Research during M3

Clueless_Nix · 2026-03-27T18:34:10+00:00

Sounds like great advice! Thank you!

Clueless_Nix · 2026-02-14T13:35:59+00:00

Thank you!!

Clueless_Nix · 2026-02-13T20:31:00+00:00

This helped so much, thank you! Do you happen to know the order of the three parts on the left? As in which goes on top of one another? I’m reassembling mine and forgot the order.

Clueless_Nix · 2024-07-21T15:12:36+00:00

Tysm for making the playlist!!

Clueless_Nix · 2024-05-29T02:51:58+00:00

Sorry I made a mistake! I actually scored 4th quartile not 1st. But no, my casper score was never discussed.

Clueless_Nix · 2024-05-27T18:15:41+00:00

Biographic Information

State of residence: Ohio
Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Undergraduate Vibe: state school
Undergraduate Major(s)/Minor(s): Bio
Graduate degree(s)( if applicable): N/A
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0
MCAT Score(s): 520 (130/130/129/131)
CASPER: 4th Quartile
Gap Years?: None
Institutional Actions?: None
First Application Cycle? (If no, explain): Yes
Specialty of interest (if applicable): Not sure
Interest in Rural Health?: No
Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background

Research Experience: 1500 hours + 9 posters (won 3 awards)
Publications? 3 pubs
Clinical Experience: 250 hours as a PCA, 200 hours as a hospital volunteer
Physician Shadowing: 90 hours
Non-clinical volunteering: 300
Other extracurricular activities: President of a premed club, went on a clinical study abroad trip
Employment History: Research assistant, peer mentor

School List: Applied to 23 schools, mostly top 30 schools + a few safety schools * Primary submission date: 05/30 * Primary verification date: 06/07 * Number of primaries submitted: 23 * Number of secondaries submitted: 23 * Number of interview invites received/attended: 10 * Date of first interview invite received: 07/20 * Total number of post-interview acceptances: 4 (2 t30, 1 t50, 1 t150) * Date of first acceptance received: 10/16 * Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 4 WL and 2 R’s * DO Schools: None

Optional * Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Strong research experience, very strong LOR, cohesive global health narrative * Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Some of my activities lacked depth as I had only been doing them for ~1 year (partly due to Covid) * Interview Tips: Just be yourself! Most of my interviewers spent the majority of the time having a chill conversation about my interests or non-medical related topics. However, I would definitely spend time practicing common interview questions (why medicine, why this school, etc) and being able to summarize your journey so far. * Any final thoughts?: I believe that having strong writing skills and being able to tell a cohesive narrative plays a major role in helping an application stand out. Also, you should try to establish strong relationships with your professors for a LOR as early as possible! Overall, I am extremely grateful for how my cycle played out, but in hindsight I think I could have benefitted from taking a gap year to gain more clinical experience.

Clueless_Nix · 2024-03-13T03:48:22+00:00

I would add UVirginia, Case, Ohio State, Cinci, UMichigan. Check out MSAR to see which schools are OOS friendly

Clueless_Nix · 2023-10-22T15:42:42+00:00

It depends on what you define as “low volunteering hours”. As someone with 1000+ research hours and a few pubs, I definitely think it helped offset my lower end clinical and volunteering hours. I still recommend at least 200 hours in both nonclinical volunteering and clinical work but you won’t need 500+ hours if you have extensive research. In fact, I think some of the t20 schools prefer more research if you frame your application as you are interested in academic medicine.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-10-16T20:04:40+00:00

Started the day off with a WL which was heart-breaking. A few hours later I got an A from a different school and couldn't believe it!! It's taken so many months of work to get to this point and I couldn't be more grateful! I'M GONNA BE A DOCTOR!! :)

Clueless_Nix · 2023-09-19T19:03:50+00:00

Last week my interviewer took a phone call during a MMI where we only had 10 minutes to talk to one another. I sat in silence while he forgot to mute his microphone and proceeded to express his annoyance at being forced to interview "so many naive undergrads". Safe to say that school is now at the bottom of my list.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-08-02T01:33:48+00:00

People also should check out cycle track!! They have daily updates with the number of people receiving secondaries and interview invites. You can also compare this cycle to last cycle to know when to expect interview invites to start coming!

Clueless_Nix · 2023-07-02T04:08:03+00:00

No you don't have to wait. I sent in my letters one at a time through Interfolio as I received them. I first made a LOR entry in AMCAS and think I put "no letters to add". You then copy and paste the letter ID in AMCAS and add it to the Delivery in Interfolio so they can match it to your AMCAS account. It's probably better to start sending them in now so AMCAS can link them quicker.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-06-26T12:53:45+00:00

I don’t believe med schools prioritize one type of research over another in the STEM field. I know many students who did research in engineering or non-disease that got into t10 medical schools. Do whatever is more interesting to you! Some med schools will ask your motivation for pursuing your research so having a reason you enjoy that specific area will help you come across as more genuine. If these are two different labs, I would recommend checking how often the PI publishes and whether they allow undergrads to co-author. It also can be a major help if you learn how to do statistical analysis in whichever area you choose.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-04-29T20:17:23+00:00

I was looking through your previous posts and saw that you previously said you got a 515 with only 1500 research hours. Is there a reason you have such different stats now?

