Accepted Founder Linda Abraham Talks Med School Admissions [Show Summary]

Are you planning to apply to medical school this year? Worried about the personal statement, most meaningful experiences, activity descriptions, and secondary essays? They can be challenging! Let’s learn about the who, what, when, where, and why of impressive, engaging writing that will get you accepted.

Acing Your Medical School Personal Statements, Most Meaningful Experiences, Activities, and Secondaries [Show Notes]

While we’re going to take a deep dive into personal statements, etc., today, our upcoming webinar, The 5-Part Framework for Medical School Acceptance, which I’m presenting, provides a conceptual framework that will help you choose where to apply, optimize your application, ace interviews, and start medical school next fall. Please join me for the webinar on February 6 at 4 PM PT/7 pm ET.

If you combine the advice I’m giving today with the framework in the webinar, you’ll be ahead of the curve on your MD or DO applications. So let’s look at the who, what, where, when, and why of the writing required in applying to medical school, although I’m not going to go in that order. Like Simon Sinek, I’m going to start with the Why.

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Why do you need to do so much writing for your medical school application?

The reason for all the writing in your medical school application can be summed up by the acronym PAD.

Essays should…..

Provide a window into the real you.

Add value to your application.

Demonstrate writing and communications skill.

Who will be reading your medical school application?

Admissions committee members are going to be reading your application. Like most human beings, they like and respond well to stories, anecdotes, and specifics that make you come alive. Grandiose declarative statements make them suspicious.

You want to show what a wonderful physician you are going to be. The people evaluating your application want to be able to imagine you treating their mother or father with compassion, kindness, and skill. They want to see you as a detail-oriented, empathetic professional.

When should you apply to medical school?

Start early so you can submit primary apps in June (as early as possible). Medical school admissions can be like musical chairs – there are more chairs the earlier you apply. I suggest listening to the podcast where a soon-to-be med student talked about how he started the process early, submitted in June, prewrote his secondaries, and was accepted by October.

Allow time for writing and rewriting the personal statement, and give yourself some distance between drafts. That temporal distance will give you a critical eye.

To prep for secondaries, take notes on programs as you research where to apply so you...