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Premed Club�George Gerges, MS-3�OSUCOM��

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My Journey

  • Medical interest
  • My grades
  • 5 years OSU + working + gap year
  • Transparency about my acceptance
  • OSUCOM Admissions

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December 2014

June 2020

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1st

AU 2020

SP 2021

SU 2021

2nd

AU 2021

SP 2022

SU 2022

3rd

AU 2022

SP 2023

SU 2023

(Start/submit App)

4th

AU 2023

(secondaries/interviews)

SP 2024

(interviews/acceptances)

SU 2024

Graduate

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AU 2024

(start Med school)

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Example of Traditional timeline for class of 2024

1st

AU 2020

SP 2021

SU 2021

2nd

AU 2021

SP 2022

SU 2022

3rd

AU 2022

SP 2023

(started MCAT prep May)

SU 2023 (took MCAT)

4th

AU 2023

SP 2024

SU 2024

5th

AU 2024

SP 2025

SU 2025

(Start/submit app)

Gap year

AU 2025

(secondaries/interviews)

SP 2026

(interviews/acceptance)

SU 2026

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AU 2027 (start MD)

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My Non-Traditional timeline example

… MCAT …

Brief MD App Timeline

Spring

  • LORs
  • Personal Statement prep
  • Work/activities prep

Beginning of May

  • Application opens

Beginning of June

  • Submit AMCAS

July-ish

  • App gets verified
  • Prep secondary essays

August

  • Secondary essays

Fall-spring

  • Patiently waiting
  • Interviews!

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MCAT scores

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Table A-23: MCAT and GPA Grid for Applicants and Acceptees to U.S. MD-Granting Medical Schools, 2019-2020 through 2021-2022 (aggregated)

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Status

BCPM

AO

TOTAL

GPA

Hours

GPA

Hours

GPA

Hours

High school

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​

​

​

​

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Freshman

2.5

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2.5

​

2.5

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Sophomore

3.0

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3.0

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3.0

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Junior

3.5

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3.5

​

3.5

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Senior*

4.0

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4.0

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4.0

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Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate

​

​

​

​

​

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Cumulative Undergraduate

3.2

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3.8

​

3.6

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Graduate

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

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*5th courses are included in the senior year calculations

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MCAT

  • When to take it?
  • How long to study?
  • What score do I need?
  • How do I study?

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2,300 total questions in the bundle

MCAT has 230 questions

Highest value purchase

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ANKI

Personal opinion: ONLY use for information that requires brute memorization (i.e. psych/soc definitions)

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Attributes

Service orientation

Cultural competence

Teamwork

Resilience and adaptability

Capacity for improvement

Critical Thinking

​

Experiences

Health related

Shadowing

Leadership

Research

Employment

Extra-curriculars

​

​

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Metrics

GPA

GPA trends

MCAT score(s)

HOLISTIC REVIEW

Metrics are only 1/3 of your story!

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My Experiences: Volunteering & service

  • Buck-I-SERV
    • Once as participant
    • Once as leader*
  • Abroad mission trip
  • Columbus Free Clinic
  • Food Pantry*
  • Church involvement

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AAMC App:

  • Community service/volunteer – Medical/Clinical
  • Community service/volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical

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My Experiences: Health Care related

  • Patient Care Assistant at OhioHealth
  • Columbus Free Clinic *
    • Check-in volunteer
    • Later on, Direct patient care
  • Shadowing (MEDCOL)

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AMCAS App:

    • Community service/volunteer – Medical/Clinical
    • Paid employment – Medical/Clinical
    • Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation

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My Experiences: Research

  • One quick paper over the summer with an ENT doc
  • Senior Year Engineering capstone*
  • Gap year full time research at NCH*

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FAQs

  • Medical research?
  • Do I need pubs?
  • Do I need research?
  • How do I land a research position at OSU/NCH?

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Leadership

 “Dedication, determination, ability to make decisions and a willingness to contribute to the welfare of others are indicators of one’s ability to succeed in medicine”

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Examples:

  • Exec boards
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Mentor
  • Employment/Training
  • Athletics
  • Church
  • Community/School orgs coaching, tutoring, mentoring

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The Application: Tell YOUR story

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  • Personal Statement
  • Experiences
  • Secondaries

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  • Holistic Review (E-A-M)
  • MSAR
  • Letters of Rec

AAMC 15 core competencies for entering medical students

  • Service orientation
  • Cultural competence
  • Teamwork
  • Resilience and adaptability
  • Capacity for improvement
  • Critical Thinking

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Experience from being on ADCOM�”Why do you want to be a doctor?”

  • Interviewing
  • Deliberation

 ”The primary purpose of the interviews is to identify individuals who will be able to deal compassionately and effectively with patients. Interviewers will explore the candidate’s motivation for seeking a medical degree, understanding of the medical profession and of medical ethics, as well as his or her problem-solving skills and interpersonal skills.”

- OSUCOM website

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Where I messed up!

Application cycle

  • Applied WAYYY too late
  • LORs
  • Was very lazy with secondaries 🡪 Did not apply to enough schools
  • Grades?

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In Undergrad

  • Waited too long to start thinking about HC experiences/extracurriculars

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OSUCOM entering class profiles

2021 class

2022 class

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Premed advice/guide/resources doc

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Questions?

  • About my personal experiences?
  • About Writing an application?
  • About being a medical student?

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“All you need is one acceptance”

Email me anytime!!

george.gerges@osucom.edu