OCOM emailed me back and basically said my science gpa was too low at a 2.96 for them to consider me for an interview. They said the minimum to be considered is a 3.0 but there minimum MCAT is a 500 and I saw this girl on TikTok got an interview and acceptance to OCOM with a 496 MCAT. How do I bring this up in an email back to them? Is it possible for them to take a second look at my app because of this?
Hey Leute :), ich starte zum Wintersemester mit dem Medizinstudium und wollte mal diejenigen unter euch fragen, die schon ein bisschen Erfahrung damit haben: Habt ihr Tipps, wie man am besten ins Studium startet und worauf man gerade am Anfang achten sollte? Was braucht man eurer Meinung nach wirklich und was kann man sich vielleicht sparen?
Mich würde auch interessieren, wie aufwendig das Studium bei euch tatsächlich war also ganz realistisch im Alltag. Meint ihr, dass es möglich ist, nebenbei in Teilzeit zu arbeiten, oder wird das irgendwann zeitlich ziemlich schwierig?
Was war ein Fehler, den ihr rückblickend gerne vermieden hättet bzw. was würdet ihr heute von Anfang an anders machen? Ich weiß das sind sehr viele Fragen aber ich mach mir ein wenig Sorgen…
Bin für jeden Erfahrungsbericht und Tipp dankbar!
So, i have been in the american curriculm uptill gr9, and I've decided to chance to the british system and ill be transfering to gr10 im unsure of the 2 or3 subjects, on top of the main ones ofc, i want to take. Do yall think this is a good idea. Im changing since the SAT/ACT path doesn't really give me aa direct path to med school.
Im also looking for friends any body runs plays chess and watches anime here ss my top 3 1.MHA 2.HXH 3.Black clover/AOT
Hi everyone! I'm currently a medical student and our lab is seeking a motivated pre-med student for a full-time, in-person research position in Cleveland, Ohio! Our research lab is looking for an organized, reliable, communicative, and highly motivated pre-medical student to join our team for an NSF-funded research project.
Hands-on experience conducting academic research
Opportunities to work and connect with University Hospitals physicians and researchers
Mentorship and exposure to academic medicine
Potential opportunities for research presentations and publications
Strong clinical/research experience to strengthen your medical school application
Pre-medical student with a strong interest in medicine and research
Currently located in or able to relocate to Cleveland, OH
Available for a full-time, in-person commitment
Organized, dependable, and detail-oriented
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Self-motivated and eager to learn
This is an excellent opportunity for a pre-med student looking to gain meaningful research experience while working closely with physicians in an academic medical center. If interested please email your resume to axl757@case.edu to learn more about the position. Thank you!
Hey so I’ve been needing clinical hours that are paid. I’m a medical assistant at a pro bono clinic but it’s all voluntary so nobody gets paid not even the doctors and I need to save money for mcat stuff etc. Is it worth becoming an emt? Where I’m at I know someone who has their emt license but works as a medical assistant in the er. I can’t really afford those ccma courses and my community college has emt classes that I think my fafsa covers. Next semester I plan on transferring to a university so I don’t wanna risk my fafsa not covering the emt classes if I attend a different school. Has anybody does emt certification for clinical hours and if so lmk how it was and the work scheduling etc plz thanks!
Hello everyone, I hope you guys are having a great day. I am a high school senior who is planning to do premed/predental after uni. What major do you guys recommend I take? I was initially planning to do BME(biomedical engineering), but I heard that was a bad idea cuz its hard to keep your GPA up. Should I prioritize a major that keeps my GPA as high as possible while still meeting the requirements? What major do you guys recommend?
Hi everyone!
First Reddit post because I’m in a pickle. I’m trying to figure out the best route for me to improve my undergrad GPA and eventually apply DO with my low gpa. I had a rough couple of years and gave up, but want to go back to working towards my biggest goal.
I graduated from UCI this year with a degree in Psychological Science and around a 2.6 GPA. I’ve already taken a good amount of science classes, including bio, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and biology—but did fairly poor in them besides a few A-Bs.
