To Be...A Spartan MD

Ordinarily, having a bucket of ice water dumped over your head isn't something someone would do for fun. But this is more than that. There's something special going on here. Folks from coast to coast are taking up the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in what has turned out to be a national craze on social media. Uploaded videos across the internet show people taking on the challenge and daring even more souls to either accept within 24 hours or donate to the ALS Association. Adults and children from all walks of life have participated, raising awareness and funding for the cause. Sure enough, the challenge was bound to reach the MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM). Faculty and staff are taking Dean Marsha Rappley's lead , which includes our very own Joel Maurer, MD, Assistant Dean, Admissions, who was recently challenged by a long-time friend. With students from CHM's incoming class on hand and the Magic Johnson statue towering above, Dr. Maurer issued his own ch...

The secondary application process typically begins around July, when verified primary applications from AMCAS start getting sent to individual institutions. Some medical schools, such as the MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM), automatically invite all applicants to submit secondary applications. In contrast, other schools review their candidates before deciding who is allowed to send a secondary. Now in August, you may already have a nice stack of secondary applications, each with several essay prompts. The secondary essay prompts, in general, should help address any deficiencies in the application, helping the reviewers better assess the applicant. Each school has their own set of prompts, specific to what they are looking for in a candidate. So while applicants may encounter similar questions and prompts, note that secondaries should be tailored in two specific ways that, essentially, go hand-in-hand. 1. Secondary applications should fill in the gaps. Reviewers and ...