Did You Know About These Amazing Premed Resources?

Session 357

Over the last 7 years, MSHQ has grown from one website to a whole media company with 12 podcasts, 3 books, and so many resources, most people don’t know about!

Today, we’re running through all of the resources we have at Meded Media to help you on your journey into and through medical school.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

[02:30] Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep)

Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep) offers full-length practice exams and they’re the second-best behind the AAMC. I also recommend them for their MCAT course and get 10 live office hours every week.

So if you hear about coupon codes, I actually get a small commission from that. And this helps me maintain my growing team as we can continue to provide you with all these amazing resources to help along this path.

[04:15] Medical School HQ

The Medical School Headquarters is the main hub under Meded Media, the umbrella term. MedicalSchoolHQ.net is our website that houses almost everything right now.

So what features do you see on the site?

Applications Cost Estimator

When you’re thinking about applying to medical school, go to AppExpenses.com. Enter how many schools you’re applying to and it will give you an estimate of how much money you’re going to need.

'A lot of students don't know that it costs a lot of money to apply to medical school.'Click To Tweet

Secondary Apps

SecondaryApps.com is a great database where you can find all of the secondary essays. This will give you an edge of what the medical schools are looking for in their secondary essays.

The medical school application process consists of the primary application and the secondary application. The primary application is submitted to the AMCAS, AACOMAS, or TMDSAS.

Then you get secondary essays from most schools. You can prewrite these essays because they may come fast and furious once your application is verified and once the schools get it.

It’s not fun to get 20 different secondary applications back, each of them with 2-5 essays. So you can pre-write these.

To help you with this, check out SecondaryApps.com. We also update our system every year with your help, too, by going to UpdateSecondaries.com.

[07:20] GPA Calculator

For the applications, a lot of students don’t understand that the GPA calculated for your application is not the same that you’re going to see on your transcript.

Your university may have grade replacements. The medical school applications do not. Your school may have weird plus/minus percentage calculation, TMDSAS doesn’t use that. They use a flat grade. While AMCAS and AACOMAS use plus/minus but still, a bit different than your school.

So your GPA is always a little bit wonky. And a lot of students always overestimate what their GPA is.

'Trends are very important with your GPA.'Click To Tweet

We have set up WhatsMyGPA.com, an amazing GPA Calculator where you enter your information. All your information stays there as well (unless you clear your browser cache).

You can email it to your premed advisors so they can look at it. They can then give you a lot more detailed information. The system we’ve built also includes graphs that will show you and your advisors what your trends look like.

[08:50] Med School Reviews

MedSchoolReviews.com is a site that contains individual pages for each medical school in the country. And as new ones are added, we will also be adding new schools into the database.

Find out about things like class size, city walkability, weather, and school mission and vision, etc. We will have a review portion on the page so that current and former students of that school can leave their reviews. It’s a 1-5 system based on 10-12 different categories. The reviews will be verified before they will go live.

This tool will help you figure out what schools you want to apply to. Getting a behind-the-scenes review from students will hopefully help you figure out.

[10:20] Our Selection of Podcasts

Aside from The Premed Years podcast, we have a whole host of other podcasts. The Premed Years is our longest-running show with 357 episodes now, with over 3,000,000 downloads.

The OldPreMeds Podcast now almost has 200 episodes. The PremedForums.com is a community of students where they post their questions and this is where I pull out my questions which I answer on the podcast.

If you’re a nontraditional student and you want a question answered on the podcast, register for a free account.

The MCAT Podcast is a collaboration with Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep) where we offer tips and strategies to help you with your MCAT prep.

Specialty Stories features physicians and their respective specialties. We talk about what they like and don’t like, the training path, and so much more.

Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A has been reborn into a YouTube series. The MCAT CARS Podcast is another collaboration with Jack Westin.

Board Rounds is a podcast for medical students preparing for USMLE/ COMLEX Level 1 and Step 1 exams. I’m soon partnering with the University of Colorado Wildnerness Medicine Program and hosting with me is Dr. Elaine Reno. Sign up for the Wilderness Medicine Course and use my promo code.

The Short Coat Podcast is run by the University of Iowa – Carver College of Medicine.

The TMDSAS Podcast is run by the TMDSAS and they’re rebranding it soon so stay tuned for that.

MedDiaries is a whole separate series of podcast which consists of Premed Diaries, Med Student Diaries, Resident Diaries, and Physician Diaries.

Whether you’re a premed student, a medical student, a resident, or an attending, call 833-MYDIARY and leave a voicemail. This is your platform to share your thoughts and feelings.

[13:50] Upcoming Podcasts

It’s just getting more and more exciting as we’re announcing our upcoming podcasts. One is a podcast for medical terminologies. So stay tuned! We will also be launching a Spanish for Premeds podcast.

[14:15] Books

I have also authored a number of books including The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Interview, The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement, and The Premed Playbook Guide to the MCAT. And to be released in 2020 is The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Application. All these books you will find at the PremedPlaybook.com.

In the works would a Caribbean medical school book, a book for the premed parent, and so much more!

[15:20] FindShadowing.com

We’re starting to get physicians on board at FindShadowing.com. We need your help with this right now. It’s not open to premed students yet. But it’s open to physicians.

If you have a physician in your family or a mentor who’s a physician, please send them to the site and ask them to sign up for an account.

They will be protected as they can set the maximum number of requests that students can send. They may also deactivate their account and it will protect their location. They may also notify students if they’re not available to be requested.

We will be opening this up eventually to all pre-health students including pre-vets, chiropractors, PA, NPs, PT, OT, etc.

[17:00] Come Meet Me at These Events!

I will be doing a meetup in San Francisco this September. Also, I will be holding different meetups at these different events:

UC Davis Pre-Health Conference – October 19, 2019

University of Florida’s Premed AMSA Club – October 2, 2019.

AMSA Premed Fest in Texas – November 23-24, 2019

AMSA Convention – April 16-19, 2020

The next Colorado University Wildnerness Medicine Course will commence in January 2020. Text WILDMED to 44222 and get a link to that. We’re doing a meetup for the course attendees and other people here in the Denver area.

[19:00] The Premed Hangout

Check out our Facebook Hangout Group, an amazing community of over 10,000 students. Hang out with us!

Our YouTube channel is up and running at Premed.TV.

YouTube Playlists:

Application Renovation is a six-part series where I’m breaking down applications from students who didn’t get into medical school. Get a behind-the-scenes look of what the application looks like and how the admissions committee members may be reviewing an application.

Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A was a podcast and now reborn into a YouTube series. We release a video every Monday.

[20:30] Upcoming Projects

Premed Mentors is a book of stories from physicians who look like you and talk like you. They’ve been through the same struggles and challenges.

Our goal for this is to get stories of physicians to show you that no matter where you are from and your background, we are going to find physicians to tell their stories.

If you have anybody interesting for Premed Mentors, I’d love an introduction to them. Shoot me an email at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net.

National Premed Day

This happens on May 28 every year (528 that stands for the maximum MCAT score). This is in the works too.

PremedShirts.com – Buy awesome shirts here.

Live Conference

This is in the works too, most likely happening in 2020, potentially in the New York tri-state area. It’s a live conference all about premed and getting to medical school. Email me at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net and let me know if you’re interested in going to a conference.

PremedScholarship.com

We started a scholarship here at Meded Media in 2018. This is an essay contest that happens twice a year. So far, we’ve had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. We’re announcing our newest winners soon!