Drastic Changes In The Med School Matching Process




The Pre-Med Podcast show

Summary: Episode 9: Major changes to the way Texas medical schools accept their students. You have to know this or you could be missed! Interview with Celeste Whisenant, a second year medical student who almost learned this lesson the hard way! ==================================================== Topics in this podcast: Announcements Introduction of Celeste Whisenant - covered in the audio only The Dreaded Interviewer - covered in the audio only Current Strategy for the Medical School Match (Sign up for the Free eBook in the upper right and you will get access to photos of the ranking system online and learn exactly how to avoid the problem Celeste had.) ==================================================== Announcements: The CD of the Month Club now off the market. Live Webinar: get all your questions answered in one place - for FREE! December 2, 2008 at 6PM Central time. Sign up for the Free PreMed eBook on www.MedicalMastery.com and you'll get an email with login instructions in the days leading up to the seminar. ==================================================== Current Strategy For The Medical School Match: In 2007, a major change occurred in the way Texas medical schools choose their students, more in line with what's been done in the rest of the country. Prior to this change, students applied to the recommended 20-30 medical schools and waited for an interview. After interviewing at hopefully several places, students ranked their favorite schools (only those they interviewed at) electronically on a secure website. Then, the student just waited for "match" day in early February. Well, the game has changed and I want to give you some strategic tips on you should approach this for your best advantage. You still apply to the 20-30 schools and need to get an interview, which I have always felt is the biggest cut-off in the process. However, now it really has become a race to get absolutely the earliest interviews possible, especially if you really have a favorite medical school you want. See, once the medical schools have met you at the interview they can send you an "Early Offer" giving you 2 weeks to go ahead and accept a position at that school. These offers are independent of any other interviews you may have scheduled. For example, if you have an interview in October (one of the very first of the season) and the rest of yours are in December, the first school could send you an Early Offer. You have 2 weeks to accept it - before you've even interviewed at the other schools! If you say no and want to interview at the other schools, then that first school will include you in the electronic match (discussed in my Free eBook -sign up in the upper right). The strategy I want you to realize is that as soon as interviews start in October, seats are filling up all over the country. Students are grabbing up the first opportunity to secure a position. You should too. Do absolutely EVERYTHING possible to go to the earliest interview date offered to you. My recommendation is that the majority of applicants should accept the first offer they are given. The electronic match is now for the leftovers, those people that didn't get any offers or refused them. The ones that refused offers are either completely stellar students that had other offers on the table or didn't listen to this podcast. Don't decline your last Early Offer. Take what you can get. You'll thank me later. ==================================================== QUICK TIP: So, what can you do about these changes? Here's a checklist for you to follow: __ Ask for letters of recommendation by February or March at the latest. __ Submit your application to medical school during the FIRST WEEK they start accepting them. __ Fill out and mail or electronically submit all secondary applications to medical schools that require them. (Check each medical school's admissions website to download or read