Grad featured as example of successful medical school applicant


The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recently launched the Anatomy of an Applicant website “to help in better understanding how to demonstrate aptitude in the core competencies, which many medical schools have identified as important for entering medical students.” Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine Class of 2017 graduate Dr. Laura Florez is one of the first six students profiled as part of this effort.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to pay it forward to students who are trying to figure out their own path to medical school,” says Florez. “I’ve found that the best advice I received was from real-world experiences of students who would come back to campus and share their stories, their do’s and don’ts. It is definitely more tangible as you can relate rather than just a list of bullet points or opinions posted on a random blog site.”

Because medical schools consider more than applicants’ grades and test scores, the website focuses on the 15 Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students which have been endorsed by the AAMC Group on Student Affairs (GSA) Committee on Admissions (COA) and demonstrate preparedness for medical school. “To show how successful applicants have demonstrated these competencies in many different ways, we [website team] interviewed real medical students, their pre-health advisors and the admission officers who accepted them.”

In addition to interviewing Florez, the AAMC website team also spoke with HWCOM Director of Admissions Andria Williams and John Landrum, director of the FIU Office of Pre-Health Professions Advising.

Florez can also serve as a great example for landing your dream residency. This past March, she successfully matched into her first choice residency program—obstetrics/gynecology at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. “Residency is going great. I continue to learn minute by minute. It’s long hours, but I’m ecstatic to work for the community I grew up with and to make a difference a patient at a time.”

Watch Florez open her Match Day letter: