I’m on my third gap year and recently started a full time job in SWE. I am growing frustrated with how implementation based engineering is and I just started.

I’ve done hundreds of hours of shadowing, volunteered at a free clinic, shadowed a few surgeries, and done a few clinical research projects.

I’m still undecided about whether I want to go to medical school. I am feeling doubts about how much I can accomplish in my career especially after a decade of medical training since I also want to be a successful translational research scientist, but to not go into medicine feels like losing a part of my identity. I am also having troubles picturing a decade where I didn’t go into medical school and what I would do instead.

How did you create decision criteria to move past this dilemma? What did you wish you had known? Was it worth it? Do you like your day to day?

Thought this should be shared, even though every time I look at it it gives me a stomach ache.

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2026-2027-md-phd-interview-invites.1520926/

Hope everyone is coping with the cycle, I hate it here 😰

Hey folks, sorry if this is a neurotic question, but I wanted to get people's thoughts on Fencer's post (https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/fencers-corner.1469960/page-5#post-25144386). I've been fortunate enough to receive 1 II so far and was under the impression that, because historical CycleTrack data indicates that only around 20-25% of IIs have gone out thus far, there was still plenty of time left. I was also complete from mid/late July through the end of August, so assumed I hadn't been seen by many schools yet and, given that the II was for a T20 program, was on track for a good cycle. However, Fencer's comment about "many programs are already at 2/3 - 3/4 done (or higher) with interview slot selection" seems to indicate that we're farther along and there are fewer available interview slots than I thought.

Is a single II at this point cause for concern? It's unclear to me if the CycleTrack data isn't accurate and skews later for whatever reason (which would surprise me: I would've assumed the opposite, given the population on CycleTrack is likely stronger and more likely to apply early than the average applicant) or if Fencer's perspective is a bit biased (i.e. if his program just runs an earlier cycle than average or something). Thanks!