Choosing the Best English Language Learning Plan

Choosing the Best English Language Learning PlanThe best place to start when it comes to language learning is by knowing the objectives of the English language learning plan. If you are like most, you do not know where to begin. Well, the first thing that should be considered when looking at a language plan is whether or not it is written and if it has a list of goals for the learner.There are also some plans that do not have a checklist of objectives but only a list of phrases. In other words, they may have a few ideas about how to learn English. While this can help, it is important to remember that for language learning, there should be a good foundation laid down in the learner.So the first objective to look at will be what the learner will find by using the plan. For example, are they hoping to go to England or France and will they ever go to England? Those are two objectives. By laying out these objectives ahead of time, you can begin to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of t he plan to determine whether or not it will meet the objectives.As you are going through the overall learning plan, you should look at the contents. If the learner is very interested in culture, they should look at the main cultural areas that may be covered by the plan. This will give them an idea of what will be covered in each section. If the learner is more into getting information about what is happening in the world today, they will want to see what the plan covers in regard to current events.Once the learner is aware of the objectives and the overall content, they need to think about how the learner will use the plan. Will they only use it for speaking or reading or something else? It may also be better to choose a plan with no objectives to see how well it can be used as a supplement to the course that they already have. Of course, it is possible that it can be used alone to great effect.Once you have a good overview of the plan, you will need to evaluate it so that you are aware of any gaps in the objectives. For example, maybe there are a lot of topics that are not covered or do not appear on the list of goals. That could be why the learner wants to go to France or England. The goal is to have a clear understanding of what will be covered in each section, so you need to make sure that the learner understands their objectives before the plan is used.Finally, the final objective is to look at the process of learning. Will the learner be forced to use the plan? Or, is it a gentle process of seeing how quickly they can understand what is being taught and the various structures for expressing their thoughts.

6 Tricks for Cutting Down How Much Time It Takes to Learn a Language

6 Tricks for Cutting Down How Much Time It Takes to Learn a Language 6 Tricks for Cutting Down How Much Time It Takes to Learn a Language No matter where youre standing, learning a language can look like a marathon and then some.If youre about to start learning a language, you might be wondering how much time youll have to invest to reach your goals.Or if youre already learning a language, you might be asking  Shouldnt I be fluent by now?So yes, if you havent been told yet, Ill be the one to break it to you: Even if you can learn in your sleep, you arent going to achieve fluency overnight.Now heres the good news: With a few relatively simple strategic improvements to your language learning processâ€"outlined below in this postâ€"you can significantly reduce  the amount of time  it takes you to learn a language. Because the only thing better than learning a language is learning a language quickly, right? How Much Time Does It Take to Learn a Language, Anyway?But what exactly does it mean to learn a language quickly?Well, that depends on what language you want to learn.For the easiest languages to learn, were talking a bout a few hundred hours of studying. For the hardest languages, that number is in the thousands. See this infographic for a good summary of how much time it takes to learn different languages.So if you can learn a language in a few hundred hours, thats practically a walk in the language learning park.The amount of time involved in mastering  a language might seem overwhelming, but keep in mind that these are estimates of how long it takes to get from zero to fluency. Youll start to enjoy some of the benefits of learning the language long before you hit the thousand hour mark.That said, when youre talking about hundreds to thousands of hours of your time, you can see why you wouldnt want to drag out the process of learning a language any further than necessary. Here are some tricks for ensuring youre making as much progress in as little time as possible.6 Tricks for Cutting Down How Much Time It Takes to Learn a Language1. Make your language study sessions shorter but more frequentI ts tempting to think that because learning a language takes hundreds or thousands of hours, its a good idea to just sit down for ten hours straight and knock off a real chunk of the time youre going to have to put in.Not so fast though!If you want to cut down how much time you have to spend learning a language, the trick isnt just to study as much as possible, but to divide up your work into shorter, more frequent study sessions.There are two obvious ways this method speeds up your language learning:By doing frequent study sessions, youre keeping the language fresh in your mind. If you take extended breaks from language learning, youll lose ground and end up having to spend more time getting back to where you were.By avoiding unnecessarily long and drawn-out study sessions, youre keeping your mind sharp  and firing on all cylinders (or at least more cylinders), which makes your learning more efficient and therefore faster.However, the main benefit of short but frequent language lear ning sessions is that something fundamentally different is happening in your brain when you study something, go do something else, then come back and study it some more (as opposed to just studying it for longer with no break in the middle).Specifically, while youre off doing non-language-related things, your brain is still consolidating