u/mulburry

i recently graduated from an arts program and am beginning the long and arduous process of applying to medical school (next cycle). my department in undergrad was pretty small and i have good, close relationships to my professors. i am hesitating to email them since i know that the semester starts in a week and they must be super busy.

i would have emailed them earlier but i only got my personal statement close enough to done this past week. also, i was figuring out if i would have to come out to them for these letters since they don't know my legal name. i know that i should have prioritized this, totally my fault.

would you be annoyed by yet another thing falling into your inbox right before the semester starts? should i wait for a couple of weeks? it's worth noting that they still have months to write these letters. thank you!

just venting. my father is still in the early stages, but has markedly gotten worse since i was last home from college. i'm back now, applying for jobs, preparing for the MCAT, and doing a lot of contemplating. the thought of committing to a minimum of 7 more years of school and not knowing if i'll be around if/when his PD progresses makes me feel sick. i've told my partner that i'd never sacrifice my career for a man, but here we are.

i'm hoping to request my LORs before colleges start for the fall, but this has been holding me back. all of my professors know me by my preferred name, but i'll be applying to med school with my legal name.

these are professors who i am pretty close to, who have only known me by my name. i'm not against disclosing my legal name to them and requesting that they refer to me that way, but i feel really, really icky about it. plus, i'm not 100% sure that they won't think differently of me, affecting their writing.

has anyone been through something similar? what did you do? thank you for any advice!! <3

https://preview.redd.it/rad5uhymc8dh1.png?width=2690&format=png&auto=webp&s=2cbbc6d8688befa36b695fe12eb7c6666109df55

feeling a little demotivated because i feel like everyone else's diagnostics are 500+. i'm a non-trad applicant (i have a bachelor's of fine art 😭) and i HATED orgo and biochem. i know that i have massive content gaps. my kaplan books are staring at me from the corner of my room. it's been a while since i've needed to study for anything and i'm not sure where to start. does anyone have any study methods, preferably weird and unhinged ones?