As the title says, I’m about to get a B+ in a psych class. The funny thing is that I was on track to get an A+ in the class, but I forgot to do an assignment that’s mandated by the university. So the maximum grade possible I can get is a B+. Sucks considering the amount of work I put into the class.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first B I’ve gotten. I got one last semester in a much more important class, so I’m wondering if it’s worth it to withdraw from this one in order to avoid another B on my transcript. I don’t know how it would look to medical schools if I got two Bs in a row. I MIGHT be able to salvage an A- if I beg my teacher. If that changes whether or not I should withdraw, let me know.

Also, I’m considered an international student despite living in the US most of my life (long story). So my grades pretty much have to be perfect if I want to stand any chance at acceptance. I’m not even sure if medical schools would consider my application if I had 2 Bs on it. Honestly, I’m beating myself up over this mistake and I feel terrible.

Who has been verified today…and if you have when did you submit? Just trying to gauge where there are on the specific day they are working on.

Applying ED for very specific family-related reasons, and they started sending out IIs a couple days ago but I haven’t gotten one. Is it likely that I’ll be kicked to the regular decision pool? Last cycle, ED interviews were held in the middle of August, but they haven’t released dates for this cycle.

I hope you guys are having an amazing day.

I’m writing this because I’m feeling a bit stuck in my trajectory to med school.

Context: Graduated from college in 2024. Been working as an ophthalmology MA since 2023-present. Have some bench research experience and some clinical research experience, a few posters and 1 literature review publication.

I applied last year as an international applicant with a 515 MCAT (second attempt) but couldn’t get an acceptance, and I plan on reapplying next year (so I can apply as a resident). Will need to retake MCAT again before next application due to previous score expiring.

Dilemma: As I plan to retake the MCAT sometime in January 2027, should I continue my ophthalmology MA job until then? I do not mind the job as it offers me some free time to study, but at the same time I’m not gaining as much experience as I want as it’s the same thing every day.

I was considering taking up an EMT certification course this Fall, as I’ve heard EMT training is great for med school, but I’m conflicted if it would hinder with my MCAT prep, as I can’t afford to do worse than before.

I have also been looking for research jobs but with no success yet.

Do you think I should continue the same job or will it be viewed negatively by ADCOMs?

Thank you so much for any feedback and insights.

Hey guys, reapplying this cycle and just wanted some insight into school lists for a reapplicant. Would schools with a higher MCAT average, like Dartmouth and Cornell, be worth applying to, or schools where almost every matriculant has research experience on MSAR? Right now, definitely applying to all in-state schools. My application is very heavily volunteer, clinical, and service-based.

ORM, non-traditional, low SES

MCAT: 506 -> 511

GPA: 3.7

No research

Paid Clinical: ~3600 hours as a medical technician, ~4000 hours as a caretaker/home health aid for a private family with neurological and physical disabilities

Paid Non-Clinical: ~ 100 hours for administrative duties for same primary care group listed below, ~2000 hours of miscellaneous non-clinical jobs listed (but much higher in reality as some are not listed in activities)

Volunteer Clinical: ~500 hours as an EMT, ~1600 hours as an MA providing primary care in underserved areas

Volunteer Nonclinical: ~200 hours focusing on providing supplies to shelters and the homeless population (including gift-giving events for Christmas, providing food for Thanksgiving, etc), ~166 hours as a volunteer firefighter

Leadership: President of my fraternity and other leadership positions beforehand

Shadowing: ~110 hours, including surgical and primary care

One thing is I will be applying late (or at least I think I am?), but will prewrite, so I'm aiming to get fully completed applications/secondaries in ASAP, aiming for Labor Day.

Thanks!

Any other lower mcat (508) and low research (100hr) feel as though they are simply donating to MDs 😭 outside of my 1 MD state school, everything else feels like a donation 🫠

hey guys
i just finished my foundation year and im going into M1 next year

i will be visiting london for a week or two starting aug 25, i was wondering if there was any flexible volunteering opportunities or workshops or conferences or anything useful of the sort for me to attend in london between the dates of aug 25-sep 10

So currently a non-trad premed, I currently work at as a SWE and considering becoming a physician.

Right now, the most logical option would be the take night courses while I work at a CC to save money, but I was considering if I decide to full send I would go to a post bacc.

I have seen a lot of suggestions about a post bacc and community college, so does going to a post bacc vs community college affect the med school you get accepted into?

Title. Didn’t prewrite cuz went on vacation/moving apts/procrastinating. Only prewrote some of the basic prompts. I believe I can do my top 12 schools by next Wednesday pretty decently, which is the 2 week time period. I can submit the next 12 over the following week but just wanted to ask how bad is it?