what youve learned. By going back and continuing your studying in the relatively near future, youre reinforcing what youve learned and building on the knowledge your brain has consolidated. But wait too long, and this knowledge starts to dissolve away.For example, say you have a list of vocab words you want to learn. Suppose you can either (a) study  the list twice, then wait two days, then study  it twice again, or (b) you can study  it once a day for four days.In both cases, youre doing the same amount of studying, but the latter approach is probably going to be more successful. Why? Because by doing shorter, more frequent study sessions, youre ge tting a better balance of consolidation and reinforcement.To apply a little bit of pressure to a familiar analogy: Language learning is a war, not a battle, and to win the war you have to make the battles shorter and more frequent.In practice, it can take a little creativity to make the short and frequent study sessions approach work. Some techniques you can use to stick to this kind of schedule are:Give each study session a limited, concrete goal, especially on days when youre pressed for time. For example: Im going to translate this excerpt, Im going to review my FluentU vocab words, or Im going to listen to this podcast episode, etc.On days when it seems like you really arent going to be able to fit in any language learning, you have three options: (1) make a list of everything youre doing that day and see if you can shave even five to ten minutes off of any of your other activities, (2) do five to ten minutes of studying first thing in the morning or (3) do five to ten minutes o f studying right before you go to bed.Review is less time-consuming than learning entirely new material, and its better to do lots of lightning quick review sessions than nothing at all if youre going through an especially busy time.One of the basic illusions of time management is that if you plan out how youre using your time in advance, it seems like you actually have more time. Try to schedule as many of your study sessions in advance as possible.2. Use repetition strategicallyUnless you have a photographic memory, language learning isnt going to happen without a healthy dose of repetition. Youll often have to review material multiple times before you get it to stick.However, its not just a question of how much repetition you do. The quickest path to learning a new vocab word isnt necessarily just to repeat that word as much as possible.The reason for this is that timing is everything. When you repeat things also matters.Specifically, psychology researchers have long known that i ts easier to learn something when you repeat it at increasing rather than even intervals. For example, if youre learning a vocab word, youll learn it more quickly by looking it up, then reviewing it a few seconds later, then a few minutes later, then a few hours later, then a few days later and so on, rather than just reviewing it every 24 hours.This effect is called spaced repetition, and its something a lot of language learning software takes advantage of.But you can also use it yourself to optimize your study habits. The idea is simple: When you learn something, review it multiple times with increasing intervals between your review sessions. You can even draw up a basic schedule the first time you learn it to keep track of when you want to do your repetitions.Coming up with an optimal schedule is part art and part science, so itll take some experimentation, but a good rule of thumb to use as a starting place is that ideally youll have at least one review session within a matter o f minutes, at least one review session within a matter of hours, at least one within a matter of days and at least one within a matter of weeks.For more challenging material, its often especially helpful to add extra sessions at the days level since its generally not helpful to move on to weeks until you have it down pretty well.This technique will really cut down your language learning time for a couple of reasons.  First, because its a general rule for how learning happens best, you can apply it to any material youre studying.And second, the amount of repetition involved is the main reason it takes so long to learn a language, so anything you can do to make sure you have to repeat things as few times as possible will go a long way towards speeding up the process.3. Make the language relevant to your lifeHeres a pretty simple truth: We remember things that matter to us and we forget things that dont.Language is no exception. And when we treat language as nothing more than a bunch o f words on a piece of paper, we make it something that doesnt matter.If you want to learn a language quickly and efficiently, finding ways to make the language relevant to your life should be a top priority. The problem with trying to learn a language thats not relevant to your life is that youll find yourself forgetting what youve been learning more often, and the problem with forgetting things is that it takes a lot of timeâ€"because then you have to relearn them!So how can you  make a foreign language relevant to your life?The best way is to take a two-pronged approach.In the long term, you need to be clear about your goals, about why youre learning the language. Maybe youre going to a country where they speak the language, maybe youre drawn to a culture or literature associated with the language, maybe you know people who speak the language. Whatever it is, there should be some reason becoming fluent in the language is actually relevant to your life.In the short term, you need t o use the language, not just study it. Finding activities you enjoy that involve the language (reading books, watching movies, cooking, etc.) is important  because things you enjoy are by definition relevant to your life! Getting someone to talk to can also do wonders for picking up your learning pace.When you have a powerful long-term motivation for learning a language and when you have things youre using the language for in the short term, all the studying youre doing really matters. Whether or not you remember what youre learning suddenly has real consequences in terms of your