Do you have the same GPA too? Do you have the same scores on you MSAT (or whatever it is)?

How do you stand with such things in relation to the admission standards? If you are both well-qualified in relation to admission standards, then you shouldn’t worry about him/her.

In fact, instead of worrying about your friend, worry about yourself. Meet or communicate with an admissions rep or counselor from the school. Go over you qualifications with them and get their advice on how to bolster your chances. Then do whatever….volunteer more, study extra hard or retake the MSAT, try to get some research published….

I work at a large Catholic healthcare organization. While religion is prevalent it’s really available as opportunities not something forced on you. The fit that really matters is do you believe in the mission. Most religious hospitals are non profit and have a mission to serve the sick and poor. If that’s not part of the reason you are becoming a doctor then focus on areas that are not going to put you in the that situation. One of the guys on our team is an atheist but our mission of serving the sick and the poor has nothing to do with religion. We provide all the healthcare for the medically indigent. if we can’t find a gov’t program for them then we have our funds that pay for the services. Also he’s very accepting of other beliefs and is not out to convert anyone. We actually joke about it (we’re friends so we can). No one is trying to convert him to Catholicism either. I’m a christian, but not catholic. I’ve learned a lot about catholicism and have made some really funny mistakes. I was trying to understand material i need to present and it said to contact Sr DA for questions. Usually, at my hospital Sr means sister not senior. I looked for Sister DA in our internal phone book with no luck. I finally went to someone that spoke our corporate language and found out they meant Senior Department Assistant. I love having the openness of a prayer in the workplace. Every other place I’ve worked you had to be careful about discussing it. I mention it because it affects non-religious people as well. You can opt out of discussions and prayer. Either way their is no furtiveness about it. We do have spiritual influences that are present in the corporate culture, though. For instance one of our “rules” is that before every meeting we have to have a reflection. These can be great, uninteresting or skipped by the leader. I’m a trainer in the finance dept (non-clinical) and I use them as a tie to what we are teaching and why it’s important. Most often they are poems or articles. I suck at reflections even though I often pick them out and am a good trainer. I don’t draw people out very well especially if it’s one I’ve used a hundred times–i only have this problem with reflections that don’t go with my topic. On the other hand we have another trainer that can use pretty much any reflection and get a response. He’s always always saying “there’s no crying in reflections” (like A League of Her Own). I don’t think you need to worry about it, if you find yourself in a situation where it’s an issue, it’s not the right place for you. I hope that helps!

While you may share similarities in academics and activities, you each are unique and will have to write an essay and, hopefully, do an interview. This is where you will differentiate yourselves.

If you make a unilateral decision to do something in addition, it might affect your friendship. It would be better for the two of you to discuss this and make a decision together to pursue different interests

Good luck to the both of you!