How to improve your chances: Is this year your most important year?
Does getting back to school feel like a burden, or a huge opportunity? I hope it feels like a big opportunity, because the actions you take this school year can get you so much closer to being the strongest medical school applicant that you can be.
When you lack a clear purpose that gives all of your hard work meaning, going back to school is a drag. To the average undergrad, this school year is the same as any other — same topics, same grades, and an anxious thought slowly growing inside: “What am I going to do with my career and what do all these classes, these grades, and the debt I’m taking on have to do with it?”
It’s different for you because you hold a Clear Purpose — to advance your candidacy to medical school as far ahead as you possibly can. The classes, the grades, the money — it’s all leading toward your career as a doctor.
This year is a Golden Opportunity for your candidacy — take advantage of it!
When you take control of your school year, it becomes your strongest year ever — the year you become one of the strongest applicants in the mix.
You can take control and make this year the most productive year ever if you:
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Get strong letters of recommendation
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Figure out your chances — and learn what you need to do next to improve your chances
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Take control of your GPA
The 2012 – 2013 school year can be your standout year — the year that you finally get your GPA under control, establish the relationships that will lead to stellar experiences and letters of recommendation, and get a handle on the things you need to do to make medical school happen.
What could set you back this year? What’s going to hurt your candidacy?
These three common mistakes could permanently sabotage your chances at being a super competitive applicant:
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Avoiding your professors and neglecting to build relationships with them
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Keeping yourself in the dark about the admissions process, and merely “hoping and praying” that you’ll be good enough
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Poor results caused by ineffective study habits that tank your GPA
Ok, here’s what to do to avoid the missteps most others make.
Step One: build strong relationships that will advance your candidacy to the top
Letters of recommendation should be on your mind from the moment you start school this year, because it takes months to cultivate relationships with your professors that will result in a strong letter of recommendation. You need to begin meeting with your professors now.
Here’s how most premeds deal with letters of recommendation (“The Wrong Way”)
Week one: “Who am I? What’s my name? Where am I right now and how did I just spend $700 on books?”
Week three: “Hmmm…letters of recommendation. How do you get those? I guess I’ll eventually go to office hours with one of my professors or TA’s or something.”
Week six: “Professor Xavier is too intimidating…and I’m not doing that well in his class. Maybe I’ll ask at the end of the semester?”
Week nine: “If I can get out of bed, feed myself, AND study for my midterms, I’ll feel accomplished this week.”
Week 12: “Well, looks like it’s too late to start. I’ll wait for next semester, or I’ll just ask professor Xavier right before I need it. He’ll be ok with that, right?”
Here’s how to deal with letters of recommendation this year (“The Right Way”)
Have a clear action plan.
Week one: “Of all my professors, I’m going to meet with Professor Xavier and Professor Castellanos in office hours because I’m the most interested in their subjects, and they’re both really well respected on campus.”
Have targeted and purposeful meetings.
Week three: “I’ve already met with both professors, and we talked about my aspirations for medical school. They also told me a lot about their research, and how they developed a passion for their studies. I let them know that I’d eventually like a letter of recommendation and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get a really strong letter. I asked for their suggestions.”
Keep up with the relationship.
Week six: “I went back to office hours with both professors, and we talked about my progress in the course and some of the other stuff I’ve been up to that relates to their courses and my med school application.
Get a strong commitment from your professor. Success! You did it.
Week 12: “Both professors have told me that they are impressed with my performance and commitment, and they are willing to write me letters of recommendation whenever I need them.”
Asking for a letter of recommendation can be awkward because you don’t always know what to say
Walking into that very first meeting and starting the conversation with your professor is the hardest part of getting a letter of recommendation because it seems like you’re asking them for a really big favor, a favor that you don’t deserve. “What do I have to offer? What can I do to motivate them to write me a strong letter?”
“The hardest part….is asking your professors for a really big favor.”
Doubt — doubt that you have anything to offer, and doubt that you can build a relationship with this super important person — is the #1 thing that sabotages your chance at great letters. If you doubt your abilities to impress your professors and doubt your ability to develop mature, professional relationships, you won’t end up getting good letters this year and you’ll have missed a huge opportunity to advance your candidacy.
It’s easy to approach your professors when you know beforehand what they expect from you, and it’s easy to build a strong relationship when you know exactly what to say to help blossom a strong working relationship with your professors.
“The Right Way” to ask for a letter of recommendation outlined above is a tiny snippet pulled from my huge guide to getting amazing letters of recommendation called “Great Letters of Recommendation.”
Step Two: How to figure out your chances, and how to be 100% sure of what you need to do next
One of the biggest things that determines your course of action when applying to medical school is your chances of getting in.
If you know your chances, what to do next becomes clearer.
But most often you aren’t very reassured when you ask your Pre-Health Counselors, your parents, and your friends.
These people pat you on the back and offer emotional reassurance, but they’re not qualified to give you the specific, actionable
The “Hope and Pray” technique won’t improve your chances!
feedback that can give you a clear course of action for your candidacy.
