Guest Speaker Gives Advice About Applying to Medical School

Managing Editor

   Assistant dean of UAMS Medical Student Administration and Financial Aid returned to speak to students about medical school in the Science Center’s Auditorium Sept. 16.

   Tom South, assistant dean of UAMS Medical Student Administration and Financial Aid, started coming to speak to the University of Arkansas-Monticello students in 1996 or 1997. He worked as director of Admission for 13 years and also in the Financial Aid department during the 25-years he has worked at UAMS.

   South told the students what UAMS looked for in medical students, which could be found in a physician’s bag and the types of equipment and medicine found in the bag should be what they put on their medical school application.

   South brought a physician’s bag from the 1950s filled with antique equipment and medicine to use as examples.

   He described the types of tools physicians used to help diagnose a patient in the past as the fingers, the eyes, the ears, the nose and even the sense of taste, but the eyes and fingers are very important tools for a physician.

   He gave the example of communicating with patients and the need of have strong communication skills to talk with the patient to see what is going on and to converse with them. He talked about how we now live in a high-tech society, but physicians still need high touch. Physicians need high touch to be comfortable examining patients.

  “So that is one thing we are looking for on your application to medical school,” South said. “We can determine that you are a person who is passionate and caring.”

   UAMS measures to see how kind and compassionate a person is by looking at their outside activities such as volunteerism; if a person has worked at a hospital or nursing home. He said it gives a sense of knowing if medicine is really what the applicant wants to do and if they see it as a cause or commitment. They look at the types of activities a person engages in over a long period of time. Applicants can do many things such as volunteering, church activities, be a part of a group on campus and other activities. They also take into consideration if an applicant had to work as an undergraduate and the opportunities they had to be a part of.

   “We look at what you have been able to do inside the classroom and outside the classroom,” South said.

   He gave another example of how some applicants with high Medical College Admissions test scores did not get into medical school because of their lack of communication and people skills and how UAMS look for a student who has caring, compassion and the spirit of the devotion to the welfare of others.

  South talked about the stethoscope and how it represented listening. The physician uses the stethoscope to listen for problems in the chest cavity, the heart and the gastrointestinal system. This also means a physicians need to be good at communicating and listening. He said it is more important to listen than it is to talk sometimes.

   He talked about how people know the difference between a doctor who will sit down and listen to a patient and answer their questions versus the doctor who will not give their patient the time of day. He said communication and listening is a skill and that some applicants are very nervous during their interviews and talk without letting the interviewers get a question in.

   Physicians relied on their hands for touch, they rely on their ears to hear, but they also rely on their eyes. South said people connect with others when they look at each other eye ball to eye ball. There is something connecting, relating and establishing a relationship in truth integrity and trust and eye contact helps established the relationship with patients, family members and colleagues.

   “One of the things I would encourage you to do in terms of when you come for your medical school interviews is to establish eye contact with your interviews,” he said. “I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of interview evaluations where the interviewer will say the applicant did not have good eye contact or they were always looking down.”

  UAMS interviews applicants by team interviews, which includes two faculty members and often a senior medical student. South explained how an interviewer would say an applicant looked at one person and never looked at them, they were always looking at the ground or they did not have confidence. He said eye contact and communication were very important for applicants when they com for their interviews and to make eye contact with the interviewer.

   South showed students an antique medicine case and passed it around for the students to examine.

   He described the sense of smell as representing learning and having good study skills. Physicians may use their nose to diagnose some illnesses, but a physician needs to have intellectual curiosity to “sniff out” medical mysteries and find out everything they can to search for an answer.

   Students need to develop good study skills while they are here at UAM to carry with them to UAMS, any other medical school or training program and to carry them all the way through their medical career. He told the students that what they teach in medical school today will differ 15-20 years from now because of advancement in technology, medications, vaccines and treatments. He said the number one reason applicants give why they want to pursue medicine was to help people.

   He talked about how students need to read to learn about advance medicines. Students need to have good study skills, stay on track and be self-motivated, which will carry not only through their classes at UAM, but in classes at medical school and through medical training. He quote the phrase “If you do what you need to do when you need to do it, someday you will be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it.”

   “The other thing, the motivation for life-long learning is not so much of make an “A” or a “B” in a class, the grades are important, but they will come as a bi-product if you have that hunger or thirst of knowledge,” South said. “Because eventually they won’t matter to a patient you are treating whether you made an “A” or a “B” in a class, but what will matter is what did you absorb, retain and continually are learning will help you diagnose and treat that patient to make that patient well, help them or even when years are extended, you have improved the quality of their life.”

Majors and Curriculum

   The majority of students who go to medical school will have a Science major. These majors include: Biology, Chemistry or Bio-chemistry. Twenty-five percent will major in a Liberal Arts courses like Psychology and UAMS has a number of students who apply with majors in Engineering, History, Music Education and English. For students who are pursuing a science major, they will still need the core classes.

