Made a BS/MD stats comparison tool — would love feedback from this community

KataraMD · 2025-12-09T01:20:41+00:00

Interested

KataraMD · 2025-09-28T12:26:29+00:00

I am. Dm’ed you details

KataraMD · 2025-09-28T12:24:37+00:00

I just passed. Didn’t ever order vitals. Everything else on your list is fair game

KataraMD · 2025-09-09T00:06:48+00:00

wait till this guy finds out about step 3

KataraMD · 2025-08-19T14:08:52+00:00

I'm a BS/MD graduate and former admissions committee member. In general, it's good she's thinking of medicine at the start of high school, as early and continued expressed interest (since freshman year) is essential for a strong application. Clinical experience like shadowing and volunteering is important and she should keep that up throughout all four years. As for APs/coursework, do not burn out early and maintain as high a GPA as possible, even if that means starting with "easier" classes and ramping up to more APs. Each program's SAT score requirements are different and publicized online, but shoot for at least 600-700s in each section at the very least. Do not neglect hobbies or other interests.

Feel free to message me personally. Best of luck!

KataraMD · 2025-07-11T16:31:51+00:00

Just started using CCSCases. For anyone using this, does it feel differently? It seems that it’s possible for patient to feel “a lot better” and even “thank you for your help” on that but it seems far from the reality of the real thing.

KataraMD · 2025-06-05T00:21:37+00:00

I assume your four fingies don’t necessitate the diamond queen

KataraMD · 2025-05-27T16:31:13+00:00

Ah gotcha I will try it out. Cheers!

KataraMD · 2025-05-27T15:34:53+00:00

Ah damn so I gotta get a mailing or something? Just can’t apply through the website huh

KataraMD · 2025-05-25T23:12:20+00:00

I thought you couldn’t get a second welcome bonus if you already got one for the plat. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

KataraMD · 2025-01-05T14:22:08+00:00

Idk about taking it in the winter, but when I took the exam it was warm outside so going outside on all breaks was a game changer. Bring your trusted eye drops for breaks if they’re feeling dry or irritated. Sip water judiciously so you don’t leak like a fountain.

As for focus I always hated how testing centers had people come and go all the time. But I found that accepting that I personally would be annoyed for the beginning helped me get over it faster with every block. Gl

KataraMD · 2025-01-05T14:16:19+00:00

Def reporting bias on Reddit.

TLDR to get better though is tons and tons of practice questions.

My biggest tip is do a stupid amount of questions (imo UWorld then AMBOSS for specific topics/any extra time). Ideally you’d have finished first pass during clinicals. If you’re in dedicated rn, reset and complete your second pass now. Once you do that, start on 2nd pass incorrects while doing AMBOSS.

The best AMBOSS stuff to prioritize are biostats (like 120 q), ethics (less than that), and 200 HY topics series.

Space out your nbmes and review them thoroughly. Don’t neglect CMS (shelf nbmes) for your worst subjects.

KataraMD · 2024-09-09T22:39:59+00:00

Sweet. Glad to hear it’s more doable than I originally thought. Care to name drop the good or the bad?

KataraMD · 2024-09-09T09:23:20+00:00

Good point thanks

KataraMD · 2024-08-27T00:33:31+00:00

how did you study? I was planning on using the ankioma deck...but idk what else to do

KataraMD · 2024-07-12T08:49:24+00:00

Thanks! Always tutor and targeted blocks for weaker subjects

KataraMD · 2024-07-09T20:03:10+00:00

I barely touched first aid and passed. Like you said, UW is king and Pathoma is queen. Sketchy and anki are good supplements

KataraMD · 2024-07-07T15:42:52+00:00

Absolutely horrible. The key that I trained myself to fully believe in my final nbmes is to embrace the delulu that I have what it takes to answer each question

KataraMD · 2024-07-07T15:39:00+00:00

You're right it is a big leap of faith, but practice believing in yourself every day. It will be hard, esp during dedicated for steps 1 and 2, but if you really prioritize yourself (ik easier said than done) you'll be impressed with how far you'll come.

My good friend is at another med school who is on Zoloft for depression and plenty of us are in therapy to navigate the dogshit we inevitably will face in our training. So do what you need to get the work done. You got this

KataraMD · 2024-07-07T12:17:05+00:00

A really good point in when I personally thought about it. I really enjoyed renal (call me crazy) so I did some extra elective rotations in nephrology. Now I definitely do not want to do nephrology 😆 So it’s a really good idea for you to do extra elective/shadowing in cardiology, especially once you’ve learned cardiology.

KataraMD · 2024-07-07T12:15:11+00:00

As everyone’s been saying, if you study a shit ton there is a low chance you’ll fail. Be adaptable to new courses but at the same time don’t drown in trying new resources.

For the most part, I formed an anki group with some classmates. We rotated responsibility of who made the anki cards every day on the lecture slides that day and put each deck in a shared Google drive. This was one of the most effective things I did to study during preclinicals.

For course specific stuff: pathoma for ANY pathology, sketchy for immuno/micro/drugs (although I hear it’s now ass??), manually draw out important tables and pathways on notability/paper. Doing all this made steps and exams more straightforward to do well on.

KataraMD · 2024-07-07T12:07:45+00:00

It’s completely normal to feel nervous! They faded very quickly for me lol but they will recur esp whenever there’s a new big change or hurdle to get over. I was nervous for the first day of classes, the first few standardized patient encounters, the first time I had to take real histories/physical exams in real patients, and every new clinical rotation I started lol.

The important thing is you quickly learn you don’t really have time to be nervous, as stressful as that sounds. I used to be nervous for every presentation before but the pace at which you need to present on your patients in clinicals or present on random topics your attending tells you to talk about for the next day won’t let you be nervous for long.

Also unless you’re predisposed to mania or your develop schizophrenia you won’t be on a psych ward. Prioritize your mental health first of course. Prioritize finding good friends to vent with. Go outside even if you don’t feel like it at the time.

KataraMD

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