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hey buddy.

Health Care Handbook by Elizabeth Askin & Nathan Moore. I read it when applying in 2013 and at the time it was a free pdf. Now it's a book but I remember reading like 20 pages every morning in bed and it was like a kid's book. So easily digestible. I was accepted to USC (Los Angeles), Tulane and Miami and all interviewers said I was very well versed in Obamacare. Also, google "Redditor explains obamacare" by /u/CaspianX ...I read that everyday for a month and it melted into my memory, didn't even have to actively memorize. And it was...dare I say...even enjoyable to read haha.

I haven't read the other one's posted here but they may be just what you're looking for too!

Amazon link (can get digital and have it in 2 seconds!): http://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Handbook-Elisabeth-Askin-ebook/dp/B0088CMAUU

Review of the book: http://healthcarehandbook.wustl.edu/


good luck and please PM for any help with the admissions process. I answer loads of PMs every week and have been since this time last year. I received help from a friend a year above me and feel the need to pay it forward!

:)

I enjoyed this book: Multiple Mini Interview (MMI): Winning Strategies From Admissions Faculty https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C4FP99A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_COAQBbN856MEV

It’s well reviewed and rated. It has a ton of examples to help get you thinking about what kinds of questions you might get and how you could answer. The book, as well as most others will advise you to not try and over prepare or memorize answers. Instead, if you choose to practice, practice your answer structure. Restate the scenario in your own words to make sure you understand it right, talk through all of your thought process in a coherent and sympathetic manner, and answer the question as honestly as possible. Don’t give the answer you think they want to hear, answer how you truly feel. Leave 2-3 min for any follow up questions depending on time allotment.

Beyond that the best advice I’ve heard is to make good eye contact, be present with your interviewer, don’t make up an answer if you don’t know, and convince yourself you’re just happy to be there and don’t let the nerves ride you.

If you are looking for a book to maybe help you out with preping for the interview they I could recommend you Medical School Interview Secrets to Success. Its a really small book and you can finish it in like one sitting, but I found it super helpful in getting your brain in the interview mentality. It gives you a bit of homework too as a form of prep. Its not super groundbreaking or anything, but it is very helpful for compartmentalizing what you need to cover over an interview. I'm 3 for 3 right now on interviews and acceptances, and I do attribute it to this book.

I put the amazon link here.

https://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Interview-Secrets-Success/dp/097795594X

btw, i dont make any money from recommending this, it was honestly a good book

"Then you wouldn't understand" and "In Indian culture" where you related it back to your own ethnicity. That's literally all I had to read to get the impression. And I'm not saying that that it's east Asians, but these challenges shouldn't be isolated to certain ethnicities. Anyone who researches into the degrees, MD/DO would have similar concerns and that's perfectly fine. But it's also important to understand the motivation and reasoning that led to the "condescending" view of Osteopathy.

I highly recommend The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America , not just to you, but anyone that is curious about the degree.

Granted my experience is from my father, who is a practicing MD, but even in the 90's when he was completing his residency, DOs were still seen as similar and equivalent at least in the medical field. Of course, the patient's perspective was probably condescending, but in the medical field as long as you produced similar results and work with scientific backing, all was good.

When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

Being Mortal - Atul Gawande

Better - Atul Gawande

Honestly anything by Atul Gawande

Start With Why- Simon Sinek (Just finished this one today. Phenomenal read. Not medicine related, but a great perspective on what leadership means and how you can inspire those around you)

The White Coat Investor - James Dahle (Financial literacy is always a good thing)

​

I have quite a bit more book suggestions if you're ever curious, but those should keep you busy for a while. Feel free to DM me if you want more!

I am currently completing my two semesters of organic after completing gen chem seven years ago. I spent the summer reviewing the gen material and I felt pretty well prepared for organic. Like some of the other users have said, a good class will pull you up to snuff on what you need to know. Besides, organic has a lot more to do with the illustrative way that say, a hydrogen atom binds with an oxygen, and its effects, than with numbers. It often feels like it's more of an art class with puzzle-solving than a science class.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of Organic Chemistry as a Second Language. Amazing reference and clarifying tool. It will carry you through about 2/3rds of the 1st semester material, as well as give you a good foundation for everything. Not having that foundation is where most people flounder at the end of 1st and all the way through 2nd semester organic. Hope this helps!

If you are looking for something to help you better understand those kinda topics The Health Care Handbook might be your best option

I thought it was a pretty good quick review to help you understand any ballpark health care related questions

As far as the helping people thing goes its like if you want to get a girl in bed you cant just straight up ask her you have to take her out and spend some money and hope she falls for it. Same goes for this, of course you want to "help people" you wouldn't want to be a PA if you hated em. As far as what to say I would pick up this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Difference-Edition-Graduate-Admissions/dp/0307945278

It's the best $8 you can spend and it helped me a lot. It has some what are considered "good statements" that left an impression. I think yours is memorable because of your mom and I would embellish on that more even if you have to embellish a bit. In my opinion I think the first paragraph is good just improve the rest and you're good to go.

