Recent Anatomy Certification & Leadership Program Student Testimonials:
"As a nontraditional applicant who took two years between graduating from my undergraduate institution and applying to medical school, I was worried about having an academic fall-off from not having been in classes for so long. The ACLP program provided me with a much-needed transition phase that helped to ease me back into being a full-time student. The first 10 weeks of anatomy are very demanding and intensive, but knowing that a part-time course load is to follow for the remainder of the program makes this two and a half months much more manageable. As opposed to many of the first-year medical students who struggled with “burnout” throughout the year due to a constantly high workload, I never felt any such feeling.
Having the benefit of working through medical school-level curriculum for an entire year before starting my first year of medical school also provided a tremendous advantage. Unlike many of my current first-year peers, I have already seen a majority of the course material and have a better understanding of what is expected of us by professors. This has not only helped me from an academic standpoint, but it has also alleviated a lot of the stress associated with beginning medical school.
Overall, my experience with the ACLP program has brought tremendous benefits. It has certainly helped me to transition from a traditional undergraduate curriculum to a more intensive medical school workload, which was one of my biggest concerns when starting this entire application process."
ACLP Class of 2017; current Tulane Medical Student, Class of 2021
"I think ACLP is an amazing opportunity for students to prepare for a medical career because of the academic and professional benefits that it offers. Having gone through both gross anatomy and histology twice now, I developed a very strong foundation of anatomical knowledge that will bolster the rest of my medical education. I also believe that I developed great study habits throughout the ACLP program, which was particularly helpful during integrated.
One of the biggest advantages of ACLP outside of the classroom includes the massive support system that was available to me as an ACLP student. I essentially started medical school with a large group of friends and with professors who I was already very familiar with.
Also, being a teaching assistant for gross anatomy and histology was unexpectedly one of the most challenging and beneficial experiences that I have ever been through. Throughout my time as a teaching assistant, I further developed my leadership, communication, and time management skills in order to successfully teach and tutor gross anatomy - one of the toughest courses in medical school.
Lastly, as an teaching assistant, I had the opportunity to work directly with yourself and all of the SCB faculty members and it was a fantastic experience overall!"
ACLP Class of 2017; current Tulane Medical Student, Class of 2021
"I have only good things to say about the ACP program. My story is that I graduated from Penn State in 2012 but spent 4 years trying to get accepted into medical school without success. I applied during three separate application cycles (no MD acceptances) before I found out about the ACP program. When I was accepted to ACP in 2016, I was previously working as medical technician and studying for my MCAT. Before I even applied to ACP, I made sure to get good letters of recommendation from my job supervisor and doctor that I was working with. Additionally, I really pushed myself to get a good score on the MCAT. These factors were key in my acceptance (both to ACP and Tulane Med), but even outside of the ACP program I had to work hard to get to where I was. Any advice I have for younger students is to take the MCAT very seriously and try your best to get a good score. I ultimately took the exam 3 times but got an outstanding score on my 3rd attempt. I have no doubt that this is what helped me get accepted to the ACP program and Tulane Med.
That being said, if you are waitlisted at a medical school and your credentials are good, PLEASE APPLY to the ACP program! It was the perfect opportunity for someone like me who had spent 4 years out of school to get back into an academic environment and prove myself that I could handle the academic workload. You will be working hard in competition with the medical students in gross anatomy, but your goal is to surpass them, and the environment, students, and professors, will all be supportive to your endeavor. The acceptance rate to Tulane MD is amazing, and if the idea of coming to Tulane sounds good to you, the ACP program is the perfect fit for you. From Dr. Korndorffer to everyone else in the department of structural and cellular biology, EVERYONE wants you to succeed! As I stated before I have only good things to say about this program. Dr. Korndorffer really puts herself out there for your success, and I would recommend applying 1000%!"
ACLP Class of 2017; current Tulane Medical Student, Class of 2021
