Dr. David Flick, one of the master advisors for Med School Coach, takes the mic this episode to talk about the demographic factors that are often overlooked when applying to med schools.

We’re about halfway through the 2018-2019 application cycle and beginning to look forward to the 2019-2010 cycle. If you’ve applied for the current cycle and haven’t gotten any interviews or acceptances yet, or you haven’t applied at all and will be doing so in the next cycle, this segment is for you. There are so many things to do when preparing, and Dr. Flick talks about how choosing the right schools to apply to is very important.

Peter White, USMLE and COMLEX tutor for Med School Coach, is here to tell us about the osteopathic pathway. Depending on where you grew up and where you live now, you may or may not be familiar with osteopathic medicine. Osteopathic medicine is a sect of medicine and one of the degree pathways by which you can currently complete in the United States to become a practicing physician.

Peter talks about the history is osteopathic medicine, the differences between MD and DO degrees, the application process, trends in the osteopathic profession, and current job opportunities.

A couple of weeks ago, Med School Coach hosted a webinar about personal statements and got a ton of questions. The team tried to answer them all but were unable to, so Renee is taking some time today to answer even more questions.

Some of the questions are specific to some peoples’ individual situations, but most of them are applicable to everyone who is preparing a personal statement. Renee talks about what activities to include, how to tastefully mention awards, the process of getting feedback, and much more.

To start off the new year, Renee wants to talk about people that are in the current application cycle that have not yet received any interview invites. Renee and the rest of the Prospective Doctor team get a lot of questions from applicants who, in January, are still waiting for their first invite and do not know what to do.

Renee discusses how there are reasons to worry and reasons not to, but that the most important thing is to stay positive. She gives advice on things you can do to up your chances in the current cycle, how you can be more prepared for the next cycle, and shares her own story about how she didn’t receive her first interview invite until January.

Ben Robinson, a strategic advisor of Med School Coach, is here today to talk about a strategic approach to the interview process. Ben often hears about students wanting to get the right answer. There’s a sense that they want to do things right and don’t want to be incorrect, wrong, or set off flags. They want to ensure that schools think they are a good fit. 

While a school may be considering whether you are a good fit or not, Ben thinks that these core ideas are not very useful for the interviewee in an approach to the interview situation. Ben talks about a strategic approach that tries to understand what the value of an interview is and how to optimize an interviewee’s ability to do well in these interviews. We learn about the real goals of an interview and how to achieve them while Ben provides example answers to common interview questions.

Because it’s medical school interview season, Dr. Ziggy Yoediono wanted to give you a perspective on how to ace traditional medical school interviews. This is based on his experience of having done admissions interviews for Duke School of Medicine and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry as well as for one of Harvard’s psychiatry residency programs.

Because Dr. Ziggy saw the same fundamental problems repeatedly when he interviewed applicants, he has framed advice as the 4 P’s for Acing Traditional Medical School Interviews.

On this edition of Speciality Spotlight, we talk with Dr. Aubrey Jordan about psychiatry. She shares with us the broad range of work that psychiatrists perform and what they talk about with their patients. We learn about the path of becoming a psychiatrist, including how to fast track your residency and fellowship experience from being six years to five.

Aubrey informs us of the difference between psychiatrists and psychologists, as they are often confused. She then discusses why she loves psychiatry along with some of the challenges that psychiatrists deal with. To end today’s episode, we receive advice about getting into the psychiatry field.

Renee is here today to talk about admissions decisions. At this point in the admissions cycle (November 2018), most people have started interviewing or have heard about other students getting interviews. Some people still haven’t interviewed, and that’s normal too. Interviews for each cycle usually start in September and can continue all the way up until May. Renee has even seen some in June and doesn’t start to get worried for applicants until February or March. 

Renee discusses people that have interviewed and are now awaiting or hearing from admissions decisions. She goes over what getting rejected, waitlisted, or accepted entails and what you can do in each situation.

Today we sit down with Ken Tao, director of MCAT tutoring for Med School Coach, to talk about MCAT retaking. Renee sees a lot of students who are borderline on their MCAT score or low in just one section. These students wonder whether they need to retake the exam, and it’s a big decision to make. Most students score higher or roughly the same when retaking an MCAT, but there is a risk of getting a lower score.

Anyone thinking about retaking the exam should get some advice, which Ken provides for us in this episode. He takes us through many situations that students may find themselves in, including having a borderline score and having a low score in just one section. Ken also makes recommendations for how to study for the exam the second time around.

In this episode we discuss how most students get interested in medicine, the first steps you should take if you're interested in medicine, when you should start preparing, and more.

Our guest is Ziggy Yoediono of ZIG Consulting. www.zigconsulting.com