Before you apply to the best premed jobs to get you accepted or start looking for the best MCAT private tutoring service, you should listen to podcasts for premed students to understand what going to medical school entails. Yes, there are podcasts for premed students, and they are made by a combination of current medical students, working doctors, faculty, alumni, and other health care professionals. Podcasts for premed students have a variety of uses. They are entertaining (as most podcasts are) and cover topics like how to get into medical school with ADHD that other resources do not cover.
This article will explore what sets podcasts for premed students apart from other podcasts, what premed students can learn from them, and which are the best podcasts for premed students.
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The Best Podcasts for Premed Students
1. BeMo Admissions Experts Podcast
Host: Various guest hosts
University/Professional Associations: BeMo Academic Consulting
The BeMo Admissions Experts podcast is a one-stop shop for all your questions regarding all aspects of applying to medical school, from the real costs of medical school to what books residency applicants need to read. BeMo Academic Consulting can also help with applying to all other professional schools, including MBA programs, law school, and other medical professions like nursing and PA school.
The podcast episodes dealing with medical school specifically tackle topics like the real reasons medical school applicants get rejected and more foundational topics, such as how to study for the MCAT and when to start studying for the MCAT. BeMo podcasts interview admissions experts who have achieved a master’s or PhD-level degree and have years of experience in academia.
2. Academic Medicine Podcast
Host: Guest Hosts
University/Professional Associations: Academic Medicine
Academic Medicine is the podcast series associated with the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), created to give medical professionals an outlet to share their stories, insights, and reflections. The podcast takes the form of medical professionals (or actors) reciting personal essays they’ve written about their experiences in health care.
Podcast episodes run the gamut from the highly personal – award-winning essays, patient stories, personal struggles – to more technical and procedures-based episodes, such as “Writing Effectively and Navigating the Publication Process: Advice from the Editors of Academic Medicine” and “Exploring Our Ways of Knowing: About the Research Methodologies Used in HPE Publications.”
The podcast may not be a huge source of information, but the authors range from premed to current medical students, seasoned health care workers, and experts with years of experience, who can serve as guides to answer questions such as how long does it take to become a doctor and how to write a medical school letter of intent.
Did you know that most premeds don't really want to become doctors? Watch this video:
3. All Access: Med School Admission Podcast
Host: Christian Essman – Senior Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
University/Professional Association: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
If you want med school application tips direct from an admissions expert with 15 years of experience, look no further than the All Access: Med School Admission Podcast, run by Christian Essman, a Director of Admissions at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
The podcast started in 2019 and is still going with episodes based on specific tips, like how to write the perfect AMCAS personal statement, to spotlights on the admission requirements, medical school culture, and pros and cons of particular schools, such as the Kaiser Permanente Medical School, Geisel School of Medicine, and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Essman invites other admissions officers and various medical professionals to discuss diverse topics, always with the goal of providing first-hand knowledge to eager premed students. Many of the topics delve into great detail on contemporary issues involving medical school applications, such as what virtual shadowing involves or even how to ask to shadow a doctor.
4. Huberman Lab
Host: Dr. Andrew Huberman, Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine; and various guests
University/Professional Association: Stanford University's School of Medicine
The Huberman Lab podcast is all about neuroscience. Dr. Huberman and his various guests discuss how our brains and nervous system interact with the organs in our bodies, controlling and affecting our behaviors, perceptions and overall health. Dr. Huberman brings his 20 years of experience studying the human brain to discussions on how the brain operates, existing and emerging technologies for discovering how our nervous system works and in-depth talks on topics like neuroplasticity and neural regeneration.
Huberman also invites other leaders of health and science on the podcast to discuss their fields and specialties. The Huberman Lab podcast takes a look at many diverse topics, from fitness, to genetics to music and kinesiology, through the lens of health and well-being.
Why Listen to Podcasts for Premed Students
Podcasts for premed students are a new and exciting resource for anyone who is thinking about going to medical school. There are many different medical podcasts dealing with medicine and other health care issues, but podcasts for premed students offer listeners specific advice and support and deal with the minutiae of how to apply for medical school, what to expect from pursuing an MD vs DO, and whether or not medical school is right for you.
In general, podcasts can be many things: entertaining, informative, educational, relaxing. Some podcasts are all these things, and many of the best podcasts for premed students combine all these elements. However, the main reasons that premed students seek out podcasts are for information and support because the topics med school podcasts cover tend to revolve around questions and advice relevant to premed students, like how to pay off medical school debt fast or why you need professional medical school admissions consulting.
The top 5 reasons premed students tune into podcasts are as follows:
1. To Get Medical School Application Advice
The medical school application process is one area that medical school podcasts dedicate a lot of time to, and it is one of the best reasons for premed students to listen to podcasts. Applying to med school can be a daunting process and requires a lot of preparation, but med school podcasts are a valuable (and free) resource that can give you a lot of expert advice about how to make your application stand out.
Many medical student podcasts touch on the various levels of testing that premed students have to go through, like the MCAT, AAMC PREview, and Altus Suite, among others. This type of advice is hard to come by in other ways. Medical school admissions tutors are great resources, and whether you are still considering your options or 100% committed to going through with the application process to medical school, taking advantage of a first consultation or free strategy call, if offered, is always worthwhile.
2. To Listen to Real-World Medical Professional Stories
Thinking about your medical school application – the paperwork involved, the admissions requirements, your GPA score – along with keeping up with your undergrad classes can take your focus off a very important question: is medical school right for you? It is a question you may have already answered, but listening to the real-life stories of working doctors, nurses, surgeons, and residents can put things into perspective.
Hearing how medical professionals struggle with their daily commitments can either inspire you or make you consider another profession. Getting an inside look into how medical professionals navigate their responsibilities, deal with setbacks and failures, and how they keep themselves motivated is yet another innovative quality of podcasts for premed students that sets them apart from other resources for premed students.
3. To Learn About Medical School Culture
Podcasts for premed students draw from a lot of sources – practicing physicians, professors, alumni – but the demographic most relevant to you as a premed student would be physicians-in-training, which can be anyone from first-year medical students, PhD candidates, to residents who are currently doing their rotations.
These physicians-in-training can offer valuable insights about medical school requirements you need to know, how to go to high school from medical school and whether or not you should take a gap year before medical school, which official resources and impersonal, online articles cannot match.
Letting you in on the nuances and challenges of being a medical student can help you prepare for them. Again, the tips and advice offered by podcasts for premed students come from reliable, real-life sources, which are hard to find otherwise. The medical school experience is difficult to relate in an article or book, which is why the podcast is so valuable to premed students.
4. To Connect with the Medical Community
The fly-on-the-wall quality of all podcasts gives them an intimacy that other media are not able to create. You can hear the voices of doctors, nurses, and medical school students as they talk about their successes and failures and make observations. You can hear the excitement in their voices as they tell a funny story or hear them choke up when they relate a sad, tragic story.
The sense of belonging that podcasts for premed students create can put you at ease and make you feel as if you are a part of this larger community. It removes the intimidation factor and puts a human face (or voice) on the people you see as out of reach to you. These podcasts make all health care professionals relatable. They are also reassuring for students who may feel alone in dealing with things like how to get into med school with a low GPA, or how to stand out in a medical school interview.
5. To Get Reliable, Verified Information
The internet is full of outdated, unreliable, and, often, untrue information about medical school and medical school applications. Most students will be able to tell the difference between reliable and unreliable sources, but some students, through no fault of their own, may be duped by false information.
For example, the problem with premed forums is that the information posted is user-generated and does not undergo any scrutiny to check its legitimacy. Students who use this information can jeopardize their chances of getting into medical school and end up quitting. Fortunately, podcasts for premed students are affiliated with actual medical schools and teaching hospitals, so all the information provided is legitimate.
What Information Do Podcasts for Premed Students Have?
Some podcasts for premed students have a specific goal or scope. For example, BeMo has several podcasts for premed students that cover topics as broad as the real cost of medical school and how to get into medical school super-fast. But the focus can go in-depth as well, with BeMo podcasts exploring direct questions like “Will a Master’s or PhD Help You Get into Medical School (the answer: it depends, but you should listen to the podcast episode to find out).
BeMo podcasts run the gamut of topics, which offer premed students a lot of valuable information directly from experts, who discuss things like the “why this medical school” secondary essay prompt and how to answer it, how to prepare for your medical school interview or provide inspiration by telling you their medical school acceptance stories. If you are looking for specific advice on how to ace weird or intimidating medical school interview questions, you should look for podcasts that are directly tied to these topics and not general medical podcasts that change their content every day.
BeMo podcasts, like other podcasts, have a revolving series of guests and issues they cover, all of which are related in some way to medical school and being a doctor. However, BeMo podcasts also touch on other professions like the law and nursing and topics like how to get into grad school or tips on how to study for the LSAT.
More Reasons for Premed Students to Listen to Podcasts
1. Because They’re Fun
People listen to podcasts to relax and unwind because they’re entertaining. There’s no reason why the same shouldn’t apply to podcasts for premed students.