ability to engage in these short-term activities and meet these long-term goals.If you dont yet  know how your target language connects directly to the things you care about, take some of the time youve set aside for language learning and brainstorm as many ways as possible to complete each of the following statements:I want to learn this language so that I canOnce Im fluent in this language, I will be able toIf I dont succeed in learning this language, I wont be able toThen take as many of the things you wrote down and start doing them as soon as possibleâ€"especially before you feel ready.Making the language personally relevant is the most direct way of calling up your brain and saying hey, brain, this stuff is important to me, so youd better remember it! And the more you remember, the less you have to repeat, the faster you learn.4. Speak the language like your life depends on itTheres a difference between studying a language and learning a language.Studying a language implies memorizing new vocab, getting to know new grammatical constructions, maybe following some kind of courseâ€"all that stuff. Studying a language is good.Learning a language implies actually internalizing it and getting to the point where you can use it to communicate. Studying is important, but learning is the goal.Now, studying is an important part of learning a language, but its not enough to get you all the way. To really learn a language, you have to use it. Studying gives you the raw materials you need to learn a language, but to make those materials into something meaningful and memorable, you have to use them to put together sentences and convey ideas.Therefore, to learn a language faster, you need to speak the language any and every chance you get. When you use what youve learned by speaking the language, it becomes a part of you and youll ultimately have to spend much less time rehashing it and trying to get it to stick.A great way to create opportunities to speak the language is by finding people to talk to, either online, offline or both.But you shouldnt limit yourself to talking to other people. Talk to yourself. After all, youre around yourself 24/7, so youre your own most accessible conversation partner. Some ways of learning by talking to yourself are: Have conversations with yourself out loud. You can either have conversations with yourself about topics youd normally think about anyway, or you can create dialogues between fictional characters. Try to keep the flow of things going like you would in a normal conversation.Keep a journal. Write regular entries about your life, your thoughts or any topic youre interested in. This is also a good way of making the language more personally relevant.Record yourself speaking. Once youve got the recording, listen to it and try repeating back sentences to correct pronunciation, grammar, etc. as necessary. Record yourself both speaking spontaneously and using a prepared text (which will allow you to do multiple takes). Or you can combine these two approaches by doing the first take spontaneously, then listening back and creating a written transcript of what you said, then reading the transcript back and recording yourself.Narrate an inner monologue in your new language. Push yourself to use a rich vocabulary and varied grammatical constructions.Anything that gets you speaking the language cuts down how much time its going to take you to reach fluency. Speak the language like your life depends on it, and youll find studying translates into learning much more quickly, reducing the amount of time you have to spend studying overall.5. Use these three apps to make language learning part of your daily lifeOne of the easier parts of language learning is how flexible the process is. You can study whenever you want for however long you want and still make progressâ€"even very short study sessions can be very helpful.With this in mind, one of the best things you can do to speed up your language learning is to take  advantage of idle moments you have throughout the day to sneak in just a little language learning here and there.Interspersing little slices of language learning throughout your daily life will shave time off your core study sessions, and  itll also keep the language fresh in your mind and thus make your learning more efficient. After all, the idea of doing micro-study sessions at interval s over the course of your day is just an extreme version of doing shorter, more frequent study sessions.If you own a smartphone, an incredibly simple  way to make language learning part of your daily life is by installing these three apps (and using them!):Any dictionary app.  Make a habit of asking yourself I wonder how you say ~ in [target language], and then looking up the word youre curious about in your dictionary app. Two good options are Google Translate and iTranslate, though a dictionary specifically for your target language will probably be more accurate (i.e. Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Russian).Any flashcard app.  Theres never a dull moment when you have flashcards! Okay, that might be a stretch, but with one of these flashcard apps  you can go into language learning mode at the drop of a dime.FluentU.  FluentU lets you learn a language using real-world videos, and the app provides a sort of multimedia smartphone immersion experience. Bes ides helping you work a little language studying into your daily schedule, the FluentU app has the added benefit of giving you an excuse to take a minute and chill out watching cool videos.