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Preparation: Non-academic

The Hospital   Research   First Aid   Media   Extra-Curricular  
U.S. Advisors
  Med Schools   The Application   About Money


All the following will be of benefit to yourself, your application to medical school and often to others as well.

The Hospital

Objective: 

To get exposure to the health care team working together and to gain one-on-one experiences with patients.

How:

Volunteer at your local hospital or through The United Way. Quality time is more important than quantity.

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Research

Objective:

To gain and develop self-directed learning skills which is key to most modern medical schools and the rest of your medical career.

How:

Apply for campus research bursary, grant, scholarship and/or approach a professor directly. If all else fails, volunteer!

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First Aid

Objective:

Get hands-on experience in a medical context and learn to act calmly in stressful situations.

How:

Check yellow pages in your area.

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Media

Objective:

Keep up-to-date with world news in general and health-care developments in particular.

How:

Local Newspapers, usatoday.com, webMD, or consider good in depth news programs like The Lehrer Report on PBS. About.com offers free daily email newsletters that keep you up-to-date with the top stories in world and health news.  An excellent source of informative free emails is available from the American Medical Students Association. Below you will find the latest news and health headlines.

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Extra-Curricular

Objective:

To remain active in sports, hobbies, or clubs which serves as an outlet and develops skills in leadership, creativity, etc.

How:

Make the time!  Your extra-curriculum is important but it should never be allowed to affect your grades.

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U.S. Premed Advisors

Objective:

To get advice from counselors on your own campus or more rarely from the school that you really want to attend.

How:

Seek the information on campus or online at National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAPH) .

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Med-Schools

Objective:

Stay up-to-date about deadlines, GPAs and MCAT* scores, prerequisites, etc., for all medical schools which interest you.

How:

Write or e-mail all medical schools which interest you.  Review their information online and have them send you pamphlets ASAP!  Also consider the book Medical School Admission Requirements (AAMC).

For more info on American and Canadian medical schools:

American Medical Schools    Canadian Medical Schools

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The Application

Objective:

Review application materials ASAP so you know in advance what they want from you.

How:

The ideal way to get an adequate amount of information about medical schools and their admission policies is to call or write the individual medical schools to which you would like to apply.  Subsequently, they may send you letters responding to your questions, pamphlets or other documents which will enlighten your knowledge of each specific school.

If it is important to you how a medical school rates worldwide, you can consult the Gourman Report which is available at most large university or college libraries.  Special editions of the U.S. News and World Report also rate university programs.  If you want statistical information on the medical schools and admissions in the United States and Canada, the latest edition of Medical School Admission Requirements may be helpful.  It is available from the AAMC.  The Black Book on Canadian Medical Schools contains information on admission requirements and selection policies of Canadian medical schools.

Application Services

Application services for the admissions process help to filter and standardize information for the participating medical schools.  Application services do not render admission decisions; rather, they provide a processing service. In the U.S., approximately 110 of the 126 medical schools participate in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS).   AMCAS application materials may be obtained from premedical advisors, participating medical schools or you may write:

AMCAS, Section for Student Services Association of American Medical Colleges 2450 N Street, N.W., Suite 201 Washington, D.C. 20037-1131 Phone: (202) 828-0600

There is also an application service in Canada. However, eleven of the sixteen Canadian medical schools have individualized application procedures. The five medical schools in the Province of Ontario participate in the Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS). OMSAS application materials may be obtained from participating medical schools or you may write:

OMSAS P.O. Box 1328 650 Woodlawn Rd. West Guelph, Ontario Canada, N1H 7P4 (519) 823-1940 E-mail: omsas@ouac.on.ca Web site: http://www.ouac.on.ca

Some medical schools in the US that participate in application services may also have their own applications to fill out.  Thus despite the existence of application services, nothing can replace the importance of contacting specific medical schools to be informed about their programs, policies, tuition, admission requirements, application procedures, etc.  For any medical school that may interest you, as early as possible you should write and clarify, among other issues, their application procedures.

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About Money

Objective:

To have a plan on how to finance your medical school education.

How:

Speak to your premed advisor, the financial aid officer at your university/college, financial aid sites on the net, financial aid at Peterson's. Do not be intimidated by the debt you will incur in medical schools since doctor's incomes are sufficient both in academic and non-academic positions.

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*Medical College Admissions Test and MCAT are registered service marks of The Association
of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) which is not affiliated with this site

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