Helping Your Children Prepare For Med School

During their high school years, many students start to express their desire to pursue a medical career and become doctors. The first instinct of their parents is to encourage the student to study hard and resist interfering with their work.

There is, however, a lot more a parent can do to help their child prepare for medical school. Here are a few tips and tricks to get and keep your child on the track to med school.

Meetings With Science Teachers and Pre-Med Advisers

Science teachers often have insights into which colleges are best suited to meet your child’s medical school goals.

During the first semesters in college, arrange for your child to speak to pre-med advisers. Your child must select the suitable courses for taking the MCAT and satisfying medical school application prerequisites early in their college careers.

Their journey of becoming doctors starts with this selection. The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) assesses biological, physical science, critical thinking, and social science knowledge. In the US, it’s mandatory to pass the MCAT to get into a reputable medical school.

Encourage Medical School Applications Enhancing Activities

Most med school admission committees analyze the ratio of hobbies to volunteering, shadowing inpatient and outpatient physicians, and research work. They want to see that students can place service and study ahead of just enjoyment as they would have to do during medical school and residency.

The committees appreciate if volunteering, shadowing, and research are already part of the regular activities of the student for several years before applying to med school. The student needs to demonstrate that they are somehow serving others.

Parents can have a significant impact in guiding your child to think differently about his or her activities. Even in the pandemic, there are ways to serve others, such as delivering meals or groceries to people who are shut-in or elderly, offering online tutoring, and running errands for essential workers.

Teach Balance

Teach your child how to stay present in the current moment and establish rules for a technology-free time. Encourage self-care such as regular exercise and living a healthy lifestyle. Help them understand the value of taking care of themselves along with academic learning.

In turn, this will help your child develop the ability to prioritize activities and duties while focusing on the task at hand. Many medical students struggle with balancing extracurricular activities, relationships, and schoolwork. You can help prepare your child to prioritize and thrive.

Preparing for Medical School: Teach Patience and Persistence

Medical students wait a long time before performing specific tasks or procedures, even until their residency or fellowship. Success requires patience and being used to delayed gratification.

As a parent, you can teach your child patience by setting long-term goals and delayed rewards early on.

Parents can help their children develop perseverance and a work ethic by giving them the task of caring for a pet, a grandparent, or the garden. Assign household chores or encourage formal employment to teach them to persevere even during challenging and disappointing times. 

Teach Resilience

The rigor of medical school quickly sorts out the tough from the rest. Your child must develop mental fortitude, the ability to learn from mistakes, and self-forgiveness to build resilience.

Engaging in a group or self-competitive academic or physical activities is an excellent way to learn resilience. All students will experience one or another form of failure in sports, academics, and definitely in medical school. 

In the medical field, you need to deal with various temperaments, communication styles, and attitudes from patients and colleagues.

Tips for Medical School: MCAT Preparation

Passing the MCAT is essential for getting into medical school, and receiving top marks might secure that spot in their dream institution.

It‘s important to practice the skills needed to write the MCAT and to know the type of questions that’ll be presented. If you check out Lecturio, you’ll find focused examples of the tests and questions that your child will face in a med school entrance exam. 

In Summary

If your child’s dream is to get into medical school, it’s never too early to start preparing. Help them get the head start they need by using a few tips and tricks and teaching them much-needed life skills.

Do you know to guarantee medical school acceptance?