What style of interview is it? I had one standard and one MMI interview last year and prepared for each one a little differently.

If it's a standard, you don't need much time at all honestly. I would say I prepped maybe an hour a night for the week leading up to the interview, mostly looking at common questions and formulating some ideas for answers. You shouldnt be trying to memorize answers, but I'd definitely make a list of personal traits and activities that you want to bring up in your interview and see where they would fit in with the usual interview questions.

For MMI, I would highly recommend this book and practice with someone on the format and timing of the questions. I started prepping seriously for the MMI for a few hours (maybe 1-3) a night for about 2 weeks leading up to the interview.

Good luck!!

The Healthcare Handbook

Blurb:

> The American health care system is vast, complex and confusing. Books about it shouldn't be. The Health Care Handbook is your one-stop guide to the people, organizations and industries that make up the U.S. health care system, and the major issues the system faces today. The Handbook's five chapters (250 pages) cover:

> * Inpatient and outpatient health care and delivery systems

• The different types of health insurance and how they're structured
  
• Health policy and government health care programs
  
• Concise summaries of 31 different health professions
  
• Medical research, technology, and drugs
  
• A clear summary of the Affordable Care Act, challenges to the law, and other reform options.
  
• Economic concepts and the factors that make health care so expensive
  
• The Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries
  
  In my opinion, this book has a great balance of completeness/readability - I had a pretty fragmented knowledge of the healthcare system, and this book tied everything together and filled in the gaps.
  
  Full disclosure: The Healthcare Handbook was written by two students at the med school that I attend, and our class was given free copies of the book - but I totally think it's worth the $8.

I read the review on amazon and someone reported there being several significant errors that were not corrected in the CD's. Here's just a couple of examples:
CD #7 Track 2: While discussing melting Jon says "It is interesting to relate thermodynamics to the heat curve... ...But the enthalpy change is NEGATIVE"

Jon should have said "It is interesting to relate thermodynamics to the heat curve... ...But the enthalpy change is POSITIVE" Both enthalpy change and entropy change are positive during melting. Everything else in the track still applies. If both entropy and enthalpy change are positive, delta G depends upon temperature.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CD #7 Track #8: Jordan says "Lewis acids: donate; bases: accept." This is backwards. Lewis acids accept a pair of electrons and Lewis bases donate a pair of electrons.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CD #7 track #10: Jordan says that the pH of a solution with a hydrogen ion concentration of 3.6x10^-4 is 4.5. It is 3.5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CD #7 Track #11: Jordan says "The log of A times B equals the log A times the log of B." He should say "The log of A times B equals the log of A plus the log of B."

http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-MCAT-Audio-Osmosis-Jordan/dp/1893858235

For orgo, there's just a ton of reagents and solvents you have to memorize, along with some other things. Know nucleophiles well, because that becomes the majority of what Orgo II is about. Resonance is always good to know.

Biology is really just about understanding the ins and outs of life cycles, reproduction cycles, etc. Know all the little details and what happens at every step. This will be helpful when you learn Kreb's Cycle, plant life cycles, etc. A lot is also just memorization. Finding diagrams to label is also helpful.


For orgo, I HIGHLY recommend a book called Organic Chemistry As a Second Language, I used it for my first semester of Ochem, and it helped a ton.

Khan Academy is really helpful for Chem, Ochem, Bio, and probably physics.

You should know the basics of healthcare, but to be honest, I was never asked a single question about healthcare, and I've only asked a healthcare-related question once, and it was as a follow-up to something that the candidate had said.

My advice is to work on commonly asked interview questions (which you can easily obtain from Google). It's also very helpful to find people to practice with in person and have them give you feedback.

Also, I don't know how helpful this would be for you, but I read this book when I was interviewing. Most of the content was stuff that I already knew, but there were a couple of tips that I found to be particularly helpful.

Jack,

Firstly, take a deep breath!

Secondly, regarding your statement in your post, yes I got an A in OChem 2 - it seemed impossible as I was as stressed as you are! What really helped me was doing practice problems out of Organic Chemistry as a Second Language (because it really is)! In addition to this, I combed google for any practice exams or quizzes related to the topics covered on the exam (i.e., googled Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Exam with Solutions) and went over those. For topics that I had a really hard time with, I researched for a conceptual understanding in addition to the mechanism (like why do the NMR spectropscopy present as they do, instead of memorizing where the peaks would come up) and made it a point to know that well in addition to the exam studying.

