Attending medical school right after you graduated from college has a lot of advantages. One is that you have fresh learnings that are helpful in med school. Aside form this, you are still young and have the energy to combat stress and pressure in the competitive med school environment. But if the idea of going to med school appealed to you much later in life, you should not let age hinder you from achieving your goals. Apply for med school! Here are tips on how you can handle stress and pressure of medical school even if you are older than most students.
Be organized
To avoid too much stress, you should learn how to be more organized. Start with making a schedule. Planning your activities will help you track and handle deadlines and still enjoy a more balanced life.
Enjoy the process of learning
One of the best ways to keep stress at bay is to enjoy your moments in med school. You have to savor the knowledge you acquire while listening to your professors or while reading your books. In this way, studying won’t be an obligation anymore but a way to satisfy your curiosity. It should open the gates to infinite discoveries.
Have a personal life
A lot of students take for granted their personal life in order to cope with the difficulties of med school. They just don’t realize that forgetting their personal life will lead to further stress. So go on, take time to watch movies with friends or go shopping once in a while.
Age should not be a hindrance to succeed in med school. There are many younger students who are more stressed and burnt out because they fail to organize their activities and enjoy their stay in the academe. Another reason is that they have forgotten that they also need to unwind once in a while.
Your Experience in Writing for a School Journal as a Topic for Your Personal Statement Medical School
Effective writing is not a skill everyone has. Some people find it difficult to even start an introduction for their writings; what more draft the entire essay. Just remember, it’s always the same for any kind of writing. If you are a college student and you’re asked to write an essay for your medical school admission, you could write about your real experiences writing for a journal in your previous school. This would be a very good opportunity to sell yourself to the medical school admissions committee that you have the qualifications and skills to make it to their school. But first, below are some guiding tips on how students could write effectively about your experiences writing for your school journal or school paper.
Organize your ideas
First and foremost, write down on the first paragraph all your experiences as a school journal writer. Then, you must collect relevant information pertaining to what you were writing then, and how you wrote them. Highlight your writing experiences and skills and organize them into an outline. Always think of what message you want to send to your audience. First, that you aim to convince them to grant a slot in their medical school, and second, that you will contribute your skills and experiences when you’re made a part of their school. After this, sort and filter all information about your writing experiences for a school journal, getting those that are extremely significant to your school journal experiences. Use these details to support your original statement.
Now that you have narrowed them down to the most important details, make sure you will write them in a clear and concise mannner, so as to develop unity and coherence in your essay. Be brief in your writing, because brevity is essential for coming up with an effective essay. Avoid wordiness and unnecessary long statements.
Know your audience
You should focus on identifying your audience so that you can adapt the tone or style of writing you will employ. Make sure you are able to grab the attention of your readers and maintain their interests until the end. Aside from handling their interests, you must also be concerned about your credibility at all times. Master the art of editing and proofreading your work. Always check for your grammar and punctuation usage, because the writer’s credibility also relies heavily on a writer’s grammar and punctuation errors. Emphasize how you apply these things when you write so that you are able to convince them that you truly deserve a place in their medical school.
Conclude with conviction
Present you writing experiences for a school journal in an interesting and unique manner. And do not forget to end your essay with conviction, enthusiasm, and authority so as to add depth to it. And most importantly, you should discuss how such writing experiences have helped you as a student and as a person and how you will be willing to continue this passion for writing even as a medical student. Highlight how such events, gave you realizations ushering you to a new direction in life. If you take this tips to heart, you’re on your way to becoming a medical student.
Photo Credit : cliff1066
Highlighting Your Resourcefulness in Your Personal Statement Medical School
Every human being has his or her own ounce of resourcefulness. It is just a matter of putting to use your ability to deal with unusual problems in a manner of ingenuity and inventiveness. When faced with difficulties, a resourceful student will immediately make use of a source of help or support to cope with such difficulties. And this trait is very much a guarantee factor for your medical school admission applications. If you are a student vying for any college or school admission, you are naturally asked to write your own essay or personal statement. And when you are already in the process of drafting one, the first thing you should think of is, “What is your ultimate reason for writing the essay? What do you intend to achieve from writing this personal statement?” Of course, your ultimate goal is to sell yourself to the school or college admissions committee. And you do this by writing in detail all your strengths, achievements, accomplishments, and skills as an applicant, believing that doing so will lead to your admission.
