The PreMed Zone | Premedical Resources

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CONTENTS

  On-Line Resources
  On-paper
  MSAR
  email

EMAIL archive INDEX

Selected emails and responses

On-line

AAMC Page Two - Association of American Medical Colleges: This is the first place to go for reliable information concerning all aspects of premedical and medical education. Links to "Publications & Information Resources" and "Student & Applicant Information" are particularly useful. If you can't find what you're looking for on this large site a search engine is available. -- 20 Jun 98; FACTS - Applicants, Matriculants and Graduates -- 23 Jun 01; Search the AAMC -- 16 Aug 00; Medical Schools of the U.S. and Canada -- 16 Aug 00; ~Pagelink: AAMC MCAT LINKS -- 01/27/02
AMCAS Home: The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is a non-profit, centralized application processing service for applicants to the first-year entering classes at participating U.S. medical schools. For the 2002 entering class, 116 medical schools and 1program are participating in AMCAS. Applicants to medical schools that do not participate in AMCAS, as well as all advanced standing and transfer applicants, should contact schools directly for application instructions. You should also contact schools directly for application information regarding joint or special programs, such as BA/MD, MD/Ph.D., MD/JD and so forth. -- 20 Jun 01; About AMCAS
2001 Entering Class
FAQ
Contact Schools
Fee Assistance Program (FAP)
Applicant Responsibilities
Acceptance Procedure
MCAT
...
ApplyToMedSchool.com: This is an impressive site with extensive, clear, and well organized information covering all aspects of applying to medical school. -- 27 Sep 02
Ranking of Medical Schools: Google.com -- 18 Aug 02
Ranking of Colleges: U.S. News and World Reports -- 22 Aug 02
AMSA Premed - American Medical Student Association: "The mission of AMSA Premed is to provide information, support, and leadership development for future physicians in training." -- 08 Dec 98
MedicalGold.com: This site has a great collection of links concerning financing medical school. Helpful diagrams that will give you a good idea of what you need to do, and how well you need to do, to be accepted in to medical school, are also part of the package.-- 22 May 00
Heart Failure - Diary of a Third Year Medical Student: This is very powerful stuff, from quite a skillful writer. It is dark, depressing, and deeply disturbing. I strongly recommend it. -- 22 Dec 99
medicalstudent.net: This is a first rate site, created by Jim Henderson MD, with an easy to use interface, solid information about all major premedical and medical issues, and a great collection of on-line and "on-paper" resources. -- 01 Jan 99
Erick's Guide to Medical School Admissions: A lot more good advice. -- 06 Dec 98
The Professional School Admissions Interview: A good "interview" page from louisville.edu. -- 04 Dec 98
Welcome to Kaplan Educational Centers: Get a quick overview of the MCAT, Admissions, and Financial aid. Also check out the Medical Links & the BBS. -- 20 Jun 98
Princeton Review: A user friendly site with lots of info, like: a report on the latest MCAT, how to get into Med School, how to find a Med School, and how to finance it. And there's also findOrama a nicely executed medical school search engine. -- 20 Jun 98
Caribbean Medical Schools -- A Guide for Canadians: This is an informative site, that is easy to use and well organized. Check it out. --13 Aug 99

Links to Sites with Premed Links

US Premeds: A site created by medical students, with a very good set of links. -- 04 Dec 98

Brad's Premed Resource Center: This site contains an ample collection of links under the categories: General, Advise, MCAT Prep, Schools, Interviews, Discussions, Homepages, and Chat.-- 28 Nov 98

Yahoo!'s List of Med Schools -- 20 Jun 98: Yahoo's list of Med Schools

My Favorite Search Engine

Google Advanced Search

Other Offerings

ChronoNet: Dr. Greg Chronowski's site. Worth checking out. -- 20 Jun 98
Medical Education Newsgroup: You'll find a wide spectrum of topics discussed here by premedical students, medical students, and M.D.s. <misc.education.medical> -- 20 Jun 98

On-paper

~Pagelink: MCAT Prep Books

MEDICAL SCHOOL from HIGH SCHOOL by A.M. ILYAS, MD.: This text includes about 75 profiles of Medical School Early Admission Programs, as well as general information as to how EDPs function and the strategies to employ to best qualify for one. For more details visit www.EarlyMed.com.
Offerings by the AAMC:
(202) 828-0416 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST The AAMC Home Page

03/01/03 UPDATE: .
The AAMC has recently stopped offering The Student Manual, The Practice Items, and Practice Tests I & II. These materials are dated but still of great use if you can find them, especially when considering the shortage of high quality MCAT practice materials--most practice tests from non-AAMC sources are close to worthless, and the best non-AAMC practice tests are significantly inferior to these AAMC materials.

WEB OPTION: Practice Test III is now free. PT IV, V & VI are available online and as pdf downloads as a package that sells for $80. Solutions to these tests are given only online, in a format that is very tedious to print out. These online solutions are text only--no diagrams are included. The web option offers a number of bells and whistles that keep track of your MCAT proformance and some message boards, which currently, are rather unimpressive.

PAPER OPTION: Only PT V & VI ($40 per exam) are now offered in booklet form. They come with solution booklets that included text and diagrams--at least they use to.

The tests included in the web and paper options above have been altered to include recent changes to the MCAT.

