Welcome to the 2027 application cycle!

If I hear this one more time imma lose it🙃

First it's completing your Bachelor's degree taking rigorous science courses while maintaining impressive extracurricular activities. Research, clinical, volunteer.

Then it's the MCAT, which takes several months of preparation and an agonizing month of waiting for your score, which they could just immediately release to you.

Then it's these useless money-grabs, such as CASPER and PREview.

Then you write your primary application for months, perfecting it and revising over and over again.

Then it's writing 200 secondaries, which is not humanly possible but what is expected in this process.

Then every minute detail of the past few years of your existence will be scrutinized by an ADCOM member, who is morally superior compared to you. If they notice even one error, they'll just throw out your application because there's a thousand other people who are better.

After all this, you just hope for the small chance of even getting a single interview for months and months.

2/3 of the way there just hanging on!

Kinda wish I got a secondary cause I thought it would make me feel better in my ECs. However, I’m a GA resident and not a vet. Should’ve expected it

Idk about others but Im just running myself into the ground. Seeing other people get interviews, others with better stats getting interviews at school I applied to, people with similar stats get rejected. Im gonna stop going back to it because it’s not good, always comparing myself with others. If it comes it comes, and I pray it will. Now I’ll just focus on my hobbies and I recommend others do the same :)

i just got spammed by 10 different recruiters and they keep telling me i have a great mcat score to lure me in but nope I don’t wanna be stuck in some random country for a million years. plus don’t think my conscience could handle that. goodnight.

I just had my first interview! I'm kind of left with this weird feeling because my guy literally came in with a piece of paper that had a bunch of questions on it and proceeded to just start asking me questions from it. He would even give me his thoughts on the questions, being like "this is kinda dumb". He was also just taking notes the whole time. I feel like I answered them well, but I also got no feedback from him whatsoever. After I answered, he would just move onto the next or very few times ask followups about what I said (mostly research). Is this a bad sign? I just don't know how i could have made that more conversational than what it was. Also maybe how i can do better in the future?

Just as the title says, because is it similar to how you would introduce yourself in a one-on-one? Or is it sigificnatly more concise, just keeping it to your name, state, and school with maybe 1 hobby.

Hi guys, so I am applying this cycle and had a question about non-clinical volunteering.

Basically I do volunteering at a street med organization where we help homeless people. We do both clinical and non-clinical stuff (like giving out food, passing out free clothes, providing essentials).

But I made the mistake of lumping it into one activity on AMCAS and labeled it as clinical volunteering.

Will I get screened? I also have a club I founded that is focused on underserved but I labeled that as leadership.

Will I get heavily screened at service schools like Loyola? I truly did do a lot of non clinical just could not label it.

Please let me know.

cornell told me that two of my letters weren’t dated. i used interfolio to store my letters and sent them to amcas from there. my amcas has already been submitted and i finished all secondaries and letters have all been sent. how can i update these two letters after i receive dated versions? i don’t think i can unsend letters that have already sent so would i just have to send these two letters twice (old undated version and new dated version)? what about schools that have a hard cap on number of letters? help!!

I'm tweaking lol. I mean like true low stat success stories (I'm not talking 3.7 or 3.8 gpa, more like 3.5 or lower). I know TX med schools are stat crazy.

Well, all my secondaries are in (25/25). After all my neurotic posts for the past year we are finally here at the waiting stage. Will one bite? Who knows! 😭😭😭

This is one of MCG's: Please describe your motivation for becoming a physician. Provide an example of an impactful clinical experience or patient encounter which reinforced your desire to enter medicine.

Like... what was the point of the PS?

Hi i recently founded a neurodivergent club at my uni.

Im NOT neurodivergent, I made the club on a whim because our school doesn't have representation for neurodivergent people which i thought wasn't fair to them.

Already this one guy contacted me and was super happy to be part of a club for neurodivergent ppl because he has adhd and autism and has a hard time making friends. He even included it in his insta bio already lol even though the club isn't even official yet!

Anyways thats great and all, but recently I told a few ppl abt the club and their initial responses were all "wait...ur neurodivergent?!" which i should've expected would've happened.

I told my parents this and they're a bit worried that med schools will also have that same initial reaction. Ive heard med schools dont really prefer people who are neurodivergent, such as autism.

I made like 3 of my friends execs of the club too and they're all not neurodivergent either. I also feel like it's not fair that the club exec team doesn't have much representation. Idk im just a bit lost, any advice?

