Carol Hagan – Page 6 – Penn & Beyond

A New Pre-dental Resource: Go!

Are you considering dental school in your future? Do you know the difference between endodontics, periodontics and prosthodontics? Have you considered a research opportunity at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health (NIDCR)? The American Dental Education Association launched a new website this fall — GoDental — that provides a nice overview of the profession as well as links to helpful resources, a timeline for applying to dental school, and informational videos (yes, DentTube).

The website is a nice starting point and emphasizes the importance of finding organizations and mentors to help you launch your career. Pre-dents may not be the largest pre-professional group on Penn’s campus, but they need not feel alone. Alumni, professional organizations, and current dental students are often willing to provide insight and help to those eager to learn more about their profession. Try PACNet to find Penn alums in the field or consider joining the American Student Dental Association as a predental member and/or the Penn Pre-dental Society. Penn predental students who are interested in connecting with alumni of Penn Dental Medicine can express their interest in obtaining a mentor here. As always, your pre-health advisors are happy to speak with you about your interest in a dental career and hope you will come see us!

Interviewing for Medical and Dental School: Empathy for your Interviewer

The prospect of interviewing for medical or dental school may be throwing you into a manic fit. We know it’s tough, but think about the position of your interviewer. He or she has only a short time to get to know you and determine if you have what it takes to care for patients. Do you seem honest? Mature? Prone to fits of anger or crippling anxiety? Are you applying to make your parents happy? Will you stick with a career in health care? Do you know yourself and what you are getting into? Thinking about the interview from the other person’s point of view can strengthen your interview skills. Instead of “performing” or “passing a test,” think of yourself as helping the interviewer learn what is interesting about you.

For example, many applicants worry about answering questions about their research because they fear not knowing or forgetting the scientific details of their work. To alleviate their anxiety, they prepare a long monologue detailing the basic science of the investigation and launch into it without any comment about the general scope of the study or their personal connection to the work. Having conceived of the interviewer as an all-knowing persecutor, they haven’t considered that the other person may not share their understanding of their research. Or, perhaps your interviewer would like to hear if you can explain your work to someone outside of the laboratory, demonstrating your ability to teach.

Alternatively, you could answer at a more general level and go into detail if asked to do so. What is the research about? What is interesting about it for you? What have you learned? What has been challenging about it? What was your role on the research team? Answers to these questions will tell the interviewer more about you personally and convey things that cannot be found in your written application.

Recognizing that your interviewer is a human being who would like to learn more about you will bring out your ability to empathize and communicate with other people. Really listen. If she asks about something that is on your AMCAS, you might not say, “That’s on my AMCAS.” If he interrupts you, think before saying, “Hold on, let me finish.” Be professional, but consider the advantages of being flexible and communicative in the interview. Imagine what you would want to learn about an applicant and think about how you can do your part to convey that information and those qualities.

MCAT + MCAT = x: Should I retake the MCAT?

Maybe you had a feeling it didn’t go well on the test day. You were sick. Pressed for time. Off your game. Or, you thought it went well and are completely shocked. The scores on the practice tests…never this low! Oh, oh, oh…the verbal. Preparing for the MCAT is hard work and taking the test is stressful. I’ve had oodles of advisees tell me they loved organic chemistry or thrived on harvesting mouse spines in the lab, but I’ve never had a single one tell me he or she loved the MCAT. Even people with very high scores. And to receive a disappointing score is especially tough.

The question, then, is should one take the MCAT again? Yes, the schools will see all of the scores. They may use them in different ways to evaluate candidates, using either the most recent score, all scores, the better score, or an average. If you ask, a school may tell you how they use the scores…or not. The bottom line is that you will want to avoid retaking the MCAT if at all possible. It takes a lot of time and effort that might be used elsewhere in your life more productively. You could receive the same or, most unfortunately, lower scores the second time. Your MCAT score is one piece of information in your application. It’s an important piece of information, but not the only one. So, it’s worthwhile to think about whether you are personally disappointed in your score, or if the score is really going to hold you back or does not nearly reflect your abilities.

The AAMC has gathered some useful information on the admission rates for applicants that correlates MCAT with GPA. Additionally, you can refer to the AAMC’s statistics on the changes in MCAT scores for retesters according to their initial score in verbal reasoning, biological sciences, physical sciences, and writing sample. Will these statistics tell you, as an individual, how you will do if you take the MCAT a second time? No. Do they tell you how likely it is you will get into medical school? Not really. But, they help. And, they do show what we’ve observed to be generally true — that a slight increase in your MCAT score doesn’t necessarily make a big difference in the strength of an application and that many people retake the MCAT without a huge change in results.

All the same, retaking the MCAT is not a bad idea in some instances. If you clearly underperformed or were not well prepared and know your score is going to improve more than a point or two, then it might not be a bad decision. Some people receive scores that are just not competitive, which also merits renewed effort. The main points to consider are your certainty that a second score truly will be an improvement and how much time you need to prepare for a second test. Sometimes applicants want to give the MCAT another go right away when they really need more time to prepare. Occasionally, it makes sense to forgo applying during a cycle so as not to rush the exam. Also, compulsive retaking of the MCAT can happen, with applicants rounding up three sets of scores that aren’t very different. This can raise questions about common sense, patience, and an ability to accept less than perfect results…all qualities of value.

Deciding to retake the MCAT is an individual decision, but many applicants find it helpful to talk about it with a pre-health advisor, if only to vent or give voice to all of the considerations. Think your decision through before taking action and keep in mind that a “good enough” score may be what you need, rather than your “personal best.”

