Lewis Associates e-Newsletter
Volume 2 Issue 4
April 2003Published by Lewis Associates. Dr. Cynthia Lewis, Phd., Editor
Email imaclewis@lewisassoc.com with your comments. Enjoy!
=> Welcome to Success Stories Newsletter!
=> Important News: Number of applicants to medical school stable in 2003
What are medical schools looking for? Stanford's answer
=> Useful Links: Careers in Medicine, AMCAS, MCAT
=> Dates and Reminders: Bridging the Gap - April 13; April 26 MCAT
=> Success Story of the Month: Irina Kolomey - Baby Due June, Entering Medical School September
=> Question of the Month: How do I collect my letters of recommendation/evaluation and get advising as a graduate or post- baccalaureate student when the university won't serve me?
=> Our Services
=> Contact
Welcome to Lewis Associates!
Many of you are in the middle of an application season or midway through a spring term or ending winter quarter. If you are ready to really become serious about making your dreams to become a physician, dentist PA, veterinarian, optoMany of you are in the middle of an application season or midway through a spring term or ending winter quarter. If you are ready to really become serious about making your dreams to become a physician, dentist PA, veterinarian, optometrist a reality --- Lewis Associates can help you. We have made the difference for hundreds of students over 18 years.
This is your application year -- for Entering Class of 2004 students. And, April 26, 2003 is a BIG day for many premeds across the U.S. and Canada. You need to establish a well-thought out strategy to carry you through the difficult times coming up. This is the most intense time you will experience as a pre-health student. It is a roller coaster ride. Let us know how we can assist you.
Congratulations to the entering Class of 2002 advised by Dr. Lewis -- 94% acceptance for our pre-health applicants all over the U.S.! See our home page for the Class of 2002 Final Report and the Class of 2003 progres report.
A class of 2004 applicant emailed to Dr. Lewis after re- establishing her advising relationship: As I am getting ready to apply to med school for Fall 2004, you were on my mind and I wanted to say thank you for all you have done for me in the past years. I recently graduated Cum Laude.... yay! After many hours of psychological testing, Disabled Student Services and a private counselor determined that, as you had suggested, I have a testing disability and test anxiety, which kept me from performing to the best of my ability on the MCAT as well as my academic coursework. Therefore, I was granted time and a half on ALL my academic exams thanks to DSS and it's amazing how much a difference it made for me. My grades shot up immediately. I got one of the highest scores in the class in organic chemistry II once I started getting time and a half. Because of all this discovery of my testing disability, I will now be receiving time and half on the MCAT... BIG YAY! As you suggested, I didn't want to take the MCAT again until I figured out the source of my difficulty. It's amazing, because on the practice exams, I am now earning 8's instead of 3's. I will be taking the MCAT in April with time and a half and in a separate room from everyone else (to alleviate my anxiety). I am focusing on the April MCAT now that I graduated and am not doing a million things at once. I am excited to perform really well this time! I want to thank you for all of your advice. You were 100% correct and I appreciate all of the time you spent on me. I would NOT be where I am now if it hadn't been for you . I am 10 X the applicant that I was 2 yrs ago and I am so glad I have waited to apply. I feel VERY ready this time. The MCAT has been a hurdle, but through it I have learned so much. Thanks for everything you have meant to my life. I am forever grateful!
What are your chances?
If you want to change your career or reach your career goal, but do not know how to begin or how to jump over all those hurdles, Lewis Associates will implement strategies to change your life. Read about it in our newsletter and website, then phone or email us directly to get started!
You may be like our Lewis Associates Advisees---highly motivated and intelligent, but needing focus, guidance and specific technical expertise. She solves problems for her Advisees and finds opportunities for them. Dr. Lewis is a trained biologist, having taught and directed her own research programs for many years at two universities. She earned two postdoctoral fellowships (one at NIH) and received the 1990 NACADA Outstanding Institutional Advising Program in the U.S. She teaches Professionalism, Leadership, and Quality, and sets high standards for her Advisees.
