Update: Maybe I Wasn’t Cooked After All
Update for everyone from my “am I cooked?” post a month ago that blew up way more than I thought it ever would:
Accepted to a DO school. 😭
Shoutout to the people who gave genuine advice and kept it real without acting like a 497 MCAT automatically meant I should be exiled from medicine forever. Some of y’all genuinely helped me tighten up my app and mindset.
To the “you’re doomed,” “future patients are cooked,” “Caribbean or nothing,” “reapply in 3 years,” and “YOLO’d your MCAT” crowd… respectfully:
we got the A. 🫡
Turns out applications actually are holistic. Crazy concept for this sub sometimes. My MCAT was the weakest part of my app. I knew that. But thousands of clinical hours, research, service, leadership, a completed masters with a 4.0, and being able to actually talk to humans apparently mattered too.
And before people start shitting on Caribbean schools again too, it’s worth remembering that DO schools had a massive stigma attached to them not even that long ago, and honestly still get looked down on by some people today. Medicine changes. Pathways change. At the end of the day there is a physician shortage, and if someone is willing to put their head down, survive the grind, and not quit, they can still become a great doctor.
Not posting this to flex. Posting it because I know there’s another applicant doomscrolling this sub right now thinking one weak area means their career is over before it starts.
Improve where you can. Be realistic. But don’t let Reddit convince you your life is finished because of one number. I am definitely not the norm and I took a risk, but it paid off.
And yes before someone comments it:
I still plan to improve my test taking moving forward lmao