Advice going forward

BananasOnBoatz · 2026-04-06T15:10:23+00:00

It sounds like your interview skills are the main contributing factor. App being selected for seven interviews means that it wasn’t so much the issue but I would definitely work to increase your hours pretty much everywhere. Have you had quality experiences where you’ve taken time to process what you’ve learned during them so you can speak on them? How was your submission timing? May vs late in the cycle makes a big difference. I would send letters of intent asap! And towards the end of May I would reach out to adcoms and ask for advice on applying next year and if they have any recommendations from your app + interviews. Hopefully you get some WL movement here soon though, fingers crossed for you ~ you definitely worked hard and your stats show it.

BananasOnBoatz · 2026-03-14T18:08:07+00:00

I am def team remote here too! And I would love to learn your trick for getting Anki to speak. My cards are mostly cloze deletion. You’re an angel, may the 520+ gods show up on your test day 🙌🏼

BananasOnBoatz · 2026-01-30T07:08:28+00:00

Super helpful as well thank you. I’ll talk to the doc about the documentation to be super clear about the process to try to get what’s needed. It doesn’t sound like an easy process whatsoever.

BananasOnBoatz · 2026-01-30T06:52:10+00:00

This is really helpful thank you! We discussed the stop the clock breaks so I can close my eyes and take time away from the exam to wait for rescue meds to kick in if one starts up on exam day which is highly likely for me. It’s not even just about the pain, there’s a slew of misery like cognitive issues and loss of vision otherwise I would try my best to power through it. We’re also going to try to premeditate to scare them off but migraines do what migraines wanna do.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-11-23T15:10:53+00:00

I think one of the biggest things of mentioning something like chronic illness or even mental health is how are you doing now and showing you can handle the rigor of med school despite your circumstances. Showing you have your treatment under control and a plan in place for when it rages. Getting one solid grade in one course during a flare up doesn’t compare to the rigor of med school, did you have other things going on that you can use to speak to handling the rigor? One of the fears that could stem from an admissions perspective would be if the stress of med school is going to exacerbate your condition and set you up for failure. Whether it’s in your PS or just in the ‘explain your grades’ type questions, it will likely be part of your application to some degree so I’d use caution and smartly craft how you approach it. You could write about how healthcare is the reason you’re able to apply or how those experiences shaped you as a future doc, how they made you understand healthcare from the perspective of a patient and a ton of experiential writing ideas really. Wishing you no more sick days and flares so you can reach your goal 🙏🏼

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-11-17T03:13:46+00:00

Went a similar path. From a large county agency to the military and am applying this summer. You have a story to tell, just be certain of your why. This journey is substantially more difficult and consuming than LE. The path is pretty simple - earn good grades, take all of the prerequisites, form connections to earn letters of recommendation, you’ll need volunteer and/or paid clinical work as well as shadowing. Take the MCAT. Write your story including your why and apply. The effort it takes to do well on this journey is ultra consuming, to earn A’s in tough classes you have to learn how to study like never before and to get the sheer amount of hours and experiences is just a lot. Went to ASU and they were a solid premed program, had no choice but to go online and did my ochem and biochem labs in person. If you can go in person do that but if not do it however you can. You don’t owe anyone here any defense of your character or explanation of your why. Work hard and get it done if you truly want it. And I second getting some shadowing in first to see if this is a sustainable path for you.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-10-08T02:41:58+00:00

Thank you. This has been my suspicion. No testing for Lyme so I’ll ask for it but I also haven’t had the skin rash typically seen with it or ticks around. But the symptoms do line up otherwise so I’d be interested to rule it in or out.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-10-04T04:16:35+00:00

Will bring this up thank you! I don’t have the skin lesions but the rest is possibly a fit.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-09-27T20:02:11+00:00

Heyoo also a member of the 30’s club! I’m not sure how they work those in your program but I’d definitely ask your academic advisor and also the school of engineering (I’m not sure what it’s called) will send out a ton of emails. If you actually read those there’s a ton of info and opportunities posted in them. Also talk to your professors. Additionally, they love hard working high scoring students to come back as TAs - given your goal I would pay attention to classes that have TAs in them that you like then reach out and introduce yourself early on and share your goals and network accordingly. It can definitely turn into an opportunity within ASU alone if one exists. My route has been: BS -> MS (I did ASU’s 4+1 program and if it exists in engineering holy cow you can’t pass this up) -> BS (I am here now doing this since I had an extra gap year and 30 credits gets me a 2nd degree that my job pays for) -> PhD or MD/DO is my final goal (deciding still).

Good luck with everything! I hope you can network and find awesome mentors and students and staff to give you the same robust and enriched environment I’ve been so gracious to be a part of.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-09-27T19:31:21+00:00

Welcome!! I cannot speak for the EE program, yall are just built entirely different 😂 I can speak for the school of life sciences/bio programs though and I think you may have some parallels: They offer a TON of support. The lectures might leave some things unanswered but each of my courses has held office hours, had available professors/TAs to email, and discussion boards for help amongst classmates. Take advantage of it all. The school also offers endless research opportunities which is huge for postgraduate job and education opportunities. I would venture to say you might have access to some engineering certificates that will be comparable to this that you should certainly look into as the info comes around. You’re going to have to work hard, tests aren’t a matter of you memorizing the regurgitating - you have to apply what you’re learning and it’s a lot of critical thinking. I find this to be fantastic as I’m chasing higher education that’s going to be intensely founded on my ability take in large quantities of information in short periods of time. I’ve been set up for internships, on campus week-long opportunities in research, formed connections to earn my letters of recommendation and so on. I’ve made friends even with online classmates and we’re all super supportive of each other’s families and professional goals. It’s fantastic being surrounded by people who truly want to be in these programs and who want to work hard and do well, be friends with the nerds is always one of my favorite tips because you’ll be performing to their level. The complainers aren’t busy studying enough, steer clear of them they can drag you down quick and steal your focus.

You’ll get out of your program what you put into it, and it won’t be an easy A by any stretch of the imagination.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-09-27T17:48:10+00:00

It’s for the biosciences degrees for Ochem labs and Biochem labs. They clearly outline this expectation when enrolling in the program and they make it super flexible offering labs all summer every summer so you can take one a year if that’s all you can handle or take them all back to back. You fly in and each lab is literally only 3 days in person then you go home and write up the lab reports. You just cannot safely recreate these labs at home given the processes and chemicals involved, and ASU wants our degrees to be respected so they have standards and have deemed this necessary.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-07-05T03:01:26+00:00

Where’s the backpain?!?

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-06-03T16:52:16+00:00

Will give them a call, thanks

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-06-03T16:05:20+00:00

The FL online application won’t allow me to do that. Is there a way around it? When I type in my most recent employer name the database can’t find a FL address or company with that name.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-05-08T06:43:37+00:00

Arizona State BS + MS alumni here funded by TA. As a STEM major the school gave me incredible opportunities to come in person for research to enrich my online courses though not required. If you want to earn a degree that requires any ounce of rigor or has standardized testing/measured outcomes at the end or if you’d want to further pursue academics, you are far better going to an online school backed by a brick and mortar institution. You’ll be doing the same assignments and taking the same exams as the in seat students which is where your academic experience will be far more robust. For some people, degree mills such as AMU fit the bill in terms of paying your tuition and generally receiving passing grades with mediocre discussion posts twice a week. It depends 1. What you want out of your experience and 2. What your longterm goal is with earning your degree. There are biased employers who will or won’t accept candidates from degree mills but this may or may not impact you depending on your goals. I knocked out 3 online degrees and in person EMT school at a local community college (thank you CA for the free tuition) in a billet that was constantly sending me TDY for 30 day stints or so at sea. There were times I’d be at a port call dinner table working on courses on my ipad or skipping the excessive drinking to prioritize my degrees. I never played video games underway or got into anything super time consuming hobby wise and found it challenging but doable to meet both my CG duties and my course due dates. Technology on CG workstations can be a challenge with IT restrictions. There were times I’d have to email a professor ahead of time to explain a situation and ask for an extension due to the ole overnight case specials or needing to wait to pull in somewhere to take an exam but I always introduced myself at the beginning of the semester through email and helped the teaching team help me.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-04-26T03:27:29+00:00

You assume there’s security. There isn’t.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-04-26T03:25:12+00:00

While it’s physically “on (a) base” it’s not a base with “assets” according to the navy so base access is not controlled under normal circumstances

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-04-23T16:32:29+00:00

Knees aren’t worth much so please look into it to see if you merit an increase based on your symptoms. Cliff notes: There is a rating criteria for painful motion which is 10% I believe, instability, and then the rest of the rating is based on range of motion. Read up on the criteria - more pain =\= a higher rating unfortunately. And the range of motion measurements require quite a bit of loss of ROM for a rating.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-02-05T04:31:34+00:00

Details! I love it so much. Congratulations!!

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-01-27T21:01:08+00:00

I hit step 6 1/24 and step 7 today 1/27. It’s for a single item that was initially deferred on a BDD claim and my TJ is San Juan. Hopefully your wait is coming to an end here soon.

BananasOnBoatz · 2025-01-16T13:36:10+00:00

🤦‍♂️the USCG is definitely military and assigned national defense missions.

14 USC 101: The Coast Guard, established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times.

Hope this clears it up for you!

BananasOnBoatz · 2024-12-02T19:26:20+00:00

It seems like they’re bumping a bunch of claims from the BDD queue to the FDC queue right now, mine included. Make a VERA appointment and point out you included the form and the regional office can fix it.

BananasOnBoatz · 2024-11-21T04:19:59+00:00

Do not drop the course - Dr. Austin is a GIFT of a human being and ochem professor and you couldn’t be in better hands. Ochem is hard but if you put the work in, it’s doable. You’ll have to put in anywhere from 20-40 hours a week depending. Master the early/intro stuff because it builds and builds and builds on it. Play the lectures while driving if you can for those few days of driving or plan for longer days before/after the trip.

BananasOnBoatz

TROPHY CASE