An Inside Look Into Harvard Medical School

We'll be taking a peek behind the curtain at Harvard Medical School with Morgan, one of our incredible medical school admissions coaches. Morgan is originally from SouthernNew Jersey, spent the past four yearsin Williamsburg, VA studying at theCollege of William Mary, and is nowin Boston as a first year medicalstudent at Harvard. As anundergraduate, Morgan majored inHispanic Studies and minored inBiology (inducted into Phi BetaKappa, winning the distinction ofmost outstanding 2017 inductee of theAlpha Chapter at William Mary).Her time was equally divided betweenresearch projects in the naturalsciences, social sciences, andhumanities - which brings a uniqueinterdisciplinary nature to herapproach. If you could describe your medical school in threeadjectives, what would they be? Innovative, Patient-centered, Academic What's one thing that applicants would be surprisedto learn about your medical school? In Pathways, we have 14 months of in class pre-clerkships andthen our second year is our hospital clerkships. After that, wehave electives, sub-internships, and a scholarly project (thinkthesis) to complete. Additionally, students start working in thehospital and learning how to take histories and conductphysicals from week 1, this happens once a week throughoutthe entire first year. So, this new curriculum is veryhospital/applied knowledge based and patient service centered.So far I've really enjoyed the challenge. Be ready for a flippedclassroom style that moves quickly! What is something unique about the interview processat your medical school? The Harvard interview process is very relaxed. The day runs assuch: a morning intro, an optional campus tour, lunch withcurrent first years, and then two interviews with differentfaculty or current students at designated times. After that,you're free to explore as much or as little as you'd like. Theinterviews are great opportunities to have a conversation withsome world class physicians and researchers. What's a tradition at your medical school that mostprospective students don't know about? Harvard Medical School has "societies". There are four societies- Holmes, Peabody, Castle, and Cannon - that act as "homebase" for students. During the first year of medical school, youtake all of your classes with your society, your advisors arelocated in a society office and are society specific, and at theend of the year the societies compete in the Society Olympics! What's one thing you wish you'd known when youwere applying to medical school? I wish I had known more about the variety that existed indifferent curricula. Perhaps it was my own ignorance or afailure to convey that not all med schools structure their fouryears the same and the opportunities outside of the classroomare very different at various schools. Most of the time, I didn'tlearn this until the interview. I'd say reach out to currentstudents before going to campus for your interview, or take adeep dive on the webpage to figure out how the schoolstructures the four years. You want what works best for you. What kind of doctor do you want to be? I'm really loving Hematology, Oncology, and Cardiology.Three more years exist between me and this decisionthough! Are you interested in connecting with someone like Morgan to help you through the MD admissions process? ;