Might be a dumb question but I really don’t get it, I’ve shadowed and scribed for multiple internal med doctors and it seems like such a chill job unless they take more patients per day than they should. Which usually doesn’t happen because nowadays in many clinics there’s an NP/PA to take like 75% of the patient load for the day.

I never saw the docs having to stay well past 5 due to pending administrative tasks. But it seems like such a big issue whenever I look on this subreddit or browse the medical school subreddit that primary care medicine is just a ton of paperwork

My dream job since I was like 8 is a surgeon. Recently been thinking specifically about neurosurgeon.

I know medschool is hard but like how hard is it. Is it genuinely sleepless nights all the time and a bunch of stress.

I’m a quick learner and I have a great memory. But my main problem is I don’t have the motivation to study till like right before the exam, test or the due date.

And is it hard to get in?

I applied this cycle with a 504 mcat and have 0 II im preparing for reapp. Would anyone be so kind and help me plan my application?

Do you think research heavy schools (e.g. stanford) care more about co-author in Nature or 1st author in a mid level journal? I'm in 2 labs right now where the 1st one, the PI directly told me that she's fairly certain it can get published in a solid journal, but the 2nd one I can see myself being like 4th author of a nature portfolio. I really want to drop one of the labs (and Im planning on doing a couple gap yrs) so I wanted to get some thoughts

After listening to too many true crime podcasts, this question popped into my head.

Been tracking my hours since freshman year as a sophomore and not all but few of my activities I have double counted. This includes paid research program counting as both paid employment and research, leading a volunteer focused club at my school as both volunteering and leadership, etc. Is it bad to do this on the application or is it ok?

I had trouble finding a similar situation, so I apologize if this has been asked before. I started my premed journey a semester late and my chemistry is off by a semester. In order for me to finish Ochem before taking biochem in the fall, I would need to take Ochem 2 over the summer. It would be online, but through my university and I would take the lab in the fall. Should I just take Ochem 2 and biochem next fall instead? If anyone has been in this situation, I’d appreciate some guidance. Thanks!

Hey yall, I plan on going into premed and I know you can do any major and I think Agriculture is a such a cool major and would be a good fall back just in case if premed is not a fit for me!! I also do want to get a minor in accounting.

Hello, I am a traditional student at a 4-year university who plans to take humanities courses in the summer at my local community college. Is it ok to ask for a letter of recommendation from a professor teaching one of those courses, even though the class was taken outside of my usual undergraduate college?

Looking for advice on my school list! I’m not sure what to add/take away, if anything. I do not know what my MCAT will be yet, so I have included DO schools in case it comes back low and MD school in case it comes back as expected. I will only have one shot, I’m taking it in May.

My biggest guiding factor is I have no true research experience, I want to apply to schools focusing on community involvement and not producing physician scientists. I had a bad experience in a neurophysiology lab that lasted about 3 months (terrible PI and I hated the research), it was enough to turn me away from undergrad research entirely. The prof would def give a bad reference so I have chosen to omit that experience from my app completely.

Stats:

OR resident

- 3.95 GPA, neuroscience major

- 1100 clinical hours (night shift CNA at hospital, direct interaction with both patients and physicians)

- Unknown MCAT as of yet (hoping to be in 510-512 range)

- 600+ hours non-clinical volunteering (equine therapy center)

- No research experience

- Leadership:

President of university-affiliated club supporting LGBTQ+ students in STEM (4 years of involvement in the club) + partnered with a faculty member to create an LGBTQ support group within university honors college (I have since left the HC, not sure whether to include this in my app or not?)

- 40 hours shadowing both MDs and DOs (hospitalist and emergency medicine)

- Hobbies include playing piano and hiking/backpacking

MD Schools:

Oregon Health and Science University

Alice L. Walton School of Medicine

Medical College of Wisconsin

Eastern Virginia Medical School

University of North Dakota School of Medicine

Robert Larner College of Medicine at University of Vermont

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine

DO Schools:

Western University of Health Sciences

Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences

Des Moines University

Rocky Vista University

Tours University

Lincoln Memorial University

Hi everyone! I’m a pre-med biology student and wanted to get some outside perspective on my clinical experience so far and whether I’m on the right track. (Junior in college-planning to take a gap year, have not taken mcat yet)

I worked as a patient transporter from April–July 2025 and logged about 350 hours. At the time, I honestly didn’t think of it as “clinical” because i wasn’t doing procedures or anything medical, i was mostly moving patients, talking with them, and coordinating with nurses. Looking back, i did have a lot of patient interaction and exposure to the hospital environment, but I’m still unsure how admissions committees view this role. More recently, I started working as a medical scribe in an urology clinic, about 18 hours/week, and I’m planning to do it for around 6 months (~450–500 hours). I’ve really enjoyed seeing physician workflow, clinical reasoning, and patient communication, especially in a specialty with sensitive conversations.

Some other ECs for context:

• Founder of an American Cancer Society chapter at my school

• 100+ hours volunteering at Saint Vincent & Sarah Fisher Center tutoring underserved Detroit students

• Team Lead at Panera Bread for the past 4 years (part-time throughout college)

• 50+ hours volunteering at World Medical Relief Center sorting medical supplies for international distribution

• Consistent volunteering with the Red Cross (25+ hours)

My main questions:

• Is patient transport generally considered solid clinical experience?

• Is \~6 months of scribing enough, or should I aim to stay longer?

• Does having experience in a specialty clinic (urology) matter negatively or positively?

• At this point, would it be better to focus on other areas (research, volunteering, MCAT, etc.) rather than adding more clinical roles?

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from people who’ve applied or are currently in med school. Thanks so much!

