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It’s Life, by Maggie

blogging my journey from premed to md & all the little life things in between

About
Courses
Blog
FREE WORKSHOP

Applying to Medical School

Reach Medical Schools: To Apply or Not Apply?

How To Write Secondary Essays for Medical School – All You Need To Know!

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itslifebymaggie

don’t waste your money applying to schools you h

don’t waste your money applying to schools you have little chance at due to residency bias!

For example, the first time I applied I SO did not know residency bias was a thing...

I applied to a public school in Alabama and NOW I know that I had zero chance because not only did they have major residency bias...

But they required a 3.5 GPA for out of state applicants and I had a 3.1 at the time 😬

Applying to med school is expensive enough! No need to waste it with situations like that!

Soooo what do ya think? Is this school residency biased?! 🤔

If you are applying to medical school next cycle...

📌 Comment “LIST” and I’ll send you my free school list template!!

It will help you stay organized with columns for residency data, GPA, MCAT scores, etc so you can collect potential schools to apply to, enter the data from the MSAR then filter through them as needed!

#futuredoctor #medschoolapplication

when I was on my interview trail I heard many med

when I was on my interview trail I heard many med students say the biggest benefit of going to a pass/fail medical school was that you can “study enough to pass then live your life”

I took that to heart and achieved what I felt like was an awesome school/life balance. I started CrossFit again after a year and a half hiatus, went snowboarding 13 times, and spend lots of quality time with George & Oakley (while still passing every block)

⤵️ how I did it

❶ making Anki cards during lecture

this was THE ultimate time saver that allowed the rest of the strategies below to be possible. I have other reels on how I did this more in depth, but basically I had my laptop with the powerpoint on one side and Anki on the other and made anki cards on topics the lecturer emphasized with screenshots of the PPT in the notes section to reference later when doing the cards

➋ a religious morning study routine

and my study routine basically only consisted of doing those Anki cards I made during lecture. I woke up and usually studied from 5 - 7am and it was *amazing* to get my studying done and feel so accomplished that EARLY in the day (I promise i’m not a morning person naturally, I just know myself and how much better I focus first thing in the morning so I made it happen lol)

➌ ZERO studying in the evenings or weekends

I vlogged almost every week in medical school and you can find one, *maayybee* two vlogs where I broke this rule. The one specifically I remember was for an anatomy lab final. Which makes sense because I had zero routine or strategy for anatomy and it wasn’t often we had exams for it so this was definitely more winging it vibes that threw off the nice balance I had the rest of the time haha. Otherwise I spent this time cooking dinner with George, going snowboarding, or just resting and relaxing (something I think I forgot how to do third year😅)

❹ was intentional about doing small things that brought me joy

for example, the thing I loved the most especially in the winter when there was snow was walking our dog Oakley to a soccer field close to our apartments. Seeing her doing sprints, being goofy, and living her best life always made me so happy

#premed

⤵️ the 6 KEY things I did 📚 efficient + in

⤵️ the 6 KEY things I did

📚 efficient + in-depth content review

you can go quicker through the chapters you remember from undergrad classes and take a little more time on the topics you haven’t learned yet

I read Every. Single. Chapter. of my content review books & solidified my learning ONLY by doing the questions at the end of each chapter.

Taking notes, re-reading, etc would have taken waaaay too much time

📚 passage based practice (TIMED⌚️)

after content review phase I started working my way through Uworld Qbank and *always* did it on the timed mode

I’m a super slow test taker so this helped me get DAILY practice to perfect my timing

📚 13 practice exams

simulate test day every time!

don’t take it over multiple days, don’t do it untimed... treat every single one like it is the real thing to train your brain for the stamina AND again to practice timing

📚 review practice exams thoroughly

I personally think this is the most grueling part of MCAT studying BUT it is so worth it to go through every question (regardless of if you got it right or wrong)

having objective data on WHY you are missing questions helps you tweak and tailor your study plan after each practice exam

📚 a realistic timeline 🗓️

I was working as an EMT when I took mine and 5 months was the perfect amount of time to make sure I could get enough content review, passage based practice, full length exams, and get through all the AAMC content from the bundle

📚 spaced repetition

I did this the OLD school way because at the time I hated Anki lol (didn’t start loving it until med school) but you can totally use Anki OR just make hand made flashcards

the key is the be VERY picky and I really only made cards on concepts I kept missing over and over again and I knew just weren’t *sticking*

I kept them in a binder and reviewed them at the end of my study days + had a rotation of what ones I would do based on what section I was studying that day!

📌 follow me @itslifebymaggie for more helpful mcat tips & premed advice!

#mcatmotivation

🌟 comment “WORKSHOP” to save your seat to m

🌟 comment “WORKSHOP” to save your seat to my free premed workshop where I will spill aaaaall the tea about how I improved other aspects of my application (besides just showing an upward trend and doing well on the MCAT)

to earn 10 medical acceptances despite a below average GPA 💫

during my freshman and first semester of sophomore year, I was undecided and got 4 C’s because I was working so much I literally had zero time to study haha

(NOTE: this is just my science gpa, but for added context my “overall” gpa almost exactly mimicked what you see above!)

The switch happened at the end of that first-semester sophomore year when I declared my major as “chemistry w/ a premed track”

AND told my manager I would NOT work more than 3 shifts a week moving forward (I had been working as a waitress literally 6 days a week and would end up working around 34hrs)

After making those two changes my grades immediately became better and you can see how my “upward trend” actually looks with this breakdown!

Then I decided to continue that trend a little more by doing a post-bac! So before the post-bac, my science gpa was 3.1 and after both my science and over gpa was 3.3!

So at quick glance, my 3.3 is WELL below average.

But I made myself a stronger application by focusing on that trend and in addition to sooooo many other things I changed...

it helped me earn 10 medical school acceptances the second time I applied!

💥 don’t forget to comment “WORKSHOP” to save your seat and learn all about how I did it (+ examples from five other successful applicants as well)

p.s. be sure to follow me first so you properly recieve the DM!

#futuredoctor #medschool #medstudent

3 things you need to know ⤵️ ❶ This is NOT

3 things you need to know ⤵️

❶ This is NOT the same as a resume applying for a job. I tweaked this to specifically fit what my professors would want to know about me as far as being a medical school applicant

which included things like research, relevant work experience, volunteer, clubs I was in, sports I did at my college, my gpa/academic achievements

➋ My letter writers also both asked for my personal statement which is just helpful to know so you can write up a quick first draft on paper so you have something to give them, then work on actually fleshing it out and finalizing it later

➌ Obviously you don’t need letters for a while BUT if you have a professor this Fall that you think you’ll be asking next year and this is your last class with them, then it doesn’t hurt to plant the seed now and see if they seem willing to do it. Then you get to ask them while you are fresh in their memory and they already know you’ll be coming to them again early next year to ask!

❹ Since you DO have so much time between now and “officially” asking for that letter, here are some things you can do to foster even stronger relationships with your professors!

➜ start going to *every* single office hours session (the start of every semester I always said I would do this then rarely did and it was SUCH a missed opportunity) I have a student who said she did this and she was the ONLY one there every single time. Imagine how well that professor got to know her since she did that?!

➜ sit near the front, raise your hand when professors ask questions, and ask questions during class. Basically, be ENGAGED instead of hiding in the back and never saying a word

➜ ask to do research with one of your favorite professors or join a club they run (IF you are actually interested in it of course) and be active in the club (these are the two things I did to form strong relationships with my professors!)

#medstudent #futuredoctor

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