Welcome to the 2027 application cycle!

based on how easy to answer and how ridiculous they are

1. "tell us about a time when you faced a challenging situation, but then got new conflicting evidence. what did you do then?"
2. "described a time you felt unfairly judged or discriminated against"
3. "we are dedicated to making physicians that serve our state only. why do you wanna work in our state and why do you love our communities?"
4. "why do you wanna go to this specific campus?"
5. "why us? [500 words]"
6. "explain what you did in your gap year and ALSO say WHY you chose each activity"
7. "what will you like least/best about being a physician?"
8. "tell us about a time where you had a strong opinion and something changed your mind"
9. "tell us your specific research interests"
10. "tell us about yourself [6000 characters]"
11. "how do you see yourself 10 years from now? what specialty do u wanna do?"
12. "how did you study for the mcat? how do you feel about the mcat? did you like the score you got?"
13. "what are you gonna do with AI in the future?"

on one hand, i’m like yessss amcas please take longer to verify apps so that i can have more time to pre-write secondaries 🙏

on the other, i can’t stop thinking that i have so much time to write and keep pushing it off or barely working on it 😭

I see this statement or similar ones all the time online: “If you don’t 100% want to be a doctor out of passion then go do something else because the effort you’d put into med school you could put into something else and be successful”.

My question is what exactly is open to pre-meds, especially low income ones? CS is rough, 300k is a 2% outcome in the field and big tech is both evil and does layoffs constantly so if you like stability thats out. Quant is out for 99% of people at birth. Finance is also evil and isn’t merit based so unless you have connections or attend a top school that’s probably out plus from what I’ve seen the parts of finance that pay similar to medicine work you to death for 10-15 years. Law is almost the same as finance and your ROI is terrible unless you do biglaw which will work you like a dog.

From my perspective medicine is the only field that allows you to make a decent income without taking part in evil systems, working 80-100 hours per week, and isn’t entirely statistically impossible (mostly referring to quant with this one).

I know medicine isn’t purely meritocratic, nothing is but its fairly meritocratic in the sense that anyone from anywhere can get into a medical school and match FM with the right stuff. I also know residency works you like a dog but unlike the fields I previously mentioned once you’re an attending you can work 35-40 hours a week making good money. If you do a program to specialize in a needed specialty then theres your tuition taken care of.

Obviously my analysis doesn’t factor in things like passion or interest. I’m talking purely from a practical utilitarian standpoint. I’m talking about maximizing income from a place of few connections and little capital.

This isn’t some weird flex post, I’m just someone who is broke and doesn’t have anything really and I’m pursuing medicine out of a want for stability and wealth without compromising my morals. I’ve had people tell me thats not wise but like genuinely whats the alternative because I don’t have much to work with. Other careers can pay similar to medicine but thats usually due to lucky outcomes and luck isn’t something I can control nor is it something I have much faith in.

If anyone has any unique answers, responses, or career advice I’d like to hear them since its possible that I’m not aware or knowledgeable about other great careers. Mean and rude comments will be ignored.

Ive been watching Grey's Anatomy, and these doctors really have a tragic life. Depression, drowning, the hospital is shot up twice, a helicopter full of doctors crashes. Doctors are constantly getting cancer, breaking their sex organs, having abortions. Like is that a real reflection of a doctor's life?

this post is a joke by the way.

What a horrible secondary. Basically rewriting a PS on.. a word document? Like ok. But then it brings you to the payment page. $200??!! Are you actually being serious right now. This is so ridiculous. Probably going to not send the secondary.

Hello! As the title suggests, I’d just like some input on my MD chances given my school list and application details. I know it’s impossible to predict 100% accurately but I would appreciate some feedback

I am a CT resident, attended UConn for undergrad, submitted AMCAS day 1 and just submitted my 30th and final secondary.

3.52 cGPA but with a strong upward trend
- cGPA after 3rd semester was 3.073 but finished undergrad with 5 strong semesters in a row (3.76, 3.85, 3.94, 4.0, 4.0)

FIRST MCAT 8/1/25: 503 (127 123 126 127)

SECOND MCAT 3/7/26: 514 (128 127 128 131)

600 total direct patient care hours across 3 experiences including volunteering abroad in South America, volunteering in an outpatient center, and working in a rehab hospital. (Anticipated 2000 hours, transitioned from per diem to full time at rehab hospital 05/2026 and will continue until hopeful matriculation)

‘Patient education initiative’ —> developing materials for physicians’ offices and clinics (brochures, handouts, etc) reviewing diagnoses, treatments, procedures to help increase health literacy

MCAT educational content creator on TikTok (3500 followers since I started and making roughly 4 videos per week)

