Admissions statistics, application mistakes, and strategies to get into medical school despite increasing competition
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Introduction
How hard is it to get into medical school?
If you’re like most premed students, you’ve heard horror stories about qualified applicants who didn’t get into medical school—the first, second, or even third time they applied. Heck, you yourself may even be reapplying to medical school.
Regardless, you may be confused about how you could possibly get in after going to great lengths to “do everything right”—achieving a strong GPA and MCAT score, satisfying your extracurricular requirements, obtaining meaningfulmedical school letters of recommendation, and so on.
Before you lose hope about your chances of getting into your dream med schools—or, worse, give up completely—we’d like to dig into the details about the current state of medical school admissions so you can understand what you’re actually up against. Then, we’ll list mistakes applicants routinely make and offer high-level strategies to help you get one step closer to becoming a physician.
Medical school acceptance rates
The news is flooded with reports on doctor shortages in the United States, especially in low-income and rural areas, as well as in fields like primary care, family medicine, and psychiatry.On top of that, new medical schools are opening up each year to train new doctors and address some of our country’s healthcare access issues.
In combination, you would think that these factors would make it easier to get into med school.
As our healthcare needs are growing and we’re producing more physicians than ever, interest in health careers has grown to an all-time high. Of course, this means that more students are applying to medical school than ever. As a result, the number of annual applicants is increasing faster than the number of available medical school seats, which certainly lags behind our growing physician demand.
Data published by the AAMC shows that between the 2014–2015 and 2023–2024 academic years (i.e., the last 10 years), the total number of medical school applicants grew from 49,480 to 52,577, a 6.25 percent increase.
Of those applicants, only 20,343 matriculated during the 2014–2015 academic year (41.1 percent), and 22,981 matriculated during the 2023–2024 academic year (43.7 percent).
In summary, you’re facing not only increased competition but also lower admissions odds than ever.
Why is it so hard to get into medical school?
While the overall matriculation rate to U.S. medical schools is at an all-time low, it may simply be due to a larger number of applications from less-qualified students. Therefore, it’s important to know the stats with which applicants apply today relative to years past. For this, we turn to the average GPA and MCAT score of med school applicants and matriculants.
Among applicants for the 2023–2024 entering class, the average cumulative GPA and MCAT scores were 3.64 and 506.3, respectively, holding relatively steady from 2022-2023 and up slightly from 3.59 and 505.9 for the 2021–2022 entering class.
Among 2023–2024 matriculants, the average cumulative GPA and MCAT scores were 3.77 and 511.7, respectively, almost the same as the stats for the 2022–2023 entering class averages of 3.75 and 511.9.
This upward statistical trend is longstanding and shows no signs of slowing down. Taken together with the yearly increase in applications, it appears that not only are you competing with more students but also that those students’ scores are higher than they have ever been.
(Recommended reading:What MCAT Score Do You Need to Get Into Medical School?)
Medical school application mistakes
Our goal for this guide is not to discourage you. Rather, we want to shed light on what you’re up against and offer strategies to maximize your odds of getting in.
It’s true that many students apply to medical school each year and that your competition is fierce. It’salso true that many applicants: a) are borderline qualified or unqualified; b) make serious application mistakes; or c) both.
Therefore, if you have solid stats and apply the right way, your odds of getting into medical school will be higher than the roughly 36 percent overall acceptance rate.
We’ll now highlight various medical school application mistakes that students routinely make—and what you should do instead to stand out to admissions committees.
(Note: The rest of this guide assumes that you have competitive or somewhat competitive stats and that you’ve completed or are in the process of completing your medical school requirements, including the rightextracurricular activities for medical school, including gaining sufficient physician shadowing, patient exposure, community service, and volunteer hours.)
Medical school application mistake #1: Applying to too many reach schools
We’ve observed a significant number of applicants who apply to too many reach schools—25–50 percent or even higher—that they have little to no chance of getting into.