Lewis Associates will save you money and heartache on your application process. Contact us for more information imaclewis@lewisassoc.com 805-226-9669.
n e w s & l i n k s
Number of applicants to medical school stable in 2003 What are medical schools looking for?
Stanford's answer:
I attended the Advising and Mentoring Future Health Professionals meeting for advisors and students on March 28-29 and wanted to pass on to my Advisees and friends of Lewis Associates some very insightful information that may help you in your journey to health professions school.Dr. Gabriel Garcia, Associate Dean for Admissions at Stanford Medical School described a filter that Stanford's admissions committee uses:
Does the applicant:
Show up?
Show up a lot?
Show leadership, moving a field forward?
Show advocacy?
Show innovation?
Leave a legacy? Here is where commitment shows the most and may indicate that this applicant has the skills to impact health care for our communities.There is a hierarchy here. Showing up doesn't count for much; leaving a legacy is the most impacting.
Questions that admissions committees address in their evaluation process during and after interview:
Does your interaction with the candidate conform to expectations you derived from reading the applicant's file (and essay)? If not, what are discrepancies?Do you believe that the letters of recommendation represent the candidate fairly?
In the scholarly activities listed, is there evidence of independence, creativity and innovation? Interest in world outside school welfare others?
What is the interest by this candidate in OUR specific medical school?
You need to understand Mission for each interest. Read their website talk with alumni current students. Schools will assess asking:
Does this candidate have a reasonable understanding of the positive and negative aspects of a career in medicine? This is a key attribute, which requires personal experience with sick peopleand practicing physicians.Do you detect any characteristic that causes you to question the candidate's suitability for a career in medicine?
What are specific concerns that the candidate may have about this specific school?
How will the candidate contribute and benefit from our school?
Will accepting this candidate be in keeping with the mission of this school?
How does this applicant's attitudes and skills set match OUR mission?
Advice:
If you can't write and talk about what turns you on about your future career, you have failed in your essay and interview. Being an effective communicator is one key to being a competitive applicant.There is no race to medical school; wait until you are the best candidate that you can be.
More next month about how admissions committees evaluate candidates.
L I N K S :
Association of American Medical Colleges Careers in Medicine
http://aamc.org/students/cim/start.htmAMCAS American Medical college Application Service
http://aamc.org/students/amcas/start.htmMCAT Medical College Admissions test
http://aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm
d a t e s & r e m i n d e r s
Bridging the Gap - April 13, 2003 ,br> Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 9-3 PM RSVP online at: www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~cheucb/mih.html This collaborative event aims to foster, encourage and re-inspire the interest and passion among minority pre-health students. Meet physicians, students and other practicing professionals who have overcome academic and personal challenges along their journeys toward fulfilling a rewarding career in health.
April 26, 2003 MCAT exam
s u c c e s s s t o r i e s
Irina Kolomey - Baby Due June, Entering Medical School September!
October10, 2002. It was finally here.....a message from the Dean of Admissions of my first choice school! I was staring at my computer screen, the last nine years flashing through my mind. I was 15 when I started Los Angeles Pierce Community College. Working 50-70 hours per week, taking 20 units of classes each semester, volunteering, doing research, helping my little sister with her figure skating career. Studying was not the focus in my life. The 'C's' and 'W's' continued to multiply on my transcripts. Transferring to Cal State Northridge did not change my priorities. Sure, I dreamed of going to medical school since high school, but I was putting more distance between me and my dream, not getting closer to it. I graduated in 1999 with degrees in Biology and Biomedical Physics and took the MCAT. Between my low GPA and my 'average' MCAT scores, applying to medical school seemed out of the question. But I was not ready to give up.
That same year, I married and moved to San Diego, where I started a Master's program in Business Administration with A specialization in Health Services Administration. My husband and I opened an adult day care and a health clinic for Somalian and Russian Immigrants in San Diego. I also met Dr. Lewis.
By this time, no one except me and my husband believed that I would ever become a physician. Professors I talked to at SDSU were excited when I said I wanted to go to medical school, but as soon as I mentioned my grades they would tell me that there are other careers in healthcare. Fortunately, Dr. Lewis believed in me.