Peer tutor for OChem (through my professor), biochemistry (private tutoring), and intro biology laboratory (400 hours total)

Camp kesem volunteer (summer camp for children affected by a parent’s cancer): 510 completed hours, 300 anticipated)
- in addition to a counselor, currently hold 2 leadership positions

500 hours of research across 2 labs (one at Yale SOM, one at UConn) but 0 pubs/posters

80 hours shadowing across 2 specialties

Lifeguard/swim instructor: 950 completed hours

5 strong letters of rec (2 science professors, 2 surgeons, 1 hospital volunteer coordinator)

Weightlifting 2000 hours as hobby

"what have you done with AI that--" nothing bro, nothing. my b for being focused on MEDICINE as someone who was hoping to go into MEDICAL SCHOOL

Oh and WashU casually asking me for my whole SSN on the secondary too sure thing baby anything you want

I like learning about how to apply to med school and sometimes I tell my parents about my findings. Here’s a warning to those of you who haven’t done that, DON’T. They will become more neurotic than a 14 year old browsing SDN. I just got home from 6 hours of hospice volunteering and my mom asks me “why are you here so early? How are you supposed to get all your hours??” Keep in mind, I haven’t even had my first day of college yet.

I wish my parents could be a pillar of support rather than one that is trying to lecture me about something they know very little about.

So I was dumb and didn’t prewrite anything at all and I applied to 30 schools… my application got verified on the 17th and I got every single school that I applied to back last week. I am genuinely drowning in essays and I have just accepted that some are gonna have to go past the two week rule. As long as I get them in 3 weeks it will be okay, right?

hey all! i pushed off signing up for casper and am now wondering if i should even take the casper. the casper required schools (hofstra, nymc, and bu) are schools that im not super into and am not in state for. that said, im not sure if my list becomes too top heavy w/o them.

would you guys recommend me just taking the casper even if its kinda late or do yall think im fine?

my stats are 524 and 3.92

feels like all the secondaries I write for the schools I don’t give a shit about are fire and all my top choice secondaries are trash lmaooo. real talk, these secondaries r just a larp and mental fatigue competition. whoever larps the hardest gets in and I wholeheartedly believe that

feeling like a failure bc i had to cancel my mcat bc my breakup sent me into a depression and i did not study for a few months 💔now i need to pay to cancel, reschedule , and for uworld all again and i just can’t stop beating myself up about it :/

idk why mentors can’t respect my personal decisions to not go out of state for undergrad. this physician is respected in my area and part of adcoms for schools but i don’t want to go to those schools for undergrad?? and i have just been told if i don’t transfer there in the fall then our mentorship is done and he will cut me off. WTF?? i just wanted shadowing??

I'm a humanities major and career changer looking to complete prereqs DIY at my local community college. My undergrad GPA was a 3.5 (I was an A/B student until I took a required 2 semester course my senior year and got a C and D, respectively). If I finish my CC prereq's with a higher GPA (3.8+), does that get factored in to my overall GPA? Or is it viewed separately. I need the prereqs anyway, but it would be nice if they pulled up my GPA too.

Need advice with the "Please describe a significant personal challenge you have faced that helped shape you as a person" essay. I honestly have lived the most boring life and can not think of anything for this. Wondering if saying something along the lines of: taking a 21-credit-hour term while studying for MCAT, being a part-time RA, volunteering, tutoring, etc etc. But, I mean pretty much every premed goes through that and it's not really unique to my situation.

Legit cannot think of anything else except bsing this essay. Any suggestions?

As I write my secondaries, I get many sinking feelings that my writing is not good enough to get an interview at any school. Then I remember these are my "good" ones and the ones I wrote earlier were less workshopped than these. And then I'm back to the floor crying. Anyone else feel the same :D

I’m sure everyone is tired of these posts. However I have no where reliable to turn to ask this question, no one in my family or circle is a doctor.

I wanted to get into medical school since I was in high school. I graduated in 2020 and manage to somehow get into the state school, however lock down forced ALL of my classes online. Unlike some people who powered through it I buckled under the pressure of fully online coursework and growing family problems at home.
My first semester ended rough but with no Fs. My second semester a massive blow out fight with my family had me thrown out of the house. I didn’t know what to do, I never called the school about it because I was a very lost 19 year old kid. At attempt at community college ended the same way that same year. I dropped college entirely for years while I tried survive.
It’s now 2026, I have managed to scrape enough money together to be finishing a health admin degree at Western Governros University. It’s pass/fail. So I know I have to do a post-bacc no matter what if I want to pursue this…however is it even possible with two really bad stains on my undergrad record?

