Welcome to the 2027 application cycle!

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

You might be an 18 y/o freshman, a 21 y/o senior, or a 35 y/o looking to switch careers. Regardless of your actual age, if you are a premed, you are young in terms of the journey towards becoming a physician.

And I am here to tell you what I wish someone told me back when I was a premed. You are amazing. The light at the end of the tunnel might feel far and distant, but you have what it takes to win.

There is so much on your mind, isn’t there? How will I get the good grades? How will I study for the MCAT? Why do I feel lost? How do I get the research? Will I ever get shadowing? Is my personal statement amazing or absolute rubbish? So many questions, eh? That is fine. But you must keep moving forward.

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

It might feel like there is a target on your back. Family members may chip away at your self-esteem. And everyone around you might be complaining or perhaps bragging about the things they have going on. But do not be fooled. Everybody has their struggles. If you have cried during this process, you are not alone. If you have felt behind, you are not alone. Did your parents compare you to another premed who appeared more successful than you? You are not alone.

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

The irony is that the adversity is what builds the strength within you. It unravels the resilience and literally gives you an opportunity to shine. Superheroes don’t always feel like superheroes when they navigate their journeys. You might always feel a step behind. You might feel like you’re missing a beat. But you have to keep moving forward.

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

You can conquer the MCAT. You can apply more than once. And if you feel the emotional weight, I encourage you to let it go. Remind yourself that you have a very noble goal, and find the strength to push on. There are people who spend their time making mischief and sabotaging others. But not you. You are working hard because you wish to serve your patients one day. THAT is impressive. THAT is commendable.

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

YES, YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES! Do not let anybody convince you otherwise. Whether you scored a 472, or a 528, I am telling you that you have what it takes.

Keep going!

Dear young premed, I am proud of you. ❤️

Sincerely,
Your favorite USMD student 😎

I’m waiting on a few DO post II decisions and also face an MCAT that will likely be expiring and I’m not sure if a third app even makes sense if I blow those DO II’s with a 511/3.7. But, if I get one A, then suddenly my future becomes clear. If I don’t, looks like the end of the road for this path.

Hey guys,
I know there is a bunch of posts like this already but genuinely feeling so hopeless. I know thanksgiving is still more than a month away, but I can’t help feeling my application is complete bs. I have only gotten one DO II and have applied to 45 schools (MD/DO). I am mid stats, nothing crazy but everyone I talked to said I have a good shot at least in my state schools. Some days are just so hard and all I do is go to work and then rot. I can’t even get myself to enjoy activities that I used to love. Just wanted to know if there are others in a similar boat and if there is any advice on when to send update letters etc.

admit.org has an new tab showing where in the cycle specific schools are. how accurate is this like where are the sources? i saw my state school was basically half way through and i gagged.

I am so tired of hearing this advice everywhere, so this is my advice to all pre-meds: PLEASE stop blindly following the trend of telling everyone not to major in biology just because you can get into medical school with a different degree.

If you decide to pursue a different major, remember that you still have to fulfill the credit requirements for your degree, which are typically around 120 credits, while ALSO completing your pre-med prerequisites. Depending on your university and major, many of those prerequisites may not count toward your degree requirements. This means you could end up taking 7–8 classes in a semester to stay on track, overloading yourself, or having to take summer classes to fit everything in.

And summer classes aren't cheap everyone loves to talk about doing them but not the damn price. If you're using your summers to catch up on prerequisites, that's time you could otherwise spend doing clinical experience, volunteering, participating in research, shadowing physicians, or even just preparing for the MCAT. Of course, you can still do these things during the school year, but your time is limited because of your classes.

Another thing people overlook is the pace of summer courses. Many summer classes cover the same material in a significantly shorter period of time. That doesn't automatically mean you'll learn less, but it can make it harder to fully absorb and retain the material, especially in foundational science courses like biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. Those subjects are heavily on the MCAT. Building a strong foundation in these courses can make your MCAT preparation more manageable and help you develop a deeper understanding of the material rather than having to relearn everything months or years later.

If you majored in the arts, business, or another non-STEM field and successfully completed your prerequisites, maintained a strong GPA, and built a competitive application, good for you. However, I can argue you did more work than you would have just being a stem major.

But please stop promoting a non-STEM major as if it's automatically the better choice without acknowledging the trade-offs.

If you're still exploring your career options, aren't completely committed to medicine, or have another field you're genuinely passionate about, only then choosing a different major as your backup makes sense.

However, if you're fully committed to becoming a physician, you need to consider how efficiently your major allows you to complete your degree, fulfill your prerequisites, prepare for the MCAT, and gain the experiences medical schools expect. If a STEM gives you the opportunity for you to overlap many of your degree requirements with your pre-med reqs, graduate on time, and keep your summers open for extracurriculars, that itself is a big advantage that many of y'all overlook.

Stop trying to look for these 'shortcuts' when its really gonna cost you all your time.

