As an aspiring med school student, it is important to constantly be looking for ways to get ahead and make your application stand out from the rest. Since applying to medical school is such a competitive process, finding ways to set yourself apart through your knowledge, extracurriculars, and shadowing opportunities is essential to creating success.
In the modern age, tech companies have come to the forefront of many industries, including healthcare. Health technology companies aim to use tech innovation to change and improve the way we address healthcare across the world. This extends to training and educating the future generation of medical professionals. We have outlined 5 amazing tech-related healthcare resources for premed students looking to achieve their dreams of getting into medical school and becoming a doctor:
Stephanie Simmons is a student at UNC-Chapel Hill and caregiver for CareYaya, planning on attending PA school.
1. CareYaya
CareYaya is a unique opportunity for premed students to get involved as a way to get paid while simultaneously gaining the patient care hour experience that is essential for developing a competitive application to medical school. It takes just two minutes to apply to become a caregiver on the platform, and then you are on board with the company and can begin booking care sessions.
As a CareYaya caregiver, you can provide non-medical care to families who book care for their elderly loved ones or children with disabilities. This healthcare can range from companionship, housekeeping, technology help, or any specific aid that the family might request. Along with the benefit of gaining patient care hours, as a caregiver, you are also working to combat the growing elder care crisis across America by providing a more affordable option to families that are priced out of traditional home-care agencies.
CareYaya is a very flexible job opportunity for college students because you are able to book appointments based on your own availability. This is perfect for med students who are juggling busy academic and extracurricular schedules. As a caregiver, you get paid anywhere from $15-25 an hour, depending on the duration of the shift, and there is the option to provide overnight care for patients. In addition to the practical academic advantages of working as a caregiver at CareYaya, there exists a distinctive social opportunity for students to develop into well-rounded individuals and future medical professionals. Caregivers are provided with the opportunity to establish lasting connections with their elderly clients, and in doing so, can be reminded of their motivation for pursuing a career in medicine. CareYaya's platform is a top-notch technological resource for pre-med students who desire to gain a competitive edge in their applications by acquiring patient care experience in a unique manner.
2. Medsembly
Medsembly offers a mobile app for pre-health students to connect with healthcare professionals across varying fields and get specialized career advice. One of the main features of the application is being able to connect with a mentor in the healthcare field that interests you. A mentor/mentee relationship aims to foster personal achievement for your future academic and career goals. Mentors can also create more opportunities for their mentees and aid them in improving their skills, leading them to become better and more well-rounded leaders in healthcare.
Medsembly also has information on the best practices for finding a new job and provides information on various opportunities to fulfill shadowing hours. When it comes to applying to PA school, nursing school, or med school, the Medsembly app gives tips for crafting your personal statement, drafting an effective resume, and holistically creating a successful application to the school of your choice.
The application is free to get started and connect with mentors and other student peers. They also offer a wide selection of free resources for transitioning into the healthcare field. In addition to the free options, students can purchase subscription plans or individual services. Those include resume reviews from dedicated and experienced team members, application reviews, essay/personal statement revisions, and mock interviews. Medsembly is a great resource for undergraduates to network with healthcare professionals, build relationships with future colleagues, and answer any questions they may have about how to effectively enter the healthcare field.
3. The Savvy Pre-Med VITA Practice Interview
The Savvy Pre-Med offers a virtual interview practice option for students who wish to participate in realistic mock medical school interviews that will help to prepare them for the real thing. Medical school interviews are very intimidating because oftentimes you only get one recording that goes to many medical schools that you apply to, and there are no do-over options. The Savvy Pre-Med offers a realistic practice interview that simulates questions that you could receive during your actual video interview.
Their practice tests mirror the AAMC’s questions that they have released and give you thirty seconds to review each question before a three-minute period begins and you are able to offer your response. When you finish answering all six interview questions, your video gets sent to passport admissions who will manually share it with you within the next business day. You are able to watch your video as much as you please and learn how to improve for the real thing.
There is an option to try one free practice interview, and then you can purchase access to more if you wish at a price of $35/interview. Though these aren’t real questions from real virtual interviews, they are made to be identical in scope, tone, and feel to give students the most realistic practice interview experience available.
4. Notability
As a med student, you have to take many difficult prerequisite courses and do well in them to be perceived as a competitive applicant to medical schools. A key way to experience academic success while juggling a heavy course load is to keep organized and detailed notes that you are able to review and understand whenever you need to. If you have access to an iPad, Notability is an application that many premed students use to take detailed notes for each class and organize them in a personalized way.
Notability gives you the ability to write out your notes and draw many different diagrams, which is an essential aspect of many premed courses. It offers electronic organization, PowerPoint integration, and up to three levels of organization within the application: Dividers > Subjects > Notes.
5. Anki Flashcards
The final tech resource that we would recommend using as a student that wants to set themselves up for success in the healthcare field is the Anki Flashcard application and computer program. Anki is a free resource that allows you to practice active memory recall techniques to learn new terms quickly and effectively.
It has a synchronization feature that allows you to access your study sets across multiple devices and has very flexible design options from your card layout to the timing of review sessions. You are able to embed audio clips, images, videos, and scientific markup on your cards while employing precise control over how it is shown to you. Anki offers a unique study resource that allows you to review terms for medical exams effectively.
Emma Belk