Should You Apply Early Decision to Medical School? | Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A

When is it a good idea to apply Early Decision to med school? And what about other checkboxes on the application, such as indicating that you're "interested in our rural medicine track"? What are you committing to, and when is it okay to check them? If you like this video, be sure to subscribe, hit that notification bell, and check out all our Meded Media podcasts at http://premedpodcasts.com! Our student this week is applying to 7 medical schools, and there's one school she especially wants to attend most. That school is especially focused on rural medicine and primary care, so she was told that her app would be viewed more favorably by that school if she checks a box saying she's interested in their rural medicine track. But she's not sure if she actually wants to commit to that path. My answer is that she should only check that box for interest in rural medicine if she actually has the activities on her app to back it up! If she hasn't been involved in anything around rural medicine and primary care, checking that box is probably going to look a little phony. Another consideration is that maybe she should go get involved in some primary care/rural medicine activities before applying, so she can genuinely get a sense if she IS interested in it. Since she is applying next year—not this year—going to get those extracurricular experiences is actually feasible. Another factor is that checking those boxes—"interested in our rural medicine track"—are not official commitments. In fact, most medical students change their specialty choice during medical school. So, if you're genuinely interested, it's okay to check the box—it's not like you're promising that you will follow through on it. We also talk about Early Decision. Many medical schools participate in the AAMC's Early Decision Program (EDP). This program allows you to potentially get an early acceptance—but it also pre-commits you to just one school. My general advice for most students is NOT to apply Early Decision. Compared to the "interested in rural medicine" checkbox, it's more of a commitment. You're actually committing not to apply to any other schools until you hear back from this first school. And you may not hear back from them until around October 1st. So then you can only apply LATE to every other school. And with weaker stats, that's a big downside. In order to apply Early Decision, you should be a strong candidate AND have strong ties to the school. If you have weaker stats, it's not generally a good idea to apply Early Decision. We end the call by talking about her GPA a bit. Her undergrad GPA is 3.39 cumulative, with around a 3.08 science GPA. She wonders if she should take more undergrad classes to improve it. My question is about the TREND in her grades, though. The single GPA number doesn't tell us much by itself. Fortunately, she also has a Master's degree in chemistry, where she had a 3.81 GPA, and that also helps. With A's in upper-level undergrad classes and in her chemistry Master's program, I think she's already proven herself academically.