A big part of my struggles in undergrad were related to undiagnosed ADHD, which I was diagnosed with recently. I had a really hard time with things like focus, procrastination, time management, and staying consistent academically. Now that I understand what was going on and have been managing it better via therapy and psychiatric treatment, I feel like I’m in a much better position to perform well academically.
I’m thinking about doing 30+ credits of post-bacc science courses and trying to get mostly A’s to show a strong upward trend. Ideally, I want to work as a medical assistant while completing the program, so my hope is that it’s either online or nearby. I live in Orange County.
I came across UNE’s online post-bacc and was wondering if anyone here has done it or knows much about it. I have an advisor meeting scheduled next week.
A few things I’m wondering:
Is UNE actually good for GPA repair?
Are the classes more difficult from undergrad STEM?
Can you take enough upper-level science courses?
Do DO schools look at UNE favorably?
Is it better to do UNE or an SMP with a low GPA like mine?
Has anyone gotten into med school after doing UNE’s post-bacc?
Would you recommend UNE over Touro, Scripps, SCU?
I’m really trying to make sure I choose a program that will actually help me rather than just spending money on another degree. Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated!!
Sr. in undergrad here. Long story short I'm a liberal arts major, bio minor and decided in the past year to look into med school. I basically have a semester of chem–no biochem, no physics–and all of those parts of the MCAT look pretty scary to me rn. If I have a strong background in bio, is it worth it to pay a ton of $$ for a postbacc program? My overall GPA is just under a 3.8 (science around a 3.97 I'd guess), so that's not totally ideal. But since I don't have a lot of volunteer or clinical hours I'm wondering if it would be best to get out of full-time school and work in a clinical setting while taking chem + physics + biochem somewhere local. Or, maybe it makes sense at this point to just self-teach and study for the MCAT without having those classes. Does anyone have any sage advice? Really feeling the tension with money + time + sanity at the moment, haha.
Hey so I live in Canada and here it’s incredibly hard to get into med school. Out of 15,000 applicants only 2000 get accepted which is around a 20% chance acceptance rate. I recognize this and I’m seriously scared of me not getting in by the time when I do apply. So starting now I would like to build habits today that could help me be prepared for the tests. So I came here to ask experienced students of med school. Any habits I should build?
Need advice. Im a premed rising senior and had to take orgo 1 and 2 over the summer because my school has orgo 2 as a prereq for biochem. orgo 2 is only offered in the spring and i did my study abroad in the spring so my only chance to take it was in the summer. i ended up failing orgo 2 and now my options are to either take orgo 2 at a different school this fall sem and then take biochem in the spring semester or do orgo 2 in the spring and take biochem next summer after i graduate. im planning on applying to med school summer 27 tho so i would be working on my app and in biochem so i dont know what to do. i obviously know that i shouldnt take any courses at a cc so my idea is to take it at a 4 year uni or find a respected online course if anyone knows or is it fine to wait it out ?
Hi! I was wondering how do two community college courses look to med schools. I have a 3.96 and a 516 mcat and have attended ucla 3 years going into 4th. physics 1 from my senior year of high school is cc (fall 22), the other two are in person at ucla. I also wanted to take my ochem lab at a community college since I can never get it from enrollment.
I also did biochem online and it’s noted on my transcript.
I am aiming for a T40 and wanting to apply to as many as possible, my application is pretty competitive otherwise. Any advice? Thanks!
I’m a rising premed sophomore still deciding between a chem major vs bio major.
I plan to minor in public health with either.
I know your major doesn’t matter for medical school, but I’ve been going back between the two and need to make a decision.
Hoping for advice, which do you think would be most beneficial for medical school 🤔
I would like to go straight into medical school so I plan to take the mcat junior year spring.
Chem major:
Pros:
- really interested in drug development research
- challenging but very interesting
- like the skill set
- open to all specialties but Derm is my favorite currently, I feel like chem connects with Derm very well.
