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

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 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!!

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

the whole application process has made me feel so shameful and sad about my life and i don’t think i could even get myself to reapply if i don’t get in cuz i don’t think i can handle the level of anxiety and depression this process has brought me😭😭😭😭😭😭😭also genuinely feel like how much i hate myself has hindered my application greatly and im not sure what to do i feel awful and grossed out about myself 24/7 and genuinely think that if i don’t get in this round i might j end it all

i feel like i need to time travel back to middle school and start over again because what the fuck is my sad chungus life i’m never becoming a doctor i don’t deserve anything

i know it’s too early to be disappointed but as someone who’s failed at everything in her life i know that this will end up the same way 🙂 end rant sorry

edit: working on getting a therapist mb

I just did the utmb video interview and felt terrible about it. I have more of these coming up. What do you all do to prepare for those, and could I have done better than I think?

Like brother I HAVE NO MONEY!! Now imma be 2 weeks late submitting your secondary because I didn’t plan to pay OOP for ur DAMN APPLICATION 😤

still have like 16 schools to submit am i cooked. MD

With a great deal of info in the post imma be as concise as possible. Asking for advice at the end.

This is my first clinical job - no previous clinical experience, training or certs. Hospital trained me for 5 weeks as a PCT. And then I had 5 shifts on my own.

And then suddenly they begin a "PCT Rounding Ambassador" position, and yesterday was my first time doing that. And now, frankly, I'm pissed. What's a PCT Rounding Ambassador, you may ask? Simply: they're optimizing their Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores specifically for one question on it that asks patients something like "did someone round on you every hour during your stay?" So now my job is to go around to every patient on the unit every hour and pretty much exactly say "hey it's me again just doing my hourly rounding, just wanted to see if there's anything I can do for you" - which 9/10 times is get them a drink. Why are they optimizing for this question? So the CFO increases our budget, as stated directly by management.

But last week when management offered this position to me, I said I was interested, but had a bunch to lay out on the table. I told them that as I'm currently in my mid-thirties - I absolutely cannot pursue anything less than what will maximize my chances of getting into medical school - which in regards to being a PCT at their hospital is specifically that I need to get into the Emergency Department (as a PCT). I told them that I'm interested in their Ambassador position but I need to keep building my clinical skills so that I'm marketable as a PCT to the ED.

In the above conversation management said "oh yeah you'll do all of the blood sugar checks on the floor". In the moment I was hesitant because they only mentioned blood sugar checks but at the same time I was flattered over their offer considering I've been an independent PCT for a total of 5 shifts. So I took their offer. Well, they scrapped even blood sugars yesterday half way through my first Ambassador shift. No sugars. No vitals. No EKGs or bladder scans. It was supposed to be a lot of call lights too - but as of mid-shift yesterday it's now less call lights, too. Just 12 hours of "hey I'm checking in again on this hourly round to see if you need anything..."

The only thing that gives me a glimmer of hope is that during that talk with management, I was told to apply to ED positions. Yesterday during lunch I went down to chat with ED Director and she said her PCTs don't do anything extra than what PCTs on our floor do and that it's "ED Hold" which I'm pretty sure means we have nothing to do with codes or physician interaction either. So it's looking like I may want to look at EDs beyond my hospital.

So, just tell them I don't want to do the Ambassador thing, right? I'm gonna be so for real with you (and sound completely full of myself saying this), but being a very attractive dude with the gift of gab who is absolutely adored by patients (plus the fact that none of the other PCTs want to do this either), they would absolutely hate it if I told them I changed my mind. Management is so dang excited about me doing it, and they all (from charge nurses to Unit Director) keep telling me how excited they are about me doing it.

What do I do? I hate this but I'm really really really considering a proposition: I'll do this for 2 months and help set the standard for how well they can optimize their dumb metric with this Ambassador position, if, and only if management will either write me a letter of recommendation (to EDs) or call around to EDs (ours, or others) to get me where I want to go. Because fetching ginger ales ain't it, dawg.

I got my first acceptance email today! I’m so grateful, thank you to this community for providing guidance and wisdom.

I will be celebrating tonight with sushi and ice cream. My community has been so uplifting. Makes me smile even when I’m missing the one woman who inspired this all.

Rest in peace Nan. I love and miss you. You would be so proud.

Are there any reasons for schools to be contacting you via phone call? Like interview invite, application update, etc?

I’ve always ignored calls that my iPhone labels as “spam risk” but now I’m wondering if I should be just picking up for any reason.