[cta id=3447]6. Create a sustainable language learning plan that worksLearning efficiently isnt something thats just going to happen by itself. If you want to learn quickly, you have to plan to learn quickly.Part of this is coming up with a language learning road map that includes time-saving language learning strategiesâ€"working language learning into your day with smartphone apps, using repetition to your advantage, speaking the language as much as possible, engaging in activities that make the language relevant to your life and doing short but frequent study sessions.However, you also need to make sure your language learning plan is sustainable. When youre looking to learn a language as fast as possible, it can be tempting to try to just power through a superhuman amount of material in record time.The problem is, if you burn yourself out by trying to do too much at once, your motivation will fizzle and your language learning will end up taking more time in the end.This is a case where slow and steady wins the race. Well, okay, maybe not slow. But steady is definitely something to strive for.When designing your language learning plan, you want to make sure you have a specific strategy for how youre going to improve in each of the following areas: vocabulary, grammar, listening, speaking, writing and reading.You also want to make sure a good chunk of your activities will improve your general fluency by giving you an opportunity to integrate everything youre learning. For example, having a weekly conversation with a language exchange partner is both a chance to improve your speaking and an exercise that you can use to improve general fluency.Once you set your language learning plan in motion, keep tabs on whether its working in a sustainable way. In particular, if youre mak ing much more progress in some areas than others, revise your plan to spend more time on or to change your methods for  the areas youre falling behind in.And if you find yourself consistently failing to meet your goals and stay on pace with your schedule, thats a red flag that your plan isnt sustainable and that you should go back and make it less dense.So make sure youre starting with an approach that works both in the sense that youre using effective learning techniques and in the sense that youll be able to keep up your energy and commitment from beginning to end.If you can do that, and if you use these tricks to optimize your language learning, youll probably be surprised by how fast those five hundred hours fly by. Instead of asking Shouldnt I be fluent by now? youll find yourself wondering How did I learn an entire language already?

What to Expect When Interning at a Small vs. Big Company

What to Expect When Interning at a Small vs. Big Company Image via https://pixabay.com At a Small Company, You Can Expect: More Varied Work When interning at a small company, you’ll probably find that a lot of the employees are responsible for various tasks. In other words, the company’s employees are more likely to wear various hats in their workplace. This may extend over to you as an intern as well. Rather than having all of your responsibilities carefully laid out for you and sticking to them throughout the duration of your internship, you may find that your day-to-day tasks are more likely to change. With fewer people working in the company, you may find that it’s easy to help out members of different departments once in a while. In this way, you’ll get a better overview of running a company and the work involved than you might when interning for a bigger company. Relationships Easier to Form Because you’ll be working with fewer people, it will probably be easier to get to know your co-workers and to form strong relationships with them. Especially because you’ll probably be working with the same people most of the time, you’ll be able to get to know them well and to make sure that they know you. Making these connections is great for networking purposes, and it will help you feel more at home in your internship. In addition, those who are higher up in the company will probably get to know you better than they would in a bigger company, which can prove valuable when you’re looking for a job later on. Fewer Interns One potential downside to interning at a small company is the fact that there will definitely be fewer internsâ€"and you may even be the only one. This means that you may not be able to find other people your age to bond with while you work, and you’ll probably be under more scrutiny as the only intern. However, being the only intern at a small company also means that your supervisors will get to know you that much more, as they won’t have a whole group of interns to train and keep an eye on. At a Big Company, You Can Expect: More Programs for Interns One major advantage of interning for a big company is that they usually provide a lot of resources for their interns. They may have seminars or workshops where you can learn new skills, for instance, or they may be able to provide you with some career guidance. If you already have an idea of what department you want to work in after you graduate, this can be a major benefit, as you’ll learn a lot about what it takes to pursue a career in that area. In addition, you’ll learn many new and useful skills that you can put on your resume in the future. More Networking Possibilities In addition to organizing programs for their interns, bigger companies can also provide you with more opportunities to network. Simply by having a bigger group of employees, you’ll get to meet more people. Furthermore, if the company has offices around the United States or the world, having that experience can help you out when applying for jobs in the future. Potential employers will be more likely to recognize the company name, for instance, and you’ll be more likely to run into people who work with or have worked with the companyâ€"which can play out to your advantage, as they’ll understand the kind of work environment and the level of expectations that you’re familiar with. Less Flexibility With bigger companies, internship programs tend to be pretty structured. They often have set start and end dates, and will already know how many hours they want you to come in each week. This means that you’ll have less control over certain aspects of the internship, so you’ll need to make sure that their expectations work for you from the beginning. While you may be able to alter the terms of your internship if necessary, in general, you’ll have less flexibility than you could expect with a smaller company. Both big and small companies have the potential to provide you with a valuable internship experience. However, the right place for you will depend on what you’re comfortable with and what you’re hoping to get out of the internship, so make sure you think carefully before committing to one.