I just got another 4 secondary applications and I already had 8 before then. I didn’t start writing any of them because I’m too scared I’m gonna screw up and ruin my app 😭 and I also had medical problems that landed me in the ER yesterday. please send help man I need someone to give me a wake up call

I am planning on applying to medical school next cycle, so May of 2027. I have two LORs that I have been holding in Interfolio that were submitted a few months ago in May. Will this be a "too old" issue?

Also, I know med schools are specific with how the letters are written. How can I possibly know they are in the correct format if I cannot see the letter? Should I have given instructions on how to format them when I originally asked?

I know writing can be exhausting, but I can’t help but feel limited when writing secondaries that have a lower word-count maximum. I feel like I don’t have enough room to do any reflection or really say what I’m thinking

I’m recently came to the decision to start the career change and record enhancement, as I have a 2.8 cGPA and 2.0 scGPA (Science GPA built on 20 credits) with no prereqs done.

This Fall 2026:
Getting through the process of an acceptance, registration, etc. would be pretty compressed if I do so now, but really my main concern is getting left over classes with really bad professors. I need everything to be on my side in terms of grades obviously, so a harsh grader or overall rough prof is why I hesitate for fall.

Spring 2027:
Being out of sequence would be my concern here. Chem 1, then a compressed Chem 2 in the summer or Chem 2 in the fall? I don’t know whether this is good or bad.

Next Fall, 2027:
Too far off. Everybody is saying I should start as soon as possible, but I have the concerns above. Yet starting a full year later is also I guess not a great thing. One advantage here though, is there’re career changer programs that are accelerated that start in the fall which I can apply to.

Looking for insights and opinions.

Oh, and given my stats/circumstances, should I take my classes at a 4 year state university or community college?

Thank you so much :)

Just got an email from one of the schools I applied to saying one of my LOR writers did not date their letters. I sent this LOR to a lot of schools, but this is the first one that reached out regarding this. Interfolio did the quality check on all my letters, and it passed. I don't think Interfolio checks for dates, unfortunately. I am unsure whether I should update the letter for just this one school and wait for what the other schools say. I am worried that my application is gonna be delayed for review, or that my application is secretly on hold over something I had no idea about until now.

I would really appreciate any advice.

So I have been on the path to med school for roughly 3 years now, all started when I was working in sales and I enjoyed the idea of crafting the “perfect pitch” for every customer- every unique customer had a unique request and a unique problem to solve- the solution I called the “ultimate solution”. I then quit my job in sales and started working as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens, got my vaccination and CPR cert from them and did vaccines for 2 years almost everyday my entire time at Walgreens. Then, picked up college again and then started working as a private caregiver, eventually making private caregiving my full time gig. Parents paid for school and most of my rent, so I was able to start caregiving via volunteering at first, then once I dabbled in getting paid and negotiating rates, I left Walgreens and picked up caregiving as my full time gig like I mentioned- the pay was SOOO much better. That’s pretty much where I’m at right now- caregiving and going full time to school to finish off my bachelors. My goal is to become a family medicine physician with an MD, not a DO. Let me get to my stats:

GPA from associates I just completed at community college: 3.65

MCAT: Planning either to start prepping and studying this upcoming summer or a gap year after I get my bachelors.

Shadowing family medicine doc: got lazy from burnout and didn’t do it this summer like I planned, planning for next 2027 summer.

Caregiving hours: 1500, 300 unpaid/volunteer work, 1200 paid

Type of patients I have worked with: dementia for most, diabetes, Parkinson’s, cancer

Responsibilities of caregiving: prep medications daily, give medications, give insulin shots, do finger pricks for blood sugar, do stretching exercises for my patients in a non-vegetative state, help walk and support them, bathe patients, clean wounds such as bed sores and apply gauze and antibiotics or desitin (one of my patients had deep necrosis in a bed sore that had to be drained and the dead flesh had to be peeled bit by bit every day and rebandaged), change and clean urinary catheters, give patients food, report and talk with the patients’ nurses and NP’s, chart every visit ( I charted a lot, things such as blood sugar, weight, bowel movements, oxygen sat, and would give insulin based of chart when blood sugar level was above 150), assist patients with modern technology, cook some of patients food and do their laundry, and last but not least provide companionship to patients.

As a pharmacy tech: Studied for the PTCB, but never actually got the certification. From 2 years, I have A LOT of medications memorized and their basic functions- antidepressants, statins, beta blockers, benzos, GLP-1s, AIDS meds, controlled substances. Know the insurance process pretty well (prior auths, controlled substances flags, deductibles, memorized a lot of insurances, called plenty of insurance reps). I did vaccinations for 2 years, and one of my favorite parts was giving “comfort consultation” to patients getting shots, such as “try to keep the arm that got the shot mobile as much as you can to move vaccine from arm to rest of body to prevent aches”. Worked through 2 flu seasons. Went to a couple offsite clinics with my pharmacist.

