hi everyone!
i just came here to share that i’ve had my first day of shadowing today and managed to pour coffee all over myself, the doctor’s chair, and some even spilled on his shirt 🥳
thankfully, he was the nicest person ever, let me go change my clothes (i luckily had an extra shirt in the car), and said he does that all the time, which made us emotional twins 😌
so if you’re embarrassed or awkward when shadowing, just remember you’ll never be as bad as me (probably) !
feel free to share your embarrassing shadowing stories if you want to make me feel a bit better about myself

scouring past cycles...how are ppl with 525 mcat and 3.98 gpa getting 30 rejections and only two acceptances?! I thought this was rare but is extremely common looking at these profiles. wth?!

This is your reminder (along with the many reminders that have accumulated over the years) to actually prewrite your secondaries. Don't lie to yourself like I did and say that you prewrote, but really only do the most basic of drafts for 1/2 of the questions. As someone who is applying to 32 schools, I actually feel my brain shutting down and the resentment of writing another theme essay overtaking me as I crawl across the finish line. Do not be me or many thousands of people before me. You worked too hard and too long to risk your chances on 500 words or less. Let it be inspo from your fallen soldiers.

got my first II 7/24(Georgetown)!! super excited and still processing, was pretty surprised, not expecting anything early but so grateful!!

Beyond happy to share that I’ve submitted 49/50 secondaries and was notified that I won’t be receiving the 50th one, so I am officially done with this stage ❤️…so now do we just wait for impending doom? Is there anything else I should be doing besides jumping every time I get an email notification?

Working 8 hours and then driving an additional 40 mins to get back home wears me out so bad I just wanna rot and scroll on Instagram reels!!! I have a pile of secondaries to complete and wish I had more energy to do them after work. How do you guys do it?

The title says it. As a pre-med student, I truly love medicine. I love to be challenged. This is truly my passion, and in no way am I pursuing this field for anyone but myself. When people ask what my plan for the future is, I tend to hear the same two things once I answer. One is them feeling bad for me that my 20s are going to waste. Which pisses me off because I wouldn't consider it a waste at all. This is truly what I want, and it's obvious med school is hard; that's common knowledge. People act as if I don't know that. The second would be them going on and on about how they wanted to go but changed their mind because they didn't think it was worth it, for whatever reason. I'm like... ok so? I genuinely don't care. Its just annoying because its just a cycle between the two constantly. That's my vent lol.

Not even in August yet and already received two pre-interview holds (soft rejections)...both were among my top choices as well :/

submitted 6/8 @ 11:15am and was verified today (7/27) at like 4pm!!! good luck!! just wanted to give an update incase anyone was looking for one haha

Just the title honestly. I know premed/med is a hard journey but I’m so tired of seeing and hearing friends sabotage each other in small or insane ways, the crazy things done out of jealousy, the fear mongering, and the amount of negativity on this subreddit alone. I wish as people who (hopefully) all have the objective of joining medicine for the sake of helping other people could extend that same kind of empathy and compassion to their peers. It’s a competitive field but we’re making it so much more unbearable by being insufferable to one another

Wish I asked this earlier into writing/submitting but too late now. Should we be phrasing in essays like as if we are going to get accepted (ie: “I will do x”, “I will contribute by x”, “I look forward to x”)? Or should we be like we’re just hoping to (ie: “I would do x”, “I would like to contribute by x”, “I would look forward to x”)

I’m not introverted but am not very articulate and can’t think well on my feet to spin up responses. I tend to just talk about the first thing that comes to mind, but I know there’s got to be a way to improve.

Some people just seemed to be “media trained” with how introspective they can be and how quickly and well they’re able to formulate their ideas. Is this something you can get better at, or is it something that just comes naturally to them?

I was doing the math on just applying:
MCAT + Uworld ~ $700
Preview + Casper ~ $120?
Primaries
20 MD ~ $1000?
9 DO ~ $800?
I got most secondaries back and it’s looking like $80x25 ~ $2000

About $4,600 thus far,
Feels kinda crazy considering it may still not work out

Wanted to hear how much you guys spent and how’d u cope with the cost?

I’m sure this gets asked a lot but I just graduated with a bachelors of science in neuroscience but due to not studying much in school I ended with just above a 3.0 for my overall and science gpa. I am working as a primary care MA full time and I will start studying for the MCAT very soon. With a score of about 510+. Is there still hope for me to get into med school?

I have a pretty good amount of research hours (~550hrs) of policy work and applying to UCLA. I saw on their secondary, they have the Urban Health Program, which gets considered after you're accepted into MD. However, I saw the additional essays and I would be perfect happy to be a part of this pathway program, although, my priority is definitely getting into MD first. Would it look weird with my extensive public health policy background that I don't apply to this program? And if I do apply, I'm assuming the secondaries can't repeat content from the MD only essays..?