From reading your post, it sounds like your first professor was a conceptual teacher that then focused on the specific mechanisms (understanding the why and how to the mechanism). Your second professor seems like a mechanism writer, which I am sorry for as it does no justice to the beauty that is chemistry.

I hope this has helped!

Came here to say Oliver Sacks (neuroscience).
I picked up a used copy of the DSM-IV casebook; it's very cheap since the DSM-V has come out. Diagnoses may be outdated but the stories are still there!

There are casebooks in other fields, too-- Surgery, multiple specialities, medical ethics, [pediatrics] (http://www.amazon.com/Files-Pediatrics-Fourth-Edition-LANGE/dp/0071766987/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_9_EQ6W?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WJ16SB6971PCJ94TK2S). Your college library ought to have new-ish ones you can read for free.

I'm also encouraged by reading scientific journal articles in medical fields (research is exciting).

Other stuff: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks isn't about a doctor, but it's about a patient and the HeLa cell line that's been so important to medicine. My decision to go into medicine was affected by The Plague, a novel by Albert Camus about a plague-stricken city. (Main character is a doctor, though not exactly a modern MD.)

You're overestimating how terrible Single Payer will be for physicians financially. Explaining why will take a lot of background info, but suffice it to say that the $$$ for how expensive healthcare currently is goes to hospitals and insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. The average doctor won't be affected as much as you might think.

For more info on what I mean, there's a great book you should read:
An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal. She's a Harvard-educated MD who is currently the editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News and her book is, in my opinion, the best (and most unbiased) around for understanding the state of the US healthcare system.

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661

This is like a little workbook that explains the material and has review questions throughout! I worked through this before my semester of ochem started and I felt like the semester was a breeeeeze. Highly recommend, and my professor asked what I was using to study and she said she loved this book too!

I think the book also has a lot to do with it. I (unfortunately) had to retake orgo after graduating from undergrad, and when I retook it, my class used a different book, and it made all the difference. In addition, a friend of mine just started taking orgo and she asked me if I had any advice: I told her to get this book in addition to her book. I kid you not, she called me today and said, "that book is fucking magical."

Here's the book.

Apparently its also on Scribd with the answer keys. Good luck!

Check out MCAT Audio Osmosis (http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-MCAT-Audio-Osmosis-Jordan/dp/1893858235) if you like studying this way. They go over pretty much everything, and while I did not use the recordings, I really liked the Examkrackers books.

This book is good for focused interview prep and strategy

This book is good for common sense interview skills

I am using both of these books myself, and I like them a lot. They really only deal with traditional interview formats however. No books for group interviews or MMI format.

I used this book to get a good idea of what med school personal statements look like. The ones in the book aren't exactly groundbreaking (in fact, a lot are pretty cliche), but it was still useful to at least have that framework to look at.

I always recommend Dr. Samir Desai's book on MMI strategies. He also has a book for the traditional interview, but I never read that one. I'm sure it's just as helpful.

Very much liked
The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat - a book about the discovery of penicillin that aims to correct decades of misinformation

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mold-Dr-Floreys-Coat/dp/0805077782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341580039&sr=8-1&keywords=mold+in+dr+floreys+coat

Also, for a bioethics book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is great
http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/dp/1400052181/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341580111&sr=1-1&keywords=henrietta+lacks

These two books helped me through Ochem: Organic Chemistry as a Second Language Vol. 1 and Vol 2. The guy also has a very good text book that comes with an absolutely ENORMOUS answer book that has every single problem in the textbook mapped out. I don't recommend the Wiley Plus/Orion online homework system thing, but these are great resources.

I searched my library for "medical school interview" and perused this book which was pretty helpful.

I bought The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success last year and it seemed to be pretty helpful in my preparation.

Nice. Also, try and check out Klein's book, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language I found it tremendously helpful

I recommend Barron's Essays That Will Get You into Medical School. Very helpful guide and they give you a dozen or so essays written by past applicants.

Try the book "The Healing of America" by T.R. Reid. Excellent, unbiased perspective on America's healthcare (including recent ACA work) that compares it to other countries' structures.

Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-America-Global-Better-Cheaper/dp/0143118218/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420220931&sr=1-1&keywords=the+healing+of+america

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119110661/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_mUrPBbBDTZMQV

Organic Chemistry as a Second language.

Learn it

Live it

Love it

This was a great book to prepare for MMIs:

https://www.amazon.com/Multiple-Mini-Interview-Mind-Advisor/dp/1628908637/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466318494&sr=8-2&keywords=multiple+mini+interview

I read Medical School Essays that Made a Difference. The nice part about it was that it shows other application stats and where they applied/were accepted with their various essays.

