Help Your Kids Develop These 3 Critical Skills
As a parent, you see the potential in your children. You know early on when one has the skills, ability, and determination to become a doctor someday. So, we’re offering some tips to help you help your child get into medical school.
There are certain skills you can help your child foster, such as persistence, balance, and resilience. You need to be prepared to help your offspring choose the right college for their future medical careers. Your child also needs to choose the best extracurricular activities and college major to successfully take the journey toward getting into medical school.
There are three main critical skills needed to succeed as a medical student that you should help your child develop now. Let’s discuss all three:
1. Resilience
This is about being flexible and having the ability to bounce back after setbacks and disappointments. Resilience allows life to become more manageable. As a med student, your child must be able to handle a variety of temperaments, communication styles, and attitudes from both patients and colleagues.
For example, some attending physicians can be obnoxious. They may yell at students during hectic times. Your child must have thick skin to deal with such behavior and still get the job done without feeling soft about the situation.
2. Balance
Many medical students have rough times dealing with the challenges of balancing extracurricular activities, relationships, and school work. It’s your job as the parent to show them how to stay present in the current moment.
One tip offered by parents of future med school students is to establish rules for a technology-free time. This could be while on vacations, while doing homework, or even at dinnertime.
Also, encourage self-care early on in life. It’s important that physicians live healthy lifestyles to act as models for their patients. Encourage your future doctors to exercise regularly, enjoy their favorite pastimes, and volunteer within the local community, at school, church, etc…
This helps them understand the value of taking care of themselves along with academic learning. Soon, your child will develop the ability to prioritize duties and activities, while focusing on the task at hand.
As a physician, your child must know how to recognize the sickest patients of the tasks they need to be tackled first. Losing valuable time could mean the difference between life and death for those patients.
3. Persistence
A successful medical career is dependent upon the ability to push forward no matter the circumstances. Your child just may not get into the college of his/her dreams. The same goes for getting into the best medical school or landing the dream residency or getting a job as a physician.
Just gathering everything together for the med school application and residency can become overwhelming. Your child must be able to persevere even during disappointing and challenging times.
5 Critical Steps to Help Your Child Become a Physician After High School
If you’re looking for ways to help your child get into medical school, the life skills above are essential. You must also guide the child through decisions that set the path for medical school success. Here are five tips to help you help your children get to that place in life:
1. Help Them Select the Right Undergraduate Program
Work with them to find the best undergraduate institution for them. Consider campus size, student population and, of course, the location. You want to choose universities that offer a wide range of experiences and complexities to nurture a well-rounded student.
When applying to medical school, admissions administrators look at more than just academics. They want to see an array of skills and experiences.
2. Help Them Identify the Best Majors
Many college students working toward becoming doctors lean toward science as a major. But non-science majors are accepted into medical school all the time.
So, to ensure the best learning experience possible, help your child determine the best major for her/him personally. It needs to be something that piques the child’s interests while encouraging academic curiosity.
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3. Have Them Meet with Pre-Med Advisers
During their first semesters in college, students on journeys of becoming doctors should talk to premed advisers. This way, they establish the right course to take for taking the MCAT and satisfying medical school application prerequisites early in their college careers.
The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) assesses biological, critical thinking, social science, and physical science knowledge. Your child must pass the MCAT to get into a reputable med school in the US.
4. Encourage an Array of Collegiate Activities
Getting outside of the comfort zone is key to someday becoming a quality healthcare provider. Encourage your child to start now by participating in various types of collegiate activities. Gaining well-rounded academic, clinical, and other types of experiences look great on medical school applications.
There are summer internship programs for high school students that expose them to medicine and science. You can help your child find local summer premed programs, research programs, or study-abroad opportunities.
5. Prepare for the MCAT
Passing the MCAT is essential for getting into medical school. And because the competition is steep at the top institutions, your child needs to get the highest score possible on the MCAT to get into that dream institution.
MCAT test prep is the best way to ensure your child ready to take this very important, career-changing exam. During test preparation, your child will review everything they’ve learned over the years in relation to medicine.
Do what it takes to help your child become a doctor in the US. Get them the best test preparation services from MedSmarter to increases their chances of getting into a good medical school after college. Click the button below for details.
