- We paired Student S with a Former Admissions Officer from Alpert Medical School at Brown and a Graduate Coach from Yale Medical School.
- The work started off by getting to know one another and helping Student S figure out how she wanted to market herself to the admissions office. During this strategy phase, they decided that Student S would focus on how the challenges she faced as an athlete prepared her for a career in medicine.
Personal Statement:
- Choosing a Topic: Before she started working with us, Student S had two drafts of completely different personal statements. When read alone, neither worked. After reading both versions and spending time discussing over video chat, her Graduate Coach recommended that she combine these two themes to make for one powerful personal statement topic.
- Editing: Student S’s counselors edited over 10 drafts of her personal statement.
- High-Level Feedback: In the beginning, her counselors’ edits were more high-level. They focused on shaping the content, theme, tone, and structure of the essay.
- Line-by-Line Edits: Then, her counselors’ edits became more detailed. These edits worked on Student S’s writing structure, word choice, and grammar.
Experiences Section:
- Student S’s counselors helped her decide which of her many activities to include on the AMCAS experience list. They then edited more than 5 drafts of that list. Their edits focused on:
- Content: These edits focused on getting Student S to dig deeper in some areas and cut fluff from others. We wanted to make sure that she included the most strategic content.
- Impact: These edits focused on getting Student S to demonstrate her impact. We wanted to show the scope of her involvement and achievements by providing the reader with context.
- Word Choice and Grammar: These edits focused on sharpening her writing.
Secondary Essays:
- Preparation: Before Student S received her secondaries, her counselors sent her a list of common questions. This allowed her to prepare and stay organized.
- Editing: When Student S’s secondary essays started rolling in, her counselors helped her edit all of them, which amounted to over 15! They sent these essay edits back-and-forth via email.
Preparation:
- List of Questions: That fall, when 18 interview invites came in, Student S’s counselor sent her a list of questions to expect. They then strategized how to answer common questions and discussed exactly what she should highlight in her interview.
- Resources to Prepare: Her counselors also sent her scientific resources and news articles so that she had up-to-date medical news to discuss during her interview.
- Mock Interviews: Student S’s counselor then conducted several mock interviews to make sure that she was ready to nail her interviews when the days arrived.