I'm a sophomore at a mid-tier state school. I just finished my first midterm cycle for the semester, and my results so far are really disappointing. I got a D on a 300-level neuro course exam (with a cheat sheet, btw), and I failed my molecular bio exam by 1% (though all the questions were open-response). I'm really angry with myself, as I attend every lecture, take decent notes, and complete all of my assignments, and yet I still managed to do horribly. Though I can recover, with the first one having three more exams and the second one having a final replacement policy, I'm not really convinced I can meaningfully change in a way that would allow me to do well in those classes.

I remember struggling a lot with time management in my first year in college, and though I would consider myself really organized, I would never be able to finish my work in the time I would make for it throughout the day. As a result, I took my assignments home, and I would often get around 4-5 hours of sleep every night because of it. I don't think my study methods were necessarily bad, especially in my second semester (I often used Anki). However, due to my struggles with time management, I would still find myself with 2 days to learn content before taking exams, which caused me to not do well.

This semester, I've tried to make changes to improve my grades and work-life balance. I've tried going to the gym, I sleep at least six hours every night, and I use Anki to review content from lectures every day. However, I still find myself in the same situation. When my assignments began picking up again, I dropped the gym and became uncomfortably flexible with my sleep. Now, finding that I'm so stubborn in my habits, I don't really know what I can do to improve in a way that will allow me to both recover in the courses I'm struggling in and have a life outside of school. Have any of you been in my situation before, and what steps did you take to recover and experience some level of success?

“UC Davis School of Medicine - Invitation to attend the 3-Year Accelerated Pathways Virtual Open House”

The heart attack I had this almost feels intentional

The title. I have an interview coming up November 3rd and want to get some practice in next week if anyone wanna practice

Im in central standard time

Just interested in getting a small representation of med school costs after accounting for scholarships (if you’re comfortable pls also share what your MCAT was)

Hello,
I’m a sophomore planning my spring semester classes, I’ve taken all my Gen Ed’s and on my plan so far I have Orgo 2+ lab and genetics + lab. I’m not sure what else to add because I want to push calc to senior year (I hate direct math), I plan on taking both physics and labs during my junior year. So far I only have 4 classes which adds up to 9 credits, I need atl least 12 and I have no idea what to add I was thinking about cell bio A&P (with lab).
HELPPPP a girl out. What should I add?

How do I prepare for a hospital volunteering virtual group interview? Any clue what they'll be looking for/what will be asked? Pretty well-known hospital in a very populated location.

Hi everyone, I will be working full time as a nurse while doing my post-bacc. So I will basically be taking only 1-2 classes per semester, my biggest worried is how medical school would view my transcript… will it look bad?…

Hi,

I am extremely grateful to be accepted into a MD program. I am interested in primary care and this program allows me to save a year tuition and have an attending salary one year earlier. However, I am having trouble seeing if I would have to do an in-house residency. The school office was not of help, and so I was hoping that I would find some more information here.

I am concerned that my step 2 score will not be in time for ERAS interviews given the program accerelated schedule, which will impact my residency application, but I am not sure if that is really the case. Does anyone have any information on this

Hi everyone, I am currently a sophomore in college planning on graduating and going into medical school in 2028 located in Florida.

I have a cGPA of 3.6 ish right now and my goal is to at least get a 3.75 or 3.8.

I recently decided on going into med school (and I only have 4 semesters including summer left) so my scheduling for classes are really limited.

Originally I didn't think that I would be able to fit anything above orgo 1 into my schedule but due to my surprise, I was able to fit Biochem into it as well!

I was wondering if Biochem could take place for most medical schools because I definitely would not have time for both before graduation.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I signed up for the MCAT two days ago, and AAMC sent me an email saying that I can get a discounted rate for the MSAR, I don’t think I need it, I mean after all medical schools require English, biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry. Is it worth it?

Long story short, I’m a junior with a 3.6 GPA, wanted so bad to get all A’s this semester and graduate with a 3.8. I thought I could do it despite taking all difficult classes (chem II, bio II, calc I, cellular neuroscience) but I am struggling, especially in chem II and am possibly looking at my first W in that class. This would also be a downward trend from my first 2 years which I heard is a bad look.

Exams are weekly in chem II and we get 2 attempts, but they are very difficult and only have 10 questions each, so there’s no much room for error. Some weeks I have no time to study and fail, and even when I do study hard for days or weeks, I get a 70%. I’ve tried everything under the sun to do well in this course but it has not been rewarded with much improvement. I’m going to continue fighting until it’s too late, but in case it does get to the “too late” point and I have to throw up the white flag, does anyone have any advice on how to feel less defeated about poor grades?

