Applying to medical school is simultaneously similar to and different from applying to college. For one thing, it’s even more competitive, if you can believe that. The top medical schools like Harvard (3.3%), NYU (2.1%), Columbia (3.6%), Duke (2.9%), UCLA (2.2%), and Stanford (1.4%) have admissions rates even lower than their undergraduate counterparts; getting into a top medical school is even harder than getting into a top college.
But the most daunting aspect of the application process – by far – is that there are no fall-back options, no safety schools. You either get into medical school or you don’t. And for the most recent 2022/2023 admissions cycle, only 42% of applicants were admitted into a program at all. That means that almost 60% of all med school applicants got rejected from every medical school they applied to. Ouch. Clearly, you need a sound strategy, careful planning, and expert advice. That’s where Ivy Scholars can help.
Ivy Scholars helps students with every phase of the med school application process, starting when students are just starting out in college, all the way through preparing their med school applications. We get to know our students very well, work to point them in the right direction early on, and we help them avoid costly pitfalls that could derail their aspirations.
We offer guidance, support, insights, encouragement, and key opportunities to help students make the most of their internships, summer jobs and research projects. By the time they’re ready to apply to medical school, their ducks are all in a row, they have a strong “personal narrative,” and an impressive track record of achievements.
Different medical schools require you to take different courses in college. We help you choose courses that will not only enable you to maintain a stellar GPA (the key metric for medical school admissions), but will also allow you to develop a key area of passion and expertise that can help differentiate you from your peers. (Just like when you applied to college, you need a “good story.”) We strategically advise on major selection, since there are many good options to choose from, and others you may want to avoid since they can negatively impact your GPA and courseload.
Your GPA is the most important part of your med school application, but if that’s all you have, you’re not getting in. You also need 1) impressive research experience, 2) multiple shadowing experiences, 3) hands-on clinical experience, and 4) a pattern of volunteer work. Not all opportunities are created equal. We help you maximize your time by joining pre-med associations and applying to programs that feed into your core interests, and give you the best return on your investment.
It can be very difficult to obtain top-notch letters of recommendations from your professors, whether you’re stuck in 300-person lecture classes, or you haven’t been able to land any research projects. We help you plant the seeds early on that can, over time, grow into meaningful relationships with your professors and lead to stellar recommendations. On top of professors, we help you connect with other needed recommenders, from doctors, to research PIs, to supervisors of clinical experiences. Medical schools require six letters of recommendation, and we help you with all of them.
The courseload in college is typically unlike anything you’ve seen before, even for the best students. Added to that is the excitement of attending a new school, meeting new people, and living on your own for the first time. We help college students manage their time, and develop strong study habits, so they thrive in college instead of succumbing to stress, bad habits, and self-defeating behaviors. On top of just succeeding in your classes, we help you manage your time so you can fit in all the “extra” activities pre meds are expected to do. In many ways, being a pre med is akin to a full time job, and an Ivy Scholars mentor can help you when juggling all of those responsibilities and commitments.
The “test optional” policies you’ve seen in college admissions are not available when you apply to medical school, and your MCAT score is one of the key figures that determines whether you will get accepted or not. Our MCAT test prep program is comprehensive, ensuring that you obtain the best possible scores you can. We not only help you master content, but review key test-taking and time-management strategies that have been shown to dramatically improve your score. We tailor our service to your timeline, so whether you’re taking a gap year or applying directly, you’re as ready as possible for the MCAT.
Beyond just the MCAT, we help students prepare for the Casper test and PREview. While not all medical schools demand these, some do, and when building your list, we help you identify and prepare for every test you will need to master.
Your application to medical school is the culmination of all four years of college, and it needs to accurately reflect both your impressive accomplishments and the unique contributions that you’ll make to a medical program. Just like with applying to college, there are many critical steps, and we provide expert guidance through every phase of the process, from start to finish.
We help you construct a timeline months in advance, with key milestones and deadlines, so you know exactly where you are in the process, how much time you have to complete each step, which elements will take the most time, and which pieces need to be your primary focus at each stage of the process. Applying can feel daunting, but we break it down into small, manageable pieces, and aim to make the entire experience as enjoyable and stress-free as possible. Unlike college applications, you can start filing the “first round” of med school applications in April or May of your junior year; most med schools have rolling admissions; so the sooner you apply, the better.
With over 150 MD programs to choose from, knowing where to apply to medical school can seem overwhelming. We help students objectively evaluate their chances of getting into different medical schools so they can focus their efforts strategically, taking into consideration any specialty areas they plan to pursue. In the end, we generate a comprehensive list that gives students the best chance of achieving their med school goals.
For many med school candidates, taking a gap year after college to boost your resume is the best way to get into medical school. The bar for admission to med school is extremely high, and any strategic experiences you can gain shadowing a doctor, conducting research, gaining clinical experience, or otherwise pursuing a field of interest can greatly improve your odds of getting in. In this respect, applying to med school is much like applying to business school, where many applicants supplement their college experience with a few years of real-world business experience before applying. Many medical schools now look favorably upon a gap period post-graduation, as those applicants are perceived as more mature. We will help you maximize the use of gap years toward building your med school applications.
