On Feb. 26, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) will be hosting Medical School Process Made Easy: A step-by-step guide to the application season. AMSA President Tamer Akoury foresees this becoming an annual event. “With the overwhelming response to this event, we have already moved our conference to the auditorium in the D.P. Culp, and have extended the registration until the 24th of February,” says Akoury.

The event will consist of a dress/appearance and interview workshop, a demonstration interview, mock interviews with medical school admission members, a personal statement and application workshop, and a question-and-answer session with a panel consisting of admissions staff, faculty and medical students.

This conference isn’t just for ETSU students but is also open to all interested upcoming medical school applicants. The event was announced to surrounding colleges and universities, with the positive response contributing to the change in venues.

The event has also been tailored to both the Allopathic (M.D.) and the Osteopathic (D.O.) medical tracks, to assure that all future applicants can benefit from it.

The first step in the application process for the Quillen College of Medicine is to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Quillen’s website allows students to view statistics from the 2011 entering class and analyze the class average MCAT scores.

Maranda Stephenson says that applying for medical school is a daunting task. Applying to ETSU, she says that she simply had to provide the basics: name, address, Social Security number, ACT score, and class rank. She says that she can’t even compare that process to the forthcoming medical school application process.

“Instead of taking the ACT, you have to take the MCAT,” says Stephenson. “I took the ACT without any preparation, little sleep and very little concern. The MCAT is a test that involves months of preparation and studying.”

Students must also provide letters of recommendation/evaluation and a personal essay. Stephenson is looking forward to the conference on the 26th.

“I feel that to do well in every area of the medical school application process, a student needs to be taught the do’s and don’ts from someone who knows them,” says Stephenson.

Akoury hopes that the conference will do just that. “Students will have a chance to learn what medical schools are looking for directly from the medical schools’ admission members,” says Akoury.

“We hope to help medical school applicants network with current medical school students, faculty and admissions personnel, to allow a face to be put with an application and a rapport to be established.”

Elise McFall is looking forward to the conference for just those reasons. She says that this is her chance, along with the other potential applicants, to put a face and a personality with all of the personal information that is provided in their applications.

As of Feb. 9, The Quillen College of Medicine had received a total of 1,658 applications. The chance to leave an impact on the admissions staff could very well prove crucial, with only 77 acceptances offered out of the total number of applications.

Looking back, Akoury wishes there had been an event like this one when he was applying to medical school. He made a promise to create this type of conference in his AMSA presidential campaign. This week, he will make good on that promise.

For more information on this event, please contact Kayla Byrd at zkgb@goldmail.etsu.edu; or Aaron Ashe at ashe@goldmail.etsu.edu.

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