There exists a fundamental flaw in the USMLE exams – applicants who pass the exam cannot retake the exam. This means that applicants who score poorly in the exams are prevented from applying to competitive specialties and in some cases even from practicing as a doctor in the US. Why does the USMLE not allow candidates to rewrite exams to improve scores? To understand this, we have to delve into the purpose of USMLE.
The United States Medical Licensing Examination or USMLE as it is popularly known, is a critical set of exams that medical students and graduates must pass before they can practice medicine in the US. The USMLE is a multi-part exhaustive evaluation of a physician’s ability to apply knowledge, concepts, and principles, and to determine fundamental patient-centered skills that are important in health and disease and that constitute the basis of safe and effective patient care. It is highly regarded not just in the US, but also in various other countries around the world. So much so that one can use the USMLE in lieu of that country’s exams.
medical school
Medical School Reapplication: The Perspective of a Reapplicant
I am a reapplicant. Those are four words that every reapplicant shies away from and … Read more
Managing Anxiety on Test Day
Taking the MCAT can be a nerve-wracking experience. In fact, many students develop significant test … Read more
Plan to Make the Most of Your Summer—Now
Summer is a great time to get medically related experience, which can be an important … Read more
Marriage in Medical School: A Memoir (So Far)
During my senior year of college, I asked my girlfriend to marry me. We had been together for almost three years and planned to get married the following summer, since we were both graduating in the spring. The timing seemed perfect to start our new life together. There was just one minor problem: in the fall, I was planning to begin medical school.
While engaged, we dealt with a mixture of apprehension and excitement about marriage. The typical questions asked by engaged couples–questions like, “Where will we live? What will our source of income be? How will we make time to see family? How will our relationship change?”–were the same questions we asked, except with the additional uncertainty of medical school. We had learned how to juggle our relationship with the demands of college, but we were unsure about how it would change while I dealt with the great challenge of medical school. (Neither of us were oblivious to the “horror stories” surrounding medical school and its required time commitment).
Why I Smile
Republished with permission from here. At 8 a.m. every morning of the work week, I show … Read more
Stepping Into the Medical Field and Out of Your Comfort Zone
Are you ready to become a doctor? Making the transition from undergraduate to medical school student, and on to being a full time doctor can be exciting and intimidating at the same time. There are many challenges and obstacles you may face along your journey, but what is most important is that you face them with confidence. Read on for tips on how to make stepping outside your comfort zone a little more comfortable.
Build Strong Relationships With Your Professors
Start out in the classroom. When you are still studying, whether you are an undergraduate or already in medical school, classes should be much more than simply showing up and doing the work. Take time to get to know your professors, if the size of your university/class allows. They have vast amounts of knowledge and experience, and most likely they are more than happy to share that with you!
What If You Don’t Get In?
Unfortunately, roughly half of all applicants to American allopathic medical schools will not receive an … Read more
6 Ways to Be Productive While Studying
Life as a med student is a blur of tests and clinicals with many nights … Read more
Budgeting in Medical School: Does It Really Matter?
Medical students deal with a lot of scary things: frequent do-or-die exams, looming USMLE or … Read more
Top 5 Reasons Applications Get Rejected
In 2013, roughly half of all medical school applicants did not receive an acceptance letter. … Read more
The 10 Lessons Every Pre-Med Must Learn
The premed journey is different for everyone. For some, it’s really not that much of … Read more
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Clinical Students
Republished with permission from here. Congratulations! You’ve made it to the clinical portion of medical … Read more
Leveraging Pre-Med Learning Experiences for Success
Pre-medical students can – and should – take advantage of the many opportunities available to … Read more
Getting your Zzzzzz’s: Struggling with sleep in medical school and beyond
“To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub” ~ Hamlet The irony of … Read more
Six Ways for Applicants to Find a Happy Medium with Social Media
Updated September 30, 2021. The article was updated to correct minor grammatical errors and to … Read more
Doing Small Things Great: A practical guide to contributing to your team as an MS3
“Go forth and do great things.”
– Anonymous
No one gets into medical school without a considerable dose of ambition. We want to be involved, to make a difference, to save lives. In short, we want to do great things. We spend years waiting in the wings, our enthusiasm funneled into pre-med activities, o chem exams, and countless hours of studying in the first two years of medical school. Like a horse that has been held tightly in the starting gate that suddenly swings up at the sound of the starter’s bell, we spring forward with unbridled enthusiasm into third year, dirt flying. Having spent nearly a decade in prep (if you start counting in undergrad), we are eager to actually do something and start making a difference. And yet, so much of third year can be sitting around, waiting for the action, and, when the action happens, standing in the back of the room.
How International Experiences Can Enrich Your Studies as a Pre-Health Student
You’ve volunteered. You get good grades. You’ve shadowed doctors. You’ve done everything you can to be a great student and ideal candidate for professional schooling. What more can you do to make yourself stand out from the crowd? For starters, you can participate in an international internship and shadow doctors in another country! Here are a few ways in which adding an international component adds value to what you are already doing:
Obtain Transferrable Medical Experience
Whether or not a program offers credit, participating in a pre-health internship abroad will be a unique experience that will give you plenty of subject matter to talk about in interviews. You will be able to see what life is like for a foreign doctor, and sometimes you may be able to observe more than you may see shadowing doctors back in your home country, such as observing a number of surgeries firsthand. Having this opportunity is a great way to get more direct observation experience outside of the classroom.
An Introvert’s Survival Guide: How to function (and flourish) in medical school as an introvert
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle Even at the time, I … Read more