Ask the Dean: The Two Biggest Mistakes Premeds Make on Their Apps (Ep. 1)

Mappd welcomes James Scott Wright, EdD to the team! Dr. Wright has served as the Director of Admissions at UT Southwestern Medical School, Associate Dean at University of Texas at Dallas, and Executive Director of the Texas Medical and Dental Application Service (TMDAS)
Mappd is co-founded by Ryan Gray, MD and Rachel Grubbs. Dr. Gray is also the host of the Premed Years podcast and the author of the Premed Playbook series. Ms. Grubbs has been serving and advising premeds for 20 years at companies like The Princeton Review and Next Step Test Prep (now Blueprint MCAT).
Rachel and Ryan met with Scott and answered your questions about:
• How should MCAT retakers approach the timing for this application cycle?
• What should premeds do for volunteering, shadowing, and clinical experience right now since so many opportunities are canceled due to COVID-19?
• Is taking a gap year before medical school still considered "nontraditional"? Or has it become the new "normal"?
• Is it worth applying to TMDSAS as an out-of-state applicant? What are the factors that lead out-of-state applicants to be accepted to Texas medical schools?
• In a DIY postbac, should you retake C's you got in prerequisite classes? Or should you just take other upper-level science courses?
• Why does it seem like medical schools prefer formal postbac programs and special Master's programs (SMPs) over DIY postbacs?
• Where can you find positive support from other premeds online? (Check out our Premed Hangout on Facebook! premedhangout.com)
• Why do so many students not trust that admissions committees are actually looking at their applications holistically?
• What are the two biggest mistakes that premeds make on their applications?
• Why every premed should print out his or her application and read it out loud before submitting.
Make sure you check out nationalpremedday.com to see what we've got coming up for you on 5/28!
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[@ShinySephiroth1]

Wow, the first one! I'm blasting through so many of these, haha.

[@fscottfitzgerald34]

saw the thumbnail and thought he was Steven Spielberg

[@stemtalks4113]

1) grammar errors
2) focusing to much on “what you did” rather than “why did you”