Applying to medical schools can be incredibly stressful despite having an amazing GPA or MCAT. In fact, there are no guarantees that you would be accepted as over 50% of applicants do not get admitted. Sometimes students are responsible for not being accepted because of application errors so let’s examine mistakes to avoid in the application process to medical schools.
1. Grammar and Spelling Errors
A lot of writing is involved when applying to medical schools and lots of grammatical and spelling errors could be made. Knowing that every school you apply to will receive your primary application demands for you to be extra careful. Ensure that your personal statement for medical schools are free of mistakes and all secondary documents are proofread multiple times to eliminate errors.
2. Letters of Recommendation
Recommendation letters for medical schools applications are absolutely important but having the appropriate letters is even more important. Ensure that you provide the correct number and type of letters for each school. Some schools require letters from science and non-science professors as well as additional letters from non-professors, especially research supervisors. This is also one of the mistakes to avoid in the application process to medical schools.
3. Application Details
This is probably one of the most common mistakes. In many instances, students copy and paste answers to similar questions in different applications instead of customizing them. Endeavour to ensure that the details in your secondary applications are addressed to the appropriate schools to avoid ruining your chances of admission.
4. Formatting Errors
This is one of the major mistakes international students make when applying to medical schools. Sometimes, students copy and paste essays on word processing programs such as Microsoft Word. This creates formatting errors that make it difficult for admissions committees to read them. Thus it is advisable that if you must copy and paste, save it in Rich Text Format or use programs like TextEdit or Notepad.
5. Incomplete Information
It is common for students to forget to include significant extracurricular activities or important accomplishments in their applications. To avoid this, create a list to guide you on all the categories of information you need to provide. Refer to this list regularly to be sure that you are up-to-date and no stone is left unturned. This is one of the main mistakes to avoid in the application process to medical schools.
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Some schools do not have additional essays but have an “optional” section for additional information on their secondary applications. While it may not be an error to leave it blank, it is probably in your best interest to fill it. It is your opportunity to explain why you want to attend that school in particular.
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