How to Get into Medical School [8 Effective Tips]

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This may seem like an unusual post for a website aimed mostly at doctors and those already on their way to becoming doctors. But I have a surprisingly high number of pre-med students who read the blog, and I hope this post will help them long before they take out $400,000 in student loans to become docs. Here are the “secrets” to getting into medical school.

#1 Get better at standardized tests

If you did poorly on the SAT or ACT entering college, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Taking standardized tests is an important skill for pre-meds, medical students, residents, and even practicing physicians. The tests never end. You might as well learn how to deal with them now. It helps to be smart, but there are real assessment skills that everyone can use to improve their scores from fair to fair, fair to good, and good to great. Taking all the MCAT practice tests you can get is a good start. But read the answer explanations, even the ones you got right. You will learn a lot about how to do it and good testing. Those skills will help you do well on the MCAT, USMLE Step III, shelf exams, on-the-job exams, board certification exams, and recertification exams.

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#2 Work Harder AND Smarter

You will learn more in medical school than you did as a pre-med. You will work more hours as a resident. If you don’t like going to school, studying hard, and working hard now, you might as well get out while you still can. There are many good jobs out there where you can make decent money without killing yourself. But at the same time, start practicing “high yield” strategies for studying and learning. If you’re still reading the entire book twice in class, you’re doing it all wrong. Eventually, there will be so many things that you won’t be able to read them all at once, at least twice.

“Required” textbooks for medical school have their thicknesses measured in feet, not inches. You can’t read them all word for word. Read the summaries. Read the section headings. Look at charts, graphs, and figures. If you can’t find something, read that section. You will spend less time reading and end up with a better understanding of the story and how it fits together.

#3 Work on Your Social Skills

Although many doctors are introverts, there is little room in medicine for those who cannot communicate effectively with others. Most doctors spend their entire day talking. If you are not listening and talking to patients and their families, interacting with staff and other doctors or producing long written notes. This is not a job for the self-employed. You might think you could go into radiology or pathology or some other “non-patient” specialty, but I’ve got news for you. Jobs where you don’t interact with other people are usually few and far between. People who cannot communicate effectively are easily removed using letters of recommendation, articles, and especially interviews.

#4 Check the Boxes, But Use Them to Your Advantage

There are sections in every medical school application where you specify your extracurricular activities—including leadership opportunities, health care activities, and service activities. You must check these boxes to get into medical school. Many pre-meds take it JUST to get into medical school. I suggest you use these jobs to see if you really want to be a doctor. If you don’t like being a leader, you don’t find interest in many aspects of health care, or you really don’t like helping other people without the thought of reward, you may want to reconsider your desire to go to medical school. It might not be for you, and that’s okay.

And remember that you don’t need to spend a bazillion hours on each task. So, he hid the doctor all day every day for two months. Did you really get all that in those last 59 days? It would be best to silence four different doctors for four hours each. You don’t have to work as an ER clerk for three years or be the president of six different clubs on campus.

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#5 Be Interested

I served on the medical school admissions committee as a fourth-year medical student. Everyone who came to our committee had good MCAT scores and grades. They had all checked all the necessary boxes. We still have several hundred applicants for the 100 vacancies. At that point, it came down to who was really interesting. Being a biology major and pre-med club president didn’t get you very far in those conversations. But if you were a Russian immigrant who started an orphanage across the Mexican border for kids whose parents were killed in the drug wars, all while playing linebacker on the college football team AND STILL getting solid MCAT scores, good grades, and checking all the pre-med boxes, then you were a shoo-in.

Don’t try to conform to the “pre-med model.” Be yourself, and excel at it. Play up whatever makes you unique, whether it’s your heritage, extracurricular activities, age, previous job, or interests. You have to sell yourself on the application and in the interview. It’s not enough to be Hawaiian or a famous jazz musician. You need to explain how your knowledge will make you a better doctor and contribute to the education of your classmates and the care of your future patients.

#6 Apply to Medical School Early and Thoroughly

Applying late to medical school is like going to the batter’s box with two strikes stacked against you. Not only did you miss out on numerous interview opportunities (and admissions), but you demonstrated a lack of planning skills and a lack of attention to detail—two important qualities in good doctors. Similarly, your applications must be complete. If you haven’t had a few people (preferably those who can spell) read your entire application, not just the story, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It really matters.

#7 Play the Numbers Game When Applying to Medical School

I’m always surprised to see people applying to the same medical school. That is a losing strategy. Granted, the better you are as an applicant, the fewer schools you will have to apply to. But I’ll put the minimum at 10. Sure, it will cost you more money to apply, but not filing until next year could cost you hundreds of thousands in lost earnings. Don’t be a penny wiser, be a fool. If you’re not a good applicant, 20 or 30 schools isn’t a bad idea. You can always decline an interview if you get too many. Save your money by turning down interviews (if you’re lucky), not skipping requests.

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#8 Apply to the Right Medical Schools

Your biggest advantage may be that you are in your state school. They are usually required to recruit a certain number of people in their district. But not many states have top 10 medical schools. So, how do you decide which out-of-state schools to apply to? Look at who they have taken in the past. If a school traditionally takes 95% of its students from its district, don’t apply there. If two-thirds of the class consists of out-of-state students, that’s probably worth the money. Apply somewhere where you will be a little different. If you’re from Louisiana, someone in Colorado might think that’s great, but you won’t stand out by applying to Alabama.

Similarly, use a range of schools. No matter how good an applicant you think you are, make sure you apply to other “backup” schools. It may be humbling to see how many of these people are calling you for an interview. If you are not an above average applicant, you can also consider applying to Caribbean medical schools. If that is your only acceptance into medical school, I hope you choose it.

If you’re lucky enough to get into multiple schools, do yourself a favor and consider the cheapest medical school. What you learn in medical school depends more on you than on the school, and getting away with only $100,000 in debt instead of $400,000 will make a huge difference in your future professional and personal opportunities.

What other tips do you have for pre-meds? What do you wish you knew when you applied to medical school?

[This updated post was originally published in 2012.]