I’m low stat but my ECs are pretty good. It’s October 9th and I have 8 II and 1 A 🥹🥹
cGPA: 3.35 sGPA: 3.31
MCAT: 487/493/VOID/502
~650 volunteer hours
~5500 hours of clinic employment
~50 hours of shadowing
~1800 hours of research
Believe in yourself, you can do it!!! DM me if you have any questions, happy to answer
im a measly premed applying this cycle, so don’t get on my case just yet.
the acgme (accreditation council for graduate medical education) is trying to move the hours from 80 to 88 and the mandatory break after a 24 from 14 to 12.
my cousin is a surgery resident and is about to die. he works 100 hours a week. i’m worried for him and everyone else esp with resident suicide on a rise. i wouldn’t want to have a surgery done by him no shade.
he looks like shit, smells like piss and is quite literally not fit for much.
idk how the acgme can do this to ppl. you expect residents to care for patients yet they’re on the verge of becoming patients themselves.
this is sick. somebody change it before i start residency.
As a medical student who has gone through the highs and the lows, let me tell you that the reward in the end is absolutely worth it.
If only you could see how massive your future success is going to be… would you really be so demoralized every time you face a challenge?
The stress is real. The anxiety is real. The annoying classmates and family members who nag you endlessly… that is all real.
If you feel misunderstood, I get it.
If you feel disrespected, I get it.
People don’t understand what this process entails. You are NOT a loser if you get rejected. This process is so random and arbitrary.
Your worth is not defined by CASPer, a subpar reference letter, or any other subjective metric.
But do not lose hope.
And do not let people rattle you. Not even your own parents. Sometimes they can make things 10x harder than they need to be because they’re afraid of what people will say or think if word gets out that you got rejected.
Don’t let the awkward conversations get in your way.
Believe in your abilities, and know that you do NOT have to be flawless to get accepted.
If you truly believed that you were going to succeed in the end, you would not be afraid.
So let go of the fear.
Do not give energy to the negative thoughts.
And be grateful for how your struggles will make you STRONGER.
Take care :)
In my second cycle after a year of 2 WL this year have 8 interviews so far and just got the A this evening!! I genuinely am in shock and am so happy I’m gonna be a doctor ahhhh
haven’t heard anything in a month until this today… happy friday!!!
Trying to prepare for the unexpected and also just curious.
I hate research with my very core. I just recently took the MCAT and if someone told me I had the option of going on the hunt for research opportunities vs taking the MCAT 3 more times to get into med school, I would choose the latter.
I have an extensive professional career in different fields and research sits at the bottom in terms of value I derived from it and enjoyment. The whole process of research feels like slowly eating a pile of steamed horsed*cks. I truly believe it is an extremely low yield skill and experience and that being an experienced plumber is more valuable than having experience researching with regards to being a good doctor.
That said, I am applying to med schools with zero research. I refuse to do something I truly hate or dont have authentic interest in, and don't believe in, in order to pat my resume and increase my odds of getting in; I refuse to do something I hate that much in order to become the person I want to be.
At this point in my life, I plan on doing no (scholarly) research throughout my entire medical career and being a great doctor regardless, because I truly believe its an irrelevant experience and I am going to prove it through sheer badassery.
I interviewed at my top choice program this week (literally my dream school so I'm being a little bit neurotic about this lol), and at the end of the first discussion, my interviewer said, "don't worry, you have a very impressive resume and I really enjoyed speaking with you, you will definitely get into medical school for sure." I know he can't tell me for sure if I got into this school specifically, but how should I interpret his comment? Should I take it neutrally or should I be a optimistic about this program? I know this probably sounds dumb but I wanna know if anyone has heard this and did/didn't end up getting into the school. FYI this was a traditional interview format with 2 30-minute faculty interview, my other discussion went similarly well, we ran out of time at the end because the conversation was flowing, and when I mentioned wishing we could talk for longer she said, "well hopefully you come here so we can keep talking." Again I know I'm being super neurotic and weird I just wanna hear y'all's experience with this sort of thing.
Okay, I’m going to start this by mentioning that I have thought I had ADHD forever, but just recently got diagnosed and medicated around two months ago. My doctor and I are working out the perfect dosage of medication for me, but I think it’s really helping me school-wise.
Also side note, I’m a high school junior, but I’m doing Dual Enrollment at my local community college and taking 5 classes right now (15 credits). I took 7 credits over the Summer to try and get a little bit ahead as well. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and what classes I should take next, as I have an 18 credit limit each semester with a 9 credit limit each summer. I’ll be in this program for one more year, graduating high school and getting an AA at the same time in 2028. My college GPA is a 4.0, with and without my current grades. Lowest grade is a 97.92%.
