Top 5 Qualities of a Medical Applicant

If you are reading this, there is a very high chance you are looking into applying to medical school. It is also very hard to keep on top of everything that goes on during the last few years of high school.

So I thought I would make things easy for you condensing what I believe are the top 5 qualities a medical applicant should have to walk out of a medical interview triumphantly.

1. Academic Prowess

Medicine is hard. There is no denying that.

One of the reasons why is because of the sheer amount of knowledge one has to acquire in a relatively short amount of time.

Medical schools need to make sure the applicant has developed the skills to tackle effectively the acquisition of enormous bodies of information.

Indeed, the very high grade requirement serves both a purpose of dealing with a very high demand of applicants and ensuring the student will adapt to the packed syllabus.

Likely, if you are considering to study medicine, you have been told by your school or peers from years above that you need to hone your studying skills and achieve the best possible grades.

If you believe you have not reached this level, do not panic. There are plenty of resources on the internet to help you study better and more efficaciously, and I'll be uploading my own advice on the channel soon.

2. Medicine Isn't Everything

I know, I know. This sounds frustratingly contradictory considering the point I've just made above, but me hear me out.

Medical schools are looking for well-rounded individuals, and although your academical potential is certainly the first barrier you have to overcome, if you have nothing to show except for studying hard day and night, you will really struggle to get in.

Find something that ignites your passion outside of medicine and academia, it can be whatever. Sports, playing instruments, drawing, writing. I would recommend to find a creative hobby, something active rather than passive where you have to use your brain, your skills or your experience to build something new.

Instead of reading, write. Instead of watching a football match, go to the pitch and play football. Instead of listening to music, try creating music yourself.

Even if you have never had the inclination, try it out, stick to it. You might start to bolster your application, but you might also see the benefits in your wellbeing in the long run.

3. Connected to the World

This is perhaps one of the most valuable pieces of advice I can give you.

When you are a teenager in your last years of high-school and your head is buried in books, your only worry being "when is my next exam", it is really easy to lose touch with reality.

For the majority of time, you live in this very limited bubble every single day, you hang out in the same place, you go to the library, you go school and back home and nothing changes for years.

I am a big advocate for not rupturing that bubble too soon, but easing yourself out of it. One day you are going to leave your hometown, go to university and experience the whole world.

A very good way to do this is by carving out 10 or 15 minutes out of your day and read the news. As simple as that.

Inform yourself about what is going on with the world. Listen to podcasts, put on the live news while you are having breakfast, especially now during these times, read up on what is going on in the healthcare sector.

Ethical issues, financial issues, the impact of disease on society. You may think this doesn't concern you at the moment, but it will help you greatly when you face your medical interviews.

4. Resilience

I'll say that again. You have to be resilient. This is something I always mention to anyone that wants to go into medicine.

You will face many hurdles and things will undoubtedly get hard. You may fail to enter one year, you may fail exams, you may feel the burnout.

You shouldn't consider quitting a defeat if you truly believe that medicine is not for you, but if you look inside yourself and think medicine is really what you want but it's just too hard, keep at it. Reflect, think what can be changed, take a step back. But, above all, try again.

Keep at it.

5. Empathy

Lastly, empathy. This is not only an important quality in a medical applicant, but fundamental as a future doctor. Something that is not as easy as one might think.

People go about their lives with tunnel vision, thinking about the next thing they have to do to benefit themselves. Sometimes that tunnel vision expands a little bit and we see into other people's life and we understand what they are going through.

You might think that is quite enough, something I call "the sympathetic trap", whereby mere comprehension of your peer is sufficient.

Empathy requires more. It requires you to push through comprehension and imbue yourself with the other person's feelings and worries. Not only putting yourself in their shoes, but also walking with them for a bit.

At the end of the day, you will be going into medicine to improve and protect people's life, and being empathetic will help you to strive for this.

Most of all, don't take this as a check list. These qualities should be acquired by a medical applicant and retained for life.