What if I Don’t Get into Medical School?

The really painful part of not getting into medical school is that you won’t know right away. It’s unlikely that you will be rejected by every school; rather, you will spend weeks trying to figure out what “on hold” or “under review” means or hoping that you will make it off a wait list. Eventually, you will conclude that it probably isn’t going to work out.

The first step is to work through some of the feelings that are bound to accompany this realization. Rage. Disappointment. Panic. Frustration. Relief. All of the above. None of the above. Call upon your friends, family, advisors and let it out: “Morons! Don’t they know talent when they see it!” or “I’m a failure!” Curse the gods and pity yourself. And then stop (or dial it down) because you are going to have make some decisions about your next steps. It will be hard to think clearly if you are consumed with the desire to burn your MCAT materials (don’t do it — you can sell them!).

If you didn’t have a “Plan B” then there may be some immediate life concerns to address. Do you need a job? Are you going to stay at your current position? Are you going to move? Oy. Do know, as many premedical students do not, that Career Services offers counseling and services related to finding employment while you are at Penn and after you graduate. Really! It’s not just OCR!

The other questions you need to contemplate are also important: Why didn’t I get in? Do I still want to be a doctor? Do I want to apply again and when? Oy, oy, triple oy.

There is a very good chance that there was at least one major weakness in your application. Think it through — grades, MCAT score, personal statement, clinical exposure. Think harder. Did you apply late? Did you have a very fancy list of schools? Did you have a fair number of interviews? If so, those may not have gone as well as you thought. Was everything there, but maybe a little thin? Where could the application be stronger? It’s possible that you just had bad luck, but usually there is some aspect of the application that could be strengthened. That isn’t a reason to beat yourself up, but should motivate you take stock of your application before reapplying.

Speaking of reapplying, it’s not a great idea to do this automatically. Sometimes people reapply without considering other career paths or changing their application, which can lead to two or three years of going through the application process unsuccessfully. If you want to be a doctor because you have never thought about doing something else, this is a good time to think of alternatives if only to reconfirm your commitment to becoming a physician. It could be that medical school is not the best fit for you. Not infrequently, we have alumni tell us that they hadn’t thought of being anything but a doctor when they came to Penn, but have found their niche in another field that they never knew existed. This is often communicated in an email with lots of exclamation marks and happy faces.

If you remain steadfast in your desire to become a physician do not despair. Many people are admitted after a disappointing turn through the application process. You’ll stand a much better chance of reaching your goal if you think carefully about the strength and timing of your application. If you need to spend more time in a health care setting or take more courses to show what you can do academically, then do it…before you apply again.

Your pre-health advisors are happy to meet with you to consider your strategy for a second application. If you don’t get into medical school this year, you won’t fall off the edge of a map. You have many options. Your personal support network will help see you through and Career Services will support you as you reorient yourself in uncharted waters.

When You Wish Upon a Medical School

: freefoto.com

When you wish upon a star…makes no difference who you are…anything your heart desires…will come to you….

If only one could wish upon the North star and turn into a real medical student, no strings attached. Many of you are deciding whether to apply to medical school this year or not, which is an important and personal choice — there is no Magic Eight Ball that can offer up a “right” answer (although it would be pretty neat if they could hand those out to pre-health advisors at national meetings along with the tote bags and other excellent swag). Many potential applicants find it helpful to reflect upon which parts of their thinking are wishes that might be interfering with the formulation of a sound strategy for gaining admission.

Don’t get me wrong…wishes are very important and make us human. All people must stay in touch with their dreams, desires, and goals; however, we also benefit at times by detaching from our emotions to consider plans of action. Here are some wishful comments that we hear in our office daily this time of year:

“I know [insert any significant issue with a potential application], but I just want to go straight to medical school. I never saw myself taking more time.”

“If I make it to the interview, I know I will have it made.”

“If I get a 40 on my MCAT it will be okay.”

“I’m going to apply to one school this year, just to see what happens.”

Considering how difficult it is to gain admission to medical school as well as the stress and expense of the admissions process, we advocate that students take some time to think strategically. This can be as simple as considering how one’s application might appear this year compared to next year, or even further into the future. When I raise the issue of waiting to apply another year, it is not to discourage a potential applicant; rather, it is to encourage him or her to consider all the paths to making a dream come true.

For many potential applicants, the down side of waiting to apply is detaching from the immediate gratification of applying. Yes, you can say, you are applying…and isn’t there a chance it will work out? If there’s a chance, why not take it? Yet, when one’s hopes do not materialize it can be extremely frustrating. Often, while feeling hopeful, applicants have not taken steps to gain the clinical exposure or take the classes that would make a difference a second time around. Sometimes the process of applying to medical school stretches out for years with mixed results.

We know that applying to medical school is a stressful and emotional experience. Keeping your emotions from taking over while making decisions is difficult for all people. Your pre-health advisors are glad to meet with you to discuss your options with an eye towards maximizing your success and helping you reach you goals. Many potential applicants find it helpful to meet with other Career Services staff to discuss alternate careers or options for employment after graduation. Drawing upon the support of friends and family as well as University counselors and advisors can be especially helpful.

I encourage all potential applicants to consider the timing of their application, regardless of their GPA or amount of clinical experience. It’s an important decision that opens up alternatives and flexibility in what can seem like a “single-track” process and, hopefully, makes wishes come true more often than not.