Paul Bodine - Perfect Phrases for Medical School Acceptance

Perfect Phrases for Medical School Acceptance

Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases to Write
Compelling Essays, Succeed at the Interview,
and Stand Out from the Competition

Paul Bodine

Copyright 2009 by Paul S. Bodine. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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For Roberta and Claudia

Even in an age of dysfunctional managed care, inequitable health-care access, and ballooning costs, medicine remains one of the most respected and well-remunerated of professionals. Indeed, in 2006, almost 71,000 individuals took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), an all-time high, and in 2007, 42,315 applied to U.S. medical schools, the most in 10 years. Yet even with the addition of three more accredited medical schools in 2008, the number of available spots in medical school classes has remained relatively static. The most selective medical schools consequently know they'll receive enough applications with outstanding "numbers" (MCAT score and grades) to populate several entering classes. For this reason, they can afford to evaluate applicants in terms of the diversity and potential contribution they can offer potential classmates, not just in terms of their smarts.

This is where medical school essays come in. The personal statement required by the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and the so-called secondary essays required by individual medical schools enable the admissions committees to look beyond your MCAT score, grade-point average, and rsum and see the personto get a sense not only of what you have done but of the kind of person you are and the kind of physician you might become. Unfortunately, writing essays that showcase your uniqueness and potential contribution to best effect is not easy. Which of the many experiences of your life best capture your hopes, dreams, and strengths? What's the best way to tell these stories? The purpose of the "perfect phrases" in this book is to help you overcome the paralysis of the blank page (or PC screen) by giving you samples of effective medical school admissions writing that you can use to bridge the gap between your initial outline and your written draft.

Because generic writing is bad writing, you'll find that the phrases and examples provided here are not "one-size-fits-all" templates. They contain the concrete detailsfacts, names, places, numbersthat good writing always has. So feel free to use this book's perfect phrases as inspirational prompts, guides, even temporary "crutches" as you work toward a final draft that's expressed in your own words. But when you reach the point where you're confident in the substance of your essayswhen writer's block is no longer an issuesearch for ways to turn the perfect phrases you've used into your own personal expression. If you let this book's perfect phrases become a substitute for your own words, you'll defeat the purpose of this book and the admissions essay. Medical schools don't admit applicants who sound like other applicants or write what they think the schools want to hear. They admit real people who tell their own stories their own way. Use these perfect phrases to help you do that and only that.

provides perfect phrases for the most common questions posed in medical school admissions interviewsa pivotal decision point in your journey to medical school.

It's my hope that the range and variety of examples in this book will help you to unlock and set free the inner creative voice that's still the best "magic bullet" for gaining admission to the medical school of your dreams. If you have any suggestions for improving it, please e-mail them to me at paulbodine@live.com.