9 Powerful Ways to Protest as a College Student

9 Powerful Ways to Protest as a College Student Womens March on Washington D.C., 1/21/17Image via Wikipedia Commons Marches and highly active forms of protest are not necessarily inclusive of those with physical and mental disabilities, undocumented individuals, or people of color who may feel a higher sense of fear when entering areas where a lot of police are present. January 20 was a highly charged day for millions who feel betrayed at best when reconciling that the new U.S. president counteracts the human rights we have fought so hard to obtain in the first place that the White House website no longer has a LGBT rights, disability, or climate change page is alarming enough for an action on day 1. Are you ready to protest this injustice? Here are nine ways to do so that dont only revolve around physically demanding marches: 1. March/strike If you feel that marching or participating in a strike suits you, by all means, rally with your community! Create some cardboard signs with powerful statements on them, and make sure to bring plenty of water with you if you plan on chanting throughout the march. Even if you’re not “loud,” entering charged environments like marches and strikes can easily dehydrate you. 2. Write For many, writing is a huge medium for protest, be it in poetry, essay, fiction, or any other type of creative writing. Write to state officials about issues that matter to you. Write a letter to your parents who are afraid of losing their insurance, or to your undocumented friends who are afraid for their safety in the U.S. Language is powerful! 3. Start dialogue Silence is violence and white silence is even worse. Talk to friends about what’s going on in politics and human rights and welcome exchanges of dialogue. However, remember that freedom of speech does not exempt you from being held accountable for your statements. If your beliefs impinge upon the rights of others or actively hurt a community, it’s likely problematic, and you’ll want to deconstruct your thinking to find out why you believe what you believe. Remember never to deny the lived experiences of others or invalidate their reality. Share resources with others around you. 4. Educate yourself and others Teach workshops on diversity and inclusion, how to effect public policy, and how to lobby local decision-makers at the state capital. Take the time to read articles on Everyday Feminism to deconstruct your own internalized beliefs about marginalized groups and learn about implicit bias. Education is power. 5. Sleep in, eat, take care of your body and mind Activism takes a serious toll on your body. The amount of energy you expel physically and mentally during public actions amounts to more than you might think. When marching and participating in demonstrations, you must stay aware of your environment and be able to adapt to changing conditions. Self-care is an often overlooked yet important form of protest. Know that your existence is resistance, and part of preserving your existence involves supplying your body with what it needs: food, water, calmness, and relaxation. 6. Be selective about the media you consume You’ve probably heard the news about “fake news.” It’s out there. Remain critical of your news sources and don’t spread click-bait news if you can help it. Image via Pixabay.com On another note, also be selective about how much social media you consume. On high-traffic social media days such as the inauguration, Facebook and Twitter news feeds were 99 percent focused on the election, and this is draining and even triggering for people to absorb. Make sure not to spend too much time on social media especially before bed, as it is healing to disconnect for a while. 7. Express love Love is the most powerful force against injustice, bigotry, and hatred anywhere and anytime. IF you love someone, make it clear. Celebrate your love (romantic or not), for this is a radical form of protest against any force. 8. Make art Protest by painting your feelings post-inauguration day. Protest by sculpting or embroidering or drawing. Filling the world with art is a hugely powerful way to channel anxious or angry energy into something constructive and symbolic. 9. Think What you focus on expands. Think about how youll rally with your peers to create social change. We may be disillusioned at best given the results of the 2016 election, but we must recognize we are aligned for a revolution. We must strategize and disrupt the plans of leaders who are not aligned with the people’s best interest. For any amount of discrimination we experience in this country, we must counteract it with peace and positivity. We must act on our belief that women matter, that black lives matter, that all people of color matter, that queer and trans folks matter, that folks with disabilities matter, that low-income people matter, that undocumented people matter, and that our country can recover. The way we move forward in this political time will define our progress. Although not everybody can stand on the front lines of huge protests, anyone can find their own meaningful way to protest.

