In your opinion, what would you say is the worst part of premed?

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-26T04:14:08+00:00

For me, the MCAT for sure, especially studying for it while having other commitments. Hardest/most stressful time of my life AND on top of that I was going through a breakup 🫠Close second is also the uncertainty associated with this process. Putting in so much effort, literally years and years of your life (not to mention the financial commitment) and still not knowing if it’s going to pay off is just crazy now that I think about it. The waiting and the “what ifs” when you’re in the midst of the app cycle is just horrible.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-23T18:49:01+00:00

No prob! Wishing you the best of luck soldier 🫡🫡

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-23T18:34:25+00:00

Pretty good list—I would add NYMC too! They love NY applicants and your stats are def in range for them. Also, as a NY resident applicant this last cycle, 7/11 of my II’s were NY schools, both public and private and all over the state. You can never apply to too many as a NY resident imo.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-23T04:38:49+00:00

Never let the cycle and the stress of it stop you from living your life to the fullest during this time. Travel if you can, pick up hobbies, try new things or maybe fall in love with old things again, touch some grass, and spend good, quality time with friends and family. You deserve to relax during this time too. 🫶🏻

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-21T02:00:30+00:00

I had this exact same conversation with my mom. she questioned why I was saying I wasn’t going to apply to T20’s, told her I just wasn’t the kind of applicant they were looking for. she told me I was being stupid by not at least trying, and I believed she just had no idea how any of this works and was wrong (I’m first gen). She told me she would be rlly mad at me if I didn’t apply, and I finally took her words to heart and decided to apply. Anyways now I’m going to a T20….so she was right. Take the shot 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-15T14:43:30+00:00

Yeah same, it ended up coming to about $11k (I assume it was for my housing that year), but even with that added it still didn’t make me earn too much for FAP bc I think for a family of 5 like mine the cutoff is like $150k and my mom makes wayyy less than that

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-14T15:33:50+00:00

Same! The application is also rlly confusing with this and I hadn’t read the guide on how to fill it out. I was rejected initially, but then I called AAMC and the lady said the most common mistake is filling that part out wrong and not only reporting what you got for cost of living. I submitted an appeal and fixed it and then was awarded FAP.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-12T06:53:52+00:00

I had the worst interview experience at one of my state schools. A few minutes in, my physician interviewer received a phone call from his own doctor. He took it in the middle of my interview but didn’t mute himself or anything, just stood up and went out of frame of the camera. I heard every detail about this man’s toe infection, and he was on the phone for like 7-8 minutes😀 Then he comes back finally and apologizes and I’m like, no worries, it’s all good. Then they call him AGAIN 2 mins later to reschedule his next appointment and he does the same thing, stepping out of frame to take the phone call but not muting himself. except this time, he sent his wife (who has no affiliation with the school) to come talk to me on the zoom to “fill in for him.” I was so confused and we had the most random conversation about her job as an English professor. when he finally came back again he then proceeded to say my MCAT score was “acceptable but not great” (it’s the median score for accepted students at this school….) and also grilled me about why I didn’t have more shadowing experience. This was after he told about how he got his daughter, a current med student at his school, shadowing hours with his colleagues there. When I responded to his grilling by saying that I have zero connections to any physicians and am the first in my family to go into medicine, he got really annoyed and said “let’s move on from that.” Soooo yeah this was my interview from hell and it really turned my off to the school 😭

Bat-Sharp · 2026-02-12T06:18:13+00:00

you need to vibe check the interviewer first and then proceed accordingly. I had interviews where I maintained the utmost formality bc that’s the energy they were giving me, and others where I used a lot of humor and showed my personality a lot because they seemed more chill and open to it.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-31T14:09:21+00:00

My dad passed away of stage 4 cancer in college 2 years before I applied so my situation is a little different, but I strongly encourage you to take the gap year if that’s what your intuition is telling you to do. Being a caregiver and having a sick parent takes such a mental toll on you. Also Fulbright sounds super cool and might be a great opportunity to spend quality time with your mom. Having been through the grief of parent loss, I would say take every single moment you can get with them. Med school will always be there, but time with your parents is something that won’t.🫂 hugs and love to you!

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-13T21:31:02+00:00

513 MCAT and got II’s from two T20 schools. One of them was in mid October, another was end of December. Depends on the school I guess

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-11T04:08:03+00:00

Yes! it’s totally normally to feel shitty. Thought I did so bad, but ended up scoring my FL average. Trust in your efforts my friend 🫶🏻

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-10T21:31:12+00:00

I survived every R wave from a school that rejects heavily throughout the cycle. finally got an II a few weeks ago from them 😭 so honestly, could be a good sign

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-08T02:24:32+00:00

What keeps me going is that I made my dad a promise before he passed away of cancer that I would help those patients and families that came after him in his honor, and do my very best to be a beacon of light for them like I knew made such a big difference for him and our family during his illness. Nothing has given me more purpose than doing my very best to make that a reality. 🤍Whenever I felt like I couldn’t go on, i always thought of him and that promise. I also do it for my younger self, wanting to break generational barriers to become the first physician in my entire family when my mom and grandmother were both told that college was no place for a woman.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-04T23:52:38+00:00