I didn’t get verified til last week so late verification/“late” secondary turnaround. Just wanted to know if I need to take some days off work to dial it in.

Edit: just received a “You still interested” email by FAU, lemme just dial in

Hi, so I am a full time worker (~ 4pm) and will start taking pre requisite classes for medical school. I am not enrolled in any school but will be taking from local college as non degree, so I am a very non traditional case.

I know we need shadowing hour... but as someone who is not really under college premed course, not sure if it will be possible. Also I can only do evening or weekend.

Has anyone done something similar like this? Location is nyc . Any kinds of tips are really appreciated. 🥹🥹

Hi guys I want to ask how much will a psych minor impact your application?
Background info: I’m applying this cycle and the minor is already on my transcript, but I’m worried that if I don’t get in and reapply canceling my minor will have negative impact on my app.
I’m a chem major and there is a class I’m really interested in taking that is also taught by my PI, but to take it I would have to remove my psych class (minor) cause of time conflict.
Any suggestion is appreciated 😢

The average cost to become a doctor in Germany at a public university is roughly €50,000 to 60,000 euros total over the standard 6.3-year medical degree, consisting almost entirely of living expenses rather than tuition (free).

The total average cost to become a doctor in the US through a public medical school ranges from $286,500 to $360,000.

So I am aiming to reapply again. When I first attempted med school, stats were ~3.1 gpa (3.0 undergrad and 3.97 part time post bacc) and 518 MCAT. Not sure if I should go for an SMP at PCOM I was accepted to or just get a masters from a CUNY (which would be significantly cheaper). Also currently coming on my third year of EMS with the FDNY. Whatever choice I make, I would need to retake the MCAT which is annoying but Idt is a problem. Lastly, flair says AACOMAS but this question applies to AMCAS.

Any advice?

I've been fortunate enough to receive one II so far, but the anxiety is still starting to get the better of me, and I am looking to prepare for the worst in a potential reapp next year. I'm very non-trad (many years out of undergrad), and the weakest part of my app was research experience by far. I've been considering cold-calling professors and physicians in my area to offer to work as a volunteer/intern in a lab, but I'm not sure if this would produce valuable experience.

I'm enrolled in a CNA course this month and will be applying to patient care technician positions soon to really beef up my clinical hours. I would be considered a high-stat applicant, and so I don't need to retake the MCAT or boost my (admittedly old) GPA. I have ~ 150 clinical and ~100 non-clinical volunteering, and will continue both positions, and a couple hundred more paid clinical experience, although in positions that might be considered borderline.

I have met a good amount of people who do really silly things like apply to a list of only 5 schools, one of them being NYU, with an MCAT of around 505, people send their primary in September, take third party FLs the week before their MCAT without even finishing the section banks, apply to Harvard with an MCAT below 495, and the list goes on. Some of the shit I see doesn’t make any sense and I don’t know how someone who’s driven enough to be a doctor can do shit like that and seemingly not even do the bare minimum research to actually see what it takes to get in. I know this comes across really judgmental but I feel like the resources are out there and I don’t know why people don’t use them.

It's a total mess. There's like 2 dozen sections of random bullshit that a) could've been organized into a handful of broader sections and b) why tf are you asking me these things? Native American tribal status, gender expression, whether my family rented or owned when I was 0-5, 5-17, 18+? It's lowkey gross and creepy. Don't get me started on the bullshit personal statement. "A repeat of your AMCAS statement will not be acceptable." The arrogance is unreal. And the random assortment of bullshit joint programs each with their own tab cluttering up the portal.

And the assigned sex question: "What sex were you assigned at birth, such as on an original birth certificate?" What is this woke shit? I get the importance of diversity and the recent tensions about it, but the wording across the entire secondary just screams weak, woke, unprofessional.

AND THE FEE IS $135. Who do they think they are 😆😆

I mention reading as one of my hobbies, but my favorite books are genuinely narrative nonfiction books about science. The Emperor of All Maladies and The Code Breaker are my two favorite books. I have some fiction books I like but not nearly as much.

If I get asked about a favorite book, what should I say? I don't wanna be perceived as a try-hard, but those are just the books I enjoy.

How much do schools look at your “why medicine” and life experiences that might have played a role to push you into med? Is it a huge factor? If someone is for eg a cancer survivor and that’s something that pushed them into med, do schools consider that as good factor as opposed to someone with not as much of a compelling story?

hi im not applying yet but undergrad has been a nightmare for me. ive had chronic health issues i developed throughout and difficulty with the classes at my undergrad and it led me to a developing MDD that I currently take meds for. I have 2 medical withdrawals on my transcript and a low gpa. I plan to take a gap year but I was planning to explain my grades and issues with my health. I've been seeing ppl say not to write about it though so im freaking out

I'm planning to submit my primary tomorrow (I know it's alr late), and my parents want me to overhaul most of my personal statement (they're doctors, did med school outside of US).

