A Checklist for High School Students

The following handout was created by members of the UBC medical class of 2003, as a handout to high school students in the Vancouver area. This was part of an outreach program by the UBC HSSA (Health Sciences Student Association) in an attempt to guide interested students towards a career in health care.

Getting into Medical School: The Prerequisites:

• Graduate with the academic prerequisites to enter into university or college.
• Taking Physics 12, Chemistry 12, and Biology 12 will be extremely useful if you are interested in pursuing a science major in university.
• If you enjoy the subject, taking the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses will make that subject extremely easy in university.
• Do extra-curricular activities that interest you, such as: sports, art, drama, music, languages.
• Consider volunteering at the hospital or nursing room, or "shadowing" a doctor and following him/her around for a day to see what he/she does.

• Make sure you keep your Grade Point Average (GPA) high each and every year!
• Make sure to take all the required courses for UBC medical school before you apply.

• As long as you fulfill the above courses, pick a major in any field you’re interested in: e.g. Biochemistry, Mathematics, English Literature, Art History, Music, Japanese, etc.
• If you have AP or IB science credits for first-year university, you should repeat those courses because many medical schools require you to do the laboratory component as well. You’ll also likely get really high marks since you’ve studied the material already!
• Keep up with the extra-curricular activities and hobbies from high schools, and look out for student clubs offering interesting new thing to try.
• If you didn’t do any medically related volunteering during high school, you should start it now, as soon as possible.
• Start talking with professors to get to know them, as you will likely need a reference letter from one when you apply to medical school.
• Taking first year Physics, first year English, first year Math, first year Inorganic Chemistry, second year Organic Chemistry, and second year Biochemistry will give you the necessary background to do well on the MCAT.

• Has four testing components, using multiple choice questions except for the essay section.

• Physical Sciences: Tests both Physics, and Inorganic Chemistry.
• Verbal Reasoning: You must read short essays/passages, and then are tested on their contents. The passages may be based on topics that you have never covered in university.
• Written Essay: You are given two topic sentences and write separate essays on each topic.
• Biological Sciences: Tests Biology, Biochemistry, and Organic Chemistry.

• No calculators allowed! (Make sure to keep up your math skills in university!)
• Being a good and quick reader is essential to avoid running out of time during the test.
• Is only offered in the months of April and August, and must be taken and marked before you can apply for medical school.
• Most students write it in the summer after second year (so they can apply during third year) or the summer after third year (so they can apply after fourth year).
• For more advice, check out http://www.aamc.org and http://www.aamc.org/stuapps/admiss/mcat/start.htm
• The AAMC, or Association of American Medical Colleges, is the organization that prepares and writes the MCAT exam each year.

• UBC requires you to obtain three reference letters, one from each of three referees.
• Choose referees who know you well, like and respect you, and express themselves well.

• UBC will give you three one-on-one interviews, usually by faculty members who are either researchers or clinicians.
• Be yourself and act naturally, be honest, and know your strengths and weaknesses, as well as why you want to become a doctor.

• http://www.oocities.org/mdpremie Created by Ian Wong, and contains several more premed tips, including course selection, picking a university and a major, and writing the MCAT.

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