- lots of career options postgrad if I take a gap year.
Cons:
- sort of behind because I didn’t take calc my freshman year so physics is pushed to junior year, and pchem senior year
-heavy semesters but doable, gpa risk.
-struggling to fit classes like genetics, anatomy, microbio, which I’ve heard are really beneficial for medical school. (can try to make it work though)
-can’t really use summers bc of internships + classes very expensive.
Bio major
Pros:
-will have all premed reqs done by junior fall ( I can take algebra based physics instead of calc based sophomore year then study mcat over summer and winter break)
-very interesting + labs are fun.
-cleaner schedule, hard classes are spread out so more gpa protection.
-includes all the recommended courses ( genetics, microbio, etc.)
Cons:
-chem major fomo. 🫤
-feels like every premed majors in bio, doesn’t help stand out
My school doesn’t have a biochem major 💔
I served on a medical school admissions committee for several cycles, and this mix-up shows up in almost every BS/MD file I read, especially from high schoolers who haven't had the chance to work in a formal clinical role yet.
Shadowing is observation only, standing next to a physician and watching. It's the easiest to arrange and also the lowest weighted of the three. Clinical volunteering means you're present in a clinical setting without pay, like a hospital transport volunteer or a free clinic intake volunteer, still without hands-on patient care responsibility. Clinical experience is the one that actually involves direct patient contact and real responsibility, like a medical assistant, CNA, EMT, or scribe role, and it's the one committees weigh most heavily because it shows you've shown that you are comfortable in hospital settings and typically providing care.
For an applicant still in high school, most of that heavier clinical experience tier is realistically out of reach until college, and committees understand that. What it means practically is that your high school years should build toward it. Shadowing across a few specialties to figure out genuine interests and clinical volunteering that's sustained rather than a one time event means that you already have a track record once college opens up roles like campus EMT or a part time MA position.
One thing that trips people up on the AMCAS Activities section is that staying at one place for a long stretch matters more than people think, both because you only get 15 activity slots total, and because a two year commitment at one clinic reads completely differently than three separate three month stints doing the same kind of work.
I went deep into the different types of clinical roles, which ones tend to suit different personalities, how location changes what's realistic, and how to actually build all of this into a coherent narrative instead of a checklist, on the blog. To read the article, click the link below.
Happy to answer questions if you're a rising sophomore, junior, or senior trying to figure out where to start.
Hi guys I'm going into my second year at ASU Barrett majoring in Neuroscience and would like to add a second major, but I'm not sure which one works best with Neuroscience where Im able to get the 30 unique credits and graduate within the 4 years.
Also is there any prehealth clubs where we can get hands on skills experience practice? I heard there is a canvas class called : Pre-Health Opportunities where all prehealth students are enrolled automatically which i didn't get in, do you guys know how to get in?
I’m 21 and feel really stuck trying to figure out what direction makes the most sense for me, so I’d really appreciate advice from people who have been through nursing, premed, post-baccs, or nontraditional paths to medical school.
I originally started college on a pre-law track. When I transferred to NYU, I realized I was much more interested in medicine and switched toward premed. Since then, (after a year) I’ve decided to leave NYU and move back to California, and now I’m basically trying to decide how I want to rebuild my academic path from here.
Financially, I’m in a somewhat unusual position because I received money from a sexual abuse lawsuit, so I have the opportunity to choose between programs based more on what makes sense for my future rather than only choosing the cheapest option. I know I’m very fortunate to have that flexibility, but it almost makes the decision harder because there are so many possible routes.
Academically, I still need to finish precalculus before moving into the rest of the traditional premed science sequence. Right now I’m considering a few different paths.
One option is going back to community college, completing my prerequisites, and eventually transferring to a UC or another four-year school for something like psychology or biology while doing the full premed track.
Another option I’ve been seriously considering is going into healthcare first. For example, I could do a surgical technology program or attend a private BSN/RN program, become licensed and actually work with patients, and then complete a premed post-bacc or any missing prerequisites afterward if I decide I still want to pursue medical school.
