanish about every day at work," says Dr. Carlson. "It 's what I use the almost from my premed didactics." Joseph spent a semester in Chile. "Focusing on language, culture, and people challenged me in a me in means that technical classes couldn't and was disquisitional in my preparation for medical school. If yous 're thinking most studying abroad, do it. Communication and understanding different cultures are crucial skills for anyone entering the medical field, and medical schools look for applicants who make the endeavor to broaden their horizons culturally."

Medical volunteer programs away are another option to proceeds both life and health-intendance related experiences. Students are placed in hospitals and clinics in both rural and urban settings where staff is inadequate. Work, with professional person guidance, can include giving vaccinations and other tasks interacting straight with patients, likewise as helping to make facilities cleaner and more than accessible. Programs are normally for people aged 18 and older

8. Don't Skimp on Extracurricular Activities

Students playing trumpets with a choir behind.

Prove that yous're interested in other things besides schoolwork. Dr. Carlson says having outside interests makes you lot stand out (she plays violin in an orchestra). "It'due south OK to signal some of these personal interests on your med school applications—they give the interviewers something to relate to y'all with," she says. "I interviewed one applicant who but got a C in biochemistry, simply he wrote lots of letters to the admissions committee highlighting his other strengths. Nosotros accustomed him, and he turned out to be a star."

"Medical schools like to see commitment in their applicants, be information technology to sports, piece of work, or extracurricular activities," says McKenzie. "Information technology 's easier to non join clubs and just do homework and relax, simply devoting time now to extracurricular commitments is worth information technology in the long run. These experiences also requite you good opportunities to get to know people who can write the letters of recommendation."

Joseph says to choose activities based on what works all-time for you lot. Aim for quality rather than quantity.

"There 's a lot of pressure to have as many leadership roles as possible and exist involved in tons of pupil organizations. For me though, having a few deep and lasting experiences was the fashion to go. I chose to invest my time in research, improving my Castilian, and volunteering," she says.

9. Be Polite and Be Yourself at Interviews

Research the schools you're interested in and look at mission statements, so you know something nigh the institution that you can share at the interview. Exercise answering interview questions. When you arrive, be courteous to everyone you see at the interview, including the receptionist.

"Schools are interested in learning what kind of student and person you are," says McKenzie. Schools invest in students and are looking for a adept fit.

If you lot need help with effective body language, knowing how to clothes professionally or for other tips, cheque out your schoolhouse'southward Career Services office, which may offering mock interview opportunities and other techniques to help y'all nowadays your all-time self.

10. Be Ready to Explain Why You Desire to be a Medico

Standing student in business attire writing in a notebook

Avoid generic answers like "I want to help people." There's no one right respond. Exist specific. Tell your story.

McKenzie's dream centers on helping people close to home, in an underserved area that suffers from chronic physician shortages. "I have always wanted to render to the Houghton-Hancock area, where I grew up, and to serve my rural community."

For Joseph, the dream centers on combining a passion for science with helping others in a directly way.

Dr. Carlson 's dream started when she was five years sometime and her sister was born with cystic fibrosis. She reminds applicants to become beyond that initial inspiration during awarding interviews and explicate how you've prepared for a grueling process that is not for everyone. "After medical school comes residency, so—for some—fellowship, academic track positions, publications, and navigating an ever-evolving health care system," says Dr. Carlson.

Bonus Tips for Getting into Medical School

Dr. Carlson has two more important suggestions to help you successfully apply to medical schoolhouse:

Enquire a Mentor or Advisor to Pick Upwardly the Phone and Make a Phone call for You

"This is an unwritten rule that everyone does and nobody ever told me until I was several years into my training," says Dr. Carlson. "If y'all want to get to a particular schoolhouse, observe a mode to have one of your mentors or advisors reach out to the admissions committee on your behalf."

For example, if you wanted to go to the University of Michigan ask your advisor or another mentor to telephone call the director of admissions or whatsoever other person they know and advocate for you. Electronic mail tin can also be effective, she says. "Information technology's a bonus if your mentor/advisor actually has a personal contact at the medical school you're interested in. "There is a civilisation of 'I tin vouch for this person' that goes very far in the medical world. A phone phone call won't get you in if your application is terrible, just if you lot're on the cusp of credence and someone makes a call on your behalf, it can give you lot the push yous need to be accepted."

Don't Exist Agape to Self-Promote (In a Humble Way).

"It's OK to highlight the accomplishments you're proud of; put these in your required personal statement or find a way to work them into conversation during interviews. The central is to do it humbly but confidently: 'I was fortunate enough to win a teaching accolade from my time every bit a chemical science lab TA, and that's something I'm actually proud of.' It's OK to be proud of your ain achievements! Selectively highlighting a few make your application stand out from the rest."

Do you lot take the personal skills it takes for a career in medicine?

Medical students must be dedicated and focused. "A significant amount of personal cede comes along with the training, and if yous don't accept a keen motivation, you won't find the sacrifice worth the advantage," says Dr. Carlson. If you can respond aye to these questions, or you're willing to observe the resources to work to develop any of these vital skills you could ameliorate, you increment your chances of being able to accomplish what information technology takes to exist accustomed into medical schoolhouse.

Are you compassionate, mature, and emotionally intelligent?

Compassionate people are kind. They are enlightened of suffering in the self and other living things, and they want to aid convalesce suffering. Mature people are able to accept responsibility. They are considerate of others, patient, and supportive of others, amongst other qualities. Emotionally intelligent people are aware of their emotions. They can harness and apply their emotions to trouble-solving and other tasks and manage emotions—similar existence able to cheer up yourself, or other people, or to infuse calm into a situation.

Are you lot difficult-working?

Hard-working people are conscientious most correctly performing duties and tasks on fourth dimension. They are willing to put in the hours necessary to achieve goals.

Are you a loftier achiever?

High-achieving people are motivated to set and complete ambitious goals. They have a passion to excel in the field they choose to work in and are not daunted past obstacles.

Are you lot socially conscious?

Socially witting people strive to stay informed and aware about the earth around them, including how people interact with the economy, education, and both concrete and social environments.

Exercise you lot have fantabulous quantitative and qualitative skills?

People with quantitative skills can perform analyses and other physical and measurable tasks. Two examples of quantitative skills are data estimation and math. People with qualitative skills are able to perform broad skills. Resilience and creativity are two examples of qualitative skills.

Pre-Health Professions at Michigan Tech

Michigan Tech's placement rate into medical schoolhouse is 60 to 70 percent (well in a higher place the national boilerplate) and is nigh 100 per centum for physical therapy school. Choose a pre-wellness profession and prepare for your future today.