New AMCAS Certification

I received an email recently from an applicant who was interested in hiring me and wanted to know my thoughts on AMCAS' new certification requirement. The phrasing is as follows:


“I certify that all written passages, such as the personal
statement, essays required from M.D./Ph.D. applicants, and
descriptions of work/activities, are my own and have not been written,
in part or in whole, by a third party. Quotations are permitted if the
source is cited.”


I want to remind applicants that I provide only editorial services; I do not generate content. This has been my policy since starting Insider, so the new certification is not a problem for me, my business or my clients.

Let me give you an example: In aggressively editing a personal statement, I will help with syntax, organization, etc., but I will not write any section for the applicant. I might make an explicit suggestion like "Another example of clinical work here that emphasizes your ability to communicate clearly will make this paragraph more robust. Can you think of something to add?" But I will not write a section for the applicant.

Throughout my website - home page, medical school applicant page, terms and conditions - I explicitly state that I do not generate content. I have turned down clients who have asked me to do so well before AMCAS required the new certification.

AMCAS 2012 Change

This year a significant new addition has appeared on the AMCAS. Applicants are being asked to identify their most significant extracurricular experiences (up to three) and support their choices.

Here's the prompt:

"This is your opportunity to summarize why you have selected this experience as one of your most meaningful. In your remarks, you might consider the transformative nature of the experience, the impact you made while engaging in the experience and the personal growth you experienced as a result of your participation. 1325 max characters."

This new section will add to the prose a candidate must craft, so if you are hoping to apply early (beginning of June), make sure to plan accordingly.

The Good News and The Bad News... and Then More Bad News

There is a clearly-written article by Jan Greene in the current issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine about fifteen new, US medical schools that are currently being accredited and slated to open. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates that this increase will lead to an additional seven thousand medical school graduates every year throughout the next decade.

Sounds great, right? More chances of getting into a US medical school!

Well, no so fast.

The idea behind opening these new schools was to preempt the impending doctor shortage, but, as Greene points out, the new medical school openings will not solve the scarcity because there are no plans to increase the number of residency spots. In fact, in fourteen years, the number of teaching hospital residency spots for which Medicare pays a share (about thirty percent) has not increased. With Medicare cuts in the works, it's unlikely residency positions will expand or that hospitals will have extra funds for unsupported spots.

Unfortunately, this means more competition for residency spots for everyone, especially International Medical Graduates. (The domestic graduates will likely be prioritized by residency directors.) And it means no solution to the doctor shortage. Unless funding for training programs increases, which seems unlikely, future doctors should expect a bottleneck at the post-graduate level. Bad news for doctors and the American medical system.

Featured Interview

I was recently featured on Medical MasterMind Community, a website for pre-medical professionals. Here's my twenty-minute interview with explicit essay-writing tips and techniques.