Learn about medicine and how to become a physician in our articles for pre-medical students (including the MCAT), medical students, resident physicians, and practicing physicians.
It’s hard to be a pre-med. There are high expectations for the types of experiences you need, the classes you have to take, and the quality of person you become through it all. But for how hard it is to be a pre-med, it’s pretty easy to come off as “typical”.
Here are 8 key activities, experiences, and essay topics that can make you read as a “typical pre-med”, unless you take the following advice:
A 32-year-old female presents with a headache and a rash on her trunk and extremities. She has had unprotected sex with multiple partners over the last two months, but denies any history of sexually transmitted infections. Examination reveals generalized non-tender lymphadenopathy, a diffuse macular rash on her chest and arms, and patchy hair loss. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) and fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABS) tests are both positive, and she is given a single dose of penicillin G benzathine intramuscularly. She returns within a few hours with a worsening rash (seen here), myalgia, and a fever.
Listener Meghan is about to start med school in the fall, and is thinking about what sort of regular habits medical students like Aline Sandouk, Tony Rosenberg, and new co-host Jayden Bowen use to keep them on track. Not only do we look at some routines they use (and debate whether they’re even helpful), but we also have a suggested routine for the new student.
Adaira Landry, MD, MEd, is the Assistant Residency Director for the Harvard Emergency Medicine Residency. … Read more
Her snacks were delicious, but you’ll never guess her secret ingredient. Irisa Mahaparn, Tony Rosenberg, … Read more
A 19-year-old female exchange student presents to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain and a swollen right knee. She has had recurrent episodes of abdominal pain for the past 5 years which last 2-3 days before resolving spontaneously. Previous investigations have all failed to identify a cause. She mentions that several family members back home in Turkey have similar symptoms. On examination, she has a temperature of 39.4°C and a heart rate of 125. Her abdomen is diffusely tender with rebound tenderness. A right knee effusion is present, and a raised, tender erythematous lesion on her left lower leg is noted. Laboratory testing reveals an elevated white cell count with a neutrophilic predominance, as well as elevated ESR, CRP, and SAA protein.
I resisted dating my long-time friend for months after it became obvious that we were … Read more
Spoiler alert: don’t “prepare” during the summer before you arrive at medical school. Listener Amanda … Read more
One of the questions that we hear most often from students is “How do I get more answers right on MCAT CARS practice passages and in the exam itself?” That’s a critical question because your score depends totally on how many questions you answer correctly in the time allotted. When you look at the methods described in most MCAT CARS practice books, they give you a lot of tips and tricks on how to answer questions. And when you learn these tips and tricks and use them on practice passages, the first thing you notice is that they don’t work very well. You’re still getting a lot of wrong answers.
Why is that? It’s because these methods are anecdotal rather than scientific. Think of it this way: when a patient comes to see you with a serious medical condition, are you going to use tips and tricks to treat her? No, You’re going to use your basic knowledge of medicine combined with your reasoning ability to do a proper diagnosis and treatment.
In both high school and college, we get used to our peers being our age. Everyone turns the same age in the same range year after year. This makes it easy for friendships to form based on common interests and just being in the same stage of life. After college, however, most of our paths can diverge in a variety of different ways. Many of my non-preprofessional school friends got jobs and are even buying houses now. Others went straight into medical school, and still others waited a few years and lived out their lives before going back to school to study medicine. I think that is actually one of the most interesting and beautiful parts of medical school: the diversity in age and experience.
Our own Claire Castaneda won first place in the Carver College of Medicine’s Carol A. Bowman Creative Writing Contest for Medical Students, and her piece caught Dave’s eyes and heart. She talks with Aline Sandouk, Melissa Chan, and Tony Rosenberg about the dynamics of family strife and the pressure they can exert to follow one career path over another. Meanwhile, Aline expresses her feelings on being left behind by her original classmates as she continues her MD/PhD studies.
A 66-year-old male with a history of hypertension presents to the emergency department with dyspnea and sharp abdominal pain radiating to his back. On examination, his blood pressure is 180/120 mm Hg. A CT scan demonstrates the findings seen here and laboratory testing indicates that his renal function is preserved. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step given this patient’s likely diagnosis?
With so many deadlines and moving parts to med school apps, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. In this article, we’ll discuss how to be strategic about when you write what. At the end of this article, we’ll give a sample timeline that you can use. We will focus on the AMCAS app, but a lot of our advice is applicable to other application types as well.
Our motivation for writing this article is that we have too many friends who didn’t get into medical school because they applied late. It’s heartbreaking to find out you didn’t get in because of something so avoidable. We don’t want that to be you.
The same afternoon that I offered to write an article espousing all of my triumphs … Read more
25-year-old male presents to the emergency department with headache, retro-orbital pain, and diplopia when gazing to the right. He had visited an urgent care clinic with right ear pain two weeks earlier and had received a short course of antibiotics. After some initial improvement, he became increasingly unwell before presenting today. Otoscopy reveals purulent discharge in the right ear canal and a CT scan demonstrates the findings seen here. Which organism is most commonly responsible for this patient’s likely diagnosis?
Oh, gosh. It’s Kaci McCleary and Amy Young’s last show as co-hosts. Irisa Mahaparn and Teneme Konne join them to discuss their impending moves to Colorado and Minnesota. Also, they lament Iowa’s new Fetal Heartbeat Bill and what some observers believe will be an associated collapse of OB/Gyn in Iowa should the law go into effect. But life goes on, and Amy–a relatively new parent–talks parenting fails. Luckily for her little Sammy, and sadly for his own children, Dave has her beat. And listener Corey reaches out on Facebook to tell Dave he’s wrong. Shocker.
Yes, we said it, ignore those national rankings! You’ve probably already heard this, and you know deep down it’s good advice. But let’s be honest, it’s easier said than done.
We try to remind students not to put too much emphasis on a school’s average GPA or MCAT scores and instead to look at their mission statements and focus on what matters most to them. Medical schools each have different values and goals, and it’s important to ensure your own interests align with the medical school. Remember, you’ll be spending at least four years there! Whether it’s the school’s commitment to primary care, the research opportunities available, programs or clubs related to your interests, or a particular class size or format that is a good fit for your learning style, it’s always a smart idea to consider a broad range of factors. This worksheet can help you assess different factors for each school you’re considering applying to.
Each year after the medical school application cycle is complete, thousands of medical school hopefuls are left without an acceptance to an MD or DO program. The number of students who didn’t receive an acceptance is large enough that the AAMC keeps data, broken down by various criteria, on how many people made or didn’t make the cut each year.
If you are in the unfortunate position of having received a rejection notice from every school to which you applied, you may be asking yourself if reapplication to medical school in an upcoming admissions cycle is worth the effort. Do you have a reasonable chance of getting into medical school? Are the less attractive aspects of your application ones you can fix? While the decision about whether to reapply to medical school is a personal one, considering the following criteria may help you gauge whether you are likely to be successful in subsequent admissions cycles.
Melaku Arega grew up in Ethiopia and moved to the United States at age 14. … Read more