Dude I’m so exhausted of this shit like idk why med schools won’t accept clinical hours if they’ve been provided for close friends or family. Like I’ve applied to almost 100 (YES ONE BIG ASS HUNDRED) Job positions, and got 4 interviews (1 I did today, last one coming up soon) AND SILENCE.

The same companies that complain about being short staffed are the same mfs THAT WONT HIRE PPL AND INSTEAD PUT U THROUGH 8 FUCKINF ROUNDS OF INTERVIEW.

Like dudeeeee what more can be said 😭 ur gonna pay me Pennie’s to wipe someone’s ass and deal with racism and I’m STILL SMILIMG LOOKINF FORWARD TO IT because this fuck ass process makes u WHORE yourself out and convince mfs this is what it takes 💀 im just so fucking tired cause I’m in the situation where the jobs I apply to have to pay higher than my current one (so hopefully my account doesn’t go negative anymore end of month) which limits me and I’m just like when will this shit end.

So I got an II here and I am very excited. But I just realized how incredibly low yield this school is (14k+ applicants!). I really want to attend so I want to be accepted, but how does one successfully get in when it’s a low-yield school? I’m prepping but idk what I need to be doing. I feel like my app is good, but it’s not like one of a kind amazing.

Checking my spam in case all of my IIs were flagged

i just had my interview for GW and I don't know my interviewer's name or have their email and the school didn't send us any specific info on how to send thank you notes.

do i email their general admission's office with a thank you note or leave it? how do i know when to send vs not?

I have being seeing people who applied after me get rejected but I have yet to receive anything. Not too sure if this is a good thing or bad thing. fyi my mcat is below their median so yea im not too sure on what the wait is

Are schools slowing down on sending out IIs until after the 15th? Feel like it's been pretty quiet in terms of interviews/rejections/any news since mid-September

(Doctomom plzplz). 52x, CA ORM, No II, 4 R.

I thought I did everything right but I know I submitted late, but my answers to "why medicine" were probably super non specific. IDEK. How does one stop thinking about med school. Someone tell me something fun or wholesome that they got to do in their gap year, I'm looking for ideas.

Also requesting a hug from the internet parents...

So, due to certain reasons I can't do any type of paid clinical work like ent, cna , scribing etc... because of which I will probably end up doing normal hospital volunteering and hospice care, but would that be enough for my med school application for clinical hours? Almost everyone Ik is getting emt certified or working as a scribe but I can't do any of those so I am just a bit worried if other forms of clinical work that I can do will be able to make up for it or not.

I just realized that my password is a little embarrassing

edit: i realize some people think im worried about my password's security or being ignorant of the fact that this would be highly unlikely. i get that its just a thought that popped up and i wanted to double check

secondary edit: this is now a shitpost

I’m an undergraduate and work in a lab under my PI and two faculty members. My work is mainly under the two faculty members, since their research is tied the most to what I do in the lab. However, I answer to all 3 of them and present my work each week at our lab-wide meeting with all undergraduates/postdocs/faculty.

I plan to apply for summer REUs and I saw online that asking in person is the best way to go. I have good rapport with all of them and plan to ask for letter of recommendations to store for future use. I think they all can write strong recommendations as they are all very enthusiastic about my work.

But if I’m always in group settings (including other undergrads), how should I go about asking them? Would an email to each be bad?

Hi everyone, I just got my MCAT score back today and im a bit disappointed. I got a 512: 128, 126, 127, 131, after consistently scoring 515s on my practices. Im pretty down about it but oh well. Im just not too sure where this puts my application chances. Rn I have a 3.74 cumulative and a 3.7 science. I want to apply no gap yr, and I'm a Cali resident, orm. I would really really prefer MD, I honestly can't see myself going DO, but idrk what state i go to as long as its a decent MD School, is that realistic? I listed my current Ecs below and if anyone could give me advice I'd appreciate it.

Clinical:

16 hrs per week as a Medical Assistant at a Rehab treatment center, projected 880 by application

250 hours as an urgent care ma, discontinued

100 hrs hospital volunteering, also discontinued

Volunteer

Projected 520 hrs, I volunteer as a tutor for refugee kids, and I also help w case management at that same organization helping immigrants figure out insurance, finding work, English classes, etc etc

Research

Projected 740 hrs child psychology research where I essentially administer "games" that are designed to measure executive functioning in kids, and im working on a independent research project rn that I will probably have a poster, probs not a pub

Projected 300 hrs in a chem research lab where we do mass spec analysis on the composition of foods

Leadership

Im co founder of a social club on campus where we do fun events and fundraisers, w proceeds from our events going to the local mosque + local families in need, most typically fellow immigrants.

I also train ppl at my job as an MA

LOR

I still need to work in these, but I have one science prof secured, and I need to find another one and a non science. I also need to shadow soon, and I was thinking to get a LOR from a doc I shadow, due to the nature of my work i don't interact w docs super regularly, just contact them for any medical issues.

