5 Key Characteristics of Successful Medical School Applicants
Physicians originate from diverse backgrounds and opinions yet share several characteristics: communication skills, presence, critical thinking, compassion and resilience. Though expressed uniquely by each individual physician, these are requisite parts of the practice of medicine. Prospective medical school students should consider developing the following traits while they're still undergraduates.
1. Communication skills: Voice, listening and body language all relay information verbally and nonverbally. Medicine is dependent upon the communication of ideas, concepts and orders. Speaking with the correct tone, idiom and language is integral.
Nonverbal communication yields clues to a patient's engagement, receptiveness and the probability he or she will comply with instructions. Be aware of your idiosyncrasies as you communicate. Enhance communication skills through participation in speech courses, class presentations and undergraduate organizations.
2. Presence: This trait is key when effectively speaking to colleagues and patients. Concentrate on what the person is saying instead of thinking about how you are going to respond. Be present by focusing attention on the other individual when talking in person or by telephone.
This means no emailing, surfing the Web, texting others or wandering off in thought. Being present nonverbally communicates you are there with them while focusing your attention and intellect on the issue at hand.
3. Critical thinking: This is integral as the physician, regardless of specialty, assesses volumes of data to quickly form a working conclusion, using deductive reasoning and inferences based on knowledge and experience.
No two patients are exactly the same, and although the treatments may be similar, each patient must be evaluated individually. If not, potentially fatal errors can occur.
Undergraduate courses in both humanities and the sciences foster critical thinking skills. It's the critical thinker's appropriate application of knowledge which distinguishes "smart" from "brilliant" and creates a great clinician or diagnostician.
[Get tips on choosing the right undergraduate major for medical school.]
4. Compassion: Compassion is more than kindness and civility; it's authentic sympathy for self, patients, colleagues and co-workers irrespective of race, class, creed or personal behavior. Professional and personal compassion sows the seeds for compassion in the workplace and throughout the world.
Patients seek a physician's counsel for warmth and understanding, not merely medical expertise. Having pets, reading literature and functioning in a group can facilitate the development of compassion before a student gets to medical school.
[Show compassion in your medical school application.]
5. Resilience: This is what gets you through those moments when seemingly everything has gone wrong. Life can be stressful, and a career in medicine is filled with ups and downs. Patients die, attendings yell and meals are missed. For a successful career and life, discover healthy coping mechanisms that work best for you to perform optimally.
This may include daily exercise, such as taking a long run, punching a heavy bag, swimming a few laps in the pool or practicing martial arts. Perhaps it's writing poetry, journaling, practicing religion, meditating or going for a long drive to cope with the vicissitudes of life.
Balancing classes, volunteer work, intramural athletics and extracurricular activities with everyday life helps to shape and hone your resilience, allowing you to see more of the beauty in life.
In all, developing character along with learning scientific and technical knowledge creates a well-informed and balanced physician.
