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[BernieMac]

,

[VolumeOverload]

Accepted this past cycle.

1)  I would argue a good number of applicants have at least one publication.  Many students undertake research studentships over the summer that quite often result in conference abstracts.  Some truly exceptional students can even earn authorship on peer-reviewed manuscripts.  I can't comment on whether or not a lack of publications will hurt you, ultimately it depends on how you write about your other scholarly experiences.  For comparison's sake, the first time I applied (unsuccessful) I scored in the 95th percentile for scholarship with 0 peer-reviewed publications, ~10 conference abstracts, 2 years of tutoring and other related mentorship activities. 

 

2)  Personally, I think so.  That's what I did my second time applying and this ultimately resulted in an interview and eventual acceptance.  The one exception to this is the whole "how it will help me in medicine" bit.  I never directly discussed how any of my activities make me suited for medicine/will help me in my medical career because I felt it was too risky of an assumption to make.  Some people may disagree with me but I feel that you can communicate your suitability for the profession without shoving it down the reviewer's throats at the end of each sentence.  

 

3) Yes.

[bearpuppy]

Accepted this past cycle.

 

1)  I would argue a good number of applicants have at least one publication.  Many students undertake research studentships over the summer that quite often result in conference abstracts.  Some truly exceptional students can even earn authorship on peer-reviewed manuscripts.  I can't comment on whether or not a lack of publications will hurt you, ultimately it depends on how you write about your other scholarly experiences.  For comparison's sake, the first time I applied (unsuccessful) I scored in the 95th percentile for scholarship with 0 peer-reviewed publications, ~10 conference abstracts, 2 years of tutoring and other related mentorship activities. 

 

2)  Personally, I think so.  That's what I did my second time applying and this ultimately resulted in an interview and eventual acceptance.  The one exception to this is the whole "how it will help me in medicine" bit.  I never directly discussed how any of my activities make me suited for medicine/will help me in my medical career because I felt it was too risky of an assumption to make.  Some people may disagree with me but I feel that you can communicate your suitability for the profession without shoving it down the reviewer's throats at the end of each sentence.  

 

3) Yes.

 

 

Just to echo that last sentiment... the fact is that as a pre-med you're fairly unaware of just how any of your experience really fits with medicine (and probably even true during the early med school years also). Focus on how it has changed you as a person, improvements, etc etc.; not on how it applies to medicine.