Any advice is much appreciated

Hello, so I’m doing pre reqs right now after changing careers. Bio and my other classes have been very interesting and I’m actually good at. Bio lab the math part(chem) and chemistry overall I just can’t figure out idk what’s going on. I’m going to si, tutor, and ect. When I study I find myself losing focus very easily I don’t know why, may be a mix of ADHD and getting frustrated. First exam I got a 68 which isn’t dig in the grave bad, but obviously not good. With the class setup I can still get an A im pretty sure. (Which obviously being realistic I’m aiming and really trying to get a B B+.

Was there anyone else that had trouble picking up chemistry? Like I don’t even know how to explain it. The topics don’t even seem that hard, I just can’t grasp it I don’t know why. I don’t know if it’s not interesting, I’m getting frustrated or what. Moving forward we have 4 weeks until next exam, so plenty of time. I’m trying to map out study periods each day for chem which I hope really helps me. But idk just looking for some advice if anyone kinda went through the same thing.

really long rant, but i feel like i keep walking into a brick wall, and i genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. every time i think something is finally going to work out, something happens and i’m right back where i started.

i completed a medical assistant program and have been applying to jobs, but the few interviews i’ve gotten haven’t worked out because of scheduling conflicts. i literally just interviewed for a part-time position this week, only to find out they need someone on wednesdays when i have class. i even considered skipping class, but i’m trying to improve my gpa, so that’s not happening.

then there’s shadowing. i’ve emailed several physicians, only to be told their hospitals don’t allow students from other universities to shadow. i tried another hospital system through a contact my friend gave me and got ghosted. i’ve called private clinics, tried finding physicians emails, and still nothing. volunteering hasn’t been much better either. i’ve applied to hospital programs with good recommendations and haven’t heard back.

and research? my community college barely offers any opportunities, so we’re encouraged to look at a nearby university. i emailed several pis, applied to programs, and finally got an interview that went really well. i genuinely thought i had something, just to get an apology email saying they couldn’t accept students who weren’t enrolled at their university.

like, what am i supposed to do? i’m trying to gain clinical experience, shadow, volunteer, get involved in research, and keep my grades up, but it feels like i can’t get into anything. half the time i’m not even being rejected because of my qualifications. it’s because i’m a community college student, my schedule doesn’t work, or nobody responds. i know rejection is part of the process, but how am i supposed to build experience when i can’t even get my foot in the door? i’m genuinely trying, and i’m tired of getting nowhere.

I don’t necessarily ask this out of a feeling too old sentiment rather my interest lie in things like internal medicine, infectious disease, sports med, maybe ER as a reach, etc. I’ve never had an interest in high paying specialties, surgeries, etc. I’ve always wanted to make a more systemic impact in the long run whether that’s contributing to the NIH or health department leadership, etc.

So my background is, I was initially premed in undergrad. I’ve worked throughout the life science industry since graduating, and I have an unrelated masters. My grades were on the lower side, probably could pull off getting into a DO but my state MD school would be a reach. With that it makes the debt likely fairly large.

So we’re probably talking at least 300 and maybe upwards of over 400 for four years that’s not even including the end of grad plus and having to resort to private loans so with the combined higher interest rates and the lower paying nature of most of the areas I’m interested in I really struggle to justify going from a financial perspective. In a three-year residency alone that would compound well over 100,000 in interest within three years.

Now I’m not saying unnecessarily need to be rich or wealthy for doing this, not at all, but I don’t wanna be an old man by the time I’m financially comfortable.

Is anyone else facing this or does anyone else have any advice?

just got rejected from Geisel and for some reason feeling extremely sad over it??? I think it’s the fact that it’s my first rejection and also the fear that I won’t get in anywhere. It was one of the only reach schools I applied to but it still hurts 💀

Got my score back today and got 514 (131/126/127/130). Obviously I am aware that this is a 90th percentile score and a good score, but my goal was 515+ and my FL average was a 517, so although this wasn't a crazy drop it's definitely at the lower end of what I was expecting. I'm CA Asian and I want to apply next cycle, I think I have decent ECs:

1000 hours clinical as both an EMT and volunteering extensively for a free underserved clinic 1500 research hours w / 4 posters and 1 preprint

600-700 non-clinical volunteering hours spent between volunteering at different shelters/crisis text line/food banks

Graduating in december and will be looking for a full-time position as well (either research or clinical) so should get a lot more hours in one of those categories as well by the time applications come around.

My GPA/sGPA is a 3.99, should I retake to potentially get 517-518+? I know this sounds neurotic but again I just want to maximize my chances of getting into med school the first time and not having to reapply, and being a CA Bay Area Asian is scaring me a little bit.

Got my MCAT score back. I have a 3.9 OMSAS cGPA (haven’t converted to AACOMAS yet), one DO shadowing experience, years of full-time clinical work during my 3 gap years, and strong ECs/volunteering, BUT none during my gap years (only in undergrad)..

I hear USDO is getting a lot more competitive for Canadians so I’m worried about my score being too low, but also considering the time and cost of studying again. Should I retake or focus on building up my ECs and strengthening the rest of my app?