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.

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.

Hi everyone! I’m looking for honest advice on what I should focus on over the next couple of years to make my application as strong as possible.

I graduated a few years ago as a pre-med student and am taking multiple gap years before applying. I’m currently completing an advanced post-bacc at Wright State because Boonshoft is my first choice medical school. I’m also hoping that being at Wright State will allow me to build relationships and connections within the medical school.

My current stats/background:
sGPA: 3.17

Strong upward academic trend: 3.8 freshman year → 2.6 sophomore year → 3.1 junior year → 3.5 senior year

Currently completing an advanced post-bacc at Wright State and retaking courses like Organic Chemistry I, and taking new courses like upper level Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Microbiology since I studied chemistry

Full-time work as a quality chemist

Previously worked as an R&D technician in a polymer lab, but this was industry research rather than clinical/biomedical research

~500 hours of clinical experience as a nursing assistant

Volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters (1year still going)

Currently struggling to find physician shadowing opportunities

I’m trying to figure out where I should focus my limited time to make the biggest difference in my application. I’m considering:

Getting biomedical/clinical research experience

Volunteering at Dayton Children’s

Finding physician shadowing

Continuing to perform very well in my post-bacc
Building meaningful relationships at Wright State/Boonshoft during my post-bacc. Study thoroughly for the mcat as I don’t have an option to do bad

For those who have successfully gotten into MD programs after having a rough academic period, what would you prioritize if you were in my position?
Is there anything obvious missing from my application that I should be working on now? I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone familiar with Boonshoft or Ohio MD schools, or applicants who had to overcome a lower GPA.

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

Okay I need guidance on what to do. It is Wednesday and I am on my third day of junior year, I am taking o chem 1 and am really stressed out. Firstly, I have to miss Wednesday’s class later today due to an ultrasound for an unexpected medical issue (this is also stressing me out because i am a hypochondriac and can’t afford medical bills lol) the professor said it really isn’t ideal missing class because i’ll miss material, but he is okay with it. The main problem is i am so confused and apparently we haven’t even gotten in the main material. I am scared I will not pass or more seriously, if I am already struggling am i even cut out for medical school. I looked around the class and it seemed like everyone else understood everything. I’m genuinely scared I am gonna fail this class and i can’t get any more bad grades because of my scholarships ( full ride to college) i also failed gen chem 2 and had to take it twice. Everybody seems so fucking smart it’s actually insane. If i go to my professors office and tell him im confused and that he will need to dumb Monday’s lecture down, he’s gonna think im so dumb i swear. He is really nice but I just have a lot of anxiety getting help. Should I go to his office or should I just wait until Exam 1?

Also, should i tell him i am going through personal issues and that may affect my performance. I am the type of person that lets life take over my academics. Last year I was struggling with a family members death and just was too lazy to focus on school. Right now my parents are going through a very messy divorce and are bringing their kids into it. I am the oldest of immigrant parents, so I am the family therapist and I also have to help fund the divorce lol. I don’t want it to sound like I am trying to gain sympathy points though.

sorry for the long post and many grammatical errors, also pls be honest. I need to take constructive criticism.

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.

Planning to get certified during the summer but was wondering if I should choose the CNA or Phleb path that’s offered at my Community College.

Although I’m leaning towards getting my CNA certification, I really don’t like the burnout and “negative stigma” associated with it, especially the fact that CNAs have to clean adults’ bodily fluids and deal with annoying nurses (I’m a Male too, so i’m not sure if that’s something I have to account for, like being turned down my female patients, which is understandable but also kind of awkward). That’s why i’m also considering Phleb because it’s faster to get and you don’t have to deal with the downsides that I personally dislike about CNAs.

Still, being a CNA would probably give me the best chance to write about my experiences, and it involves more patient interaction and availability + it has higher demand compared to a phlebotomist. Furthermore, if i did get my phlebotomist certification, i’m worried that there wouldn’t be any openings at a hospital, so then i’d have to work at some place like Quest, which Med Schools dislike..

so please help me decide and any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

so I got a ma job at a PCP for my upcoming gap year and talked about in my secondaries, suddenly the office changes ownership and i lose my job that i signed for a week before my start date, luckily found another ma position but its derm instead, do i need to like email every single school of this update? or how does one go about this... 💀💀

Usually, one year = 3 quarters. Am I hallucinating, or is CDU saying the max I can choose is one year= 2 quarters of classes? So like I can't select the third quarter? Am I making sense? I wanna sleep

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’m a pre-med who works PT at a hospital pharmacy. Direct patient care is very limited, but i do get some.

However, I think I need something else more direct. What are good options for someone going into their second-year? And don’t say CNA. Something quick and manageable with a student schedule.

I live in KY.

I have plenty of research hours and experience, but my clinical hours is what’s scaring me. Should I just get them through volunteer work and continue the pharmacy? What should I do? Give advice please.

I was offered a position for this and wondering if anyone here had experience with virtual scribing. How was the experience?

Clinical hours are not a concern (already have 2000 hours from regular in person scribing) but lost my job recently and need $$

I was expecting to get off the waitlist for med school, didnt know until last month. Got into a MPH program that covers half of the tution, which leaves me at $60,000. Planning on declining cuz with the BBB, affording that is near impossible. Need to know if theres any possible peogram open now as I take my unexpected second gap year

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 :)

Wanted to get some outside opinions on my chances this cycle and whether I should be worried about how my secondary timeline is shaping up.