In other words, what some applicants consider to be “target” or “safety” schools are often much tougher than they think to get accepted to.
If you apply to too many reach schools, your number ofcompetitive applications will be far fewer than you think. For instance, if you apply to 30 schools but 15 of them are realistically out of reach for you, you’re only really applying to 15 schools, which is a low number.
A lot of students feel they should apply to the Stanfords and Harvards of the world, thinking, “Why not? What if something crazy happens and I get accepted? Can’t hurt to apply!”
Except itcan hurt. Not only is it expensive to apply to medical school, it’s also very strenuous. Almost every school you apply to will ask you to complete a secondary application (i.e., more essays), which often leads to what some refer to as “secondary fatigue.” When secondary fatigue kicks in, effort and work quality decline, along with your chances of success.
What you should do instead
You’ll want to be incredibly thoughtful about which schools you apply to—and how many.
Because school selection is one of the most important—and underrated—components of successful medical school admissions, we put in significant effort to help our students choose the right schools.
Depending on your stats, our recommendation is to initially apply to somewhere between 15 and 25 carefully selected schools, with the following rough breakdown for the typical applicant:
3–5 “reach” schools
7–8 “target” schools
6–7 “undershoot” schools
Bonus: 3–5 “far undershoot” schools
Less than 15, and you risk not achieving the right balance of competitiveness. More than 25, and you risk even greater secondary fatigue.
Once you’ve gotten close to submitting applications to your initial list, you can look to add more schools, recycling or modifying the secondary essays you’ve already written. It’s not crazy to apply to 35 or even 40 schools using this approach.
(Further reading: How Many Medical Schools Should I Apply To? Which Ones? andAverage GPA and MCAT Score for Every Medical School)
Medical school application mistake #2: Spending too much time on the personal statement at the expense of other essays
I often ask premed students about their #1 struggle or worry when it comes to medical school applications.
Their #1 response? How to write their medical school personal statement.
It’s a valid concern; the personal statement is incredibly important, yet difficult to get just right. However, many students spend weeks, even months on their personal statement, but fail to give enough attention to acing theAMCAS Work and Activities section and medical school secondary essays.
Medical schools practice holistic admissions, meaning they evaluate every part of your application together in hopes of understanding your readiness for medicine.
What you should do instead
Each aspect of your application tells a different part of your story.
For example, your personal statement provides a bird’s-eye view of who you are and your road to medicine, but the AMCAS Work and Activities section offers a detailed look into how you’ve spent your time to understand what it means to be a physician, as well as your accomplishments and growth along the way. Moreover, your secondary essays provide an opportunity to tell medical schools why you’ll be a strong fit for their institution specifically.
Applications that are weak outside of the personal statement are akin to incomplete stories. They leave the reader with more questions and hesitations.
Therefore, I encourage you to devote similar levels of effort toevery part of your application, working to ensure that different sections work cohesively to demonstrate to admissions committees why you want to be a physician, why you would be an excellent physician, and why you would be a great fit at their school.
Medical school application mistake #3: Trying too hard to write about the “perfect” topics
Another very common question we receive about personal statements and secondary essays is, “Would it be a good idea to write about [X/Y/Z] topic?” And most of the time, the answer is the same: “Every topic can lead to a strong or weak essay depending on how compellingly it’s written.”
In other words, there’s rarely such a thing as a “good” or “bad” essay topic, only strong or weak execution.
Oftentimes, students have great personal stories to share that demonstrate their unique qualities, but they don’t think admissions committees will be interested in reading about them. For example, they might say, “But that’s not directly related to medicine,” “I don’t think med schools want to hear about that,” or “Don’t adcoms expect students to write about [topic]?”
What you should do instead:
We discourage students from this type of mind reading because, guess what? The essay topics most students “think” will impress admissions committees are often incredibly similar, leading them to write clichéd essays.
Therefore, we recommend that you first think of thequalities you want to demonstrate in your essay and then consider when in your life you’ve demonstrated those qualities.