When your parents answer your question “What are my chances?” with “Don’t worry, just try. We believe in you,” I call this the “Hope and Pray Technique.” It’s great to have hope from reassurance, but it’s even better to have hope driven by a professional assessment that analyzes your admissions chances and gives you a clear picture of the odds you’re really facing.
You can find out your chances in my online course called “What Are My Chances?” This course assesses your chances for admission. If the assessment determines that your chances are really high, you’ll know where to place your effort to make them even higher.
And if you find out that your chances aren’t high enough, you can take a step back and objectively look at your candidacy and see where, and how, to improve.
A clear understanding of the odds will show you how to improve your chances. It’s that simple.
Step Three: Avoid poor grades and ineffective study habits
If your GPA — especially your science GPA — falls below 3.5 this year, your application to medical school could be headed for massive delays. Not good! Keep them grades up!
Your classes are “stupid-tough,” and your courseload is the most demanding among all college majors, but with the right study habits your GPA is going to stay strong, and you’ll be in the top 15% of candidates applying to medical school.
You can turn your grades around this year — with these techniques
It’s all about knowing the techniques that really work — “Pay attention and do the reading” isn’t enough. Here are some techniques from my online course “Save My GPA” to help you earn top grades on your first midterms and tests.
“Save My GPA” Technique #1: Reverse Cramming
Reverse Cramming is a controversial technique that I been teach to my students because it works like crazy. Here’s what I mean by Reverse Cramming: Quickly read through your entire coursework at the beginning of the semester. That way, you can anticipate everything to come and know when you’ll need to devote extra time to a particularly difficult portion of the course.
It may seem like a lot of work to cram all the material at the beginning of the semester, but it’s a technique that will allow you to budget your energy only on the concepts where you need the most help.
Besides, you’re going to cram any way, so why not cram at the start of the semester — when you’re fresh?
“Save My GPA” Technique #2: Learn how to talk to your professor — and get real help
Your professor can be your most valuable asset as you work to boost your GPA. There are productive and unproductive ways to talk to your professor that you need to know before you step in their door to ask for help.
The unproductive way to talk to your professor: Going to the professor before you go to your TA. Professors hate that! They have hundreds of students, so see if the TA can solve your problem first. \
Another unproductive approach: Coming to the professor with vague/undirected questions, or complaining about assignments and grades.
The productive way to talk to your professor, the way that will help you get better grades: Get help from the TA first, then approach the professor with a targeted and specific message that outlines your problem, how the TA tried to solve it, and why you’re still struggling.
Your professor will be happy to help you work through your struggles when you prove to him or her that you’ve done all you can to solve your issue independently.
To keep your grades on top, you’ll need to turn your focus inward, and examine how you achieve success, and why you experience failure. With my techniques, self-reflection and hard work, your grades this year should be your best grades yet.
“How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition” — Make the most of out this year
I’m introducing a new bundle of my online courses that will help you make this year the year that your candidacy takes off.
With “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition,” you’ll be able to advance your candidacy as far as you possibly can, and you’ll be on track to apply to medical school as one of the strongest applicants.
What’s in “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition?”
How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition includes three online courses:
Part One: The Brand New Save My GPA
Save My GPA is a online course focused entirely on improving your grades.
r grades by providing you the most effective study habits that you’ve never heard before.
After taking the Save My GPA online course and, you’ll improve your grades on your next test and earn a higher GPA this semester by dramatically shifting the way you study and learn.
Save My GPA has:
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My special note-taking system that will transform your notes from a disorganized mess into elegantly formatted learning tools
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Off-the-wall-cramming techniques (Cramming is good! Don’t believe me? You’ll learn why cramming can be your best study method)
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How to Use Your Textbooks – and how to make them worth the price you paid!
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How to Talk to Your Professor (and get REAL help)
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Why your grades are low, and how to change that quickly
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Much, much more: Four days of GPA-boosting content! 17 Videos.
The 17 videos in Save My GPA are delivered over a four day period. Each day is is broken up into a Lesson, which contains several videos that you can watch at your convenience.
This isn’t an 8 hour seminar you have to sit through each day for four days — you can get through each Lesson in an hour or so, and you can watch the Videos whenever you want.
Save My GPA is ordinarily a $147 course.
Part Two: Great Letters of Recommendation
This is the be-all-end-all guide to letters of recommendation that will walk you through the entire process beginning to end. All aspects of getting a great letter, all the challenges and angles, are illuminated for you so you can see exactly what you need to do and how to do it easily.
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A conversation script: How to talk to your professors, how to ask for a letter, how to guide their writing
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Sample letters of recommendation: You and your professors can see what makes a letter outstanding, and how you can replicate that in your own letter
- How to write a letter of recommendation: If your professor asks you write a draft of the letter, say yes! Writing your own letter is an incredible opportunity, and Great Letters of Recommendation shows you how to write yourself an incredible letter.
Great Letters of Recommendation is ordinarily $19, but in the bundle it’s free!
