5 Reasons to Study Harder as a Pre-Med

5 Reasons to Study Harder as a Pre-Med

By: Jake Tabbot

Feeling unmotivated or burnt out from all of the studying? Maybe I can help. Here are 5 reasons to study harder as a Pre-Med!

1) Most of what you are learning is going to be useful in the future

All of the physics, chemistry, and biology that you are currently struggling with is probably going to show up again when you take the MCAT. Mastering this material now is going to save you a lot of stress and time during that summer you spend studying for it.

You’ll probably need an MCAT score of at least a 505-506 (which was the mean MCAT score for medical school matriculants for 2018-2019) to make sure you are competitive (although this obviously varies by the person).

Note: The AAMC changed the MCAT and the scoring system for it in 2015. If you’ve taken the old MCAT and want to see how your score compares, use this MCAT converter.

Also, you’re probably also going to see this material again when you start medical school. Those core fundamental concepts don’t just go away; they’re important for understanding how our bodies work.

2) You’ll need good letters of recommendation

You want the professors who are going to write you letters of recommendation to not only like you as a person but to also look highly upon you academically. It’s hard to approach a professor for a reference letter if you received a B or C in his or her class. Check out this example medical school letter of recommendation to get a general sense of what professors will write about you.

3) Getting into an allopathic medical school is probably harder than you think it is.

I personally believe that gaining acceptance to an allopathic medical school is much harder than getting into business school, law school, or any other graduate school (although, this is just my opinion). From my experience, it’s the smart, well-rounded students are the ones who end up getting in.

The chance of matriculating at a medical school in the 2017-2018 application cycle for an individual student was only ~40% according to the AAMC. For students who live in areas that have more competitive in-state schools like California and New York, this number is probably much scarier.

4) Applying to medical schools costs a lot.

You probably will want to apply to 20+ schools every application cycle. For each school, you will probably spend around $100 for each application (primary application + secondary application). Add on the costs of interviewing at far-away medical schools (i.e. flights and hotel rooms), and it starts to get really pricey.

Worse, unsuccessful applicants end up applying to medical schools multiple times. Some end up spending thousands on these applications with no return if they never end up getting in.

5) Going to an international medical school might not be ideal

After four years of college, many students who are premed apply to medical school and find they simply can’t get in.

Some of these students decide instead to attend medical school outside of the US with the hopes of returning back to the states to practice medicine.

It’s actually a path many have taken. Caribbean medical schools, in particular, have been popular options for many premeds with previously unsuccessful medical school applications. These schools are oftentimes easier to get into.

If you do go this route, you’ll probably only want to consider going to one of the best Caribbean medical schools. However, these top schools often charge more for tuition and might have higher attrition rates than your average US allopathic medical school (although this is mainly speculation as it’s really difficult to find attrition statistics for Caribbean medical schools).

Gaining acceptance to osteopathic medical schools also might be slightly easier than allopathic medical schools, although some students might be concerned about not having an M.D. after their name. This is ridiculous in my opinion, though, as osteopathic medical schools will give you similar options and skillsets as allopathic schools.

(Editor note: By 2020 there will be a single/combined Match and Residency system for MD and DO students, which may make the difference between MD/DO even smaller in big picture going forward.)

Conclusion

If you’re serious about going to an allopathic medical school, you need to be at a certain academic bar to do well on the MCAT, get good letters of recommendation, and gain acceptance to a medical school. Hopefully, I convinced you that it is well worth it to put in the effort now.

Jake Tabbot is the creator of medschooltips.com, a website dedicated to helping pre-med students. He enjoys writing about topics which have yet to be fully researched or explored in-depth within the medical community. You can follow him on Twitter at @medschooltip.

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