The spring season is always really exciting as BS/MD applicants begin to hear back from their dream programs after a much anticipated wait. As a consultant, I like to use this time as a period of reflection about what went well during the cycle and how I can use that experience to improve my advising in the next round of applications. If you want to work with me on BS/MD or medical school applications, click the link here to get started.
These thoughts and opinions are my own. They do not reflect and may differ from how others perceive the admissions cycle.
Don’t Follow the BS/MD Checklist
Having met with a lot of families this past cycle, I found that a lot of parents and students viewed BS/MD and BS/DO programs as an easy route to becoming a doctor. I read through numerous applications that simply followed BS/MD Checklist (research, volunteering, passion project). But, when it came to brainstorming for essays, I often struggled to find depth in their motivations for doing these activities. As a consequence, drive is usually poorly communicated in their essays as well.
The students who were the most successful this cycle were the ones that were able to articulate their vision for a future career in medicine. They had clear goals and could easily describe how BS/MD programs would help them achieve their goals. With that said, even with perfect grades and all the right activities, having passion is a hidden requirement that is necessary to convey to admissions.
When everyone does the same activities, candidates tend to look identical. In the eyes of admissions committees, each cohort should consist of diverse backgrounds and experiences. This cannot be achieved if they accepted everyone with perfect scores and similar resumes. Shadowing, research, and volunteering are all important components of an application, but I often challenge my students (especially those who are sophomores and juniors) to take it one step further through their own initiatives. Leadership comes in many forms; it does not only have to exist within clubs. While a student may be president of multiple clubs in a school, it may not seem as unique as a student who created their own community project from the ground up. Passion projects can not help students stand out amongst a competitive cohort, but it also demonstrates many characteristics that admissions may be looking for in candidates including leadership, being a self-starter, creativity, problem-solving, and team work.
Longevity also matters. A one-time volunteer experience or a few hours of service here and there could be construed as inconsistent. Especially for those in the resume building stages, I recommend finding a passion or interest and committing to it long term. Arguably, spending 600 hours in one type of activities looks much better than spending 100 hours each in 6 different types activities. A typical resume that I see is a few hundred hours in dance, piano, volunteering, and research. While certainly well-rounded, It is really difficult to deduce a specific passion from those types of resumes. Rather, a resume can still be well-rounded, but where a student likes to spend their time should be more obvious to the admissions committee.
Every Aspect of the Candidacy Matters
One of the myths that I hear is that once a student gets an interview, the application itself doesn’t matter anymore because the school likes you enough to send an invite. This is false- every aspect of your candidacy matters. It’s important to remember that after an interview, your application is still voted on by a committee.
When your app is received by a medical school program, there are often multiple people who will review your applications before considering you for an invite. The schools may employ a certain cutoff for GPA and SAT/ ACT. If your scores make the cutoff, then your activities would be considered next. The reason why I don’t only focus on scores is because it is only used as a limiting factor. The rest of your application, discussed below, are more likely to be the determining factors in a student’s candidacy. Each school may have different priorities as to what they are looking for in a school. While some may want students who show commitment to volunteering, others may look for research interest. Therefore, it’s important to target schools that match your profile.
For essays, these should be well written. Without a doubt, an essay filled with grammatical errors will be frowned upon. Additionally, essays that don’t have any logical flow may also confuse the reviewers. One thing to consider is that even a bland essay could be good enough to get you an interview. But, it may hurt you during the final decision making round.
Of course, the interview does matter a lot, but less than people think. During the interviews, they are looking for obvious red flags, fit for the school, and personality (which will get you very far!). I always like to remind my students that even if you have a perfect interview, it is still only one part of your application.
After your interview, your application as a whole will be reevaluated, including by people who did not meet you in the interview. Although you may have had a perfect interview and your interview fights for you, the committee as a whole has to agree upon your candidacy. This is where lower scores or poorly written applications may come back to haunt students despite making it far in the application process.
One of my BS/MD students who interviewed at 5 BS/MD programs this year and was ultimately was accepted into two programs. In the context of BS/MD, this was an extremely successful application cycle. Reflecting on the entire process, her mother texted me saying that she now understood that students have to have what the school is looking for. With this student’s advocacy profile, she matched two programs’ missions extremely well through her activities and goals (and yes, her good grades and scores helped too).
Read More: Where to Start For A College Personal Statement
Our Guide: A Guide to Writing a Powerful “Why Medicine” Essay
Low Scores Have Hopes Too
A popular question I often get asked is if low scores can earn BS/MD acceptances. While I think it is a lot easier to get an acceptance to medical schools with lower scores, BS/MD’s tend to be tougher in this aspect. However, some of the things I saw this season surprised me.