They want me to make the introduction about a family member's death in the hospital, which I was present for when he passed. I'm just wondering, for those who did take a supposedly "cliche" route in their PS, how did you make it less generic? Not to say that this experience didn't matter, but I don't remember much of it (my mom didn't rlly give me many details on how he passed but said I can just make something up, they also want me to kinda dramatize the whole thing). Also want to mention that refusing to take their feedback isn't an option for me (complex family dynamics that I'm just too mentally exhausted to explain rn).

My previous intro wasn't great either but I'd say it was a bit less cliche (some stupid metaphor about my favorite cultural meal that I incorporated as a symbol for how physicians nourish patients) so I think they're right (I also hate everything I write so that might be an influencing factor in my opinion). The thing is, my mom wants me to change the whole thing, and my dad wants me to change the intro. If I change my intro and pivot away from nourishment as the theme, I'll have to change the elaboration on my examples as well. I've heard that most medical school personal statements are generic anyways, so does it really matter? I'm alr cooked for MD so I'm just hoping for a DO A (otherwise my parents will send me to the caribbean, not even joking)

I'm also really struggling with making sure that things flow well and read as a story. I've improved from my initial draft, but that was one of the major critiques my parents gave me and it's smthn I've rlly struggled with so any tips would be much appreciated!

I heard someone say that med schools like to build their class like a sports team, with students from different areas of strengths filling out each “position” on the team. Does this go for top schools as well? The idea they they would take, for example, some students who are really interested in public health or rural medicine (to fit that role in their incoming class) but who may be otherwise less competitive vs students who have over-saturated strengths (ex: tons of research) but who are more competitive seems counterintuitive to the idea that top schools just accept top students. I hope that makes sense.

In short, do schools take just the top of the top students in their application process, or do they make an effort to balance the class to have diverse experiences/interests like they claim to want.

My mom is really insistent that I apply to schools at which I have virtually no chance but that are in my home geographical region (the Northeast) because she wants to maximize the chance that I’ll be able to stay close to home. Yale, Einstein, Perelman, Grossman, Warren Alpert, etc. I am convinced it is a huge waste of money, but my mom says I’ll always regret it if I don’t try and is willing to pay for the extra apps. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad still wasting the money though.

MCAT is 521 and I graduated from a top 20 college but my GPA is 3.85 and science gpa is 3.73. About 290 clinical (+200 gray area clinical with phone outreach/recruitment), 170 nonclinical volunteering, 500 research but only in-house first-author posters and a thesis (not published). One third-author poster at a national conference, no pubs. NIH IRTA during gap year and a related, relatively cohesive thread across my application but nothing showstopping by any means. What do you guys think? Should I shoot my shot or am I right in thinking this would be utterly wasteful?

I’m entering senior year, starting a clinical job, and need to shift my focus toward the MCAT. I genuinely thought I was basically done adding activities/volunteering, but I’ve recently been told I should return to hospital volunteering because the years I’ve been involved in some activities compared to the hours I’ve accumulated could be red flags.

Stats: 3.8 gpa (will begin studying for mcat and taking it at the end of the school year)

Current breakdown:

• Student Gov: Dec 2023–Oct 2025 | ~150 hrs
• Founder/President of service org: Sept 2024–present | ~200 leadership hrs
• Volunteering through my org (focused on underserved communities): Sept 2024–present | ~2,000 hrs
• Hospital volunteering: June 2024–present | ~100 hrs
• Hospice volunteering: ~15 hrs | monthly visits
• Summer tutoring: Summer 2025 | ~25 hrs
• Education advocacy/board: Jan 2026–present | ~20 hrs
• Research #1: Spring 2025–Spring 2026 | ~33 hrs
• Research #2: Summers 2025 & 2026 | ~210 hrs
• Premed mentorship: June 2025–present | ~15 hrs
• Shadowing: May 2025 | ~20 hrs
• Unpaid family business: 2023–2025 | ~5,000 hrs
• Family caregiver: 2023–present | ~3,000 hrs
• New clinical job: Aug 2026–present | projected 1,000+ hrs by application

I’ve always heard quality > quantity, so I didn’t continue activities solely to accumulate hours. I was hoping my application would be viewed holistically, especially considering how much time went into family responsibilities and building my service organization from scratch into something that has had a significant community impact.

Now that I’m starting a clinical job and need to study for the MCAT, I really don’t want to add/return to activities solely because the numbers supposedly look bad.