The reason I’m considering the second option isn’t because I’ve stopped wanting to become a doctor. I’ve always wanted to do something significant with my life, and medicine is still the path I’m most drawn to. I’m just having a lot of self-doubt about committing immediately to the very long premed → medical school → residency timeline when I haven’t actually had any real experience or gotten my foot in the door in healthcare yet.
Part of me thinks becoming a surgical tech or RN first could give me real clinical experience, and a much clearer idea of whether I love medicine enough to keep going. If I did nursing, I could potentially finish my BSN, work as an RN, complete whatever traditional premed courses I’m missing through a post-bacc, take the MCAT, and apply to medical school later.
But another part of me worries that I’m overcomplicating things and that if becoming a physician is what I ultimately want, I should just commit to the traditional premed route now instead of adding several years and another career in between.
If you were in my position, would you:
Again, I know that I’m in a particularly fortunate financial position, and I don’t take that for granted. I’m just genuinely very lost about what I should do. A huge part of this for me is wanting to build a life and career that I’m proud of and make my immigrant parents proud too. I think my biggest fear right now is making a decision based on self-doubt instead of what I’m actually capable of.
Hi everyone,
I’ve finished two years of pre-med and have 0 clinical hours so far (ik that’s not a good thing)
I’m currently transferring from a Canadian university to a US university, so i’m not enrolled in any university right now.
I am a U.S. permanent resident.
I live in ILLINOIS. I am planning to apply to universities for Spring 2027 intake and am thinking to not waste any time till then and start with clinical experience jobs but am not sure if I would get one. I am already lagging behind in terms of collecting clinical hours because I just have 2-2.5 years of my degree left.
I want to start getting clinical experience but I don’t have any previous experience or certifications at all.
For those who started from zero and who have knowledge about this-
->Should I volunteer first or look for a paid clinical job-will both of them give me the same clinical hours and benefits (benefits as in good review on my profile when applying for med schools)
->Can I get a clinical job without certifications?
->Can I even get hired if I’m not currently enrolled in a university?
->Am I starting too late with 0 clinical hours after 2 years of pre med?
-> Will I even be able to collect good amount of clinical hours and experience?
Another question is that research hours matter a lot too for med school applications so should I also do research along with clinical hours or go with one thing at a time considering that I already am 2 years behind?
Hey everyone!
We’re the International Medical Society (IMS)—a student-led platform that translates dense clinical research into clear, accessible briefs, synopses, and visual guides for aspiring pre-meds worldwide.
We just updated our platform layout and are looking to grow our founding team! Whether you want to sharpen your research skills or build a visual design portfolio, we’d love to have you on board.
Open Roles:
The Scholar’s Path (Writers/Researchers): Read primary medical literature, draft and peer-edit clinical synopses, and establish a citable publication record before medical school.
The Designer’s Path (Graphic/Medical Designers): Illustrate, typeset, and art-direct research briefs—turning complex findings into sleek visual graphics for our site and Instagram.
Regional Ambassadors: Help us expand our reach across high schools and universities worldwide!
Why Join?
Build Your Portfolio: Published work you can highlight on college apps or pre-med CVs.
Flexible Commitment: Work at your own pace during our publication cycles.
Global Community: Collaborate with high school and pre-med students from Singapore, the US, India, and beyond!
How to Apply:
DM me if you have any questions!
Hello, I'm a pre med student who is fluent in English and Korean. I'm planning to become a medical interpreter but I'm not sure where to start. I'm looking for something that is fully online as I will be in college this year. I'm also hoping to work fully remote after getting certified. I graduated high school in the US, and I got rating of advance low on my ACTFL Korean oral test. Please, anything would help. Please share any program recommendations that are preferably not as expensive. Also please tell me about your experience of getting a job as an interpreter. Thank you!
I served on a medical school admissions committee for several cycles, and supplement season is when I see the same handful of essays show up over and over, almost always by accident.