Following a plan and strategy that she recommended, I started retaking those science courses I did so poorly in during my undergraduate years: a year of general chemistry over the summer, a year of organic chemistry, a semester of physics. All through this, regular meetings with Dr. Lewis helped me to stay focused and to keep my priorities straight. I couldn't believe it. I was earning A's. After repeating the core courses, I tested my new study skills by taking courses that I have never taken before: Biochemistry and a cell/molecular based human physiology that is at the medical school level of difficulty. It worked again.
I took the MCAT two more times and began the tedious application year. Here again, Dr. Lewis was instrumental in keeping me focused, on track, and also importantly, on time. Twelve secondary applications, nine interview offers, and three actual interviews later, I was about to open an e-mail that would make my dream come true. With my hands cold, I finally pressed the button. The message read: Irina: Congratulations! The Committee not only voted to accept, but the vote was unanimous.
Now, four months since I received that e-mail, I still have to look at those words every few days to make myself believe it. I'm going to medical school! I know that what lies ahead will not be easy. But I also know that I have the skills and determination to succeed.
If you wish to communicate with Irina Kolomey, email imaclewis@lewisassoc.com
q u e s t i o n o f t h e m o n t h
How do I collect my letters of recommendation/evaluation and get advising as a graduate or post-baccalaureate student when the university won't serve me?
From an Advisee who recently did the Assessment process with Dr. Lewis:
I am very happy for having run across your website because I don't have proper access to a pre-medical committee. By this, I mean that my degree granting institution has NO committee and the other undergrad institutions where I have received credits are both geographically and personally distant. University of X is the closest one, but I was not a premed there, I had some difficulties that affected my grades while attending that institution, and (perhaps worst of all), it was more than 8 years ago that I was a registered student. Although I am a graduate student at Y University, the premed committee here will not allow me to use their services because I am not/never was a fulltime undergraduate. They have so many premeds here that they cannot offer official advising to anyone outside of that group. I've been on my own for this first round with AMCAS and it certainly wasn't easy! All the secondaries were in before Labor Day (not that it did a lot of good). But, I can tell you it was like being blindfolded and sent running at top speed through a forest full of redwoods just waiting to see if I got knocked unconscious by one! .
We will feature an important question each month. Please submit one that interests you for Dr. Lewis to answer. Send your questions to imaclewis@lewisassoc.com
l e w i s a s s o c i a t e s a d v i s i n g s e r v i c e s
Lewis Associates specializes in personal, effective and professional premedical advising and placement for traditional and non-traditional applicants. Often, non-traditional students are older than 21 years of age, career changers, international applicants or second-round applicants for admission to health professions school.
On February 4, 2003, the mother of one of our Advisees wrote, "I wanted to just say hello and thanks you for the help you gave my son. He has continued to excel and was given early acceptance at Pepperdine where he will pursue Sports Medicine with the goal of medical school. He has maintained a GPA of over 3.7 and has 19 units of college work completed and is taking 4 AP classes this year. He is also enjoying his life, which is the best of all. He has a part time job at the Living Room coffee House and will be playing varsity volleyball again."
We have expanded Lewis Associates services to meet the needs of all types of students from pre-applicants to applicants including hourly advising support for specific needs. Click here.
lewis associates advising services
Lewis Associates specializes in personal, effective and professional
premedical advising and placement for traditional and non-traditional
applicants. Often, non-traditional students are older than 21 years
of age, career changers, international applicants or second-round applicants
for admission to health professions school.
Lewis Associates' services meet the needs of all types of students from
pre-applicants to applicants, including hourly advising support for
specific needs. Click
here.
contact
"It's never too late to be who you might have been."
If this is how YOU feel, then, maybe Lewis Associates is the place
for you. Lewis Associates provides Mentoring and Coaching through
the rigorous and often circuitous pre-health preparation and application
process. Other consultants may support programs like Law and Business
or graduate school -- not Lewis Associates. We are the experts in
Health Professions based on 23 years of a successful
track record.
Call or email today to set your first appointment!
805.226.9669 imaclewis@lewisassoc.com
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