If you are a high school junior or your son or daughter is a high school junior and you are thinking about applying to direct BS/MD programs, it’s time to get really serious about either planning or implementing your plans.  With about 3 months left of your junior year, there is no time to waste!  You will need to avoid common mistakes as well as obscure omissions. In addition, it is important to polish your existing student profile. You may think it’s great, however, it must measure up or be better that the 95% of applicants that will be rejected.

As students (even with the help of their parents) prepare for the college admissions process, they read books, look at videos or visit college forum-type websites which they believe may provide personalized answers for them.  These sources provide information that everyone else can see, but not customized strategies to help your child avoid mistakes.

Many parents who call us (and whose children are performing the above and have the “perfect” BS/MD profile) then believe that their child is a shoo-in for BS/MD programs and just need “some” advice.

Here’s a list of factors by admissions expert, Dr. Paul Lowe that you should consider if you are a junior seriously thinking about applying to BS/MD programs.

1. Student CHARACTER – Personality counts! What’s your “je ne sais quoi”?
2. The HOOK – If you don’t have a hook, the admissions committee will not grab you!
3. The STORY – It’s all about the story and how it’s framed and presented! No good story, no acceptance!  Certain rejection!
4. Common Application: PERSONAL STATEMENT – Meaningful, well-written and convincing personal statement needed. No flow, harmony, tone combined with gravitas – rejection!
5. COLLEGE-SPECIFIC SUPPLEMENTALS – You must complement and synergize your supplementals with your personal statement. All the school-specific essays are important, even the 50 word-count answers! Students have been rejected because of mistakenly using one word or a sentence in 50 word-count essays!
6. COLLEGE-SPECIFIC-BS/MD ESSAYS – The “Why doctor essay?” “I want to help people”. Everyone in the service industry does that!
7. COLLEGE APPLICATION VIDEO ESSAY – Schools are seriously viewing these videos. Did we say Brown PLME? Check out our College Admissions Video Productions partnership.
8. The effective and bold RESUME – It’s not just about a 2–3-page resume with lots of research and extracurricular activities which is just a list. It has to be framed correctly or it looks boring and generic!
9. EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES – Are your extracurricular activities meaningless or meaningful? Do they really interconnect to your student profile in a meaningful way? Have you become the jack-of-all extracurricular activities? The master of none? Are you a drive-by extracurricular activities person?
10. VOLUNTEERISM – It’s not just about tutoring underprivileged children, participating in an ESVE (Expensive Summer Volunteer Activity) or starting your own nonprofit organization. There is more to volunteering than just volunteering!!!
11. WOW FACTOR – What’s your WOW Factor? How and when can you use it to WOW admissions? You want the admissions committee to say “WOW! We want this applicant on our campus.”
12. INTERVIEWS – You may be seemingly be all that on paper; grades, SATs recommendations, volunteering to save the world, 1000 hours of shadowing, however, one incorrect word or statement in an interview results in a rejection – That’s right, just one!
13. ETIQUETTE – Think that doesn’t matter? Think that’s old-school? Think again! Are you mindful of how you present yourself and how people perceive you? It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it!  Etiquette matters! We provide personalized etiquette strategies for our clients.
14. MANNERS – When you say something (or write something) what counts is not what you mean but how you are heard and perceived.  Are you mindful of your manners?  Manners matters! Do you know when or if you sound rude, pretentious, impolite, disrespectful, unrefined or worse – uncultivated?
15. WHO ARE YOU? – What are your values? What do you stand for? Can you define you? Why are you different? Are you aware how you perceives you?
16. DIVERSITY – What’s your diversity intelligence? What’s the meaning of diversity to you? It’s not just a word to be used throughout an essay. It’s not just about being a member of your school’s diversity club. Colleges seek students who truly understand the meaning of diversity. Diversity matters!
17. UNCONSCIOUS BIAS – It may occur at any time, at any level or at any stage during your admissions process. Can you identify it? How must you successfully deal with it? How do you overcome it for successful admissions decisions?
18. UNIVERSITY PRIORITIES – Colleges are not accepting applicants for just top grades and their perceived amazing resumes and achievements, they are continually adjusting and building diverse campus communities and future global networks based on geopolitics, geo-economics and their financials. School admissions policies and institutional priorities change year to year and region to region to match their goals. What makes you believe that you know these policies and priorities better than a boutique admissions firm that has superior access to current information and admissions trends?
19. The KNOW-HOW. So, you really believe it’s just (1-18)? You need the Know How: How do you do the right-things the right-way and with the right-people at the right-time?  Our proprietary-knowledge, unmatched experience, admissions success and years of close working relationships with admissions professionals ensures that you do it right!

So you really believe that factors 13-18 are unimportant? Think again!

If you know how to plan, develop and implement (1-19) and how they are used in BS/MD admissions – that’s wonderful!!! But if you don’t, there is an increased probability that you (and your child) will make irrevocable mistakes that will cause instant rejections to all schools. Would you want this to happen after your years of planning as a parent and your child’s hard work?

The parents who retain Dr. Paul Lowe and his team of consultants may take risks in business and investments, but not risks in their children’s educational future – to become a medical doctor. The ones who do take risks in their children’s education – 95% of them bet WRONG!

Why take on RISKS in your child’s educational journey and career future?

Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director of Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group network.  He and his team of admissions advisors, through the admissions affiliate, BS/MD Admissions Advisors, help high school students get accepted to BS/MD programs.

Our BS/MD Admissions practice is specialized: Dr. Lowe and his team only work with parents who understand that the BS/MD admissions process is competitive, who desire help from an admissions expert and who see the value and investment in paying for expert advice through a detailed and ongoing comprehensive admissions advisory service for their child’s dream of becoming a doctor.  He also specializes in helping international students in the BS/MD process. Parents who chose to use our services want to call their son or daughter – “Doctor” when they are seniors in high school.