🚀 go-pugleaf

	    PREPARING FOR ACCEPTANCE INTO MEDICAL, DENTAL
		AND OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS


It is no secret that getting into a medical school today takes much
more than just desire, it also takes skills, knowledge, experience 
and confidence.  The main reasons why applicants fail are: 1) low 
GPA due to insufficient and inefficient critical 
thinking/analytical and problem solving skills, 2) lack of 
motivation due to indecision on career direction, 3) over 
commitment to extracurricular activities resulting in low academic 
effort, 4) and low verbal reasoning score on the MCAT due to lack 
of analytical reading skills.  These are the four most common 
reasons why applicants are rejected to medical schools. And low GPA 
is the main reason why many students give up their dreams of 
attending medical schools and apply to other allied health field 
such as dentistry, osteopathic medicine, and pharmacy.  The 
overwhelming numbers of applicants who failed to be accepted to a 
medical school are now applying to one of the allied health 
professional schools, raising their academic standards 
dramatically. Now the question for most pre-medical and pre- health 
students is how do I better prepare myself for acceptance.

Since academic potential and capabilities are the first measures of 
students' ability to succeed in medical schools, it becomes crucial 
that students not only do well in science courses, but students 
must learn the foundation knowledge.  Most science students tend to 
memorize everything and manage to do well on some exams and 
courses. Others procrastinate believing that they actually do 
better under pressure.  The rest just avoid the problems or the 
issues wishing they would go away automatically.  Unfortunately, 
these bad habits will quickly catch up to students as most of these 
students run into significant academic obstacles in school, 
especially at the medical school level, if they are lucky to get 
there.

The obvious solution to the academic difficulties is to learn how 
to problem solve without straining the brain, how to think 
logically and critically without working over time, and how to 
understand the given and reading materials without having to read 
it over and over again. Learning to make learning fun and rewarding 
will further motivate students to pursue more knowledge.  In this 
way, students will have arrived at academic maturity and will be an 
excellent academic candidate for studies in medicine and in any 
other advanced academic fields.

On Sunday, January 14, 1996, Dr. Aftab Hassan* will reveal to 
students the skills necessary to excel in all science classes and 
on the Medical College Admissions Test, the Dental Admissions Test, 
etc.  Dr. Hassan will teach students through question based 
learning and help students understand the thought process behind 
standardized exams, all in an effort to help students realize that 
science problem solving can be easy and fun.  For more information 
on Dr. Hassan's presentation, please call (310) 815-9601 or (310) 
838-9909.

* Consultant to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 
on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and co-authored the 
Betz guide to professional school exams, provided educational 
services to Harvard, Duke, UCLA, UC Berkeley, U of Pennsylvania, 
etc.