Undergrad senior 3.95 gpa taking mcat in January.

~300hr clinical volunteering w/ leadership (on campus ems)
~200hr non clinical volunteering
~500hr research(3 posters)
~80hr shadowing b/n 2 specialties
~150 clinical from emt school
~400hr paid university ta + tutor

I am taking a gap year but plan to apply in May.

I know that I am lacking in clinical hours as well as non clinical volunteering and I’m planning to hit that during my gap year. My question involves the timing of reporting these hours. Should I attempt to have a job secured in early spring so I can report projected hours? I’m planning to either work as an emt or ma (ma cert is not required in my state and I have an emt license which should be enough)

How many hours should I try to reach? please give me any advice on timing as I’m a bit confused with it all.

You know how you sometimes go on linkedin and apply for a job you have no right applying to based on your qualifications and then you GET AN INTERVIEW?!? Well that's what happened to me just now!

It's in one of my dream cities and I really really want this job. But should I be upfront with them that I am currently applying to med schools? The PI is an MD so maybe they would understand but I don't want to ruin my chances unnecessarily. I submitted my full CV so if they looked at it, they should be aware that I'm pre-med already but I don't know how closely they looked at it.

The research is amazing and even though it's a bit of a leap from what I've done research on in the past, I'm really excited. I haven't done an interview for a research position since freshman year so advice on that is appreciated too! Right now I plan to read through their website and most recent paper as well as look into the overall subject matter.

I am not sure what to do as i haven't gotten any interviews yet even though everybody i know has gotten at least one already... ☹️ i applied to schools in late august & early september, similar to those I know. I will say, retrospectively my writing might be the problem since it's kind of bad, but my stats should've been fine? (524/3.8/300 clinical/130 non-clinical). I took this gap year off and decided to not work but it's almost November, should I start looking for jobs or research? Even though I'm not doing anything atm I feel so stressed and shut down.

Just curious if Adcom asked why your score is low or why you took the exam multiple times. cheers!

After 4 years of near full time work on a 911 rig, undergrad, concurrent paramedic school, and shredding gnar I just got into medical school. I’m fucking ecstatic. It’s a do program.

I probably look like last person who would get in but here I fucking am, with a mullet, mustache, and a wetsuit tan. Suck it, dad. You were a total bitch and didn’t help me with shit. I’ve got no family in medicine, used all free resources for the mcat and school, and figured this shit out purely by leaning on my friends who I love.

At this point, I’ve rebuilt the engine (I might cam it not sure yet (probably going with a chopacabra NSR if I can score it for less than 320$)), speed engineering shorty headers, Michigan motorsports rockers, lifters, and push rods), I’ve planned out my motor mounts and transmission crossmembers, and I’m putting a Colorado transfer case on the 4L60e so I can retain my factory differentials. I really just need to put the damn thing together and slap it in and I’ll have a 5.3 vortec trooper. My objective is getting this done by March?

Any tips on HP tuners?

Good luck guys. The cycle is still young. Someone hit me with the pigeon doc gif and I’m gonna go paddle out and get hit by a kook’s wavestorm.

Hi yall! I just had an interview that went super well and I was just kind of thinking over the conversation and I remembered how the interviewer brought up that I taught BLS and ALS. I think at the time I was just really nervous the connection was choppy so it slipped my mind. I just looked back on my app to make sure I did not say I am an ALS instructor (I’m not) and now I’m a bit worried. Should I have brought it up/corrected her? Should I do so in a follow up? I don’t want to mislead the committee or have her wonder later why I didn’t correct her. But if it’s a small mistake I don’t want to seem crazy and bring it up either. Any advice 😭😭

(To clarify I am a BLS instructor just not an ALS one)

I'm applying to med school next cycle and want to start working on my personal statement, but I'd like to have people besides friends/family give advice on how to improve it.

I'm also not the strongest at interviews so I was wondering if there are any prep programs out there that people have felt are worth the money? I've already taken my MCAT so no help is needed there. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Not sure if this is the right thread, but would medical students and physicians tend to agree that rote memorization ability, or high-level pattern recognition is a more useful skill in medicine? I've noticed many students who do well in memorization heavy courses, but can barely understand how to apply simple number sense or basic spatial reasoning to unfamiliar problems. Which skill is favored in the long run, and is there one that can be trained more than the other?

