The Simple Way to a Better Medical School Application
(Note: Simple is Not Equal to Easy)

You will be more prepared for your medical school application once you read this question and answer section.

Question: Does anybody know how good of a program NSLC has? My brother is a high school freshman and I really want him to not make the same mistakes that I did while I was in his situation. He wants to go to a medical school but since I don't have any experience in applying to one, I don't know what to tell him.

Answer: Hi, first of all, I don't know what NSLC stands for but, I do have a lot of friends who got accepted into med school so let me tell you some of the things that got them there. About NSLC, if this is a pre-med program that a university offers to recent college graduates, I would say that they are a waste of time (in my opinion) unless a student needs to take more classes to make up for a poor grade point average or lack of experience, etc. Aside from the pricey tag that comes with these programs, they won't give you (when I say 'you,' I mean your brother) a better medical school application because the admissions committee does not usually look for these things. Sure, taking these programs will show your commitment to your education but you will be better off doing other things with your time than take more classes. Your brother still has a lot of time in his hands to work on other criteria that the medical school admissions committee will surely look for. So, here they are:

Some things that you definitely need are: research experience and community volunteer experience. These two are not the same and they are both critical to your medical school application.

For research experience, you would need to find college professors, who perform research, who will take you in as their student assistant. You can usually either approach the teachers personally or look for research programs that are offered in your school. Many state universities may also have summer research programs for high school or community college students in order to promote science among the youth. So, look for those as well. Another advantage that these programs have, besides giving you a chance to have a better medical school application, is they usually offer a stipend (financial support) to their interns. This means that while you're getting more experience for medical school, you are also getting paid.

In addition to research, you should also have some type community volunteer which usually refers to practical, hands on experience in a hospital setting. For this one, you would need to find organizations that take volunteers or pay trained medical technicians/assistants. There are usually health organizations out there that have mobile clinics which serve the homeless population. These organizations usually take student volunteers because they don't have sufficient funds to pay a lot of employees. An even better alternative, especially if you don't like to volunteer or you need some extra money, is to take medical certification classes such as an EMT course or an X-ray technician course so that you can work directly with doctors in a clinical setting. You can do this part-time while you are attending school full time. Volunteering or working while you are in school also shows the admissions committee that you can balance many responsibilities at one time. This is another characteristic that they are looking for because medical school is a lot of hard work and they want to know that you are up to the challenge.

If you have the two volunteer experiences that I mentioned above coupled with a great grade point average and MCAT scores, you can be sure that your medical school application will be competitive enough to get some attention from the admissions committee. Of course, not everyone can have great scores and good medical experience so, if you are one of those people, don't despair. Your dreams are not about to end because your medical school application has flaws. For instance, if you have to make up for poor MCAT scores but have a lot of research and volunteer experience, these factors may make up for that score.

Aside from the criteria above, another aspect that you can work on is your personal statement. If you go to my personal statement section , you will find that I posted my actual admissions essay there and some advice on how to write a great one. While I used this personal statement for college admissions, many of the factors that I discussed there may still apply to your situation. Perhaps, you can make your personal statement sound more sophisticated since you have acquired more experience compared to a high school student.

Like the title of this section says, the medical school application is simple but being 'simple' does not mean it's easy. If you are willing to work hard, your hard work will pay off when you finally get your license to practice as a medical doctor.

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