When I first entered college, I was on the path to becoming a pharmacist. During my freshman year at the University of South Carolina, I became involved in Changing Carolina as a part of Student Health Services and I took my first anatomy and physiology laboratory. These two experiences showed me that I wanted to be more involved. I want to help these patients first hand and see their outcomes. I want to develop a relationship with the people I am helping. I want to be the one that leads them from diagnosis to recovery. I did not want to simply be a step in this process. This is when I changed paths to become a physician, rather than a pharmacist. To reach my goal of becoming a physician, my next step in my career is becoming a medical student.

 

In order to become a medical student, I must first apply and get accepted to a medical program or college. The application process happens in multiple steps. These steps are meant for you to prove yourself as a qualified applicant in various ways. Every student applying to medical schools have similar statistics. Almost all of these applicants will have an acceptable grade point average, they will have all shadowed doctors, will all have earned decent scores on standardized tests, etc. The problem I have run into with applications is finding out how to distinguish myself as an applicant. My undergraduate courses will only get me so far, but my connections I have made outside of the classroom to what I have learned inside of the classroom is what will set me apart from the other applicants.

 

The first thing I must do for medical school applications is of course, have good statistics. I must fill my resume with good scores, good grades, internships, shadowing experiences, etc. I have done this via my major and minor requirements, two clinical internships, and extra curricular activities.

 

Currently, I am in the process of secondary applications. Secondary applications are where it is important to make yourself more than numbers on a resume. This is where medical schools want to get to know you as a person, as a student, and as a future doctor. In order for me to stand apart from other applicants it is important to take classroom experiences and apply them to everyday life. Much like my “key insights,” application essays require a unique way of thinking. You must think outside of the box and be unique with your responses to essay prompts that are given to you, much like how you must think outside of the box to apply medicine and to treat patients.

 

One thing that I will do to help improve my responses to these questions is doing my research on each school to see what they are looking for in an applicant. Knowing what specific schools want to see from you lets you know what to highlight about yourself and what to focus on. It can show you how to tailor your writing and the telling of your experiences to make you a better applicant, while still keeping your personality and attributes to be true.

 

Also, it will be important for me to research different health topics or approaches that are being discussed. They want to see initiative as well as uniqueness. One of my secondary applications has a passage about how I would provide patient centered care for a patient with end stage cancer. I will need to research the type of cancer and treatments, benefits and disadvantages of the treatments, and the quality and quantity of life they would be looking at afterwards.

 

From secondary applications, you receive interview invitations and then acceptances. Getting into medical school is a trying process, but when you get accepted, you must strive to be the best student that you can be. My experiences throughout my undergraduate education have taught me valuable skills to carry with me. I have learned to how to effectively teach myself and what is expected from me to be an exceptional student. I have also learned how to apply generic information for unique circumstances and to investigate information I am given to find all of the information that I possibly can. Lastly, I was taught to look for unconventional connections and patterns in material that is presented to me. All of these techniques for learning will help me be a phenomenal medical student and eventually, a better physician.