About Com Chemistry - Learn the Basics of the Subject

About Com Chemistry - Learn the Basics of the SubjectDo you want to know about Com Chemistry? Do you know that Com Chemistry can help in your educational process? With Com Chemistry, you can really get an education on subjects that you can relate to and better understand.We all need help with the basics of the subject; it's like doing our homework. If you don't have a teacher, there are many teachers who are very skilled in teaching us the fundamentals of the subject, but we still fail. There are several topics to help you with Com Chemistry which include:Learning that learning comes from your senses. You need to understand that this is what makes us move from one place to another. To really appreciate the subject, you need to be able to recognize the beauty of the world around you. The senses are the most important things you can do and the better you are at perceiving the world around you, the better you can learn it.When you learn about Bio-Organic Chemistry, you need to gain know ledge about the latest topics in our field. It helps us to know more about the subjects in which we are interested. The structure of the structures of organic molecules and their respective behavior have been of great interest to scientists since long and the basic understanding of the composition of water has helped scientists in various fields.If you have got enough time and budget, this subject is a great way to enhance your knowledge in Chemistry. You can give it a try and learn many interesting topics in a short span of time. If you have decided to use this as your course, you will learn how to look for basic molecular structures and properties and how to identify inorganic compounds and learn about the biological processes in which these molecules are involved.In the beginning of this century, the soviets were interested in determining the composition of matter and they did it by means of the use of the microscope. This was a fantastic science that was related to understanding the matter in terms of its composition. The concept of Energies in the industrial world is also relevant to a large extent and is similar to the concept of the microscope. In general, Com Chemistry is mainly about atomic bonding that involves the principles of molecular theory.In general, a course in Com Science will help you with your studies and will be an excellent supplement to your studies. You can find many interesting topics for your courses'; you just need to search on the internet. You can even try to find the right teacher for your class so that you can have the right course to study at the right pace.

Organic Chemistry Tutor Buffer System

Organic Chemistry Tutor Buffer SystemOrganic Chemistry Tutor Buffer System is an excellent system that will allow you to study chemistry while you are on the go. It is a portable device that you can bring with you wherever you go. It comes with eight hours of video lectures which consist of chemistry demonstrations and experiments. You can listen to them over again as long as you like or you can download the lectures from the internet so that you can have them on your phone.The videos have interactive lessons that are engaging, simple to understand and to follow, and very easy to set up. They will help you learn a lot of chemistry while you are on the go as you do not have to stop at each lesson to take a sip of water.This system is designed in such a way that you can set your student's pace so that they can finish every lesson before the time is up. This will save them time and it will also ensure that they get to enjoy the entire course.An organic chemistry tutor can help you learn more about a particular class of substances by including discussion points on it during the video lectures. For example, they can teach you about chloroform, antimony, arsenic, bromine, gallium, germanium, iodine, nitric acid, potassium iodide, sodium iodide, thorium, thulium, trichloromethane, and vanadium.This device can be used to teach by itself, as a chemistry classroom teacher, or as an interactive multimedia learning tool. You can start off by just downloading the online videos and playing them so that you can see what all of the other students are doing. After you have used the videos and have learned a bit about a class of compounds, you can then compare them to each other and determine which ones you feel are more interesting for you to learn about.If you have always wanted to learn more about chemistry but have always felt that a classroom chemical lab was not the best place for you to do so, you can try using an organic chemistry tutor to help you learn more about it. T here are a few tips that you can use to keep in mind when it comes to this kind of device. First, you can set up the device so that you can check out the video lectures so that you can get to know the chemistry that you are trying to learn more about.Another thing to remember is that you should set your organic chemistry tutor up so that you can use the device over again until you master a class of molecules. This will not only make sure that you will learn more in less time, but it will also make sure that you will learn about everything that you want to learn about.