   Accepted Applicants must have successfully completed the following minimum course requirements:

•  Two semesters of Biology
  
• Two semester of Chemistry
  
• Two semester of Organic Chemistry
  
• Two semesters of math or through Calculus I
•  Two semesters of Physics
•  Two semesters of English

   
   According to the UAMS College of Medicine Brochure, applicants are strongly encouraged to take more advanced-level courses. Advanced Placement credit may be used to satisfy pre-enrollment course requirement provided the AP credit is accepted by the applicant’s college and is posted on the applicant’s official transcript.

  
   The brochure also provided a list of the 2009 Freshman Snapshot:

• Average GPA of those accepted: 3.67
  
• Average MCAT of those accepted: 29
  
• Average age of those accepted: 23; age range 19-38
• 77 percent of freshman received their undergraduate degree from other colleges
• 52 percent of these accepted majored in Biology, followed by Chemistry at 10 percent; then Biochemistry at 9 percent.
• 77 percent of all accepted majored in one of the traditional sciences
• 85 percent of the applicant pools were first-time applicants
• A total of 1, 714 applicants from 45 states submitted an American Medical College Admission Application Service application.
• Class size increased from 160 to 174 in 2009.

 MCAT

   The MCAT is a test administered in all 130 medicals schools. Students, interested in medical school, have to apply for medical the beginning of their senior year.

   Applicants must take the MCAT by Sept. 9 for the 2010 school year.

   South advised students to make sure they have the core classes needed, particularly Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, because certain components will be on the test. He also suggested to never taking the MCAT if an applicant is unprepared. Students should not schedule the MCAT at a time they know they have several papers due or 4 to 5 tests in the same month.

   “We put emphasis on the MCAT, but we don’t put all our emphasis on the MCAT,” he said.

   UAMS does not have a policy on programs to help students study for the MCAT, but the programs help some students study and does not help others.

   South advised students not to take the MCAT just to see what the test is like, because every time a person takes it the results are recorded on the application. He strongly advised student to retake the MCAT if they have a low score and UAMS looks at the most recent scores. He also told students to turn need materials in by deadline.

The Interview

 
   The day of the interview the applicant arrives an hour before their interview and attends the Dean’s Orientation. The session provides information about medical school and curriculum. Then, the student goes to the interview. After the interview, the applicant tours the campus and can ask medical students questions.

   South described the interviews as a blind interview; the interviews will not know your GPA, MCAT or school record. The interviewers will depend on what an applicant shares with them like why you want of pursue medicine and why they should pick you. Students will also want to tell about life experiences and the things the applicant has done.

   “So (the interviewers) can sense you are excited about what you want to do,” South said.

   UAMS uses a conversation type interview along with asking questions. Applicants will need to know about current information going on about medicine and issues, so the applicant can intelligently discuss them.

   UAMS relies heavily on a letter of recommendation that the Pre-Med Committee sends to them. South advised students not to miss any deadlines, so the Pre-Med Committee can send in a letter of recommendation in the applicant’s behalf.

   Applicants need to dress professionally; men need of dress in a jacket and tie and women need to wear Sunday dress or an outfit that shows a sense of professionalism.

   When applicant submits a picture with their supplemental application, applicants need to think about who will see the picture when they submit it. South advised applicants to never send a picture of them at a party or off Facebook.

   At the interview, there needs to be a sense of professionalism in what an applicant does and says. With the MCAT and GPAs being similar, the interview can be a tie breaker.

   “So when you come for your interviews, the best thing you can wear is a smile,” South said.

   Applicants need to balance communicating a listening, they need to talk, but they also need to listen. Applicants need to show passion for people, but also passion for medicine.

    For the MCAT application, Applicants will want to list honors, research activities and other honors. Applicants need to know how to communicate the things they have done,  how they impact the applicant and who influenced them.

  Biology Major Yelitza Rivera talked about information South presented to the students. 

  “I think he was real good, he explained what medical school was about and (he) really made me interested in what I wanted to accomplish as a doctor,” Rivera said.

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Deadlines

 Deadlines for 2010 applications include:

• July 1 - Applicants may begin to submit their AMCAS web-application to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

• July 15 - Arkansas residents may begin calling to schedule their faculty appointment. Applicant must certify and submit the AMCAS application before scheduling the interview.

• Nov. 1 - Non-Arkansas residents with strong ties to Arkansas must submit a letter to UAMS advocating strong ties. This is also the last day for Arkansas residents to call UAMS to schedule faculty interview.

• Dec. 11 - Admissions committee meets to determine which non-Arkansas resident will be invited to be interviewed in January and review February.

• Dec. 16 - Letter to early accept to Arkansas residents.

• Jan. 15, 2010 -  All application documentation must be received at UAMS for all applicants.

•  Jan. 20, 2010 - Letters to early accepts for Arkansas residents

• Feb. 20, 2010 - letters mailed to all applicants informing them of their admissions status: accepted, alternate list or not accepted. 
  

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