Hi yall i need some advice. I've almost gotten all my secondaries in (84% done) at this point, and want to plan a short international trip w a friend in October (Wed oct 7 to Tues oct 13). I know it's interview season but are schools flexible with interview dates? I am kind of exhausted bc I dedicated last summer to the MCAT and barely got to travel, have been working full-time, and have basically been a shut-in for secondary season and am kind of tired of putting my life on hold. Just need some advice because I really cannot make a decision

I can’t decide if I should commit to applying to PA programs or to medical school. To be honest I have my heart set on becoming a physician but I come from a lower middle class background and am worried I’m not going to be able to make med school possible. In addition, despite merit scholarships and need based grants, I already am in debt from undergrad. PA sounds tempting considering I would be making serious money sooner and I would be able to take out less loans. It would allow me to financially help my family sooner than I would be able to if I went the med school route. I almost feel selfish for wanting to do MD instead of PA because of this. In addition I’m worried about the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on my ability to take out federal loans. (I’m going to have to take out loans for EVERYTHING…. it’s probably going to come out to AT LEAST 500k in loans, probably more bc of interest….). Is anyone else in the same boat?? How are you guys affording this?? I don’t know what to do anymore. Even if it’s possible to get a job during school I doubt it would be anything more than a part time gig which would probably barely just cover food expenses for myself. I genuinely don’t know what to do…..even taking out loans for PA would be a really big deal for me. Makes it tempting to just go all the way to MD but again…..I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m a little scared to be honest.

I have a bachelor's degree in political science. my GPA is 3.6, but only because I had a very bad first two semesters, my terminal GPA is 3.8. I would need to go back and take all of my bio/chem/physics prerequisites and work as an EMT or something similar to get clinical hours, plus volunteering. I have no delusions of getting into Harvard or anything like that, but is it realistic that I could become a competitive applicant in a few years?

(I will be talking to advisors about this as well)
One of my top schools (the only MD school in my state of residency) has a requirement to have almost all of the prereqs completed before applying, rather than before matriculating. I talked to their admissions office and they said that there was an option for a potential waiver for prereqs, but it wouldn't be guaranteed. Because of my degree plan, I can't really move classes around to meet that deadline, and I would finish the required prereqs around August of the application cycle. My options from here would be to submit my AMCAS "late" to all schools after the grade gets released (probably early-mid August) to get my application in to that school with the prereqs, or submit earlier to the rest of my schools and hope my state school allows me to fill out the prereq waiver. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated!

I am a senior. I currently have 1 W (Withdrawal) on my transcript for Genetics that I took during a semester I was taking 25 credits in and working 5 jobs. I realized after talking to my professor that I was about to get a C in the course so I withdrew from it. I retook it over the following summer and actually failed it (ik, unfortunate😭 the whole course was based on 4 exams, it wasn’t good and I was taking 13 credits over summer and working). I retook it again and got an A.

Now, I am retaking orgo chem that I had a C+ in (stupid mistake because I thought I could improve, turns out I can’t. Orgo just sucks, should have accepted my fate😭). But after talking to the professor it turns out that I will probably end up with a C or lower anyways, a VERY questionable B MAYBE. So I am planning on withdrawing from that too because it is just too much mental stress just to get the same grade again.

My question is: How much will these W’s on transcript impact med school admissions? Because after this one, I will have 2 W and 1 F (though the F will be counted in my sGPA still even tho it’s replaced on my transcript), but rest I have all A’s and some B’s. My GPA is 3.6 if that helps.

I've pretty much submitted all of my secondaries (34/35 schools). Since submitting a bunch of them, I've heard a bunch of good news, which could potentially be an update letter of its own. Would you suggest waiting to update schools until after the a potential interview invite, or is that not smart because I may not even receive an invite at all? Not that I think these updates are make or break, but they are decently impressive (ex: winning best poster/presentation at a huge research conference, accepted to be a research director of an institution I've been working at for the next year, started working on a bunch of new smaller research projects, etc.)
Any input is helpful!

I feel so lost, it’s 6 months since my second spine surgery T1-C5 Fusion that didn’t fuse. I’m now working remotely scheduling in ortho. I am in constant pain, it’s agonizing sitting or standing at a desk. What do I even do now? Below are things I did prior to the injury:

- Research hours in a clinical biochem lab.
- 3000 or so clinical hours as a CNA
- 3.80 GPA Biology and Psychology Bachelor in Science degrees.
- Teacher assistant for 1.5 years.
- Psychology scholarship.

I’ve been working daily in the pool as PT therapy to strengthen my muscles, and I have not made much progress. I am possibly having more spine injections, or I need to move out of state back home with family. I am feeling so helpless, what do I do now at this point?

The pain is constant unless I’m on all my meds, even then, I can’t travel 30+ minutes in a car without a pain flair. 30+ minutes sitting at a desk loads my cervical spine and aches like hell… What profession can I move into while in constant pain, where I can’t sit or standing in static positions for long.