Focus on a theme
However, bear in mind that you have to be specific when writing an essay. Focus on a specific theme such as resourcefulness. Then support it with details and descriptions to sell yourself and get the admission you’re aspiring for. First, make your introductory paragraph. This is the first paragraph of your essay that introduces your main topic. In this part, you can discuss how a resourceful person you are, not only in school, but in all the other aspects of your life. Make sure that, by writing this first paragraph, you are already able to grab the attention of your readers, as well as hold their interests until the end. Then you can further develop the main idea that you are a very resourceful individual. You can also enumerate all the details that would support this. Elaborate on several instances when you showed your aggressiveness in being resourceful and the positive outcome of this resourcefulness. Also, explain how this has changed you for a better person, or how it has changed your perspective of various things. Write exactly what you do to highlight your resourcefulness as a person, since you know very well that it’s one element the admission officers look for in an applicant.
Coherence
To bridge your paragraphs, make use of transition words to link your paragraphs together. This will establish continuity and coherence in your essay. Then make your summary paragraph or conclusion, which is put at the end of your essay. It aims to summarize all the details you’ve previously discussed, giving your readers the signal that the essay is almost finished. You can do this either by giving out your final personal opinions or by simply suggesting a course of action.
Re-edit your writing
To be certain you’re on your way to getting your ticket to your dream school, first, prepare and organize your ideas before you write. Think about all the questions you need to answer in your essay, such as how can you best emphasize your resourcefulness. As we know, depth or specificity is a very vital ingredient of an effective writing. Also, focus on highlighting your resourcefulness in the essay, so you’ll be able to identify which writing style to apply. You may also add more descriptions to support your introductory statement, or give a catchy tune to your writing to make the paragraphs interesting. Then, collect further information on things related to being resourceful. The ultimate key here is write in clear and simple sentences for coherence. Clear your writing of jargons by not using unneccessary words and unnecessarily long and complicated sentences in your essay, for it will only make an abstract out of your personal statement.
Photo Credit : cliff1066
In medical school, all-nighters are inevitable. With voluminous work and time pressure that prevail in medical school, you are left with no choice but to pull an all-nighter. This is considered by many medical students as a “rite of passage” to be able to qualify to the medical world. This unavoidable choice has consequences, especially because losing hours of sleep is unhealthy. Below are some tips to aid you in coping with medical school all-nighters.
Limit sugar and caffeine intake
Most all-nighters take in soda, chocolate, coffee, soda, energy drinks and candy to keep them awake all night through. While this is not a healthy habit, it is practiced by medical students with the need to cope with work the whole night. However, the intake of sugary food and caffeinated beverages will affect your concentration, which can seriously affect the way you think during examinations. Instead, an alternative would be to take in protein-rich foods such as cheese and sandwiches rather than having caffeine and sweets for midnight snacks. This is a healthier habit since protein-rich food improves metabolism, boosts brain power, and develops immunities.
Find time to get more sleep
Even if all-nighters are required to be awake the whole night, it is advisable to find some time to take an hour-long nap. This is where a system such as team work in a study group comes in. Since most all-nighters are spent with a group of classmates, request one of your classmates if it is possible to cover for you while you doze off. You can also cover for your classmate the next time. Find the best way to make this possible since when you are deprived of sleep it affects your concentration and eventually your health. Lack of concentration affects your decision-making skills, and even turns you moody. Keep in mind that when you are too sleepy to work the next day, it will not give you any benefit.
It is not wise to pull an all-nighter every time a chance comes along as it is very dangerous to your health. Insufficient sleeping time will drastically impact on your Circadian rhythms, and even your short-term memory. Thus, to avoid all-nighters, make sure you are focused during classes. Recently, studies show that medical students who frequently pull all-nighters have low GPAs. In the end, lack of sleep will prevent you from reaching your full academic potential instead of improving your academic standing. So, do you still want to have all-nighters during exam weeks?
Photo Credit : TheTruthAbout
What qualities make doctors successful? Maybe medical doctors or even medical students themselves will have difficulty in answering when asked this question. Some may say their outstanding grades, others their excellent choice of a medical school and others their determination. These are all contributory factors toward being a successful doctor. Getting categorical answers entail additional reading and research; but if you are curious enough, here are some tips to start reading and help you become a great physician someday:
Successful doctors are excellent communicators
Active interaction with colleagues and other members of society is inevitable as well as important in medical practice. In a sample case: Dr. Cristina Yang of Grey’s Anatomy. Dr. Yang graduated with top honors from Stanford Medical School and received her PhD from Berkeley. She has excellent surgical skills and is like a walking medical textbook. Dr. Yang however is not at ease talking with her patients or able to handle well the delivery of terrible news. In this case, people skills are missing. In medical practice, a balanced medical aptitude and social skills is a must if you want to be a successful doctor. Patients are people and need special care during their unhealthy times; treating with sensitivity is necessary.
Successful doctors are keen observers
Doctors need to be observant during treatment of diseases and disorders. Some symptoms may be small or light but can be even more serious. Malaria for example starts with a tiny mosquito bite, and cancer begins with a small malignant tumor. Being keen on details is very important in medical practice as it will help you easily identify the cause of an illness of a patient or related problem. Having an eye for your patient’s situation will help you save lives. In medical practice, you have to stay alert and observant at all times before things get worse. Being vigilant helps you build a successful career in medicine.
