“These are the things I did that got me into medical school”

While I think this conversation can be beneficial to premed students seeking transparency on what medical schools are looking for, this conversation doesn’t always sit right with me. That’s because we rarely address the big elephant in the room that is a big reason why so many of us got accepted— it’s why I got accepted, it’s why you reading this got accepted.. it’s because we got lucky! We were so incredibly lucky that our application got reviewed by the right person, that when we had our interview we just so happened to talk to the right person. It’s a game of odds. It’s a game of chance.

Now am I saying that people who got into medical school ONLY got in because of chance and not because of how smart they are, how hardworking or sacrificial? Clearly not because then I’d have to say that about myself and of course I don’t think that about myself. What I’m saying is when we say we got in because of these stats etc etc, then how do you explain someone with a similar or better application that wasn’t accepted? If schools want the most qualified applicant , how do you explain that? Yes, people like to blame interview skills, personal statement but that’s a small percentage of applicants. The only plausible answer is that what is on your app only partially determines whether you get accepted or not.

Essentially, this was just a roundabout way of saying that we need talk about the luck aspect more when giving advice to premeds and current applicants.

Thanks for reading!