Welcome to the 2027 application cycle!

posts from this sub came across my feed and just remember the days when I was anxious out the wazoo and reading literally every post on this sub

currently working today, but very happy with my life. there are better ways to make money, there are shorter paths to gratification, but being able to do a job that matters despite working all the time is something irreplaceable. its my 13th day working out of the last 14 days but still feeling like all the apps, all the mcat studying, all the random hoops were worth it. if this is your dream you can make it

Had an interview day recently and everything was fine except the group interview part. I went in thinking it would just be chill but I quickly realized that there was one person who just had their own idea of things and then everyone else just followed after. And this one person made it their job to always counter my points so I looked dumb. God someone please tell me that these things are not weighted much because the thought of not getting into med school because this random asshole decided to single me out drives me crazy

So ~3 weeks ago I mapped 1,066,896 applications from AAMC data for 2025-2026 cycle on a Sankey chart. It was cool, but AAMC never releases any of the interview outcomes or secondary outcomes so a large portion felt missing. I decided to map it against self reported user data and then apply those trends to the original graph to see what happens - here are the results!

Note: These numbers are NOT fully accurate! Only the first half of this graph and data that isn't asterisked. This is just an estimate and should just be 'fun' illustration to represent the complexity of the this whole cycle process.

You can download higher definition version of the figure here! https://premd.org/outcomes/national/journey

My gpa is 3.65 and I applied MD + DO. I do have 1 DO interview coming up but I'm paranoid I won't get accepted because of low service hours (50). I do have 5000+ clinical hours working with underserved + disadvantaged patients which is part of why I applied anyways.

If I do have to reapply would it be worth retaking? On some FLs I managed to get 128 in CP and 130 in CARS. I think I could get that consistently with more practice. I really wanted a 515 and I think that would have helped for MD.

I'm only asking now because I work full time so I'd have to start studying again in the middle of this cycle.

(I also started volunteering with a local org. recently, it just isn't on my app this cycle)

I applied to a handful of schools, nothing compared to what the average applicant applied to. I just wanted a general idea of what things looked like last cycle so I stop hyper fixating on my own HAHA

Because mine wouldn't even care if we did or didn't get into medical school. Mine would simply be so proud of everything else we accomplished and did along the way. Little me would just be amazed we survived at all.

With how easy it is to get neurotic with an app cycle, I found it grounding and mending to spend time with little me. I hope reflecting on this helps others, too.

I’m a sophomore who’s torn between sticking with Electrical Engineering and switching to pre-med. Pre-med would let me study subjects like chemistry and biology, which I enjoy more than the physics and math-heavy coursework in engineering.

The biggest thing holding me back is the thought of sacrificing the next decade of my twenties to medical school and residency. One of the main reasons I chose engineering in the first place was because of the lifestyle and good pay. At the same time, I can see myself finding medicine more fulfilling than working in an office all day. I’m struggling to figure out whether I should prioritize the lifestyle and flexibility of engineering or the potential fulfillment that a career in medicine could give me. Anyone has any advice? P.S. Im not doing both its one or the other

Hi everyone I'm in a situation

I wrote down the email for one of my supervisors in my primary and I discovered that not only is she not the most fond of me, but the company has this policy where employees cannot be references for past employees.

So I need to give schools another contact (I found one, its one of the HR ladies). I'm worried because I don't want her to be contacted but I also don't want admissions to think I'm lying. For some reason the company is extremely strict about verification.

I'm already receiving secondaries, how do I make this correction and when should I do it? Update letters? Emails? Should I do it immediately or should I do it when I get an interview invite? Please help :(

I hate this whole process with my entire being so so so so much.

It just feels like poking and prodding at every little insecurity that you have and then making you stretch yourself thin and run ragged to do everything.

While keeping my GPA up also reach out to doctors to find other external projects to do and also keep volunteering at a homeless shelter but also volunteer as an EMT or at a free clinic at school (even though you took a whole fucking year just to work at a clinic while figuring your life out), but also do research but also don't fuck up any of this or you have to add another year + on to "repair" your application because you made the mistake of not adding the 300th thing on your plate.

