REQUIREMENTS!

I'm sure most of the people in the world don't have a clue as to what medical school's requirements are. I'm so sure of this because I was one of those people before a day or two ago. Admissions really does expect quite a bit out of you. If you want the education, you have to show them. Aside from the tall order of maintaining a minimum 3.6 GPA and an above-average MCATS score (which is like 33 or so), there are some other requirements that act to further filter the "heroes from the zeros" (please forgive the terrible metaphor).

Without the GPA and the MCATS, you won't even be looked at. This is what I've learned. GPA and MCATS are of prime importance. However, maintaining a volunteer career is also vitally important, as it demonstrates that you are willing to sacrifice your time for others. Apparently, clinical experience and shadowing a doctor are also very important. Medical schools want to insure that you understand what you're getting yourself into and that you're not going to beg off halfway through medical school because you realized this isn't what you wanted.

The next, and what I consider to be a little more superficial and obscure is being researched and published. You should be researched, there's no doubt about that. In medical school you will spend a good portion of your time in laboratory settings and you've got to know your way around. Being published, however, is akin to just plain showing off. If you can get published then kudos to you. My question is how the hell do you get published? I'm not a professional scientist. I don't have any experience developing advanced or even basic scientific theories and testing them. How am I supposed to publish a research paper if I can't even research?

It's very important to me that I am able to perform to the best of my abilities in all requirements, but the real quest is going to be setting myself up to perform. I'm a very competitive person by nature and I don't like to lose. So, it is my goal to be better then any pre-medical student out there by the time it's time for me to apply. Yeah, I might have a better chance of being struck by lightning then getting into Harvard, especially considering some of these requirements. But, I am going to try like hell.

-Merlin