Post-Graduate Series Part Three: Medical School

"Post-Graduate Series Part Three: Medical School", June 2008

One of the most coveted, and talked about post-graduate programs is medical school. Once you get accepted into the program, you can expect at least an additional six years of school.

But before I get way too far ahead of myself, I suppose I should explain the entire process first.

Each school has its own academic requirements, and you must research them on their own. There are six schools in Ontario, and sixteen in all of Canada. This is of course not withstanding all of the other schools in North America and all the other countries world-wide. For Ontario schools there are a few commonalities. For example, you need at least three years of an undergraduate degree, a full year of organic chemistry or biochemistry and an essay course. Some schools require more sciences, while others have embraced students with a liberal arts degree. Again, it all depends on what school you are looking at.

If you really want to dedicate your life to health care, it is a good idea to somehow get involved in it before you go through the application process. If you have a chance to volunteer, find an arena where you will interact with patients. If you have never done so how are you truly know otherwise if medicine is really what you want to do?

Along with required courses is the (dreaded and loathed) MCAT. The MCAT, or Medical College Admission Test is a standardized test that asks questions from the biological sciences, the physical sciences, verbal reasoning and writing. The test takes around a full day to complete, and cost approximately $200. Thankfully it is not required for every medical school. I have been told it is not an enjoyable experience, and is just a method to sort out students. Many people choose to take (VERY pricey) MCAT prep courses. These defeat the purpose of the test in the first place, which is to see if your undergraduate education gave you basic knowledge to understand future concepts. You do not need these prep courses to do well; it can be done just as easily with your own effort.

Probably the most obvious, and common criteria amongst all post-graduate programs are grades. Like the other programs, grades are an important component to your being accepted into medical school. Similar to the university application process, each medical school will post the GPA cut-off they used in the previous year for applicants to use as a guide. Some years the average will be higher, and others lower than the year before. Regardless of the actual number, it’s a good average to strive for if you are thinking about applying to med school.

Application for Ontario medical schools is done through a centralized program called OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application Service), which is part of OUAC. The deadline for applications occurs sometime in October. It should be noted that each medical school has different application forms, and OMSAS is just how you apply to them. Some forms are as simple as listing your name and high school, while others ask you obtuse questions and require you to write essays. It costs approximately $120.00 per medical school to apply.

You will also need three reference letters, and they can be from anyone who knows your character. It would be wise to use a mixture of people, academic references, past employers, and those you volunteered for. That way the school can see how you were viewed in different environments, as there are things more important to the application process than just school.

And then you play the waiting game. Sometime in February you will hear whether or not you get an interview. Each school does their interview process differently: some will read the material you submitted about yourself in the application, while others will not. Obtaining an interview is based on your marks, but what you talk about in your interview is based on what you have learned thus far in your life.

Now of course I’m sure you want to hear about the actual interview process. The question is: I only worked at McDonalds, while X volunteered in Africa, how am I supposed to get in? Well, it is generally understood that it is not necessarily what you did, but what you learned from the experience that matters. You do not need to volunteer, but if you sat on your butt and mooched your way through life up until this point the odds aren’t necessarily in your favour. What you really need is passion: if you are passionate about what you have done in your life it will come across in your interview. Do what you like and learn from it, and push your boundaries. Like any other interview, the point is to make yourself stand out from the rest. Yes, many people can get the grades they need, but it is what you do in your free time that really makes a difference in your interview. They want people, they do not want machines.

The friend who I got most of the information from about the medical school process for this article did EFRT for three years. He was (and still is) also in a band. He says that the people who interviewed him were more interested in his experience in the band, because the skills he learned in relating to others are something that can be transferred to patients. However, doing EFRT gave him some practical experience, and a slight idea of what he was getting himself into. As he says, which I can’t summarize any better: “But really, I think it was showing them that I was human, I did things in life I cared about and I grew from each experience. I didn't tell them about hoops I jumped through, and the excitement I had when telling them about what I had done with my life rubbed off on them and made them excited about me as a person”. Make sure you can bring this same sort of experience and passion to your interviews as well.

Aside from volunteering, many people wonder if research experience is required. Again, this depends on exactly what medical school you plan on applying to. Some schools value research experience highly, while others do not.

After your interview is over you will play the waiting game again. In May you will hear if you are accepted, declined or wait-listed.

So this is the actual process to applying to medical school. Thankfully (or perhaps not) I have more information on medical school and what it entails. If I was to include it all at once, the article would be very long. Thus, I have decided to break it into two parts. The next part covers what one actually does while in medical school.

A special thanks to Bourke Tillmann for all of his help with this article.