The Middle School Drama Class you Took Could Help your Medical Career

Taking Spanish and typing classes were two of the best decisions I made in middle school. But after reading Dr. Christina Brown's Doximity article "How We Can Help Women in Medicine Become Better Presenters," I realize that going to performing arts camp was also a boon. Brown points out that women are less likely to be speakers at medical conferences, which limits their career trajectories. She contends that public speaking, writing, and networking skills should be taught during medical school and residency to propel professional success. Her piece is worth a read.

Leverage the MSAR for Your Benefit

The Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) database is an online resource that allows users to search, sort and compare information about U.S. and Canadian medical schools. (When I was applying in the 90s, the MSAR was a hard copy book.) The 2025 MSAR was just recently published; if you're applying to medical school, I'd recommend purchasing the current version because it provides so much information about institutions and their admissions statistics. The MSAR allows you to compare schools by median MCAT scores, AMCAS GPAs, and other criteria. (Of course, how institutions utilize the MCAT score is variable, which contributes to the shameful opaqueness of the medical school admissions process.)

You should use the MSAR to help determine which schools are in your range and which are "reach" schools. While it's okay to have a lot of "reach" schools (if you can afford it), it's critical to ensure you are applying wisely to schools that match your numbers. The advantage of the MSAR is that you can make evidence-based decisions. I've found some applicants have eye-opening experiences when they thoroughly review schools' statistics and either realize their numbers are on the lower side and that they should apply to schools accordingly or, happily, that they have numbers that match with top schools. Either way, reviewing the data is critical to good decision making.

How To Craft Stand-out Most Meaningful Paragraphs

Back in 2012, seemingly out of the blue, a new component appeared on AMCAS®. Applicants were being asked to identify up to three of their most significant extracurricular experiences and support their selections with more writing. The instructions stated:

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.

Now the Most Meaningful Paragraphs are par for the course, but applicants routinely make a few avoidable errors in crafting them. Here are tips to do your best work:

1) Don’t merge the descriptors with the Most Meaningful Paragraphs; they are separate sections: You can complete descriptors for up to 15 activities with a maximum of 700 characters each, plus up to three Most Meaningful Paragraphs with a maximum of 1325 characters each. The fact that these are two different tasks might seem clear to some, but every year, I receive AMCAS drafts to edit with merged descriptors and Most Meaningful Paragraphs.

2) Don't use patient anecdotes in your Most Meaningful Paragraphs: Most medical school applicants have patient vignettes to share, which means that a patient story does not distinguish an applicant from the masses of other candidates. Also, these patient stories can sound trite or even inadvertently condescending. Talk about yourself instead. (See below.)

3) Don’t repeat what you've written in your descriptor. The Most Meaningful Paragraphs are an opportunity to delve deeper into your achievements. Let’s say you're showcasing your experience as a teaching assistant (TA) who was promoted to head TA or simply asked to return the next semester. Highlight teaching achievements that propelled you to get the lead position or the return invite. Did you offer an unconventional way of learning the difficult material? If so, what was it? Did you provide service that was above and beyond what was required? If so, what exactly did you do and how did it help your students? Did you get excellent teaching reviews? By delving deeper, you can truly demonstrate 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.” Make sure you address at least one of the three topics mentioned in the prompt - transformative nature, impact, and/or personal growth - in your Most Meaningful Paragraph.

Bottom line: The Most Meaningful Paragraphs are an opportunity for you to demonstrate your distinctiveness and worthiness for medical school. Write substantively to make sure you don’t waste the opportunity to further your candidacy.

Residency Applicant Characteristics: Key Differences Between Those who are Ranked Highly and Those who Aren't

The NRMP posted a webinar on applicant characteristics associated with success and failure in the recent Match, specifically focusing on Family Medicine, OB/GYN, Otolaryngology, Pathology, and Diagnostic Radiology.

The webinar presents data tracking trends in whom programs (from those five specialties) ranked. NRMP says they hope to help applicants and residency directors gain a clearer understanding of the factors influencing candidate selection. Some of the data is to be expected (average Step 2 scores are higher for Otolaryngology than for Family Medicine), but there there are more specifics offered: Over three quarters of Otolaryngology programs don't take applicants with Step 2 scores under 225 whereas half of Family Medicine programs take applicants with Step 2 scores as low as 215. There are some other interesting factoids that might guide candidates' approach to the Match.

Here's the YouTube link.