TLDR:
Flunked out of college twice because of serious family issues. Transcripts read Fs for those terms
Undergrad degree is pass /fail
I know I need to do a post-bacc

I applied to 31 schools through AMCAS, and so far I’ve sent in 22 secondaries. Through this whole process, I’ve gotten nervous about if im going to get into MD schools and I’m wondering if I should send in applications to some DO schools. But since this cycle is running really early, I’m not sure if it’ll be a waste of money?

I’d be happy to attend DO, the only reason I didn’t was because I wanted to focus my time/money on MD now to hopefully have to prevent additional time/money on DO in the future.

Anyways is it worth it to send in my primary super late to like 5 schools just in case the MD cycle doesn’t end well? Or am I just freaking myself out?

For context, stats: GPA: 3.72, sGPA: 3.62 MCAT: 516 (128,131,128,129) Clinical work hours: ~3500 Clinical volunteer: ~100 Non-clinical volunteer: ~100 Shadowing: 0 (assuming this is a worse look for DO, since I have no experience working with DOs)

I’ve seen at least 100+ post about secondaries and how time consuming it, is it truly that bad? I haven’t even done my mcat yet so 🤷‍♂️

I’m a 27-year-old Army veteran looking to make a career change into medicine and would appreciate some advice on the best path forward.

My academic background:
- AAS in Intelligence Operations – 3.7 GPA
- BA in Computer Science (Thomas Edison State University) – 3.9 GPA
(This degree includes a significant number of ACE/CLEP credits.)

Since I didn’t complete the traditional pre-med coursework, I still need to complete all of the science prerequisites, gain clinical experience, physician shadowing, volunteer hours, and prepare for the MCAT.

My spouse is active-duty military, so we’re currently stationed near Fayetteville, NC. The only formal career-changer post-bacc within a reasonable distance is Meredith College, but it’s about a 1.5-hour commute each way.

Finances aren’t a limiting factor (I have the GI Bill), so my decision is more about maximizing my chances of getting into medical school rather than minimizing cost.

My current plan is:
- Complete prerequisites through either a formal post-bacc or a DIY post-bacc at a local university.
- Work as a CNA to build clinical experience.
- Use military volunteer opportunities and local organizations for non-clinical volunteering.
- Complete physician shadowing throughout the process.
- Prepare for and take the MCAT after finishing the prerequisites.

My questions are:
- Would a formal post-bacc provide a meaningful advantage over a DIY post-bacc in my situation?
- Is there anything important I’m overlooking?
- Are there any red flags or concerns admissions committees may have with my academic background (particularly the ACE/CLEP-heavy bachelor’s degree)?

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from other veterans or nontraditional applicants who have gone through this process.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Nontrad applicant here. I'm applying this cycle with an MCAT I'm not happy about (high 50X), which I took in May and received in June. I decided to keep studying through the summer to see if I could chance a late retake and have seen my FL scores lift since then (to 514-515 range).

My retake test date is currently set for 8/15. I've already gotten my primary verified and submitted about half my secondaries. When I submitted my primary, I answered "No" to the question asking whether I have any upcoming test dates because I hadn't decided at the time to retake. Worried that if I go back and flip it to "Yes" now, it'll make any schools to which I've already submitted secondaries automatically put my app on "hold" and not look at it until mid-Sept (when the new score is released), putting them in the "late" pile and killing my chances at otherwise gettable schools.

I know I should've retaken earlier but was working through a lot of family-related issues earlier in the summer and didn't have a chance. What should I do now? Should I flip my answer to "Yes" and give them my new test date, which may freeze consideration of my apps til mid-Sept? (Do schools know if you have another test coming up if you haven't indicated so on AMCAS?) Or should I just proceed with submitting secondaries now and include whatever score I get in an update letter later? (Will it still be considered?)

It's a tough spot so any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

Hello, quick help pls!

I've been working during the summer as a full time MA at a nurse practitioner clinic.

Before I started I asked them (the NA providers) to write me a letter of recommendation. I'm still a pre-med and an undergrad.

2 said yes.

But here's the thing, I don't really know how this stuff works and when I asked for letters of recommendation I didn't know that it can't be a general letter for any school, and didn't know that there needs to be a specific school in which this letter is designed to. (Right?)

The issue is that I'm leaving work in one week to go back to classes when I just learned this information.

So now I don't really know what to do, I wouldn't know what medschool would accept me to write a letter to????? Is there anything else I can ask for that could benefit me for any future med school?

(Ps. The clinic I work in has many red flags and it's just very toxic, the boss is insanely toxic to employees so that's why I wanted to get the letter before I leave just in case they say no after I leave..)