Before, I was freaking out about my classes and I couldn’t figure out a good way to study, but I’m doing really well now with the medication. I’m taking college algebra and was freaking out, but got my studying habits perfected (I have a 104% A after midterms!!).
The past two weeks, I’ve been studying each day for around 7-10 hours a day. I’m feeling really confident academically again and I’m not stressed out, ACTUALLY managing my schedule as well 😭. Studying has felt fun, mentally stimulating, and like something I’m looking foreward to—even for subjects like math which I used to say I didn’t love. Turns out, it’s really easy to say you don’t like something when you don’t fully allow yourself to understand it lol.
All this to say, I want to start really narrowing down my career path. “Maybe mechanical engineering” and “NP or Doctor” doesn’t make me feel calm at all.
I was originally fixated on the idea of being a Doctor, specifically in the ER, but dropped the idea becuase academically, I was exhausted. I didn’t know if it’d be possible with the procrastination and academic tortures I was putting myself through, but maybe it is now?
I think I’d be miserable as a nurse, fine as a NP, and most academically fulfilled as a Doctor. I could settle as a NP, but it still doesn’t provide the autonomy that I crave as a problem-solver. Plus, I really like understanding why things are happening and having to make critical decisions, it’s very stimulating to my brain and I’m good at it! 😭
I’m most worried that the classes (for pre-med requirements and actual medical school) might end up being something that overwhelms me and isn’t compatible with my intelligence. Being told I’m smart doesn’t actually mean or make me feel like I’m capable of something like medical school, if you know what I mean.
I don’t want to link something like success in government, college algebra, or composition classes to a sudden ability to handle medical school and its prerequisites. Does easy success in college algebra (after studying and making sure I fully understand the content) actually equate to eventual success in higher levels of math? I don’t know!
I haven’t taken a science class in a minute (I took biology online with ASU, got an A but didn’t really pay attention to anything) so I don’t know how I’d do. This is another portion I’m nervous about. If these chemistry classes can be studied for in the same ways I study for math, then I’ll do fine. But, I’ve not taken them yet so I’m unsure! If they’re confusing, would allotting around 4-6 hours a day to studying for them curb any of that resistance? I’m worried I’ll start the sciences and realize I hate them, despite liking math which I find is usually linked to also liking science. (I like all subjects though, only iffy on science since I haven’t done it in a while or given it the time of day, just like math before I locked in over Summer.)
I’ve literally spent hours going through my math, making sure I fully understand why things are happening. I’m not just writing steps down and pattern-recognizing equations for a test, then forgetting everything later like I used to (or like even my smartest friends do). I think this is really why I’m excelling in math, but would this translate over to science?
I’m basically just overly fixated on knowing exactly why certain things in math interact with each other in certain ways. I can’t stop myself from taking pages upon pages of notes outside of class after researching why everything happens. It makes it so that even when I see a question I don’t remember, I can find out how to solve it from just understanding the how everything interacts in math. My professors and teachers always just list the steps, never explaining why they happen and I can’t stand it, so I teach myself. Maybe this is normal though and I’m just behind as hell, I don’t know.
I NEED this persistence to translate over to science. Has anyone had that happen for them?
Sorry for the rant, but I’m a nervous nelly who just wants to make hard decisions now so I can focus on academics 😭. Sorry for the yapping and the multitude of probable grammatical errors.
TL;DR - Would recent success in college algebra after being medicated for ADHD and finding a good study routine + studying for 7-10 hours daily translate over to success in science and higher math needed for pre-med and medical school? (I enjoy and look forward to the studying). Do I scrap the idea of medical school and do nursing?
- I have a compulsion to study until I understand exactly why everything is happening instead of just accepting everything at face value, especially in math. Does this compulsion translate well to science in anyone’s experience or does it waste time?
Thank you for any advice or information!
Hey guys, just got my MCAT back and I'm really quite a splitter. Trying to get a reality check on my odds and see if my low sGPA is going to completely kill my cycle. Maybe I should do a masters? (really dont wanna ugh)
Stats:
EC’s:
Obviously I know 519 is great, but my sGPA has me sweating that I'm just going to get auto-screened before anyone even looks at my 519 or clinical hours.