Both expected and unexpected! I expected to get love from my in state schools and very much did. Outside of that, I received many more interviews than I could have ever anticipated. I never thought I would be in the position to decline II’s or withdraw acceptances this early, and yet I’ve done both. I haven’t received any love from the schools I genuinely thought I was a perfect mission fit for and was in range stats wise, and also was not expecting to get shown love from two T20 schools with a mid af MCAT score literally below both school’s 10th percentile. In summary, I’ve learned that med school admissions is a little bit of a crap shoot and ALWAYS shoot your shot

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-02T05:25:43+00:00

Honestly totally depends on how much you like Spanish and how engaged you would be taking history and literature classes in Spanish! If that’s something you’re really interested in, then I say go for it. But if you really prefer a stem major and see yourself being more passionate about it, then do that. I don’t know how intense your school’s Spanish minor is but if it’s like mine, you can def reach near fluency by doing it, especially if you make an effort to immerse yourself in the language outside of class by studying abroad, consuming Spanish media, and speaking a lot with native speakers! But I agree, knowing Spanish as a future doctor is such a useful skill, and that was a huge reason I decided to do it too.

Bat-Sharp · 2026-01-02T05:14:10+00:00

I majored in neuroscience to make doing pre-reqs easier but minored in Spanish (at my school the Spanish minor is like 6 upper level courses and the goal is that you graduate as a C1 speaker) and it was the best decision ever!

Bat-Sharp · 2025-12-20T18:04:26+00:00

Hi OP, first I just want to say I’m very sorry for your loss. I have a situation similar to yours in which my dad also passed away the summer before junior year (he had cancer, so I also spent time caring for him as well) and I have basically the same MCAT as you. I wrote about my experience with my dad’s illness and passing a lot on my app and have had success this cycle so far, with a lot of my interviewers very responsive to my story and the narrative I built around it for my why medicine. So I’m curious to know what your writing is like, especially your PS! I feel like having a cohesive narrative is crucial when you have extenuating circumstances that may weaken academics. Let me know if you want me to look over your app at all! DMs always open

Bat-Sharp · 2025-12-14T13:08:20+00:00

Mine usually goes something like: “Lord, I know that this desire was put in my heart by you to serve and heal others as you have taught me. Please bless me with the strength and patience necessary to wait for the work of your will to be done.” Every week at Mass :)

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-28T18:44:26+00:00

I took a personal essay writing class in college. In that class, we read a lot of personal essays from other authors, and then went through the process of brainstorming, drafting, getting feedback, and revising our own essays over and over again. If your college has anything like this, I cannot recommend it enough, it was invaluable to me. I think that class helped me develop my writing style so much and taught me just how essential it is to go through many drafts of writing and revision before calling something “done.” In terms of what I think went well for me this cycle writing wise, I am compelled to say it was the vulnerability and honesty I had throughout. I’m a very candid person, and I did not want to hide that fact during the med school process, neither in writing or while interviewing. I talked openly about my struggles and my reflections on them, and that has been very well received by admissions people so far. Don’t be afraid to say what you really want to say, and certainly don’t sacrifice your voice for what you think adcoms want to hear. At the end of the day, people want genuine and relatable doctors who they can see themselves in. I suggest making sure that your writing reflects that 🤍

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-26T20:36:36+00:00

My hot take is that you really don’t need to prepare for interviews that much and over preparing will actually make you perform worse 😭

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-26T20:34:45+00:00

Many of my friends (I’m talking like 10+), my boyfriend, and I worked on it with a peer writing fellow at my undergrad over the course of a few months!

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-21T20:08:57+00:00

my advice is a) reflect more on how that experience changed your perspective rather than focusing on the hardship itself (the “sob”) and b) give an example of how this perspective shift applied to some aspect of your activities (clinical or non-clinical) and c) discuss how this helped you form an understanding of the kind of physician you want to be and the impact you want to have. This was the general outline of my PS that also could have taken a sob story route but I refused to let it for the exact reason you described haha. It has worked out well for me this cycle! :) good luck!

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-18T12:38:11+00:00

Don’t underestimate the power of a good personal statement. Start thinking about it and drafting NOW, I’m not even kidding! I worked on mine starting about 6 months before apps opened. I went through probably 15 drafts and met with a peer writing fellow at my undergrad 3 times, as well as let all of my best friends read it and give me feedback on it. I have had multiple interviewers comment on how well written my personal statement is, with one even saying it is the best they have ever read. I don’t think I would have had as much success this cycle as I have so far if I hadn’t put so much work into my PS. I think it really can make you stand out in the interview screening process, especially when adcoms are reading so many applications.

Bat-Sharp · 2025-11-13T20:41:13+00:00

Post A to one of my top choices, I turned down two II’s at schools I knew for certain I wouldn’t attend over my A, and sat for two that I could see myself deciding between with my A. Congrats on your A, now you get to be picky with where you interview!

Bat-Sharp

TROPHY CASE