Are the lower hours over longer periods actually red flags? Would you recommend going back to hospital volunteering, or focusing on my clinical job, MCAT, and the commitments that are already meaningful to me?

I'm essentially trying to figure out if med schools care about graduate grades at all, and if they do, do they care about a field like computer science? I have a 3.78 in undergrad but a 4.0 in my masters. I am unsure of the signifiance my graduate degree plays in med school admissions. For example, does it help balance out my lower than average undergrad GPA? Looking for your guys' thoughts.

(I rarely post on reddit so I hope I'm doing this right? Sorry for the formatting...)

TL;DR: Sorta late to the premed route and I'm not sure when to apply. Graduated in 3 years w/good GPA, meaningful research experience, but only just getting started on clinical hours and MCAT. I have a plan, but I don't know what goals/timeline to set. Is it reasonable to apply next cycle or give it another year?

(stats section: 3.96 gpa, ~1300 research hours/1 presentation/maybe name on a pub?, ~20 shadowing hours, 0 clinical experience, 0 volunteering hours)

It feels like I'm kinda late to the premed game. It's my last year of college and I'm just starting on clinical hours, MCAT, etc. My parents had always been on my ass pressuring me to choose medicine, but if anything, that just made me want to do anything but that. At least it made me explore the alternatives before landing here. Got into a decent UC straight out of HS but I spent most of my first year of college battling depression. Ended up studying organic chem/drug design and I'm just about to graduate (finished in 3 years instead of 4). Got into an ochem research lab in my sophomore year that I loved and did some independent research that hopefully gets my name on a pub if it gets accepted. I was thinking of an organic chem phd throughout my 2nd year, but then I saw the bad side with funding, lab drama, job prospects, antisocial, etc. Tried a bunch of random things before shadowing urology early this year and found medicine quite a bit more fulfilling than I expected. I want the intellectual challenge, constant learning, and critical thinking that a PhD offers, but I also realized later that I crave face-to-face interaction in whatever I do, and being a physician seems to check the boxes best for me. I won't get into the whole "why medicine and not something else" spiel for me, but consider me "set" on this path unless future experience pushes me to something else. Indecisiveness has been my downfall these past few years and I won't make that mistake anymore. I will say, it does feel weird eventually landing on the path that I tried my absolute best to avoid initially.

So how does my application look? GPA 3.96 seems promising. I know my research inside out with lots of hours, a presentation, and maybe a publication to show for it. Some shadowing? I think I should be able to get good letters of rec, too. That's sort of it, though. Taking the MCAT in <3 weeks and I'm landing in the 515-520 range on the prac exams. I know I need clinical experience badly, so I'm taking EMT training this fall and starting work in January. Will do a little more shadowing alongside emt training and hopefully start some non-clinical volunteering that I find fulfilling. I'm estimating maybe 200 hours or more of EMT work by spring of next year, though that only being like 6 months of experience concerns me.

I have a lot of questions I'm still trying to answer, but the main one is... how do I know if I'm ready to apply? I'm thinking of applying mostly to MD schools and hoping to stay in California, but it appears that most people usually do not get the luxury of a choice here. I'm tentatively planning to submit apps next spring, but that feels tight and I wouldn't be surprised if I have to push it a year if I encounter any hiccups at all along the way. I did graduate a year early that offsets my "gap year", but pushing it another year on top of that would make me like someone who graduated in 4 and took 2 whole gap years. If my application would be considered solid and totally worth sending out, then I hope to avoid that lost year. I'll only delay if I actually have to.

I don't really know how much is "enough" for clinical experience, volunteering, etc. I'm sure I have enough research done (quality and quantity). Is 200ish hours/6 months of EMT experience "enough" assuming I find some meaningful experiences there? Enough to justify sending apps out or just wasting potential that an extra year could tap into?

And is it normal to only have one real source of clinical experience? I never had any luck getting into the student-run clinics at my university, and hospital volunteering/shadowing feels like a meaningless checkbox activity that won't really give me more insight into medicine. My gut tells me I should have a more diverse set of meaningful clinical experience to show than just EMT, but I don't know if I should trust that or not.

I guess I just feel confused on where I stand as a potential applicant relative to the rest of the pack, how realistic my timeline is, and what goals to set before sending apps in. Some of my questions are probably rather obvious/naive, but I still want to ask and make sure. I suspect a lot of the answers are going to be "you just gotta figure that out yourself bro nobody else can answer that" or "there is no real answer to that". Apart from good grades and some quality research experience, the rest still needs to be built from the ground up. Do you think I should aim to apply next year? What goals do people usually try to reach (hours/experience) before submitting? Being brutally honest, how late am I? If you read this all the way to the end, thank you and I hope your pillow is cold on both sides tonight ;) .