A few questions:
Be as brutally honest as you need to be. Thanks guys.
i feel like my nerves got the best of me. and i wasn’t able to articulate my thoughts super well and convincingly. i had so many exciting patient anecdotes and stories from volunteering i wanted to share but I just feel like my interview was not conversational at all and i feel like they didn’t really want to get to know me or even read over my app. Every time I would say something, I would receive very little response from the two ppl interviewing me. it felt like one was a good cop and the other was bad cop and the ONLY positive response from the bad cop was my answer to why i wanted to go there and maybe some brief short commentary here and there. and on one question she asked me if i had any other examples to share. im so scared i love this school so so much and its my IS. i really feel like i dropped the ball especially because i was not able to really explain my motivations for medicine and some of my meaningful experiences in community service with the more situational/ethical questions. i also rambled so much. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
I have 3.81 gpa and 525 MCAT, I also have great extracurriculars, recommendation letters and outstanding story. My concern is my GPA, I immigrated by myself at 17 and worked more than full time hours during school. My gpa dropped due to the abuse, depression and housing/nutrition issues I experienced during my first two years of college, but I also have a strong upward trend of straight As after my housing and economic situation resolved. To add up, I am multilingual which I think is a great benefit to my application
I’ve been lucky enough to have a few interviews and generally I think they went okay. However, as time has gone on, I keep thinking I did worse and worse, ruminating on what I said, and generally convinced that I’m not gonna get an A. Is this normal? Anyone also going through this? Anyone felt similarly and got accepted?
The only certification I could afford would probably be cpr certification I don’t understand how people are getting EMT or medical assistance jobs without certifications. And even when I do apply for ones that don’t say you need it I always get rejected because I have no experience. It’s so frustrating because I would genuinely be willing to do anything and even work nights.
I just started being a volunteer at the hospital but only once a week and it’s really not anything big.
I’m in NY if that helps.
Hi everyone, I'm sorry to even be posting this, but really needed a place to get this off my chest. I am a nontraditional applicant, and come from a non-science background, so have been very slowly taking the pre-reqs while I work. I have taken almost all of them, just have a semester of ochem and physics left, and my first MCAT score came back as a 491. I was scoring in the low 500s on my practice tests, and didn't sleep at all the night before test day due to stress, so I'm sure that played a role, as well as having content gaps I need to address.
I want to be a physician more than anything and force myself to study every day, but I feel like certain things just are impossible to stick in my brain, mainly with ochem and physics (my two worst subjects, especially physics)...
I just feel hopeless and like I've wasted my last few years trying to chase a dream that's out of reach. I live in a university town and see all these younger premed students graduating with tons of research hours, perfect GPAs, clinical experience, and just feel ashamed that I work a low-paying job in a different field and can't even grasp certain prereqs enough to get a decent MCAT score.
I'm sorry to complain, and I appreciate you reading if you've made it this far. I am definitely going to keep studying and forcing myself to push through, but any words of advice would be appreciated too. Thank you all.
Hi all just wondering how I should approach applying to certain schools. Really disappointed w how average these stats are. Picked up my GPA in the final 3 semesters w a ~4.0 with heavy science classes (anatomy , cell bio, microbio etc). I’m nj resident , ORM. I plan on finding a new job apart from my scribe position , either a pct/cct. Would like to aim MD
700h scribe at state hospital
200h pt aide
40h volunteer scribe at nonprofit
~50h shadowing (ENT, PA trauma surgery, hospitalist, virtual)
20h crisis text line (will get to 100-200)
10h at nature preserve restoring the grounds (getting to 100-200)
0h algebra2 tutor at a homeschool institution (start next week)
Looking at food banks volunteer positions
i am not crazy passionate about research at all but I have been looking for something to no avail, not sure how to find any position in research paid or unpaid post grad
LOR: microbio teacher, hospitalist head at hospital, ??need 2 more??
SCHOOL LIST
Quinnipiac
George Washington
Georgetown
Howard
Tufts ?
Hackensack
Rutgers Med
Rowan
Albany
CUNY NY
Drexel
Albert Einstein ?
I want to add more schools just not sure how to go about it with these stats, I would like to stay in the NE ideally and have primarily MD if I have enough juice for them
should I worry about opening my inbox for possible IIs on indigenous people’s day?
I’m a 29-year-old critical care RN with 5 years of ICU experience at a Level I trauma center. I’m CCRN certified and work as a charge nurse and preceptor.
My estimated AACOMAS science GPA is 2.83, with a cumulative GPA around 3.2–3.3. My early science grades include several C’s, a couple of D’s, and repeats, but I’ve shown a strong upward trend: 3.6+ during my BSN, plus recent A’s in retaken Biochemistry and Immunology. My last 60–90 credits are much stronger.
I’m considering retaking A&P and chemistry and completing additional upper-level science coursework to raise my science GPA above 3.0. I haven’t taken the MCAT yet.
Given my academic history and extensive ICU experience:
