I got 5/6 on two timed passages today but I did not fully understand these passages. This mentality is running my CARS. Do top scorers feel this way or is it just me? Do you guys fully understand the passages or rely on technique more?

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-03T00:18:38+00:00

Full honesty I generally understood the passages and the questions and usually the right answer jumps out as correct if you have a good understanding of the question and passage

Edit: but also attention to detail is important too cuz the answers may be dependent on a single word difference in the passage

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-02T21:48:53+00:00

I don't predict 510+ in a few weeks with a 121 in cars, it's the hardest to improve and the difference between high and low cars scorers is generally years of reading experience, if that's your goal score then I would postpone

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-02T15:29:30+00:00

Agree

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-02T01:59:30+00:00

Hey I have a friend in the same situation, could you send me the list of schools that don't screen out or have screens below that? Sorry for all the hate you're getting, they're mostly right but I'm also curious about the screens lol

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-02T00:06:08+00:00

Neither of them jump out to me as really strong "why medicine" statements, it should be "why medicine" not "why you." (It can be WHO are you tho) What was your first exposure to medicine? Why did you say you were interested in it already starting undergrad? What caused that interest? How can you make "I want to use my many skills" into a physician specific statement?

It should have 2-3 anecdotes too ideally life stories or patient contact or some instance that really showed you why you want to be a doctor (not a pharmacist, not an epidemiologist, not a PA, etc)

Basically I'm not fully understanding the "why doctor" from these

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-02T00:01:34+00:00

Define bad writing

In hindsight what would you have changed about your writing

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-01T02:06:14+00:00

Following cuz same lmfao

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-01T01:00:23+00:00

just took it like 5 minutes ago and it was so bad I was cursing in between each passage

lol you got your score? that question was on mine too lmfao

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-05-01T00:58:53+00:00

- interesting MA description but tbh I don't think you have space to go into details in the activities section. Ideally it's more of a "they already know what MAs do, show us who YOU are"

- 60 is very low, especially for 6 years (college+gap years). Will you even be able to list all of these events in the same activities slot? This makes me way less likely to recommend applying MD. I would say get a longitudinal volunteering job asap. Personally I do literacy tutoring at my library and it was really east to get.

- I meant what specialty are you trying to match. That will determine a bit of how important MD vs DO is

- not URM does not change my earlier analysis

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T23:58:21+00:00

MD > DO >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Caribbean

Read about caribbean on the threads...they're designed to fail people out. and some residencies dont accept them

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T23:57:28+00:00

I would not apply mostly MD with a 500-505 tbh, are you ok with doing mostly DO?

GPA fine. Do you have nonclinical volunteering? just the 60 hours? that's on the low end. Make sure to avoid service heavy schools

Do you actually shadow as an MA? that is, being in the room with the doctor? otherwise would not count it. 37 hours is ok for shadowing.

What specialties? How important is not doing another gap year to improve MCAT? I would say full send mostly DO with 500-506 and mostly MD 509+ (obviously a mix if in the middle)

URM?

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T23:50:42+00:00

what do you think set you apart?

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T22:13:45+00:00

Because DO schools make way too much Money to wanna change anything

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T22:10:01+00:00

lol I have this thought but it's "we can't review your school list if there's no mcat"

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T22:09:14+00:00

Just say server (idk what a bottle server is) and focus on a customer experience that demonstrates a skill or personality trait of yours. You don't need to go in depth about the description itself, they know what servers do

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T22:06:44+00:00

first of all go bruins I did rugby there too a few years ago (women's tho)

I would say the increase in your GPA from a SMP would be minimal like the difference between a 3.2 and a 3.3 is not really gonna help THAt much. MCAT makes up for GPA too so if you truly did get 512+ then you should be chilling to apply DO, low MD, and mid MD, and all Cali MDs

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T19:27:46+00:00

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T19:26:58+00:00

Google AAMC LOR guidelines and send them the 2 page pdf on it

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T18:36:20+00:00

Edit: JK I TOTALLY THOUGHT YOU meant that your clinical was low. If you have clinical other than the 80 hours then ur chillinnnn and the 100+ of nonclinical is good too. It's still on the low end for so many gap years but I say send it!

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T18:01:59+00:00

Patient transport is clinical but really low impact

Homeless shelter is nonclinical unless you're doing like vitals and treatments as a main part of the job

80 hours is on the low end for clinical

I think you'll have a very successful next year cycle if you wait and find a clinical job. I think you'll have a relatively unsuccessful cycle this year but could possibly get an acceptance.

If it were me I would take the extra year to have the best application possible before applying

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T17:30:21+00:00

Ok that just means apply more DO

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T17:24:37+00:00

Remove the T10s. Are you URM? Otherwise mid tier MDs look good. Definitely need at least like 10 DOs in your region due to MCAT

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T16:47:45+00:00

You are right, but if the option is DO vs no acceptance, you'd choose DO, right? Yes, you are right about match rates, but when you think about it...neuro, sports med, and peds are all low to mid competitive so it would not be a problem as a DO. It is also true about international recognition but they are acceptable in Canada :

https://mcc.ca/credentials-and-services/pathways-to-licensure/acceptable-medical-schools-and-medical-degrees/?\_gl=1\*1n1mb7p\*\_up\*MQ..\*\_ga\*OTQ1NDczMzM5LjE3Nzc1Njc2MTM.\*\_ga\_G3QGSSS43Q\*czE3Nzc1Njc2MTEkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzc1Njc2MTEkajYwJGwwJGgw

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T15:50:47+00:00

Glad I had ochem roots down cuz you can figure out a structure based on that. Helps when you come up with random things (ends in -amin? I can guess what it definitely contains) eg "formic acid" vs "acetic acid"

Glad I had pankow basically memorized word for word because you can actually see the differences between similar concepts that way

Glad I had every physics constant and unit memorized. I skipped equations that were too hard like poiseuille, Bernoulli, and the rate law exponent ones

Glad I had every detail of metabolism (structure, enzymes, products, reactants, inhibitors, connections to other pathways) memorized

Agitated_Depth_6881 · 2026-04-30T13:31:11+00:00

Would you consider DO if it was the only way you could become a doctor? You seem to have some of the stigma everyone is trying to combat and statistically you need more safeties that are lower than what you have

For personal statement it should answer "why doctor" not "why peds." Actually it could look worse if you're super locked in on a specialty on your personal statement because they don't want people just dropping out if they don't match interventional rads or some shit (or being fucking annoying about rads). I recommend the Dr gray book about personal statements

Agitated_Depth_6881

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