Ask a Medical School Admissions Expert Liza Thompson

Ask a Medical School Admissions Expert Liza Thompson Varsity Tutors brings you insider tips and advice straight from nationally recognized admissions experts. Liza Thompson has advised medical school applicants for the past 20 years. As the former director of the Johns Hopkins Universityand Goucher College Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Programs, she has managed admissions processes, the premedical curriculum, MCAT prep, and the medical school application process. While at Johns Hopkins, she also served on the Premedical Education Committee. Liza has developed a great deal of expertise in premedical advising and regularly shares it with applicants through her firm, Thompson Advising. VT: How much time should be set aside to adequately prepare for and complete a Med School application? Liza: The primary application, which is filed through the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), takes a great deal of thought and energy to prepare comprehensively. Applicants should plan accordingly. I advise applicants to work backwards from the time when they should submit the application (early in the cycle, in June) and allow ample time to fine tune every component of the application itself. In general, applicants should allow several months from start to finish, to allow enough time to refine drafts of the personal statement and experience descriptions. Applicants usually begin working on the application in the spring of the year of submission or even earlier. Bear in mind that the primary application is only the first step. Applicants should also budget time to fill out each secondary application, which individual medical schools require. Medical school applicants rarely anticipate the work entailed in the secondary application process. For the secondary applic ations, additional essays are usually required and close attention should be paid to this part of the application process; secondary applications are every bit as important as the primary application. VT: What is the single most important thing applicants should focus on with this application? Liza: In the medical school application, applicants should focus on why they want to become physicians and what they might contribute to the medical profession. The motivation for medicine and the reasons for it should be crystal clear to admissions committees. Be thoughtful in the essay and in the experience descriptions on the AMCAS application; these are the only areas in the application where applicants can express themselves and describe their motivation for a career in medicine. VT: What are the biggest mistakes one can make on a Med School application? Liza: There are several mistakes applicants make in the application process. Ill highlight three important ones that are relatively easy for applicants to fix. Sloppiness or careless errors are never tolerated in the med school admissions process. If applicants misspell words or use poor grammar in the application essays or experience descriptions, their applications are likely to be eliminated. Its important to pay attention to detail in the medical profession; if applicants cant attend to minor details in the application itself, that sends a negative message to admissions committees. Timeliness of the application is critical. Its crucial to submit a medical school application early in the admissions cycle. That means having all of the materials ready to submit in June, when the cycle opens. Since most med schools operate on a rolling basis, processing applications as they are received, its in applicants best interest to submit early. Submitting an application later in the process reduces an applicants chances of admission. Not paying close attention to the secondary applications and/or delaying their submission are costly errors. The secondary applications are as important as the primary (AMCAS ) application. Applicants should write meaningful and compelling essays; since these essays are tailored to specific schools they are closely read by the individual medical schools. Filing the primary application early but then failing to follow through in a timely way on the secondary applications means that those applicants dont reap the benefit of rolling admission. When applicants receive the secondary applications they should make a concerted effort to return them as quickly as possible while also writing comprehensive essays. VT: What do Med School admissions officers look for most in an applicants essays/personal statements? Liza: The chief element admissions officers look for in an applicants personal statement is his or her motivation for a career in medicine, along with evidence that demonstrates that the applicant has fully tested his or her impulse to become a physician. Admissions officers will also be assessing applicants communication skills, personality traits, and accomplishments. The personal statement is the only area of the application where applicants can readily express themselves; other essays, as in the secondary ones, have more targeted prompts calling for more specific essays. The personal statement allows applicants to put forth their own background and vision for their future career in medicine. Admissions committees want to understand how and why an applicant decided medicine was the right career path. VT: Is there anything on a students application that would automatically disqualify them from being considered for the program? Liza: Repeated disciplinary infractions at the college level or legal infractions cast doubt on an applicants suitability for a career in medicine. A disciplinary action early in a students college career may be overcome with