The biggest one: students think they need a more dramatic story to stand out, so they start reaching for a more shocking version of a real experience instead of just writing about what actually happened. A sick family member, a shadowing afternoon where “it just clicked,” a personal setback. These moments are usually real, and they're rarely what causes the damage. What actually hurts an applicant is inflating a moment's significance because they've convinced themselves the topic needs to be more dramatic. Specificity and self-awareness do more work than stakes ever will.
Second: there's no universal essay formula. A lot of BS/MD programs ask two or three questions that look nearly identical on the surface, a “why medicine” and a “why us” and an “obstacle” prompt that all seem to be fishing for the same content. Treating them as interchangeable is a mistake. Every question has a specific intent behind it even when the wording overlaps, and reusing the same paragraph three times with minor edits is obvious to a reader immediately.
Third: don't let your strongest experience carry every essay. If your best story is a semester of cancer research, it's tempting to bring it up everywhere you get the chance. A reader who sees the same experience holding up three separate essays doesn't walk away thinking you're accomplished. They walk away thinking your file is thin everywhere else.
I broke down what specific programs are actually looking for (Cincinnati, Case PPSP, GW, and Penn State all want something different, even when their questions look similar), plus how to actually use your shadowing, volunteering, leadership, and clinical hours on purpose instead of just listing them, on the blog. To read the article, click the link below.
Happy to answer questions on specific prompts in the comments if you're deep in secondaries right now.
Hi guys, I came to Canada as an international student and completed my Bachelor’s in Kinesiology from University of Regina. During that degree I was given an undergraduate research award and also complete honours in my degree. I have decent amount of research experience from these 2 things ( 12 months). I did some volunteering as well during my bachelor’s degree ( though it was not very consistent). I recently graduated and I work as a kinesiologist at a physiotherapy clinic in Calgary, Alberta.
I am planning to go to med school in Canada, being a doctor has always been my goal and dream. My undergrad gpa is not the greatest. I am targeting University of Alberta and University of Calgary as I am already in Alberta. Currently I am not a permanent resident or Citizen of Canada. I have to wait for 1-2 years to get my permanent residency so I can apply to Canadian med schools.
Coming back to my profile. My gpa is 80.55 % for my entire degree (120 credits). I calculated my GPA for University of Alberta and University of Calgary using their gpa calculation method and it comes up to 3.512. My plan is to take additional 24 credits from athabasca university to improve my GPA . Even after that I guess I can push it till 3.6. I am aiming to apply as an in province applicant in the 2028-2029 cycle because of my status in Canada. I haven’t taken my MCAT yet, also my grades in biology,anatomy, physiology, motor control, stats, nutrition, psychology were all above 80% -85%. I haven’t taken any chemistry or physics in university but did them in high school and I was pretty good at it. I believe that I can learn all the concepts of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, sociology as these subjects have always been my strong pursuit. I have low grades in courses where I was supposed to complete research papers and assignments and discussions. I am good at taking exams and I can usually score well with solid prep.
My question here is, do I have any chance of getting into any canadian med school especially U of A and U of C ( as an in province applicant) if I get additional courses from Athabasca University and if I score great on my MCAT and also work on my essay and do good on my interviews? These schools weigh gpa at 20% and 30% and the rest of the application is still under my control for now. Before I make a huge investment or commit to online resources I wanted to get a realistic answer on my chances of getting in after doing everything. My only weak point right now is my GPA because of which I am feeling very underconfident. The GPA does not reflect my potential. My first 2 years were really rough at U of R as I was an international student and was trying to adapt to a new country and new system of education. I used to be in the 99th -100th percentile in my high school. I am open to any suggestions on how do I go by this situation. Should I take this risk and grind and wait for 2 years. Any suggestions, advice and comments ate welcomed. Please help me in any way possible. I am only afraid because I will be investing a lot of time, money and energy into this and I want to know if stand a chance at all.
Sorry for the long text. I would appreciate any amount of help . Thank you guys !