{"id":18526,"date":"2023-02-01T16:53:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T16:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=18526"},"modified":"2023-02-06T16:26:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T16:26:33","slug":"how-to-plan-for-medical-school-in-undergrad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/mcat\/how-to-plan-for-medical-school-in-undergrad\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Plan for Medical School in Undergrad"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an ambitious pre-med reader, you\u2019re probably excited to find out more about getting into medical school.\u00a0Summer\u00a0is an especially great time to start thinking about what you\u2019ll need to accomplish to increase your chances of acceptance.
\nOn the other hand, researching medical school\u00a0application information, incoming class statistics, and admissions requirements can be a lot to take on all at once. You may be wondering, \u201cHow do I even start to prioritize this information?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, today you\u2019re in luck. We\u2019ll outline what you need to consider at each stage leading up to your medical school application.
\n<\/p>\n

Freshman + Sophomore Years of Undergrad Before Medical School<\/h2>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Prerequisite Classes Used for Medical School<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

There are some undergraduate classes that are almost universally required. Subjects like biology, general chemistry, and physics are\u00a0prerequisites<\/a>\u00a0for most U.S. medical schools. However, some medical schools have additional requirements, such as calculus,\u00a0biochemistry,\u00a0and psychiatry. It\u2019s possible that your dream school or your state school will require classes beyond just the basics. You want to make sure that you\u2019ve built your schedule to accommodate these required classes and will have taken them before you graduate. Pre-med advisors can be a great resource for looking over your schedule to ensure that you\u2019ve covered all of your\u00a0prerequisite<\/a>\u00a0bases.<\/p>\n

MCAT Dates<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Taking the MCAT is one of the essential steps you take in building your application\u2014and allotting enough study time to hit your target score will improve the chances that you get into medical school. You should know that there are specific test dates<\/a>\u00a0in any given year. Since junior and senior year are prime times for taking the MCAT, you should consider when in your schedule a\u00a0test date\u00a0will fit. You\u2019ll also want to consider that the AAMC recommends almost 300 hours for MCAT test prep, so build that into your schedule as well. Planning ahead is especially important if you\u2019re planning to\u00a0study abroad\u00a0in the next two years and want to make sure that you can fit everything in.<\/p>\n

Activities of Accepted Medical School Students<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Again, there are some commonalities to applicants who are accepted to medical school. Activities like volunteering, clinical shadowing, and research are all beneficial to an application\u2014and can help you become a better physician in the future. The sooner you get started on these\u00a0extracurricular activities<\/a>, the better off you\u2019ll be when it comes to applying. Medical schools will often publish data regarding past activities of accepted students, or you can ask your pre-med advisor.<\/p>\n

Junior + Senior Years of Undergrad Before Medical School<\/h2>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Medical School Acceptance Data<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Application statistics<\/a>\u00a0such as the proportions of accepted in-state and out-of-state applications or the number of people who went straight through to medical school vs. people who took time off will be important when you\u2019re selecting where you\u2019d like to send your medical school application. Right now, it doesn\u2019t matter so much.<\/p>\n

Medical School Acceptance Data<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Sure, you could start researching what makes a good\u00a0personal statement<\/a>\u00a0right now, but chances are that your personal statement\u2019s content will change dramatically from your sophomore to your junior or senior year. You\u2019ll want to include the experiences you\u2019ve had during the school year, giving that powerful narrative you\u2019re going to be writing into your personal statement some time to develop. So, while it seems like a good place to jump-start your application, we actually suggest waiting until closer to your actual application to begin researching and writing your personal statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Medical School Tuition<\/h3>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

One of the things that will inevitably matter is\u00a0medical school tuition<\/a>. Medical school is expensive, and while there are many ways to alleviate that cost burden, it\u2019s still a significant investment. Tuition shouldn\u2019t be a factor in your early decision to apply to medical school, however. That\u2019s a factor that can guide your application process when deciding which schools to send your primary application to and which admissions offers you accept.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

So, while much of what you need to know about how to get into medical school can wait, you still want to get started on the early-stages of the admissions process immediately. Researching medical schools, prerequisite classes, and MCAT test dates is an important component of your path to medical school, so start today.
\n

\t\t\t


\n<\/span>
\n<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

\t\t\t


\n<\/span>
\n<\/code><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an ambitious pre-med reader, you\u2019re probably excited to find out more about getting into medical school.\u00a0Summer\u00a0is an especially great time to start thinking about what you\u2019ll need to accomplish to increase your chances of acceptance. On the other hand, researching medical school\u00a0application information, incoming class statistics, and admissions requirements can be a lot to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3,70,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18526"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42383,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18526\/revisions\/42383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}