NON-AAMC PRACTICE MCATS (posted 05/01/04):
In my opinion, the best* MCAT practice tests, after the AAMC exams, are those given as part of the Princeton Review course, because they tend to best capture the flavor of the MCAT.** Kaplan's exams tend to overemphasize numerical concepts or may become overly convoluted. ExamKracker's tests tend to lack the complexity typically found in actual MCAT passages--I'm not saying they are easy, just not richly textured enough.

*Of ExamKrackers, Kaplan, and Princeton Review.
**These materials are not available in bookstores)

Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR): This is an incredibly useful book, which provides detailed information concerning the admissions process, all U.S. and Canadian Medical Schools, financial aid, minority student concerns, premedical planning, the selection process, medical education options, and lots more. An updated version arrives each year in late April or early May. Cost: $25 (or more, in some bookstores). Some folks don't buy it until they need it, since it is often possible to leaf through a copy in the bookstore or library. Recommendation: Buy it one year before you plan to apply.
MCAT Student Manual / Practice Test I Discontinued: The MCAT Student Manual is a good introduction to what the MCAT is all about. It includes an outline of the topics that are on the MCAT and example passages.; Practice Test I is an old full length MCAT test produced by splicing together previous MCAT exams. While the Verbal Reasoning and Biological Sciences sections still resembles the current MCAT, the Physical Sciences section is far too quantitative. The current MCAT has less than ten questions on the entire test that require more then a couple of simple algebraic manipulations.; Corrections:; => It is no longer true that the Verbal Reasoning passages proceed in order from easiest to most difficult.; => It is no longer true that the Biological Sciences contain only 35% Organic, they may contain more.; => In Practice Test I (PT I), Question 142 the word "level" should be used only in the first sentence. The nomenclature regarding sound makes a distinction between intensity level, and intensity. (Thanks to Dave for finding this error.)
=> (PT I) Question number 165 has a minor flaw. Answer C should be drawn stereochemically to represent a specific enantiomer, otherwise it represents, by convention, a racemate--which would react to form an optically inactive product.

MCAT Practice Test II Discontinued: Practice Test II (PT II) is an actual MCAT administered back in 1991. The test is out of date, but an improvement over PT I; Corrections:; => PT II # 82 If you do this problem the easy way, the answer is on the answer key. If you do this problem the hard way you should get the same answer if the laws of physics are to be trusted--but you don't! Who ever made up this problem did not "cook" the numbers correctly. Hint: (11.9)²/1.19 = 1.19 Ohms not 10 Ohms as stated in the passage. (Thanks to Dave for finding this error.); => PT II # 183 Not a mistake, but the color spectrum just above the answer choices is not only unnecessary, but also confusing, since it does not line up very well with the absorption spectra above.
MCAT Practice Test III Now free!: For $40 you get one version of the MCAT that was given in April of 1994 with a well written solutions manuel.; Corrections:; => PT III # 157 Should read: ...the individual who appears to have benefited most... A careful reading indicates that it is not possible to know if Subject C/Group 2 benefited at all. (note Subject C/Group 3 is a different individual). There is no way to rule out Subject C/Group 2 's response as purely due to the placebo effect--especially in light of Subject A/Group 3's report of a one.
=> PT III # 162 Answer B should read: No; HC expresses incomplete dominance. Codominance is the complete expression of both alleles in the heterozygote. The A and B alleles in the ABO blood group are codominant. PP = PURPLE, Pp = PinK, pp = white; is an example of incomplete dominance (or no dominance).
MCAT Practice Test V Now available via WEB and PAPER: Cost: $40. This was the most recently released MCAT (now PT VI is the latest). Like PT III a solutions manual is included. PT V's physical science section involves a bit more computation than in Practice Test III, which is more conceptual in nature. This provides a nice balance. I have limited experience with Practice Test IV, but have found that PT III and PT V are excellent prep materials, which can be used as reliable indicators of actual MCAT performance when taken under timed conditions a few weeks before the actual exam.

MCAT Practice Test VI Now available via WEB and PAPER

MCAT Practice Test VII Now available via WEB and PAPER


NOTE:: => Any particular practice version of the MCAT you take, may differ significantly form the version you will actually receive.; => PS Your MCAT score is normalized based only on the group of individuals who took the exact same version of the test as you did.

Other Offerings

Kaplan, Getting into Medical School: This is a well written, user friendly book covering admissions strategies, interview tips, and financial aid options. It also includes profiles of all U.S. Medical Schools (Allopathic and Osteopathic).

Legal disclaimer and trademark information.

GO TO EMAIL ARCHIVE

I am interested in receiving information on medical schools that are more apt to take older or non traditional students. Any info in regards to requirements and stats on acceptance and what i should focus on outside of academics would be helpful as well

Thank you

First look at the Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) booklet from AAMC. Next go to the web sites of the schools you are interested in. Then call the schools to get additional info. If you call during a slow time and speak with a generous person (often a secretary, who may know more about the admission process then some members of the committee) you may "strike gold", especially if you are prepare to ask concise (not open ended) questions. If you are only offered the "standard line" , don't be intimidated; call back at another time.

See http://www.premed411.com/pages/pmr.html for more on MSAR, as well as links to Medical School home pages.

Good Luck