At VCU BS/MD, a student with an SAT in the 1300’s interviewed. Typically, I recommend for students with lower stats to pursue BS/DO or the premed route. Having seen a lot of interview preps and acceptances for VCU, the majority of my students have over a 1500 SAT. So, when I saw this SAT score, I was extremely surprised that it was considered. What I think made this student stand out was his distance traveled and commitment to biotechnology. He told of a story of his father with brain cancer, which sparked his interest in biotechnology. He pursued a 3-year internship at a biotech company, a much longer commitment than most activities I see on a student’s application. In the end, he did get rejected, likely because of the weaker SAT. However, it was nice to see that his application was still wholly considered.
Perhaps one of the applications I was the most surprised about this year (and probably in my entire 7 years of application consulting) began as a pretty weak application. As a spring semester junior, this students had no AP’s, one sport but no other activities, and no volunteering when I first met him. Granted, his unweighted grades were high, but his SAT was still in the 1300’s. I pushed this student to start volunteering and shadowing right away, but given the late start, there were minimal hours spent in both categories. However, this student was accepted to LECOM BS/DO and NYIT BS/DO. He was also invited to Nova BS/DO’s interview, but I never found out the result. Now, before you add all of these schools to your list, realize that these schools all have poor matriculation rates. This means not many students graduate from the undergrad to the medical school, often because they do not meet the GPA requirements. If you plan to apply to these schools with a weaker score, make sure to mentally prepare for the academic rigor that ensues at these programs.
Test Optional Might Actually Be Optional
On the idea of lower stats, one student with a sub-1500 score did interview prep with me for Penn State PMM. For anyone that knows about PMM will understand that Penn State/ Sidney Kimmel has a high preference for top scorers. In fact, they have published data stating that students who interviewed on average had a 1510-1600 SAT or 36 ACT. Students who were accepted had an average of 1570 SAT.
When COVID began, the big question was if test optional was actually optional. While many undergraduate programs actually considered test optional students, many BS/MD programs did not. Out of the dozens of interview preps that I did this year, this was my only student who applied test optional. While I don’t know the final decision, this example echoes a lot of my other anecdotes detailed in this article already. She demonstrated her passions through music, martial arts, teaching sick kids martial arts. As I spoke with her, the authenticity of her story made it more obvious why she was chosen as a candidate.
The Right Advisor Matters
Speaking now as a physician, I could not have gotten to where I am without my physician mentor. She guided me using her own experiences in medicine to guide me in the medical school application process, but also made sure I was set up for success to get to residency. For many consultants who are not physicians, but rather college counselors (or even inexperienced college students?), it’s really difficult for them to guide students towards long term success without personal experience in medicine. Remember, getting into BS/MD is the easy part; getting out is the hard part.
Starting Application Architect in the cusp of interview season, I have met so many amazing students. While some worked on their applications independently, others worked with their school or private counselor. When I reviewed their applications, I often found that there were aspects of their activities or life story that could have been improved. These essays may be good enough to be considered for the interview, but may ultimately hurt students during the post-interview decision. Like I tell all of my students, although I can never guarantee a result, I never want to look back at the end of the season and think “we could have written a better application”. One of my students from the 2022-2023 cycle actually told me that many of her friends cringed when looking at their applications. However, she looked at hers and had no regrets (and it probably didn’t hurt that she’s attending her dream BS/MD!).
One student who worked with a different consulting company asked me to review her application after not getting any BS/MD or T20 acceptances. Strictly looking at her activities, I commented that I didn’t understand what her focus was. While her activities were well-rounded (research, leadership, volunteer work), it was difficult to pinpoint a unique strength. By that, I mean was she passionate about research? Service? Team Building? She did a last-minute (expensive) research course and published a paper in the summer of her junior year from the advice of her consultant. But it didn’t help her case. This is why I don’t typically push students to do research unless they have a long history of participating in research to demonstrate their interest. That last-minute publication or internship seems almost random when reading your application as a whole. Her essays, while perfectly polished, did not add any insight into her true passions and goals for the future. In comparison to my students who got into BS/MD or Ivy League schools, their applications pinpointed clear objectives for pursuing medicine, technology, or advocacy.
Bottom Line: While anyone can be a consultant nowadays, find a trusted advisor who has your best interest and can help capture your authenticity on your applications. Although you certainly don’t need an advisor for this process, the right one can help enhance your application.
Final Thoughts
Although I am a consultant, I am grateful for everything my students have taught me this cycle. The BS/MD process is demanding and requires planning well before the application cycle. Future applicants should introspectively consider their passions and play to their strengths, demonstrated through their activities.
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