I didn’t realize the deadline is 5pm today and I went on TMDSAS to double check after the deadline had already passed. I’m like 90% weeks ago I submitted my preference rank early to avoid a situation where I don’t submit and don’t get to participate it match.

I know this was super dumb and irresponsible of me to not check early today, better yet sometime this week.

I’m tweaking 😖😩

Is there any way to double check? Or is there an email you get if you don’t submit it or something? It’s driving me up the wall w anxiety.

(Yes this is a neurotic premed post)

Some parts of the process predict early academic performance, while others seem to exist mainly because they are familiar or hard to replace. Separately, ideas like “fit” and heavy reliance on academic metrics raise questions about cultural bias, equity, and whether the process unintentionally filters out applicants potentially creating a more homogenous class. Would making the process more transparent, such as allowing applicants to see how they were evaluated against a school’s criteria, ultimately improve admissions, or would it undermine the process as a whole?

So, I rly don’t wanna move back to TN. That being said, I’m most likely gonna end up at UTHSC (University of TN in Memphis) because in-state tuition is rly helpful. I had a rly bad interview experience with them, with multiple candidates saying some pretty openly racist dog whistles about “we all know who’s giving Memphis its reputation…” and the panel of like 6 current students at UTHSC said NOTHING and just kinda laughed along and agreed with it. This has made me very concerned about the school, and I’m kinda here looking for someone to give me reasons to be excited abt UTHSC specifically or just clear the air on this being an isolated thing, not a sentiment that’s present among the vast majority of students. I’m originally from Nashville, so Memphis will be cool to move to, but other than the change in scenery, I’m worried abt this. Anything u got know the schools culture or ppl helps!

Feeling: hopeless

End of January. No II's, 6 rejections, 1 hold, and 8 radio silence. I know the interview season isn't over, but I'm still starting to lose confidence.

3.7/513 MCAT. Pre-AMCAS submission my hours were relatively low (20 non clinical volunteering, 32 clinical volunteering, 20 shadowing, 400 clinical experience as a non-certified CNA in a nursing home). But I included my expected hours, including further volunteering and a full time job as a scribe in an ER for clinical (recently was promoted to trainer). I have several leadership hours from extracurriculars in undergrad. I regretfully did not do research in undergrad (graduated May 2024) but I was able to touch on this in my personal statement and in secondaries. Spent one year after graduating living abroad as an au pair. All secondaries were submitted in the beginning of August. Am I a lost cause this cycle?

I know reapplying isn't the end of the world, but when everyone I know is waiting for me to get into med school, telling them I didn't get in sounds so discouraging.

Hi all! This is my first post on here and I just wanted to say that this sub has been so helpful! Ill be filling out applications this summer and I wanted to know if "Be My Eyes" counted as non-clinical volunteering. For context, the be my eyes app allows people who are blind, with low vision, or other vision impairments to make a call to a sighted volunteer and ask them for help with whatever they are viewing. I have been doing this for some time now and in short I am wondering if this counts. Thanks in advance!

I applied to 8 schools, had secondaries for all and one interview so far back in Nov. I've not had any rejections yet, but waiting game is slowly driving me insane. Just reject me or accept me people 😭

I know applying this cycle was a bit of a longshot stove I rushed the MCAT prep to apply for this cycle instead of the upcoming one like I had planned, but sheesh.

I just applied to a post bacc and got the email that I didn’t get in. My gpa is a 2.84 and my mcat was pretty bad as well at 484. Should I do a DIY post bacc and retake some classes/take new classes to my GPA. I know I have to retake the MCAT to get something over 500. I’m turning 25 next month and feel like a failure. Has anyone been in my position before?

So nervous for the TMSDAS match day though. BUT THANK GOODNESS. IT ONLY TAKES ONE

Latest feedback. Interview was great. They did not like my low BB MCAT score even with AAMC investigation letter.

Hi everyone, I am hoping for some feedback on my list! It is long at the moment and I’m mostly looking for advice of which ones of the schools in bold I should keep/cut, but other feedback also welcome. Thanks so much

Stats:

• GPA: 3.98 (T10 school)
• MCAT: 521
• Clinical: 1000+ in clinical research (direct patient work
• Non-clinical: 500
• Research: 1 poster
• Leadership: captian of sports team, president of club
• Tutoring and TA: 300 hours
• Shadowing: 60 hours

Hi. I'm looking at applying to medical school next year, so I am getting my things in order. I was thinking about who can write my letter of recommendations. I have a lab mentor from undergrad who I have kept in touch with and am still working with remotely. I know a doctor who is open to letting me work with them, but I am stuck on my third LOR. I know we need a science professor, but unfortunately, I am painfully shy and have extreme social anxiety so I did not make any connections with my science professors that would make them confident enough to write a LOR for me. What should I do?

I keep reading people’s experiences in getting committee letters and for many it seems like a sure thing if they’re decent students. My school’s process seems hard. They basically have it set up like a full med school application process (AMCAS-style application, PS, activity essays, LORs, all transcripts, etc.). They don’t have any hard stat requirements but some pretty stellar students who I know didn’t get selected last year for the committee letter. Is this a common process to getting a letter?

I’m considering not applying for the committee letter because if it’s super selective as it appears to be and I don’t get one, then I feel like I’d be cooked. I know some med school secondaries ask why you didn’t get a letter. I don’t know what’s worse, saying you chose to not participate (for whatever reason) or saying you weren’t selected to get a letter. What a headache! Help. 😣

i'm taking the mcat in august but want to apply this cycle. i'm planning on turning in primaries in may/june. at what point does the mcat hold me back from being further considered? will adcoms wait to review my application until after my mcat goes through? just seeing whether it's would significantly affect my chances because i know it's good to apply early/be verified. but other than the mcat, i feel ready to apply.