Successful doctors are time management experts
Yes, time management is very essential to medical practice. Time management skill starts right when you enter medical school and not during medical residency only. Starting to practice time management skills during medical school does not only help you study well and get more sleep but also to build and excellent medical career. Getting well organized will help you avoid laziness and tardiness, your class schedules will be planned earlier and get you to bed on time as scheduled.
Photo Credit : Waldo Jaquith
Most medical students who apply for admission to medical schools are science majors who spend college years studying organic chemistry or comparative vertebrate anatomy to prepare for medical school. What then will happen if you majored in political science or journalism but realize your skill and interest lies in a medical career? Is it still possible to get into medical school?
Yes, you can definitely get into medical school. With a science major, however, you can enter medical school with the accomplishment of certain requirements as prerequisites to qualify for admission. If you are a non-science major, bear in mind that you will need passing marks in the required science courses for medical school prior to filling up that medical school application form.
Science courses required in medical school
Science subjects are required for enrollment to medical school, which you need to take up in college if you’re a non-science major. The science courses required for medical school include physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics. Most medical schools also require applicants to take up basic psychology units to be able to qualify for enrollment. This is because basic psychology prepares a medical student for medical psychology, more so if you want to pursue a career in psychiatry. Non-science subjects such as English, humanities, and social sciences are also necessary to get into medical school.
Personal statement tips for non-science majors
In medical school admission, science majors have an advantage over non-science majors. This is true since science majors have dealt with actual dissection and other laboratory work in their lessons. This is where the challenge comes in – how will a non-science major like you be able to increase your chances to getting accepted to medical school? To increase your chances, you need to prepare and submit a well-written personal statement. The personal statement is a written appeal to the medical school admission evaluators expounding why you are worthy to become a student in medical school. Your objective is to convince the evaluators that your non-science major is essential to medical practice. Take time to recall your lessons in college and strategically associate them with medical practice.
Although science major is still preferred as pre-medical degree to get you into most medical schools, it doesn’t mean that non-science majors are not accepted. If you have finished history or fine arts but are determined to enroll to medical school, don’t give up. In the end, hard work and perseverance are success factors in medical school.
Photo Credit : jemsweb
In writing references in the text, the AMA style is the proper format used. The AMA style is developed by the American Medical Association to be used in writing research papers or documents on medicine, science and other health-related subject matters. This style in citing references is used not only by medical practitioners and medical journalists but also by medical students and medical professors.
General guidelines in AMA style
All references are listed according to chronological appearance on the text when enumerated at the end of the paper. If text reference are indicated, each source entry must be numbered appropriately and not with bullets. All the elements of citation must be separated by periods, regardless of the source type.
Element chronology for book citations:
* author’s name
* chapter title
* editor’s name/translator’s name
* book title
* volume number
* book edition
* place of publication
* book publisher
* copyright year
* page numbers
General rules in citing books
In the case of the absence of some of the elements in your source there’s no need to worry, just skip them then follow the same chronology. In book citations, if you need to specify pages of the book, include or directly cite the page numbers. For the author’s name, make sure to follow the “<last name>, <first name>, <middle initial> format.
Element chronology for journal articles:
* article title and subtitle
* journal’s abbreviated name
* year published
* volume number
* supplement number
* page numbers
General rules in citing journal articles
When journals are being cited, the citation is not similar to book citations. You do not need to write down the first name of the writer in the journal article being cited. You only need to follow the format “<last name>, <first name initial> <middle initial>”.
Element chronology for Internet sources:
* name of author
* webpage name or title of article
* URL source
* date accessed
General rules in citing Internet sources
In the AMA style, although now allowed, citing Internet sources is not advisable. To make the citing of the internet articles more appropriate, indicate inside brackets if the internet source is an abstract of a study or an article in an online journal. Remember that it is very important to include the proper notation of the online journal cited in the text all the time.
Photo Credit : geishaboy500
In medical school getting invited into a study group is a privilege. Once you get an invite, jump into the opportunity immediately. This is one essential means to meet potential study mates as well as to improve your study pattern and academic performance. With medical school classes being full of stress, study group session is a good way to survive through the pressure and never ending challenges.
No room for procrastination
Study group sessions give you no room for procrastination, which is one of the worst enemies of good study habits. Studying by yourself probably allows you to drag time and head for the movie instead of the library. When you join study groups, it will keep you posted of your study habit and keep you aware that you need to finish studying as the group’s fate also depends on you. In the process it will train you to be responsible and considerate as many people are counting on you as you count on your group mates too. Responsible study group members will support each other’s study habits and move on with better academic performance.