College professors are very busy, and the process of getting them to write recommendation letters for you is much different than it was in high school. For one thing, it can take several years to build a rapport with a professor so that they’re in a position to write a letter for you, and it should only come after you’ve worked together closely in some capacity. We advise you not only on how to request recommendation letters, but on how to build these key relationships over time. We further help you track letter requirements by school, as these can differ, and make sure you have the exact combination of professors, committee letters, doctors, and supervisors needed for each.ry year, but there’s only room for about 40% of them. With so many strong candidates, how are medical schools supposed to decide who to take? The answer is that they want students who have interesting and compelling reasons for pursuing medicine. That passion and sense of purpose needs to come across in your personal statement.
Your supplemental essays are the individual essays that each medical school requires as part of the “second round” of the application process, and they can differ significantly from one school to the next. Primarily, they’re looking to find out why you need to attend their medical school in particular, and how exactly you plan on adding value to their community. We provide insights on the pros and cons of each medical program, as well as the unique features of each school, so you can craft a compelling argument why it’s the perfect place for you. The more specific your response, the more effective it will be. This is a lengthy process, with schools requiring many essays. SInce prompts change little year to year, we use a bank of previous prompts to help you begin composing essays early in the process, and techniques for reusing essays between schools to enable you to use your time as efficiently as possible.
College professors are very busy, and the process of getting them to write recommendation letters for you is much different than it was in high school. For one thing, it can take several years to build a rapport with a professor so that they’re in a position to write a letter for you, and it should only come after you’ve worked together closely in some capacity. We advise you not only on how to request recommendation letters, but on how to build these key relationships over time. We further help you track letter requirements by school, as these can differ, and make sure you have the exact combination of professors, committee letters, doctors, and supervisors needed for each.ry year, but there’s only room for about 40% of them. With so many strong candidates, how are medical schools supposed to decide who to take? The answer is that they want students who have interesting and compelling reasons for pursuing medicine. That passion and sense of purpose needs to come across in your personal statement.
Your interview can make or break your chances for admission, and preparing for interviews needs to be a key part of your overall application strategy. We work closely with our students, conducting mock interviews, helping them prepare for the most commonly-asked questions, and recording these sessions so we can review them together and make improvements. Just like with your essays, your interviews are never something where you can just “wing it” and leave it to chance. They must be practiced and perfected, so you’re representing yourself at your best.
Like the undergraduate admissions process, applying to medical school provides opportunities to reach out to schools with updates and additional materials, as well as chances to reiterate your interest if you’ve been put on a waitlist. We help you craft these letters so they sell your strengths, stick to key points, and move you to the top of the application pile.
Once you’ve applied, the long wait begins. We help you manage communication with schools during this process, and then offer expert advice on which school to choose once acceptances and scholarship offers begin rolling in.
Medical schools offer joint degrees as well, for students with aspirations which exceed that of being a doctor alone. Whether MD-PhD, MD-JD, MD-MBA, or any other combination, we can help you navigate the intricacies of the application, and the little differences and details where they are akin to or different from standard medical applications.
Only 40% of medical school applicants are admitted in each cycle, meaning the rest need to suddenly shift to a new plan. Some choose to rework and apply again, and we offer our help here as well. There are different strategies and concerns reapplicants face that first time applicants need not worry about, and we have a specially tailored service for students who want help this time around.
When medical schools reject you, they rarely tell you why, or indicate what in your application fell short of their expectations. You can sometimes reach out to them for comment, but are often just left in the dark. We go through your application with you to see where your strengths are, and what needs to be addressed and updated for your next round of applications.
You need to do more than just retake the MCAT to have a competitive chance of getting into medical school as a reapplicant. How you spend your time away matters a lot, and admissions officers are looking for demonstrations of your drive and commitment. We help you evaluate your options, and choose ones which will best add to your candidacy, and strengthen any weak areas of your application.
We work with you to revise the list of schools you are applying to, and help you find and consider options you may have missed before. The number one reason many students are rejected the first time around is applying to too many reach schools. We help you build a more balanced list that better helps you manage the risk of applying.
You are expected to completely rewrite your personal statement, especially if you are applying to the same schools again. You can and should cover the same themes, and have the same base motivation for attending medical school, but the anecdotes you use should be different. We help you tell your story through text, and rework what you already have into a polished final draft.
Some medical schools have specific additional secondary essays aimed at reapplicant students. We help you answer these properly, enhancing your story while showing your fitness for the medical profession. We also help you update your secondary essays from your first round of applications, to make sure you present the best side of yourself possible.
Applying to medical school is an exciting opportunity but also a daunting challenge. And if you thought that college admissions was tough, get ready for some cut-throat competition and some extremely-low admission rates. But 22,000 students get accepted to medical school every year, and you should be one of them. With careful planning, strategic decision-making, and expert guidance, we take the guesswork out of the medical school application process. We help you paint a clear roadmap of where you are, where you want to go, and exactly how to get there. We’re your partners, support system, and trusted allies, every step of the way.
Ivy Scholars is the leading educational consultant in Sugar Land, Texas, providing admissions coaching, test prep, and more to help students enroll at top tier schools.
Call us now: +1 (281) 215-5148
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