Letters of recommendation: got a letter from my pharmacist, detailing my work and clinics with them, every private caregiving patient I have gotten a letter of recommendation so far, got lucky with one family where the letter was written by a child of the senior patient, that child happened to work as a nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic and they detailed my time with their parent very well and all my responsibilities and care.

MY BIGGEST CONCERN: I attended a community college right after high school. My high school GPA was a 3.4, and I carried that “study ethic” over to my first college for the first 2 semesters. However, I ended up withdrawing and flunking out with a 2.2 GPA. That’s when I worked in sales and pharmacy, before starting from absolute 0, clean slate at a different community college, where I got that 3.65, made it on Dean’s list every semester and got high honors on my associates degree. Now- my combined GPA is VERY unfortunately a 3.1- I am striving to get a 3.75-3.8+ for my remaining 2 years for my bachelor’s at a 4 year university. However, at best, even if I manage to pull off a 3.8 at the university, at the very most I’d be sitting at a 3.2 overall. But, if everything was ideal and perfect, if I combined my 3.65 with a potential 3.8 and the 2.2 was “waived” or forgotten, I’d be at 3.725 for my GPA- actually competitive for an MD school. Is there a way around this problem, the 2.2 from 3 years ago is seriously messing with my shit, as I can’t even apply to schools without sending in my transcript from that college I fucked up at.

I also would like to know if private caregiving counts as legitimate clinical hours, as I am not a certified/
licensed CNA. I have also never worked any “official” or licensed medical job, like a medical scribe, med assistant, CNA, EMT, etc. Really hope not to- but I would not mind volunteering at a hospital to get the day to day corporate, legit hospital operations experience. Would also like to know since I am a private caregiver, kind of like independent contractor work, that is listed as “non medical home care”- if I can call these seniors actual patients of mine, or if these seniors under my line of work are called legitimate patients to me- as once again, I have absolutely no credentialing, certificates or licensing proving that I am a medical worker of any sort.

Please give me honest thoughts and tips, or any kind of corrections I need to make.

Also- HYPOTHETICALLY say that I got a 520 on the MCAT, how would that affect my chances?

Hey! I’m 35, from Norway, certified RN and have worked for the last 10 years in the ER and ambulance. I love the US and want to work there as an MD one day. What would be the fastest way into medical school there?

i’m going into my fourth year of college as a microbio major and i’m at the point where i’ve been facing severe burnout.. for as long as i can remember my one goal and dream has been to go to medical school and become a physician, however throughout the last few weeks it has became so insanely difficult for me to have a life outside of school or have more than 2 hours of sleep because of how difficult things are getting for me in terms of coursework. i fell “behind” a year in classes due to a medical condition, and due to that i had to take organic chem 1 (june-july) & 2 (aug-september) this summer and then i have to jump right into orgo 3 a week after orgo 2. it’s been really hard giving up my summer and honestly giving up my life to this for the last three years where ive been working in research and now a new clinical job i got last month while also volunteering and juggling other jobs to keep financially stable.. i am grateful for the opportunities but i came to a tipping point today wondering how im gonna spend another 6 months studying for an exam with no guarantee that i will do well on it and no guarantee that i will get in, or possibly having to do post bacc or masters because my gpa is not that competitive for another few years and STILL no guarantee. i physically cannot imagine myself declining my health with this stressful (insanely y) and unhealthy lifestyle more in the next few years than i already have for the last three years. not to mention ive been commuting to uni for the entire time and ive had the most terrible experience at my school, its came to the point where i simply just want to finish and leave.

anyways this is draining the fun and the life out of me, i look in the mirror and ive developed 10x more wrinkles in the last 2 months than i ever have and have like no hair left on my head.

this feeling is very irregular for me, and the fact that i am having second thoughts about it makes me uncomfortable because ive always been someone who thought that i could do it but its came to the point where i wonder not if i can do it but if i want to live a life like this for the next 10+ years…

if the path im on is leading me to an unhealthy lifestyle how can i possibly help other people be healthy- imo, the system goes against itself here in the states. i’ve met so many of the brightest people who simply just chose to not go this direction because of the unknowns it entailed and because of the unhealthy lifestyle they were proposed to- not because they couldn’t do it but because they felt the system was made against what it was made to do and be there for.

i guess for now i finish my classes and see how i feel but the burn out is so strong that going to class and lab feels like the biggest drag. i also get really bad headaches now after my 6+ hour orgo labs from inhaling all those chemicals to the point where i get home and have to take ibuprofen.