“Two or more heads are better than one”
In a study group, sessions will involve lots of discussions and more ideas are shared. You will be given the chance to facilitate the group session with an assigned topic and will be in charge of explaining the topic to the study group. After giving your explanation, a group discussion will proceed where each member will give his or her comments or ideas regarding the previous topic discussed. This is the basic difference from studying alone and joining a study group. During study group sessions, you get the chance to share your ideas as well as listen to other colleagues. Sufficient ideas generated and collated can serve as a knowledge-base that does not only serve you during tests but also the entire medical practice.
More chances for self-improvement
Aside from good academic performance and gaining new partners, joining study group sessions have other advanages. Study group sessions can turn you into a confident student and make you good at interpersonal relations – a must need for every doctor. These qualities can be gained from frequent delivery of opinions in front of a small study group. Your attention span and memory recall can be enhanced by listening to other people’s opinions or ideas. The study group is a good way of preparing for medical career by enhancing your critical thinking and problem solving skills through assessing both your ideas as well as your colleagues’.
Photo Credit : alkruse24
A clearly-written sample medical school personal statement will help you get a higher chance of admission to the medical school of your choice. Although this is generally true, there are other requirements that very well contribute to your successful admission to medical school. One equally significant requirement worth investing on for a well-prepared medical school admission requirement is the interview. Here are some pointers to help you face the challenge of your interview for medical school.
*Wear appropriate clothing
Properly dressing up for the occasion means different for different occasions and purposes. Dressing up for a party does not mean the same when dressing up for a business meeting or an interview. For your college admission interview, the proper dress you need is one that is professional looking. A carefully ironed suit fits guys well; for girls, it is advisable to wear a slightly conservative dress. There is no need to impress your interviewer with too much accessories or makeup as it might instead create a distraction in the process. Be reminded that if you are fund of suing perfumes or cologne, it is best not to wear one for your interview. It is the best thing to do as you will never know if your interviewer might be allergic or sensitive to such scents.
* Watch your posture
Your posture gives a first impression during your interview. It is one way of projecting your behavior and personality. These are two important things an interviewer aims for in an interview, to assess as well your behavior and personality as you have projected in your personal statement medical school. Thus, it is best to sit properly during your interview. Be attentive and alert to your interviewer’s questions as well as pay attention to his or her body language; it is good to assess your interviewer as to how he or she reacts to your answers and your personality. This way you can also size up your own responses and body posture. Make sure not to give your interviewer a negative impression.
* Be honest with your answers
Making up stories or exaggerated information is a definite no-no during your interview. It is not necessary to impress your interviewer with information made up but rather impress them by giving precise and consistent information. You are advised to review the write-up written in your personal statement medical school. In the end, your interviewer will be able to check out your answers and will know whether you are lying or not.
* Stay polite at all times
Bear in mind that there will never be a means to know the traits of your interviewer, thus being polite during the interview may earn you a slot in medical school. Your interviewers are like investigators who will try and test your patience as well as your truthfulness. Remember that the interview is a tough process to go through as it will also determine if you are fit to the career you have chosen. Being so, you will definitely have to get a passing mark just as any other test in college. Whatever you do, be sure not to let your temper get in the way. Be aware and very alert as your interviewers will put you under stress and wrack your nerves.
Photo Credit : aNantaB
The good news is that foreign students like you have an equal chance to qualify for a US medical school. American medical schools are more interested in the student’s medical and academic potential, than in their religion and ethnicity. If you are an excellent student, especially in the sciences, you have a strong chance in getting into a US medical school. However, you need to read the following points to know what can further strengthen your application.
Speak the language
While race is not an issue, not being able to speak English can be a big problem. Even if you are gifted with a brilliant mind, you cannot learn in a US medical school if you do not speak or understand English. English is the language used for instruction, medical oral reports and written case studies. So, you have to practice your written and spoken English first before applying into medical school. Your English courses prior to medical school must be quite advanced. Note that you have to learn more technical terms; not knowing English in general will heighten your confusion. Even in practical exercises, such as dissections, you will deal with English instructions from your professor. You will be needing the language not only in keeping up with your lessons but also with socialization. Life in the US can be very lonely if you cannot communicate with its people.
State your case
Even your medical application essay requires proper understanding of English. Remember that you will be competing against American candidates who have the benefit of having English as their first language and of being used to an American education. Foreign students, on the other hand, have the advantage of being able to a show a different perspective. Write well to communicate your unique point of view. Express your reasons for choosing an American medical school instead of one from your own country. Give some insights as to the state of the medical profession in your own country. Your application essay must be unique, interesting, written well, and honest.
In the end, if equipped with the English language, you have as much chance as an American to get into a US medical school. Your origins will not be held against you. You can do your part by submitting an excellent medical application essay together with all other requirements.
Photo Credit : Dominic’s pics
