"I want to be a doctor." Whether this has been your lifelong dream or is an option you have recently started considering, it is important to understand what it takes to become a competitive applicant for medical school. As a pre-med, you have to be strategic and make good decisions during all phases of your path towards becoming a physician. As a pre-med advisor who previously worked at Johns Hopkins University and Franklin & Marshall College (Kirsten Kirby) and a physician (Dr. William Kirby), we wanted to share our collective expertise and advice. Our book is designed to help pre-med students avoid making mistakes and employ proven strategies to strengthen their chance for gaining admission to medical school. Our book provides targeted information for individuals evaluating whether a career in medicine is right for them, high school students who plan to be pre-med in college, collegiate pre-med students, post-baccalaureate pre-med students (career changers), and parents seeking to learn more about the medical school admissions process. No matter where you are in your path to becoming a doctor, we hope you finish this book feeling empowered, informed, and ready to turn your vision of putting on the white coat into reality.