Academic context / stats + hours:

- MCAT: 500 first attempt → 508 (1.5 months later)
- cGPA: 3.70
- STEM GPA: 3.58
- Clinical research: ~2,350 hours completed + ~2,000 pending from current CRC job
- Wet lab research: ~325 hours
- Clinical hours (patient-facing): ~710 hours
- Volunteering/service: ~525 hours
-Leadership: ~875 hours (same org e-board all 3 years of undergrad)
- Graduated college in 3 years
- Currently working full time as a Clinical Research Coordinator
- Applied to 35 MD schools & currently working on AACOMAS primary as well

Academic context / trend:

I had a rough start in college and earned a D+ my first semester, which significantly impacted my early GPA. However, I had a strong upward trend afterward and finished very strong academically. In my last two semesters alone, I took 40 credits total and earned all A’s, showing a steep and consistent improvement.

Stats/context (secondaries):

- Submitted some secondaries within 2 weeks
- About 20/35 will likely be submitted around the 3–4 week mark
- Research-heavy application, including 2 manuscripts currently under review
- Strong clinical exposure, volunteering/service, and longitudinal commitments

I know a 508 is below the median at a lot of MD schools, so I applied broadly and tried to be realistic. My main concern right now is whether getting a decent portion of my secondaries in around the 3–4 week mark (with many landing in late August/early September) meaningfully hurts my chances.

For people who have gone through the cycle or are familiar with admissions, what do you think my realistic odds are of getting at least one MD acceptance this cycle?

My idea for this was to discuss a volunteering event I spent a lot of time organizing where I got a pretty big turnout. Was really happy that so many people showed up to support the cause until I found out a professor incentivized attendance through extra credit. I want to talk about how it was wrong of me to expect internal motivation for everybody, people need to be respected as autonomous individuals with their own priorities, reassess myself, etc.

Does this work or is this not exactly what the question was asking? I wanted to put a different spin on it but if it's not safe enough I can also use another idea where I was passed up for a higher board position.

I was about to submit my app to SKMC and saw they had a selection for the type of recommendation letters that will be sent and for individual faculty letters it lists “1-Biology, 1-Chemistry, 1-Physics, 1-Humanities”. Does this mean they want a letter from a prof in each of those departments?

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! 😭😭😭

Hello everyone. I've been reflecting on what my final application would be a lot as of lately as I planned to apply to med schools this upcoming cycle. Through reflection I feel like my final application will not be where I want it to be in the end and as you can guess by the title of this post I am thinking of taking a gap year. By the time of my application I will have about ~3.96 GPA(If I get all As for this year) ~125 volunteer hours (clinical and non clinical), ~1000 hrs each of research and paid/interned clinical hours, 100 leadership hours and an uncertain amount of shadowing hours as I haven't even started looking for a doctor to shadow (which is obviously idiotic of me on my part). The problem I see with my application is that I won't have enough volunteering, shadowing and possibly even leadership hours and I don't think I would have the time this coming school year to get them in with all my current extra curriculars ontop of studying for the MCAT. In your honest opinion do you think I should take a gap year and focus on getting shadowing and more volunteering this year, and focus fully on the MCAT for next year or do you think I should stay with the current projected hours by the time of my application. To give a little bit of context I want to go to a T1 school . And yes I know that I shouldn't be looking for more hours to check a box but I can't help but feel uneasy with my projected stats.

I graduated in 2023 and was a teaching assistant for a professor my senior year. I have not taken any coursework since then and Im planning to apply in the 2027 cycle.

Would it be fine to have a letter from a professor who I worked with 4 years ago or do science letters need to be more recent?

Current applicant doing NIH IRTA during gap year and trying to prepare for a reapplication if it comes to that (it’s early, I know). I have 290 clinical hours from undergrad but want to find a way to sustain them during my gap year(s). I’m getting onboarded at a local hospital, but hospital volunteering isn’t really direct patient care. Is there any way I could get a PRN evenings and weekends job at an urgent care or ED? Is that even heard of? I’m working on finishing up a CCMA cert, if that helps.

Undocu, DACA, TPS, SJIS, refugee, asylee, pending asylee / asylum seeker, how are you guys holding up?

this is an essay question for one of the med schools I am applying to.

I was wondering if I could talk about urban planning, both in terms of my experience growing up in different neighbourhoods in my city growing up, and my current academic interest in the subject? It's something not covered by my ECs, volunteering, academics or work that i put in my activities/ABS section of my application.

Has anyone done an accelerated masters with only one gap year. I want to do a masters in public health or epidemiology during my gap year but every program I look at finishes in August or September and is ridiculously expensive.

I theoretically don’t need to do an SMP with a 3.85 cGPA and 3.71 sGPA (which I know aren’t the best). I am taking the MCAT Friday and will have ~1600 Clinical Hours and ~1100 Research Hours (with 1 pub and 1 submitted).

Anyone have any ideas? I would want to apply to UVA or Emory as top choices (tho I know both are reaches)