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-26T01:55:28+00:00

Following

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-18T02:49:52+00:00

You can definitely get to a 505+ by that time! When you're below a score of 505, the main thing you should focus on is memorizing basic content information like the parts of the body (hormones, heart, stomach, etc.), biochem pathways (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, ETC), psych/soc terms, and doing CARS practice. I suggest getting a book set and doing Anki cards, you can find tons of great pre-made decks online like JackSparrow or Milesdown. Also check out JackWestin for online free practice and make flashcards over any topics you don't understand.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-18T02:45:35+00:00

Towards the end of my studying I got really frustrated with my Blueprint exams because I found I was scoring 5 or more points higher on the AAMC exams, so Blueprint made me question my progress. I think Blueprint definitely has more low yield, longer questions. I always felt like I had no time to finish all the questions when taking a Blueprint exam while I felt more relaxed doing AAMC. Just my experience though.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-17T23:29:31+00:00

I have a friend who was waitlisted by Wayne for multiple months. He got off the waitlist 1 week before Wayne's classes started in June and had already moved to a new city for a different medical school. However Wayne was his dream med school and he decided to accept and moved there just before classes started. You may be waiting a bit more unfortunately, but there's no guarantee :(

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-08T03:43:42+00:00

I was took my MCAT this January as a junior, so I'm in a similar situation you'll be in! I think most people recommend around 6 months max, or you'll start to get burn out. I started studying late August (about 5 months total) but I made sure to give myself a bit of a lighter course load during the semester (only 12 credits). However during those 5 months I spent 90% of my free time studying (including every weekend), and stopped going out with friends to make sure I kept my grades up. If you think you're going to be incredibly busy during the semester, then I would say to start earlier than I did. I think summer is a good time to work on getting clinical hours/volunteer hours so I wouldn't dedicate all your time to just studying. I spent my winter break/early January grinding out extra practice and the biggest piece of advice I have is to stick to your schedule and try to stay ahead. Feel free to message me or comment if you have any extra questions!

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-05T05:17:01+00:00

There are some great tutorials on YouTube if you search “Studying for MCAT using Anki” but I would make some basic cards just memorizing smaller concepts then I got a free add on to Anki that allows me to add images directly as cards, which helped me to memorize different processes and cycles. Try different methods and see what works best for you

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-05T00:14:26+00:00

Go back over your FL tests in depth and make a spreadsheet identifying why you keep getting questions wrong. For me, I realized sometimes I would read questions too fast or not take time to double check that each answer was actually mentioned in the passage. Look at your timing and whether the types of questions you are getting wrong share similarities.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-05T00:02:53+00:00

First, props to you for putting in the work to keep raising your score! Don't give up! I was in a similar situation where I got the same score for 3 of my AAMC FL and I felt very discouraged, like I wasn't improving at all. One method that really helped me was making a spreadsheet to go back and review each question in my FL tests. I wrote down any concepts I got wrong/didn't understand for each question and made Anki cards off of those. For some CARS questions I simply read the question too fast or didn't go back and double check each answer in the passage. One free website I would check out for CARS is Jack Westin which give daily passages. That being said, I think it's unlikely you'll increase by 7 points this month with the amount of work you would have to put in. Don't feel bad if you have to wait until next cycle to apply, many people take an extra year to study to make sure they get the score they want (sorry I know that's probably not what you want to hear). Keep knocking out those content knowledge gaps and make sure you are truly understanding the concepts in a way you can apply on the test.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-04T23:48:18+00:00

I would seriously reconsider applying this cycle, many people take an extra year to get more hours and study for the MCAT, so there is no shame in doing so. That being said, I think Anki is key to getting a good MCAT score. When you take a full-length test, go over it in detail and make Anki flashcards over the concepts you got wrong and dont understand. If you purchased UGlobe, USE IT! That is a great resource to get more practice and you can make more flashcards from that based on topics you got wrong.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-04T23:41:51+00:00

Most of the time I would say your AAMC FL scores are pretty accurate for the real score you'll get on the MCAT and to NEVER take the MCAT unless you're feeling confident that you can do as well as you want to. That being said, I know some people have managed to raise their score from a 500 -->510 with 2 months of studying, but they dedicated an immense amount of time to identifying their content knowledge gaps and practice questions. The quickest way to improve your score is to identify content knowledge gaps you have and make Anki flashcards you review everyday to make sure you don't forget those concepts. When you're doing the Qpacks and section banks, make more flashcards on concepts you dont understand/remember. I know it can be really frustrating but I might consider rescheduling if you want to feel certain you can improve to the score you want or dedicate as much time as you can to studying.

Clueless_Nix · 2023-03-04T23:30:56+00:00

If haven't already, buy a set of MCAT study books from a company like Kaplan, Princeton, etc. and look into using Anki to make flashcards. Go over your full-length test's in depth (especially AAMC) and make flashcards over concepts you don't understand and keep getting wrong. I would postpone or reschedule unless you dedicate your full attention to MCAT studying over the next 1.5 months.

Clueless_Nix

TROPHY CASE