That way, you’re much more likely to come up with a topic that reflects who you uniquely are and is much easier to write about.
Medical school application mistake #4: Asking too many people for essay feedback
Like many things in life, more feedback on your essay isn’t necessarily better.
Recently, one of our students rewrote an entire essay despite loving their original idea because their undergraduate advisor suggested another topic. Unfortunately,their second essay wasn’t as strong as their original one, nor did it convey the ideas they’d hoped to.
Anyone you send your essays to will have an opinion on how to change it. While everyone means well, know that each additional set of eyes can dilute your voice and weaken the points you're hoping to make.
What you should do instead
We're not saying that you shouldn't show your work to anyone else, but we encourage you to run your essays by no more than two people who know you—and the medical school admissions process—well.
Moreover, if your work accurately captures what you're hoping to convey, is grammatically correct, and engagingly written, you should confidently move on to the next essay.
Medical school application mistake #5: Submitting applications too late
Most medical schools practice rolling admissions, which means that they’ll invite and accept students on a rolling basis, until all seats are filled.
You’ll have more seats available to you the earlier you apply. Conversely, submitting applications too late will lead to competing against a larger applicant pool for fewer spots.
Medical schools post application deadlines on their website, but these are quite misleading. Specifically, the closer you submit to posted deadlines, the lower your overall admissions odds.
What you should do instead:
You should submit high-quality applications as early as possible. AMCAS tends to open at the very beginning of June each year, and secondaries are sent to students whose primary applications are verified as early as early July.
However, be careful not to rush to submit your applications if your essays are subpar. Submitting lower quality materials can hurt you more than submitting early can help you.
It's much better to submit a fantastic application several days to weeks later than you'd hoped rather than submit a so-so application ASAP.
(Further reading:The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline & When Should You Take the MCAT?)
Medical school application mistake #6: Preparing for medical school interviews the wrong way
Receiving medical school interview invitations is one of the most exciting parts of the application process, second only to receiving acceptances.
After their initial celebrations, applicants tend to get anxious about how they’re going to respond to various questions and prompts. (e.g., “Tell me about yourself” and “What are your thoughts on the Affordable Care Act?”)
Applicants often over-worry about the wrong things (e.g., questions about things like healthcare policy rarely come up, and there are time-tested approaches to answering them well without intimate knowledge of the subject) and under-worry about critically important aspects of the interview. (e.g., focusing on sociability and answer delivery in addition to the content of responses)
What you should do instead:
While it’s important to practice common questions like “Why do you want to be a doctor?,” you should also look up and practice school-specific questions, develop strategies to tackle any MMI question, and go through mock interviews with folks knowledgeable about the med school interview process.
When you have practice interviews, ask your interviewer to give you feedback on response content and how you presented. If your official interviewer likes you, they’re far more likely to appraise you favorably.
(Further reading:How to Ace Your Medical School Interviews & MMI Interview: The Ultimate Guide)
Medical school application mistake #7 Focusing solely on your grades at the expense of experience
We all know that extracurricular activities are a huge part of the med school application process. You’ve probably also heard of 4.0 and 520 candidates being rejected. Often, the reason for this is the belief that, above all else, scores are primary.
While it’s true that GPA and MCAT scores are extremely important, focusing on them too much at the expense of gaining experience in a clinical setting or by shadowing can sap your application of competitiveness.
What you should do instead
Focus on your grades and work hard, but make sure you take the time to volunteer, shadow a doctor and participate in student groups. Adcoms want to see you as a person, not just as a score.
If your GPA falls slightly below the 4.0 you strived for because you were busy volunteering at a community clinic, that’s okay. If you apply with a 4.0 and you never volunteered at that clinic, adcoms won’t see that you’ve demonstrated your interest in medicine. A score won’t show you as an individual and they will be looking for a candidate that will not only be a high achiever but a contributor to their medical community.