Part Three: What Are My Chances? A Professional Assessment of your odds
This is the newest piece of the bundle, and it’s the tool that is going to guide you not only this school year, but for many school years to come.
“What Are My Chances?” is a professional self-assessment that will show you exactly where you are, and then tell you where you need to be if you want to be a top candidate for medical school.
I designed What Are My Chances using the algorithm I’ve been using to help premeds get accepted to medical school for the past 18 years.
What Are My Chances is ordinarily $147.
What Are My Chances? For Medical School has:
An all-online course containing 20+ assessment videos that cover:
How to assess your grades, MCAT, personal statement, letters of recommendation, experiences, and everything else. Each video outlines one variable in an equation that determines your chances.
Similar to Save My GPA, the What Are My Chances? Videos are delivered to you over a four day period. Several new videos are made available to you each day, for you to watch whenever you want.
“How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition” is a crazy good deal — you’re getting 50% off!
This bundle — containing my three most effective guides to your continued success — is a massive value that slashes the price of each individual product by 50% or more.
Ordinarly, the Save My GPA four day online course is $97.
By itself, Great Letters of Recommendation is $19.
What are My Chances? for med school goes for $147.
But because you’re getting all three as a bundle, you’re only paying $97. That’s a 50% discount for three of my hottest online courses that premeds use to make their schools years the most productive they can be.
Your best school year is ahead of you, and the “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition” will help you make this your best year yet.
Get “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition” now for just $263 $97
Want a sneak peek? Here’s what’s inside “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition”
Below is an excerpt from the Save my GPA online course called “College is a Game.” In this video, I talk about a controversial position of mine: That college is simply a game to get grades, and you can beat the game with the tools I provide in Save My GPA
[save-my-gpa-video-7]
Below is a sample page from Great Letters of Recommendation showing an excerpt from the comprehensive conversation script that teaches you how to approach a professor and begin a relationship that will ultimately lead to your strong letter of recommendation.
How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition will make the 2012-2013 your best school year yet — it will make your candidacy stronger starting now
The four day online course Save My GPA has:
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My special note-taking system that will transform your notes from a disorganized mess into elegantly formatted learning tools
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Off-the-wall-cramming techniques (Cramming is good! Don’t believe me? You’ll learn why cramming can be your best study method)
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How to Use Your Textbooks
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How to Talk to Your Professor (and get REAL help)
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Why your grades are bad, and how to change that quickly
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Much, much more: Four days of GPA-boosting content!
Great Letters of Recommendation has:
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A conversation script that tells you what to say: How to talk to your professors, how to ask for a letter, how to guide their writing
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Sample letters of recommendation: You and your professors can see what makes a letter outstanding, and how you can replicate that in your own letter
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How to write a letter of recommendation: If your professor asks you to write the letter, say yes! Writing your own letter is an incredible opportunity, and Great Letters of Recommendation shows you how to write yourself an incredible letter.
What are My Chances? has:
An all-online course containing 20+ assessment videos that cover: How to assess your grades, MCAT, personal statement, letters of recommendation, experiences, and everything else. Each video outlines one variable in an equation that determines your chances. Similar to Save My GPA, the What Are My Chances? Videos are delivered to you over a four day period. Several new videos are made available to you each day, for you to watch whenever you want.Get How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition now for just $263 $97 — over 50% off each individual course!
PS: A word from the creator of How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition
This course, and all of my online courses represent over 20 years of my work as an admissions coach helping premeds get into medical school. It has been my mission to give premeds like you encouragement and hope. I am sincere when I say that I’m here to help you achieve your goals, and get through any challenges you have along the way.
– DonO
Welcome! Congratulations and thanks for purchasing “How to Improve Your Chances – Fall Edition.” My purpose in creating this course is to put in one three of my best courses on how to perform incredibly well throughout the school year.
Ok, here’s how it works:
Save My GPA is a four day online course that begins today. The Lesson One Videos are below.
Great Letters of recommendation is a PDF. The link to the PDF is below.
What are My Chances? is a X day online course that begins today. The Lesson One Videos are below.
Enjoy, and good luck this semester!
Don Osborne / INQUARTA
Welcome to Day Two of “How to Improve Your Chances — Fall Edition.”
Videos for Day Two of “Save My GPA” and “What Are My Chances?” are now ready for you to watch.
It’s Day Three! You now have access to new Lessons at both “Save My GPA”and “What Are My Chances?”
Reminder: Great Letters of Recommendation is a PDF — so download it and start digging in!
— DonO
Day Four is here, the last day of “How to Improve Your Chances — Fall Edition.”
The final group of videos is up and ready to watch at both “Save My GPA” and “What Are My Chances?”
Now that every video is available to you, you’re free to watch them any time, in any order. (Although I do recommend watching the videos in the order they’re posted!)
Thanks for watching, and good luck. If you have any questions for me, please post them at the bottom of this page in the comments section. I’ll get back to you ASAP!
— DonO