I bought this to use for inspiration. I would be cautious though--it can be tough to come up with an original idea if you've been reading examples.

I enjoyed Nathan Moore's book: http://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Handbook-Concise-United/dp/0692244735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419057637&sr=8-1&keywords=Nathan+Moore

I used this [book] (https://www.amazon.com/Multiple-Mini-Interview-Mind-Advisor/dp/1628908637/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1480737225&sr=8-2&keywords=multiple+mini+interview) to prepare for MMIs. You can also just find scenarios online. Get with a friend and practice

Get this:
https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1494750631&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=ochem+as+a+se

Ochem 1 was pretty memorization and concept heavy. Not much to do other than practice and get concepts down.

For Ochem 2, do a lot of practice problems until you see the patterns. Treat it as math rather than chemistry. Each reaction is an equation that can be applied to specific situations. Learn to see those situations and apply the equation to it. Get help when you need it, go to office hours for the hell of it, and stay on top of things. And you dont really need to memorize the reactions. If you know the reagents, just remember that nucleophile attacks electrophile, e source to e sink. Just think and look.

The class itself isnt that hard. Theres nothing special about it. Its just chemistry. Go in with a good attitude rather than thinking its the hardest subject in the world and you will do just fine.

woah... reapplicant?

I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Interview-Secrets-Success/dp/0977955907

Hit the Atul Gawande stuff first. He's a tremendous writer, and his books have implications fay beyond the internal mechanics of the medical establishment. I recently finished 'Better', and before I bought the book, I used the Amazon Look Inside feature to read the introduction. I was hooked. http://www.amazon.com/Better-Surgeons-Performance-Atul-Gawande/dp/0312427654/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450735227&sr=8-1&keywords=better+atul+gawande

I wouldn't go through and do the exams over again. It doesn't serve much purpose because you've already seen the questions and know the correct answers somewhere down in your brain.

I would just find some more practice problems to do and do one last in-depth look at the material. I got sick of studying and the last two weeks before the exam, I did like 5-6 passages a dayfrom Exam Krackers VR 101 and looked through a couple of questions and sections in the Berkeley Review (gen chem and physics) and the EK Bio book. I told myself I was going to take all of the AAMC tests, but only ended up taking two (35 and 32) and ended up scoring quite well on the real thing.

Smith book?

Leroy book?

read the healing of america by T. R. Reid.

that's all you need to know.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

https://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Handbook-Concise-United/dp/0692244735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483150487&sr=8-1&keywords=healthcare+handbook

https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Biomedical-Ethics-Beauchamp/dp/0199924589

https://www.amazon.com/American-Sickness-Healthcare-Became-Business/dp/1594206759/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12GOKZ3DTRX3W&keywords=an+american+sickness+by+elisabeth+rosenthal&qid=1550980133&s=books&sprefix=an+american+sic%2Cstripbooks%2C151&sr=1-1

"Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" .... got a 3.7 in O Chem using this book. You definitely have to do a bunch of problems though.
http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X

Buy it

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661/ref=dp_ob_image_bk

This? It's so much more expensive.

You could buy this book but if you don't want to just read the wikipedia article on Osteopathic Medicine.

No, it's the Examkrackers 101 Verbal reasoning passages.
http://www.amazon.com/Examkrackers-Passages-MCAT-Verbal-Reasoning/dp/1893858553/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373476316&sr=1-1&keywords=ek+101+verbal

So I read a couple of books because even though I've interviewed for jobs, I realized I had no idea what adcoms on a med school were looking for. Link Here: https://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Interview-Strategies-Admissions/dp/193797801X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3BM4D155KR9XWQ3TCT0A

That got me in the right frame of mind. There is a MMI version too. After that, I practiced the more common 8 questions aloud and got them within 2 minutes time frame. Did some mock interviews. I usually over research and read on ethics too. Haven't been rejected or waitlisted post II yet.

Sorry, I screwed up the title! Here is the proper link

Organic Chemistry As a Second Language, 3e: First Semester Topics https://www.amazon.com/dp/111801040X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_almNDbJMVD438

I did both Organic Chemistry classes over 1 summer (5 weeks/class). It was easily the most brutal classroom experience of my academic career.

If I could go back I'd definitely start by completing the Organic Chemistry as a Second Language books (http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377566755&sr=8-1&keywords=organic+chemistry+as+a+second+language). There is one for each class, and they are enormously helpful. Aside from that, do all the practice problems from your textbook. Unlike some of your other science classes it can be difficult to memorize the rules and then apply them... you will learn the rules by doing problems.

When it comes to stereochemistry, use models. After you have the 3-dimensional structures down, it is doubtful you will need to come back to the models again.