The Journey: My Road To Medical School

// “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive. ” – Audre Lorde //

As with ALL of these posts, this is my perspective and my journey.  I was blessed to know what that I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up around the age of 7.  With that in mind, my mother (and myself) tailored my entire school career to eventually getting into medical school.  This is not the case for everyone.  That being said, here are some tips that got me to where I am now.  Hope my journey and experiences are able to help!

How did you prepare for medical school? MCAT score? GPA? How did you make yourself competitive?

After graduating from college, I ended up taking a year off.  I know myself and I just wanted the year to enjoy life and decompress.  I took my MCAT about 6 months after graduating college.  I took the Kaplan prep course on campus while I was in college, but it was really hard to focus on my studies and really study for the MCAT, so I really just used the materials and studied for the test on my own after graduation.  Fortunately, I only had to take the MCAT once and I had the rest of the year to enjoy myself.  I made a 29 on the MCAT and I graduated with a GPA of 3.75 (NOTE: This was in 2010, so the expectation for scores and the entire MCAT exam has changed.  Don't use my scores as a benchmark for you).  I believe I was a competitive applicant because I was an African-American Female applying in the South with reasonable scores.  That is not to say that as an African-American I had to do less to get into school, I just know that a lot of schools were "trying" to increase diversity, so I fit the bill.  It also helps to have a good medical school interview.  Some people are born with the gift of eloquence in interviews, and some people aren't...and that's no problem. If you struggle in an area, you just have to work harder.  Practice your interview skills if you have to. Take extra courses or repeat courses to increase you GPA. Retake the MCAT if you have to.  In the end, you just have to do what you have to do to make your application packet as strong as you can.

What are some tips you can give us to prepare for the MCAT?

When preparing for the MCAT, I really think you just have to be focused.  Make a schedule.  Follow your schedule.  Find a prep program that caters to your strengths AND your weaknesses.  Not all prep programs are made equally!  Some are great for those who already have a great foundation and others are great for those who need help creating a foundation.  Take the time to figure out what you need from a program and determine what program you use based off of that.

PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. Practice as many questions as you can in preparation for the exam.  On exam day, you need to be prepared to find the question as quickly as possible, find the BEST answer and finish all of the questions in the allotted time.  DON'T LEAVE ANY QUESTIONS BLANK. You do not lose points for a wrong answer, so it is better to guess in a time-crunch and have a chance at getting a correct answer than it is to not have an answer at all.