Clinical Research For Health Profession Students of America

Hello guys, a quick insight on research and publications. Keep in mind any activity that is CLINICAL or MEDICINE related will be viewed more favorable than a generic, undergrad Biology research. There are a few ways to obtain great research that I will go over with you and few things you can do:

1) Most simple experience: poster presentation, preferably oral presentation. This can be be a simple presentation of an ongoing research, or rare disease, at the hospital or research project that you are working on. If you are participating in a research project that may take years for publishing, ask the people in charge if you can write it into a poster for presentation.

2) Clinical case studies, procedure, rare diseases: If your networking skills are great, you can get in touch with current medical students, residents, or doctors and find out if you can write up any of the above mentioned reports for poster presentation or publication. These are much quicker turnaround. The only requirement is that you must be an excellent writer and know how to write a research paper.

3) Meta-analysis studies: this is the highest level a research experience can get. This type usually take years of conducting, data analysis, approval request, funding, and write-up. Even though this is viewed very favorable, it is usually not realistic for students to obtain a publication from in a timely manner. If you are involved in this type of study, ask your PI for permission to write a poster and present, or.......

4) At the research project that you participate in, always try to get a leadership position. Roles such as research coordinator or trainer would look great on your CV and can also help you fulfill the leadership requirement.

As you can see, there are many ways to obtain outstanding research experience. However, nothing jump a good MCAT score (and connection) when it comes to applying to medschool. MCAT should be your priority and you should prioritize it over other things. Good luck

Some Monday Test Taking Tips:

An essential first step is reading the last sentence of the question stem first to see exactly what they are asking. If that doesn’t point you in the right direction, read the second to last sentence next.

For example, if the last sentence is “what would you least expect in a serial metabolic reaction ?" I would first have a clear interpretation of the question in my head, such as "what would not happen in a serial metabolic reaction?" I then would highlight the type of reaction, reactants, and products. These are obviously not hard & fast rules, but they can certainly help you categorize your thoughts and be more efficient through questions that are lengthy and full of distractors.

On the other hand, If the last sentence is “what is the mechanism of action of this drug” then i only highlight what is pertinent to the drug (new onset symptoms & condition being treated).

These tips are not only time saving, but also brain power saving since this exam is a marathon. Practice this approach every time you do questions and eventually you will get faster and more ahead of others.

Tip of the day:

- Practice questions are key and the best thing you can do for your preparation. It is active learning and should be the majority of your study time. Research shows that there is a positive correlation between the number of questions medical students do to their board score.

- When you start out doing your practice questions, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT GETTING MANY WRONGS OR LOW PERCENTAGE. Instead, pay attention to these things when you do question:

1) Your thought process: what were you thinking that lead to you picking that answer. Track back to the why you think that way, correct it if wrong, and use the correct thinking going forward to create a habit
2) Read the wrong answer, especially the one that people miss the most. There is a reason why they put that answer there and why good amount of people fall for it (trap). Learn about these "traps" answer choices. It is what makes you move up on the curve
3) Take note of question you get wrong and review them. If it is content problem, review them. Your questions will guide you what you are weak at and what's needed to be reviewed.

As you can see, doing practice questions is the most effective way to go about preparing for the exam. You may start out taking hours on questions since you have to go back and learn the concepts, that is ok. As you approach your test day, gradually increase your speed to match the exam.

Medical school application process is vigorous. To maximize your chance, you should try to stand out to the committee. In order to do that, you should be focusing on building the hard skills (not many people have), instead of just checking boxes (which is easy to do and done by everyone). Few hundreds hours of volunteer, shadowing, and research, over-the-average GPA and MCAT, and decent recommendation letters WILL NOT make you stand out, many applicants have that.

Instead, do less things and make sure you stand out in a few things that you do. Majority of us will have average or slightly above average MCAT and GPA. We can offset the scores and stand out with our extracurricular activities. If you do volunteer: Take up an office position (board member, ambassador, leader...). If you do research: Get publication, go to conferences, national presentation. If you shadow: Get as much involvement in patient interaction as you can, learn about rare diseases if you see one (you can even ask the doc you shadow for the rare disease's case and I will help you publish). And if you are getting a letter: Make sure that letter is not only just "good". Instead, the letter must sounds like the writer will put his/her life on the line for you, or your letter must comes from some big, reputable people.

It was difficult for me as Asian ethnicity since it is a competitive demographic. However, I managed to get accepted first-timed to medical school with average stats (3.5, 506). Beside my average stats, I was a volunteer leader and trainer at the hospital I worked at. I made it to the board at the volunteer organization that I helped out with. Also, I got an excellent letter from the director of a big teaching hospital (I was constantly asked about the letter in interviews)

Score is most important but it is not everything. This advice is only true if other aspects of your application really shine. This is a game, know your strengths, play it right, and you will be successful.

Tip of the day:

If you got stuck in things you do: either studying for the MCAT, applying to medical school, or struggling in your classes..ect.. Try to seek other successful people's perspectives.

Think like this: For someone who is 10x smarter than me, or on a higher level of success and experiences, how would they attempt to resolve the struggles I am having right now? Would they be doing what I am doing, or something different?

Most people got stuck is simply because they can't see or don't see other ways of doing things. Putting yourself in the shoes of someone with a different view or different level of experiences can actually allow you to expand your thoughts, and perceive what you haven’t yet perceived.

First tip of the page:

Everyone have the access to the same materials (AAMC, Altius, Uworld, Kaplan, Tutor..etc..) you may ask how come some score better than the other !?

The key lays in how well you know your concepts. It is illegal for the AAMC to add new materials to the MCAT. So what they would do is twisting up many ways to ask question about the "same concepts", and prey on students with INCOMPLETE knowledge.

My advice is when you study, learn the concepts REALLY WELL, and do not move on until you truly understand it. It is okay to spend from 30 to 45 mins on a question on a concept. Once you have it down, it will stick forever and save you time down the road when you start to review, and better yet save your score.

I have experienced with student who did UWORLD 3x times vs one who barely finished it (90%). The latter came out scoring better since he/she knows the material really well vs. one who rush through it multiple times. Always quality > quantity.

Hello guys,

I have already picked a student for this case study. Thank you for tuning in and following the page. Beside posting research opportunities, I will also post many good tips for your MCAT studies, application processes, interview, volunteer, motivation, and LOR. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me or post on the page and I will response. I also experience with the ins and outs of interviewing and selection process, so I would love to help in any ways that I can. Cheer!