How to get into medical school

Abstract

In the fall of 2004, 555 individuals applied to Dalhousie Medical School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Two-hundred ninety-three were invited for an interview, and when the process was complete, 90 were accepted. The remaining 465 were left to try their luck at other schools, or to wait for the following year. This story is similar across the country. With a myriad of applicants vying for a limited number of seats in Canada’s 17 medical schools, the application process is fiercely competitive. So what led to the successful admission of current Dalhousie medical students? “The words I always use are ‘balanced’ and ‘well-rounded,’” says Sharon Graham, Director of Admissions and Student Affairs at Dalhousie Medical School. While “well-rounded” is a difficult concept to define, having a breadth of knowledge and experience is clearly advantageous when attempting to gain entry into a field as vital and complex as medicine. The role of a physician is to heal, a task for which effective communication skills are essential. Physicians are faced every day with the complex realities of life and death, handling and caring for people in their most vulnerable state. Their challenge is to balance the inherent intimacy of each encounter with the necessary objectivity, counselling and caring for their patients without assuming the burden of their conditions. A well-rounded physician has the potential advantage of finding common ground with his or her patients, facilitating open dialogue and the establishment of trust. “Medicine is an art,” says Dr. Ronald Stewart, head of the Medical Humanities Department at Dalhousie. “It involves the human condition, which is unpredictable, which involves a spiritual side. I think it’s generally accepted that humanities are the base upon which you build the modern physician. If you don’t have a sense of ethics, if you don’t have a concept of communication, you can’t go much farther.” In addition, a well-rounded physician may find it easier to deal with stressors which are an inherent part of the job. The emotional and interpersonal aspects of medicine can quickly become all-consuming, and the ability to separate one’s private and professional life is an important one. Mark Downing, a third-year medical student at Dalhousie, worked as a student interviewer last year as an elective credit. “[Being well-rounded] is very important, particularly in medical school,” he says. “If your work is all you have, and work becomes stressful, you have no way to relieve that stress. But if you have outlets – if you like kickboxing, if you play the guitar – you can go home and disconnect from medicine for awhile, and start afresh.” Given the high level of competition, the medical school selection process holds the same covert inscrutability as that of a secret society. While there is no “ideal” candidate per se, an online survey of current Dalhousie medical students points to certain traits and experiences FEaturE