Summary

Lolita Wood-Hill has been working in the field of pre-med advising for over 25 years, so it’s safe to say she knows the ins and outs of the medical school application process better than most. In this podcast, Lolita gives advice on how to make yourself the most enticing applicant to medical school possible, starting as early as freshman year of college. She lays out a timeline of activities, including coursework, research, and clinical experience that are an essential medical school application plan. Lolita also shares the realities of the application process, and how to prepare for it from an academic and financial perspective.

How to Plan Your Pre-Med Application Process

Our guest today, Lolita Wood-Hill, started her pre-med advising career in the early 1990s working for AAMC’s Summer Health Professions Education Program , which had a different name then. She then worked as Deputy Director for Premedical Studies and Prehealth Advising at CCNY and Hunter College. She arrived at YU and assumed the role of Director for Prehealth Advisement in September 2010. In that role, Lolita provides academic and career guidance for all students interested in health profession careers.

Three and four years before planning to start med school, what’s a successful applicant’s timeline? [2:44]

First-year students need to understand about grades. The transition from high school to college can be tough, so it is important for them to find tutors, to find upperclassmen that can give them info on classes, and to make sure they know how to access money for books, for example. Freshmen struggle with this, and if that transition is really bumpy then all of a sudden the first year of college turns out to be a C in Bio, a C+ in Calculus, and you are climbing uphill.

First-year students need to think about how to transition to college successfully and also what they will need three years later – they will need letters of recommendation, so start looking at professors. Who do you like the most? Who do you have the best rapport with? And continue those relationships so in two-three years you can ask for a letter of recommendation. Also, think about your interests outside of the classroom – look at clubs (though in the first semester no one should join a club, people should be focused on their grades) and extracurricular activities to participate in. When you apply, you need to have a robust resume, which should start the second semester of your first year.

Second-year students need to start thinking about research by the end of their sophomore year, thinking about summer research, doing it with a faculty member (so figuring out who you want to do research with), and overall figuring out where the research opportunities are. Students often don’t think about things until they are upon them, but they need to really think about their plan as soon as they are in the door. You only have three years that you are going to show to a medical school in your application, so you need to make the most of them.

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When do you recommend applicants start getting clinical exposure? [5:36]

That can start in freshman year.