distance from the action and an acknowledgment as to what the applicant learned from the experience. Repeated infractions are very difficult to overcome. VT: What about the Med School admissions process differs the most from undergraduate admissions? Liza: One of the chief differences that applicants rarely understand is the difference between Early Decision at the undergraduate and medical school levels. At the undergrad level Early Decision is often used to improve an applicants chance of admission; there is something in the bargain for the applicant. At the medical school level, Early Decision does not favor the applicant, who is barred from applying to any other schools until the decision is rendered in October. If the applicant is denied admission, he or she would be entering the med school application process extremely late, thus negatively impacting his or her chances at any other school. I never recommend that an applicant apply Early Decision to medical school because of the way it disfavors applicants. VT: What undergrad majors best prepare one for med school applications? Liza: There are no specific majors that best prepare students for medical school. All students must take the same basic science premedical requirements to be prepared for the MCAT and medical school admission. The new MCAT, launching in 2015, will include psychology, sociology, and statistics, as well. You can major in any field and complete the requirements. Evidence shows that liberal arts majors have just as much a chance of getting into medical school as science majors. I encourage students to major in disciplines that truly excite them; if they do so they will maximize their learning since they will be studying a subject which they will delve deeply into with enthusiasm. As the former director of the post-baccalaureate premedical programs at Johns Hopkins and Goucher, I have advised numerous students who majored in fields as diverse as anthropology, psychology, economics, English, music, history, and religion. Their unusual viewpoints and ability to converse on a wide range of t opics were highlighted in the med school application and interview process. Study what you love! VT: Is there anything you might see on a students application that would quickly put them ahead in the running? Liza: Evidence of strong leadershipestablishing a new organization and following it through so that it can continue after you move on to other thingsis highly prized in the med school admissions process. Showing your passion, through a deep commitment to a cause or organization over several years time, is also valuable. Demonstrating the contributions you have made in such endeavors gives med school admissions committees information about your commitment, dedication, and priorities. In turn, these activities help committees understand what drives you and what you might dedicate yourself to in the future and bring to the medical profession. VT: What advice do you have regarding MCAT test prep? Liza: Practice, practice, practice! In counseling students through the MCAT for the past 20 years, I have seen a variety of ways to prepare; there is not one perfect way. I encourage students to assess the way they have prepared for high-stakes tests in the past (SAT or the GRE, for example). Some students are highly independent and focused, and have no trouble organizing their test preparation on their own. Others need a focused class in order to mobilize their preparation. There is no evidence that one strategy works better than another; equal results can be obtained no matter the study method. But the one thing that unifies successful MCAT test takers is the large number of practice tests they take. Students preparing to take the MCAT should take all of the AAMC practice tests and take them under real conditions. They should then analyze their practice test results to figure out lapses in knowledge/content or test-taking ability. In turn, students then need to address those issues in order to improve. That may entail reviewing content or figuring out how to improve their test-taking strategies. In the case of the latter, for instance, it could be that finishing the test in a timely way is an issue; doing timed reading can help improve this. Students also usually become quicker at taking the test with repeated practice tests. No matter the method students use to prepare, its essential to prepare thoroughly. By the time the actual test day arrives, test takers should feel completely ready for the MCAT. VT: What do Med School admissions officers look for in recommendation letters? Liza: Letters of recommendation are an important component of the med school admissions process since they help admissions officers understand applicants more thoroughly. The descriptions that letter writers provide help admissions committees more comprehensively assess the applicants suitability for a career in medicine and for specific schools. Admissions committees are looking for evidence of academic accomplishment through outstanding performances in classes which professors attest to in their letters. In addition, committees look for character, professionalism, and personality traits so that they can more fully understand an applicants background and motivation for a career in medicine. Letters from people who have supervised volunteer and extracurricular activities help committees understand applicants better. Letters help bring applicants to life and back up what the applicants present about themselves. In that sense, they are a highly valued and important aspect of the medica l school admissions process. Visit ThompsonAdvising.com or check them out on Facebook. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.