Of Schools and Secondaries

Welcome back! This is the second installment of "Liam's Somewhat Handy Guide to Applying to Medical School," and it's going to be a good one. In the first installment, we covered the Primary Application, introduced a couple tips, and tried to keep stress to a reasonable level. In this post, I'll be covering a short bit about how to decide to which schools to apply, and what the secondary applications entail (spoiler warning: money, essays, and waiting). So, let's get started.

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Liam, why did you choose to mention the schools here instead of in your post on the primary application?" A very valid question, and one I will politely choose to ignore. With that out of the way, let's talk about schools. There are 137 accredited U.S. medical schools and 17 Canadian medical schools recognized by the AAMC. The number of schools you can apply to through AMCAS differs slightly, because most Texas schools use a separate application service (TMDSAS) and some schools have multiple campuses (the University of Arizona has two campuses currently, although they're working on separate accreditation). In any case, you have about 125 choices if you plan to stay in the 50 states, and I would plan on choosing around 15-20. Why? Because of our arch nemesis, probability. Medical schools tend to follow the rule of 10%, where 10% of applicants receive an interview, and 10% of interviewees receive an acceptance (in reality, the probability of being selected after an interview is a little higher, around 15-20%, but the Rule of 10% sounds nicer). What this means is that around 1-2% of applicants to any given school actually matriculate in the fall. Now, before you reach for that bottle of whiskey, Tip #5 says "Don't Panic!" and you should strongly consider this one. Sure, the odds aren't great (still more likely than winning the lottery though). But that's why you're here looking up tips for how to improve those odds. Applying to several schools will help your chances, but you also need to make each choice count. 100 crappy applications won't beat 1 good one. Even if you're Johnny Awesomesauce, the Super Applicant.

So, now that you're completely discouraged, let's focus on how to choose specific schools. The first step is to find a copy of the MSAR®. This is your application bible. It has information on each school, including stats like average GPA and MCAT, and it can help you quickly eliminate schools that don't fit your profile. If you're as neurotic as I am, you might even enter this information into a spreadsheet to compare schools faster. I even computed Z scores for GPA and MCAT, and then averaged those to figure out how schools compared to my stats (borderline unhealthy behavior in retrospect). In any case, it'll help you eliminate schools that don't take very many OOS (out-of-state) applicants or ones where you are outside the range they usually accept. That way you don't waste time on money on an application that is doomed from the start.

The actual distribution of the 15-20 depends on you. For the love of all things holy, apply to your state school. It's almost always less expensive, and sometimes you will get some favoritism. Even if you don't intend to go there, include it. The rest of your schools should include some safety and reach choices, but make sure all your choices are places you can see yourself going to. Also, as a little note, there is a small area bias for residency locations (allegedly). What I mean is that applicants to residencies in the northeast may fare slightly better if they went to the school in the northeast. I suspect this is mostly due to familiarity and connections you develop within your area, so don't stress about this too much.

Now, this may come as a surprise to you, but medical school is basically the same everywhere. Each school has its own take on the curriculum and clinical sites, and some schools may be more focused into areas like primary care or research than others, but for the most part, they're all pretty equal. After all, an MD is an MD (it's your residency that really matters, but that comes later). My point is, don't think you have to go to a Harvard or Yale just because it's a good school. Go somewhere where you can enjoy yourself, develop new experiences, and make the most of your education. You're going to be stuck there for at least 4 years, so you damn well better choose a place where you can be happy. And, since we haven't introduced a new tip in a while, here's one now:

Tip #7: Be passionate.


Really, this should extend in to all aspects of your life. If you don't find yourself passionate or excited about the school, it's probably not the one for you (hint, you can substitute person for school to apply this to relationships too). People generally do better work when they are happy and motivated (or at least they don't mind the work as much), so it makes sense to maximize your chances of being in a positive frame of mind.

Secondaries
I've just gone on and on and on about choosing a school, and I've only barely mentioned the secondary application. There's a reason for this (Spoiler alert!). The secondary is really just a couple more essays, on average, I would guess about three, with a ludicrous fee. One essay is usually a "Why do you want to go here?" type, which is fairly self-explanatory. Look up information about the school, and talk about how it matches your experiences and goals. Check, one down. Another essay I encountered frequently asked, "How would you contribute to the diversity of the student body?" (ie what makes you unique?). This one can be tricky. It is really up to you to decide what aspect of your personality and history you focus on. If you're really struggling like I was, ask your friends and family for help. Sometimes you can overlook an event or behavior that's worth talking about. Those two are the ones that appear frequently. Keep in mind secondaries are pretty heterogeneous. Some had no essays (awesome, except for the money part) and a couple had 7+ essays (rarely, thank god). SDN has school-specific threads for the current cycle and previous one, so you can often check past threads to see how many and what type of questions the last group had.

Otherwise, there's not much to it. This is where the long waits come in. Most schools send secondaries to everyone, so the earliest you receive yours is usually based on when they received your primary. When you do get it, try to fill it out in a reasonable amount of time. That way, if you're filling out multiple secondaries, you don't get too bogged down. I would also recommend having all secondaries submitted and complete (LORs received) by the end of August. Interviews start around September, and you want to give yourself as much time as possible to be selected. After you submit your secondary, try not to obsess over it. The wait will be long and stressful, but if you keep checking SDN to see who is getting interviews, it will be that much longer and more stressful. But that's it. And not only that, most of the hard work is done! You still have the interview, but your chances greatly improve if you can get that invitation. So, put away the Tums for now and go enjoy your summer. If you have to wait, may as well make the most of it!