It may seem counter-intuitive for premed students to spend their free time listening to medical school podcasts, given that they live and breathe the subject every day. But listening to a podcast for premeds is different from reading an organic chemistry textbook. Podcasts take many different formats, but the banter and conversations between hosts and guests makes them easy listens. Listening to a podcast for premed students is a stress-free activity with no stakes involved that also happens to deal with your passion for medicine.
2. To Get Expert Advice
Premed students have a lot of access to experts in their field, in the form of professors, medical school tutors, mentors, and current medical students. But podcasts are more accessible and always available, so you do not have to feel guilty about taking up a busy professor’s time or attention.
Podcasts are an easier way to get expert advice. Instead of writing emails, or scheduling facetime with someone for advice or guidance you need, you can browse podcasts to find answers to questions you have about medical school GPA requirements, or how many clinical hours for medical school you need.
3. Because They’re Free (Mostly)
Podcasts are available on many different platforms, like iTunes and Spotify, which offer free or premium access depending on the platform. But premed podcasts are largely free to listen to, which makes them a valuable, high-quality resource for premed students inundated with the costs and financial strain of pursuing a medical degree.
You can get access to years of experience from a wide range of health care professionals and learn about medical school scholarships to help you pay for your education. For general advice on various topics, like which are the medical schools with the best financial aid, podcasts are more cost-effective than a medical school advisor, who offers specialized, pointed guidance.
4. Because They’ll Inspire You
One of the most important advantages of podcasts for premed students is that they humanize the entire medical school journey. Sure, podcasts are valuable sources of expert-level information, but they are also public forums for health care professionals to share their stories and reflect on their experiences as a doctor, nurse, PA, or nurse practitioner.
By telling their stories, health care professionals can not only inspire you but reveal what you should say during the entrance interviews and written essays you have to go through during the application process. These podcasts offer real-world examples of practicing physicians speaking about the things you are asked in the “tell me about yourself” medical school interview question and can help guide you during your medical school personal statement editing.
Conclusion
Podcasts for premed students have many uses and cover many different topics relevant to premed students, both traditional and non-traditional. Besides all the information and guidance they offer, podcasts for premed students can also be fun and entertaining. Many medical school podcasts combine technical explorations and how-to advice with personal stories from current medical students and physicians, the latter being just as valuable as application tips.
The range and scope of podcasts for premed students vary, and you should review as many as you can to find one that strikes the right balance between being informative and relaxing. You can listen to a med school podcast at any time and for any reason, which is what makes them perfect for busy, stressed-out students to decompress after a busy day of DocShadowing and MCAT prep.
FAQs
1. What is a podcast for premed students?
A podcast for premed students is a podcast dedicated to stories and topics related to applying for med school and what it takes to become a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional. Some podcasts are privately run, while others are associated with official medical schools and hosted by real admissions officers.
2. Is it worth listening to a podcast for premed students?
Yes, listening to a medical school podcast can be very worthwhile on several levels. They are free sources of legitimate, insider information about medical school and offer premed students valuable advice about everything from which is the best MCAT private tutoring service to advice on how to write medical school secondary essays.
3. Who makes podcasts for premed students?
Medical school podcasts are often created and hosted by medical students, PhD candidates, current or retired physicians, and medical school professionals who have first-hand knowledge about how to get into medical school.
4. Are podcasts for premed students reliable?
By and large, med school podcasts are reliable. But you should always check the veracity of the podcast to make sure it is not a commercial enterprise and has some legitimacy due to a connection with official bodies like medical schools and professional associations.
5. Are podcasts for premed students free?
Yes, most podcasts for premed students are free to listen to. If you use a streaming platform like Spotify and iTunes, you do have to pay a premium to listen ad-free, but if you don’t mind the ads, then you can listen to many premed podcasts free of charge.
6. Will listening to podcasts help my application?
You can listen to podcasts for advice and entertainment, but there is no guarantee that listening to a podcast for premeds will help or hurt your chances of getting accepted to medical school. You can use other services, such as the best medical school interview tutors, if you need help with your application.
7. Do I need to listen to podcasts for premed students?
No, you don’t need to listen to podcasts for med school students, but if you are passionate about going to medical school and need professional, expert-level advice in a familiar format, then these podcasts can help.
8. Which are the best podcasts for premed students?
The podcasts listed above are some of the most educational and inspiring, but there are many other podcasts online that you can listen to; just make sure that they are made by reliable creators and have links to actual medical schools and professionals.
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