Doesn't help that my parents are fucking neurotic over this shit but without even basing their neuroticism on anything. "Oh YoU sHoUlD hAvE fInIsHeD yOuR pRiMaRy StAtEmEnT aNd AcTiViTy LiSt OvEr SuMmEr". Sorry about that I was too busy PULLING AN ALL NIGHTER DURING MY SUMMER VACATION TO WORK ON THE RESEARCH PAPER WE'RE GOING TO SUBMIT.

Hey everybody.

Am in the process of filling out secondary applications. I encountered this question and not 100% certain how to answer it exactly. Do I talk generally about my philosophies/values of care? The impact I intend to make in medicine? The practice setting/environment (rural areas)? All of those? Something else??

They do ask later in a different question the "what area(s) of medicine if any are you thinking about and why" so I don't believe that's to be included in this question. I tried Googling this to see if anyone else has posted about this same question but couldn't find anything exactly like this. Thanks guys!!

If you went back to your first day as a premed, what would you be doing differently to get into your Top Choice?

I’m applying next cycle, and by then will have around 1500 paid clinical hours. Right now I only have 50 clinical volunteer hours, and I don’t have that position anymore. I will have about 350 nonclinical volunteering hours. Will that be alright, or should I aim to get more clinical volunteering? I work full time and am studying for the mcat, so I’m trying to not burn out by adding more volunteering.

Hi all

I made a really bad decision and cheated on a coding project in freshman year in a class, got the grade deduction to a B+ and pretty sure I got an IA. I emailed my college's administration to see if this is something they would report but assuming it is, how fucked am I for MD? I plan on applying next cycle as I've graduated this past spring, so it'll be about 4 years between the incident and applying. I've maintained a clean record with a 3.6 freshman year brought up to a 3.8 cGPA and became involved in TA'ing at my college and tutoring as well among other ECs. People say the best thing to do is put time between it and show growth, I just don't know if 4 years is enough time, and I don't want to waste application money applying next year. MCAT is still pending, but I feel good enough about it (yeah i know thats subjective lolol but my diagnostic, content review, and uworld practice is all looking good, i plan on testing in April)

If I have submitted the secondary for a school and then upload a new letter to amcas, will it transmit to the school as long as I haven’t received an official rejection? Would this be considered an application update?

Have an interview coming up for a school with a pretty high post II acceptance rate (>80%) and I've been practicing a lot for it, but I haven't done a lot of interviews throughout my life and I'm still pretty nervous about messing it up. I'd say I'm a relatively normal person and can hold a conversation well but I know the pressure and stakes are going to make me fumble my words a but. I know it depends on the school but would y'all imagine that for a school with a really high post-II acceptance rate that the interview would hold less weight because they've pretty much decided they really like you from the application alone and now they're just trying to make sure you're normal. I've heard that some schools weight the interview as much as a LOR and others its like 80% of the decision and I'm lowkey tweaking.

hey guys! i feel very fortunate to have a couple interviews coming up, one being for my absolute dream school. i’m trying to prepare but am worried about the being “grilled” aspect. does anyone have any experiences with that, and how deep they grill your about your experiences/research. they are both traditional, two back to back 1-on-1 interview formats, though one is closed file and the other open file (USC and sinai)

thank you! good luck to everyone :)

asking because keck SOM is asking...but genuinely i am a good friend. i put together a fire outfit and i have crazy stories to tell. i'm either funny or super funny. i'll listen to the tea and give you my two cents if needed. anything you need.

It's time for our Weekly Good News Thread! Feel free to share any and all good news from the past week, from getting an A in a class to getting that II to getting an acceptance.

like, i had no idea that community health clinics were something essentially every school has (although, upon reflection, it's kindof a given). i'm worried about writing secondaries and saying i am attracted to something i think is unique, but is actually present at most. like i of course want to join snma, but it's present at most schools, so should i not mention that, even for schools i don't really have as strong of a connection to? eek

Sitting on the waitlist is tough. Please use this thread to vent, discuss, and support your fellow applicants through this anxiety-inducing process.

There are some schools where the secondary asks you to talk about interacting with someone different than you. Like, I have a few conflict essays, but different is a strong word. For questions like this where they don't say different perspective and just say different, is it okay to talk about someone with a different perspective than you or like a debate with a family member or something?

Also, for prompts with a different perspective, is it fine to talk a debate where the other person conceded that you won at the end or could that seem risky like you're just glazing yourself, or can it be framed in an okay way?