Medical school application mistake #8 Drawing attention to grade slumps incorrectly
Sometimes, life happens. Things get in the way, responsibilities pile up or enthusiasm dwindles. If you’ve experienced a hiccup in your near-perfect GPA, there’s no reason to panic and there’s no reason to make excuses.
We’ve seen many premeds suffer small setbacks in grades thinking they must explain it in their personal statement or secondary essays. Drawing attention to a grade slump isn’t a problem by itself, but making excuses for it can be detrimental to your application.
What you should do instead
Some medical schools will offer space to explain this in optional secondary essays, but keep in mind it’s not necessary for you to use that space. Writing about lower scores only works for adcoms if they see some rehabilitation.
Adcoms know that interests and circ*mstances change, so when explaining a dip in grades, do so with a story that shows how you came out stronger at the other end. You should approach this problem with a three-fold strategy.
What happened Whatever your reason for the slump, you will initially need to address the circ*mstances surrounding it. Whether that’s the death of a family member or just a desire to change course academically, you’ll need to discuss that.
What you learned This experience taught you something about yourself and about life. Adcoms will want to know what took away from it.
How you’ve improved This part of the explanation is crucial. How have you come back stronger as a result of this experience? Perhaps the adversity cemented your determination to become a doctor or perhaps a change in major led you to a desire to become a physician-scientist rather than a primary care doctor. Whatever your reasons, make it clear that you’ve taken actionable steps to put that episode behind you.
Medical school application mistake #9 Not attending to the details
As is commonly said, the devil is in the details but when it comes to med school applications, the devil is in the lack of attention to the details. When writing your personal statement and secondary essays make sure you cross every T and dot every I.
Adcoms are looking for eloquent, well-read communicators as much as they are stellar stats. Your ability to write fully formed, grammatically correct sentences and express your thoughts clearly paints a picture of you that adcoms see when deciding to offer you an interview.
Medical school applicants are generally very thorough, but even the best of us make mistakes. Spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and even formatting issues portray a candidate that’s less careful than they may like.
What you should do instead
Before submitting any essays, make sure you’ve checked them for accuracy multiple times. This will help ensure you’re putting your best foot forward and is one reason why it’s important to have a second pair of eyes go over your writing.
Applicants should also take full advantage of grammar and spell-checking tools in applications such as Microsoft Word to help. There is even a free version of the popular app Grammarly that can give suggestions and catch errors you may not have noticed.
Medical school application mistake #10 Comparing yourself (too much) to others
Your premed colleagues will inevitably have different stats than you. They’ll also have different ideas about where to apply and what makes a great application, different ideas about what to write about in their personal statements or secondary essays, and different ideas about how to prepare for interviews.
While we encourage you to get feedback from mentors, writing advisors, and family members, be wary of too closely comparing your application to your peers’ applications.
This kind of comparison leads to unnecessary doubts about the quality of your application which can hinder your ability to focus on crafting one that speaks to your strengths. You may end up rethinking (or overthinking) parts of your application that already highlight what you do well, substituting them for anecdotes that come off sounding forced or inauthentic. In short, you risk your doubts becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What you should do instead
As difficult as it may be, have confidence in yourself! Your achievements and experiences are impressive in their own right. A crisis of confidence in how you measure up to a few people in your network will do you no favors on your overall application.
Remember that your application and experiences are unique to you and should showcase that uniqueness. Adding or subtracting information based on someone else’s experiences that you think adcoms want to hear will be viewed as disingenuous. Adcoms read hundreds (if not thousands) of essays every year and they can tell if you’re misrepresenting yourself.
Besides, you should maintain perspective and remember that if a fellow premed’s application seems stronger than yours, that’s only an infinitesimally small portion of the total applicant pool.
Final Thoughts
How hard is it to get into med school? Very! But not as difficult as you might think, especially if you put in the necessary effort. By building strong stats, giving yourself ample application preparation, and avoiding common mistakes, you can be a top applicant at almost any school. While it certainly isn't an easy journey, becoming a doctor is realistic goal that you can achieve.