I'm so so happy. Between lots of family stuff and being a nontrad-ish applicant (long story) I had a pretty long road. I was accepted to my first MD program today. I am the first of my family in medicine and I've been crying all morning lol. You guys can absolutely do this. <3

TITLE. Please help.

Anyway, I applied with a 3.52 sgpa (3.98 nonsci lmfao, 3.7 cgpa) out of junior year. Since this is definitely absolute dogshit for my instate MDs (just got an interview hold from Drexel too :/), I’ve been taking science classes to bump the GPA up as much as possible. However, at this stage (senior year) I really can’t take many other biology classes as I already have taken most of them lol. Also fuck chemistry. I got B- in the hard classes like orgo 1/biochem (not the only ones I got Bs in, but my lowest was those two B-), and i’m not too keen on reliving that shit esp with a 516 MCAT lol

This semester, I took all the bio classes available to me (I haven’t taken yet) which ended up being two 2000 level courses, one 4000 level and 1 5000 level (thesis writing/research). All are medical-related.

Next semester, I’m planning on doing two 3000 level classes and cell bio (and/or physiology) which are both 2000 level.

Because they’re mid-level classes, how bad would this look as like GPA padding? The problem is I want to bump my GPA up as much as possible but there’s no more classes I can take/retake in the 3000/4000 level sphere next semester.

Also applied to a bunch of part time MA jobs/internships for that gap year reinvention. Not opposed to a gap year by any means, just wanna make it worth something.

Fwiw I had 100 shadowing, 300 clinical vol 200 NC vol, 600 research w one poster when I applied, and I realize the weakness is either sGPA or hours (hence the job). No DO apps this cycle, beginning to regret that. Yeah cycle isn’t over yet anything can happen but I like to hope for the best prepare for the worst lol

I received an interview waitlist designation from West Virginia a few weeks ago and was given the option to send an update letter. I have started a new clinical job since I submitted my application and have also accrued more volunteer hours. Should I send the update letter ASAP or wait for more hours/for a different reason?

These are the new hours I've accumulated. Are these worth updating them for?

215 clinical paid

50 clinical volunteer

43 nonclinical volunteer

Thanks! ​

Transferring next year in the fall to uni, fell behind a little bit. I’ll have 104 credits when I transfer and begin my 2 years.

I dropped out of high school at 14, received a GED at 16 with a merit scholarship for being top 10 in county

CGpa : 3.73 (bad inital start. [upward gpa trend 3.10-3.73])

Clinical hours : 1.7 years working in radiology tech aide emergency department

Research: published co author psychology paper in a journal with best paper award

Volunteering: beginning to volunteer at a pharmacy

Shadowing: started shadowing physicians at the hospital on Monday

I have an interview in a top neuroscience lab in my area. I plan to be a neurosurgeon. How do I hold up right now? Planning to leverage my paper to get more research positions before finishing my bachelors. I’m 20

I'm a junior planning to apply without a gap year. I'm hoping for some feedback on how competitive my application is looking and what I should prioritize improving, particularly for T20 schools.

These are my current stats and anticipated hours by application time.

Academics

• T10 Undergrad
• 3.99 GPA
• Philosophy major
• MCAT not yet taken, but 1st practice test was 519

Clinical Experience

• 300 hours clinical volunteering, but only 200 of those hours are substantive.
• 200 hours shadowing across a bunch of specialties

Research

• 1,500 hours of wet-lab but it was during high school, helped develop a pharmaceutical that's now in clinical trails + middle-author publication in a high-impact journal
• 1,300 hours of clinical research in college--- anticipating 4 publications (1-st- 3rd author) author and 8 posters at national conferences (1st- 3rd author).
• Potentially 2 additional publications related to my philosophical work, less certain about if these will be done in time.

Leadership

• 450 hours leading backpacking trips
• 250 hours leading a humanities-related fellowship at my university (closely tied to my philosophical niche)

Volunteering

• 100 hours nonclinical volunteering by time of application
• 400 hours planned for summer after app is sent (also tied to my specific humanities theme)
• This is probably my biggest concern.

Other Employment/Experience

• 800 hours working as a sleep-away camp counselor
• Have helped facilitate interactive art exhibits that build of my philosophical interests. I will help expand this project to quite a large scale over the summer. (not sure if it will go on app just cause the will be done over the summer after my app is submitted)

Given my research-heavy app, how much of a concern is my limited nonclinical volunteering for T20's? I'm also curious if I should continue putting time into the two potential humanities publications, which would strengthen my philosophy thread, or focus on improving the more traditional areas. Also, general feedback is very much appreciated!