The Off Season (Interview Advice Column)

Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBABy Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

Another admissions cycle is in the history books. For those of you who got accepted, congratulations! I hope medicine is everything you thought it would be and more. For those of you who didn’t, I’m sorry this wasn’t your year. This article is for you.

As any great athlete knows, performance level during the season is largely determined by the choices made during the off-season. Here are some options to consider as you make your summer plans.

What Worked and What Didn’t

In a perfect world you would be able to find out what a given admissions committee thought about your application, both good and bad. Fortunately, many schools offer such a service. This feedback is worth its weight in gold. If any of the schools you interviewed offer post-interview feedback, make sure to get it. Read more »

Ethical Questions (Interview Advice Column)

By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

To make a goal of comfort or happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

-Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I was recently asked by an applicant how to approach ethical questions asked during an interview. His concerns about answering this type of question echoed those of many other applicants. In light of this common woe, I’d like to share a simple three-step approach for handling interview questions regarding ethics. You’ll be happy to know reasonable answers are probably easier to frame than you think. Further, interviewers are often as nervous about asking ethical questions as you are about answering them!

Abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, and pharmaceutical “perks” are super-charged topics currently facing physicians and our health care system. It is a truly scary proposition to be asked about your stance on such issues, especially in the glare of an interview. When your goal is to make a good impression (and not rock the boat), it can be hard to share your views on these sensitive topics. What’s an applicant to do? Read more »

Grades?! Part 2 (Interview Advice Column)

By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

“A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.” Unknown

So you’re not happy with your grades. Are they at the bottom of a well? Do you feel that the GPA and MCAT scores on your application don’t reflect the true brain power you possess? This firmly plants you in the majority of applicants. So what can be done to help this common situation? Here are some tips to help you be the “wise man” and make the most of your grades.

Overview of Problem Areas

During the course of the medical school interview, it is important to proactively bring up weak areas of your application. I liken this to telling your parents you’ve done something wrong before they find out about it. Although I rarely practiced this philosophy as I was growing up, the times I did usually resulted in less trouble. I think the same is true for admissions committees. Students who can assess their own weaknesses gain credibility. Those who come to the committee with an honest assessment and plan (not excuses) to address weaknesses look much stronger than those who ignore or try to hide their shortcomings. Read more »

Grades?! Part 1 (Interview Advice Column)

By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition…” Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

If you are concerned about your grades (GPA, MCAT, etc.), you are not alone. As an advisor and interviewer, it’s one of the most common issues I encounter. Nobody thinks they have perfect scores. It’s the equivalent of looking in the mirror and being a little displeased with that sag or roll. We all wish something was different. Applicants view their grades the same way. The good news is that changing your scores doesn’t involve a nip or tuck.

The topic of grades is a big one. There are several key concepts that need to be addressed and are paramount to your success. It’s too large and important to adequately cover in one column. That is why the next two articles will be dedicated to this subject. Read more »

Are You One of Us? (Interview Advice Column)

By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

No question is more important to your success than this one. Convincing the admissions committee that you are “one of them” transcends the individual importance of the interview, your personal statement, your GPA and even your MCAT score. Understanding why this is will help your application rise to the top.

What’s it all about?

If not on a conscious level, certainly on a sub-conscious level, admission committee members are trying to determine if an applicant is one of them. There are two main reasons for this inquiry. First, they want to know if this person falls within the generally prescribed norms of a standard physician. Second, they want to know if he or she seems like the kind of person they would trust with their own health care. Read more »

Introduction to “The #1 Factor” Interview Advice Column

By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

This is a column dedicated to providing resources for success in the medical school interview.

There is precious little information on the subject of the medical school interview. This is unfortunate, because the data we do have indicates that the #1 factor for admission to medical school is the interview. I’d like to help change the lack of information.

This column has one main focus: to provide useful information that will help you accomplish your goal of getting into medical school. Far too many good applicants land an interview only to perform poorly and ultimately be rejected. I hate to see someone miss out on his or her dream simply because they lack the right information.

The entire admissions process is challenging at best; at worst it is downright cryptic. There is plenty of information about submission deadlines and application requirements. But when it comes to quality information about the inner workings of an admission committee or the interview, it’s tough to find. This poses a huge problem for the applicant. You’re giving everything to gain acceptance into medical school but have little guidance along the way. Read more »

© 1999-2007 Coastal Research Group. Some rights reserved.
The SDN Logo and "Student Doctor Network" are registered trademarks of CRG.

TRUSTe Trust Mark   Creative Commons License   We subscribe to the HONcode principles of the HON Foundation. Click to verify.   HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.