A Brief Timeline: Soon-to-be Applicants

I've met quite a few nervous up-and-coming med school applicants this past week. These would be Harvard juniors planning to go straight through to med school and seniors who will be entering after a gap year. The big questions are, "What do I need to be doing right now?" and "Am I behind?"

This anxiety is understandable (as is the anxiety experienced during every step of this med school process) but perhaps not justified. My impression is that students are talking with seniors who have applied and are interviewing now, and hearing stories of the time and labor involved with preparing for and applying to schools. "It sounds like a ton but I haven't done thing yet."

First things first, if you're planning to apply this upcoming summer (2008), you're probably not behind at this point. It's important to be in communicate with your House premed committee--they will hold mandatory applicant meetings and have firm deadlines for things like waiver forms and rec letters. Every House will have its own system so there will be variation among students.

So let's go through a brief, approximate, suggested timeline of how and when things will happen over the course of this next year:

• Jan-Apr 2007: Request and secure recommendation letters (3-5 total). House deadlines fall between April and July.
• Mar-Jun 2007: Prepare personal statement
• Apr-Jun 2007: Put together list of med schools to which to apply
• Jun 2007: Complete common AMCAS application. Aim for the end of June. MCAT taken by this time, give or take.
• Jul-Aug 2007: Complete secondary applications
• Aug-Sep 2007: Letter packet (Dean's letter + individual recs) sent to med schools.
• Aug 2007 and on: Med schools begin granting interviews to students. This goes on until probably January 2008.
• Sep 2007 and on: Interview on campus at med schools. Interviews are conducted through about March 2008.
• Fall 2008: Finally...med school begins.

OCS puts on a series of application workshops (e.g. personal statement, selecting schools, AMCAS, etc.) in the spring. The timing of these workshops is intentional: to help give you a sense of when you might think about preparing such pieces.

So back to the question: what to do right now? Perhaps more general preparation rather than concrete items:

• think about the folks you might want as recommenders and keep up your relationships with them
• read through the alumni evals for particular med schools to get a broad sense of the differences between schools (older ones are in the OCS reading room)
• again, stay in touch with your House committee
• make sure that you've demonstrated through substantive experience a thorough understanding of the medical field and can argue for your fit within it
  
• continue to challenge and be realistic about your interest in medicine

...and if you're still nervous, come talk to Lee Ann or me.

Job Search for Seniors

This was a note I sent along to the listserv with a recent research assistant job announcement. Thought I'd put it here as well. Good luck!

For seniors job hunting for next year, please keep in mind that many full-time research assistant positions become available later on, usually in the late winter or spring. With structured interviewing processes via on-campus recruiting going on right now for jobs particularly in the financial services industry, I think it's easy to feel like many job prospects are passing you by. Just remember that every industry has their own time frame and structure (or lack thereof) for hiring. Many industries hire "just in time," meaning that they only hire as openings become available. If you are interested in medically-relevant research positions, these tend to become available later in the cycle. So if this is one of the options you're considering for next year, don't worry. You haven't missed the boat.

Duke Med: Words of Wisdom

Dr. Brenda Armstrong, Dean of Medical School Admissions at Duke, spoke here at Harvard on Monday. I personally found her to be very thoughtful and entirely inspiring. She had a nice way of putting things.

Some of my quick highlights:

• As primary gatekeepers for patients, med schools look for "well-developed humanism" in their applicants.
• In how they approach what they do in school and out, the best applicants "gave themselves a chance to be changed by their experiences."
• "Yea!" she said to the idea of time off before med school. It's a chance to grow up more, to do Teach for America, Peace Corps, research, and/or to "be normal for a year!" The pervasive myth saying it's best to go straight through is wrong.
  
• Having done research is a good thing but it doesn't matter what type of research, i.e. "you don't need to be a seasoned scientist."
  
• About concentration, it doesn't matter whether you're science or non-science. Be good at what you like. One of her best students was a dancer and philosophy concentrator at Harvard.
  

Blogging: OCS premed counselors give it a try

Lee Ann and I would like to give the whole blog thing a try. We think this has the potential to become a useful resource for Harvard students and alumni interested in the health professions.

Informal feedback and impressions are good. We hope this blog will provide a way to capture our thoughts on what we’re seeing and hearing--from admissions deans, from other advisors within and outside of Harvard, from students and alumni. There are rarely cut-and-dry answers for many issues that concern students (especially since many answers depend on individual circumstances). So this would be a way for us to provide you with a bit more commentary and context even if not definitive answers.

In the spirit of "good" blogging, we'll try to update often, share opinions (since "information" is best shared in other ways), and spend less rather than more time on each entry (or else it wouldn't be blogging).

If you all find this useful, wonderful. Otherwise, we'll try something else. Please feel free to give us feedback via the blog or email. We really do want to know how we can better communicate with you.

Here it is: http://harvardocs.blogspot.com

Introducing Jeff

Jeff is the Assistant Director of Premedical and Health Career Advising at OCS. He grew up on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and went to college in California (think palm trees and Google). He graduated in 2003 with degrees in English and Human Biology (neuroscience) and is currently enrolled part-time in the Mind, Brain & Education program at the Harvard Ed School. Before coming to Harvard, he worked in undergraduate admission, often not seeing daylight for weeks while reading application essays. He has no children, spouses, or pets as of yet but may consider something low-maintenance like a fish. He will begin to miss warm weather soon.

Introducing Lee Ann

Lee Ann is the Director of Premedical and Health Career Advising at OCS. She was a member of the Harvard College Class of 1977 and, though not as financially successful as her classmate Bill Gates, did manage to graduate. Lee Ann has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has two children: Daniel, a Hampshire College student, and Sarah, an Oberlin College student; one husband, Alan, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist from Australia; and one dog, Sophie, a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (long name for a little dog).

Lee Ann's Dog, Sophie

This is Sophie. She's ridiculously cute and therefore deserves to be here.