If you've been following me for a while you know that I love to share new resources that I think could be helpful during the pre-med/medical school years! 

So, of course, I am so excited to introduce Qalbaq!! Qalbaq was created by a physician and an affordable, accessible way to network, get your questions answered and feel more secure about your career choices. On Qalbaq.com you can book sessions with one of their many consultants for a little Q&A session, a mock interview or assessment prep. Also - fun fact, I'm on their website as a consultant so you can also book a session with me (Please do that would be so fun)!

Yesterday I got a question about how to prep for an interview on short notice. THIS IS HOW FRIENDS! You can book a slot and do a mock interview ASAP so that you feel ready on interview day. Truly this is the perfect timing for this resource and I'm so happy I get to share it with you all!

One of the most difficult things about going into medicine is knowing how to navigate the truly insane standardized tests, applications, etc. Not everyone grows up in a family of doctors or lives in a big city with plenty of networking opportunities so I love the fact that this resource allows anyone to connect with physicians, medical students, employers, etc. A lot of getting into medical school is jumping through hoops and honestly those hoops can be so confusing if you don't have experience in the process. 

I'll always be here to help via insta stories, Q&As, and posts but I highly recommend you check out this resource for some one-on-one time with someone who knows the process. 

Hi friends

I’ve had a couple of people ask me what to do and how to feel better if you haven’t gotten an interview cycle so I wanted to make a post on the topic. First off, I want to just say this sucks and I’m sorry. Truly, it does not feel good, which brings me to my first piece of advice. 

Give yourself space for your feelings. You are allowed to feel shitty even if people are telling you to stay positive.

Now on how to not feel shitty… Plan something to look forward to each week. Good tip in general but extra important when you are anxious about applications.

Set a limit on how often you can check your email. If you open your email every 2 minutes you will lose your mind. I let myself check every hour which is probably too much but it’s what worked for me.

STAY OFF SDN AND REDDITT

If you do want to feel productive, you can write some letters of interest or update letters. Honestly, I only did this for a school after I was waitlisted so I’m not sure what the success rate really is. However, if you have something new (new job, new paper, new volunteering thing, etc) to tell them, definitely send the letter!!

Talk to someone who gets it. Hopefully everyone in your life is being supportive, but sometimes it really helps to talk to someone who went through the application cycle because they actually get it.

Know that there is 100% nothing wrong with you or your application. You did your best and I am so proud of you.

Xoxo

Interview season is right around the corner so I thought I would share some tips I have for medical school interview days! I realize that interviews will likely look VERY different this year due to the current pandemic but these tips should still apply. As always, if you have any specific questions feel free to DM me or message me through my Contact Page!

Secondary applications have started rolling out which means those of you applying are probably stressing already. Secondaries can seem SO overwhelming, especially if you don't have a good method for organizing them. The key to staying calm in the midst of secondaries is having a plan and an organization system. That being said, here are some strategies that helped me keep track of all of my secondary applications.

***I also want to say that you should NOT stress over schools that have not sent you a secondary application yet. Just focus on the requests you do have and the others will come soon enough!***

I just want to start off by saying that, given the current pandemic, I am not sure what the interview situation will be for this application cycle. That being said, I hope everyone gets to experience in-person interviews so I am going to jump into how to navigate them assuming that interviews are scheduled normally this year.

I honestly did not know that CASPer existed or that I had to take it until pretty deep into the application process. So if you're in the same boat - don't worry - now you know! CASPer is a Situational Judgement Test which basically means it tests you on how you would handle difficult ethical situations.

Again, I think this topic is best done with a Q&A post because there are so many misconceptions about it!

There are over 100 medical schools in the US and there's no way you can apply to all of them! When you get ready to apply you'll have to make a list of 15-35 schools you want to apply to. This can be a super stressful process and often causing a lot of confusion in the beginning. I've had some people ask me how I decided where to apply and so I decided to do a whole post on it. I hope you like it!


I give such a large range of how many schools to apply to because not everyone's situation is the same. Things to take into consideration when making this decision are:

Finances: Each primary application costs $40 (except for the first which is $140) and each secondary application costs $90-$130. This adds up QUICKLY so keep that in mind when you decide how many applications you want to send in.

School Rankings: If you decide you want to apply to a bunch of top schools, you probably will have to apply to more schools overall. In order to keep your list from being very "reach school" heavy you will need to expand your list.

Your Statistics: Simply put, the higher your statistics the less schools you have to apply to. However, if you're applying to all top tier schools that get tons of applications this may not apply to you.

Your Extracurriculars: Same as statistics - stronger extracurriculars enhance your chance at each school you apply to. In theory, if you have strong extracurriculars you can apply to fewer schools.

Now for how to pick WHICH schools to apply to:

Location: I cannot stress this enough!!! Do not put schools on your list if you are not willing to live there for four years. For example, Mayo is an exceptional medical school but I absolutely could not live in Minnesota for four years so I did not apply. Fun fact: I basically crossed off the middle of the country because I am so afraid of the cold and that is okay!!

Statistics: Use MSAR for this part -
Like I said in my "Application Timeline" post - you want to apply to:
          - 25% Reach Schools: Schools that have a median GPA/MCAT higher than yours
                     - For some schools you will hit their median GPA but not their median MCAT or visa versa: I would put these in the "in range" category ONLY if you are not far off with the score that is below their median
          - 50% In Range Schools: You meet or slightly exceed their median GPA/MCAT. These are also schools that have one stat that is slightly higher than yours and one that is slightly below yours.
           - 25% Safety Schools: I HATE calling them safety schools because no medical school acceptance is guaranteed. Email me if you have a better name for this category. Anyway, schools in this category should have a median GPA/MCAT significantly lower than yours.

In-State Preference: Some schools strongly prefer people from their state/area. This could seriously inhibit your ability to get an acceptance so consider this when adding schools your list. University of Washington is a notorious example of this. Other schools do not have as strong of a preference but will ask you about your connection to the area in the secondary application (ex UC Davis).

Cost: Private medical schools tend to be more expensive than public schools (assuming you have in-state residency). If this is going to be a big issue for you keep it in mind while applying. 

Number of Applicants: Some schools get a ridiculous amount of applications. For example: UCLA is in Southern California and is a top school so it gets tons of applicants. NYU also gets a high volume due to free tuition. I'm not saying you cannot apply to these schools but they do tend to be reaches no matter what your stats are.

I debated whether or not to release the schools I applied to and decided I want to be as transparent as possible so here it goes:



Super funny fact about me: I actually had U Chicago on my list and applied to Rosalind Franklin (Chicago Medical School) on accident. It worked out just fine and makes me laugh so hard now. Remember that small mistakes (this isn't even that small of a mistake) are not the end of the world.

I hope that was helpful. If you need any help editing your school list feel free to send me an email through the "Contact Me" page on the blog. You can also DM me at @jordan_eisner

Happy Applying
xoxo

The 2021 application cycle is just around the corner (AMCAS opens May 4th) so I thought this was a good time to discuss the primary application. The AMCAS primary applications consists of two big writing prompts: your personal statement and the activities section. It also requires you input your grades, family information, and letters of recommendation. In this post I want to focus on the personal statement and the activities sections because those are the most anxiety-producing sections.

Timeline from Princeton Review In this post I am going to give you the "ideal" timeline for applying to medical school - remember that everyone is different and you may need to alter this schedule in a way that is feasible for you  I will briefly go over each step but will leave the in-depth details for blog posts on that specific step of applying!  Okay that being said... here we go :)