What's YOUR Med School Plan?
Medical school applications and interviews are incredibly expensive. Applicants crave guidance, and some companies charge hundreds of dollars for information that you can find for free. I provide free information for applicants, and I only offer paid services for 1:1 attention for students who need/want it.
*Opinions are my own. Please refer to the Disclaimer/Mission in the footnote of this website.*
*At this time I am in the planning stages of a business and will not be charging any fees*
Application Flowchart
APPLICATION SECTION - What medical schools are looking for
PRIMARY APPLICATION (AMCAS) - What do you look like on paper?
Academic Information - Are you prepared to handle medical school?
MCAT - How many attempts? Are you in our middle 50%tile or an outlier?
GPA(s) - Are you in our range? Do you have explanations if needed? Upward trend?
Schools/Degrees - Did you go to a strong school? Did you take challenging courses? Other degrees?
15 Experiences, 3 Most Meaningful - 18 types and relative 3 categories (Medical, Research, and Other). How do you describe your experiences and how will they help you in medical school? Do you have genuine unique interests?
Personal Statement - What is important to you? What drives you? Do you know what to expect in medicine?
Demographics - Out of your control but may have an impact
Ethnicity and Race - Are you underrepresented in medicine?
Childhood/SES/Disadvantaged - Did you have challenges that impacted your application?
Parents - What do your parents do and where did they go to school? Are they in healthcare?
Languages - Do you speak another language (ideally above a basic level)?
Letters of Evaluation - Who endorses you? Do you have people in appropriate positions who took the time to write a strong letter for you?
SCHOOL CHOICE - Where are the programs that your application stands a chance?
AMCAS DATA Table A-1 - "U.S. Medical School Applications and Matriculants by School, State of Legal Residence, and Sex, 2021-2022"
Use this to verify that the schools you're applying to accept people from your current state
Pay for and use the MSAR - https://mec.aamc.org/msar-ui/#/landing
Do you have ANY connections to certain schools? Alumni? Work? Family friend? Consider having them reach out to admissions.
SECONDARY APPLICATIONS - How can you concisely answer questions specific to certain schools?
Save all writing. You never know where you'll use it!
INTERVIEWS - How do you present yourself? What is important to you? Why would you fit into our program?
Practice! Read example questions!
ACCEPTANCES - You did it! Do you have choices or leverage?
More than one? Keep in contact with schools for what they will offer financially.
RE-APPLICATION - Did you improve? Did you make backup plans?
About Brandon Rose, M.D., M.P.H.
Applying for residency in internal medicine
M.D./M.P.H. Class of 2022 at University of Miami
Admissions committee experience (will never share specific details)
Undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, Class of 2016
High School in San Diego, CA
Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA
Applied to medical school twice - interviewed at UCLA, UCSD, UC Irvine, UC Davis, USC, University of Miami, Mayo Clinic 2 and 2 Arizona/Florida
Other - Marathon runner, Heme/Onc fellowship plans, R computer coder