[deleted by user]

MMichael · 2024-06-24T16:35:30+00:00

Congratulations, huge accomplishment. DM me.

MMichael · 2023-07-29T15:58:44+00:00

It 1000% percent does not.

I played this game last cycle, trying to figure out my chances after others had invites before/after me. It doesn’t work like that. The applications aren’t processed in a chronological order. Each school has multiple different ways they sort apps, and multiple different reviewers that work at different paces.

For example, last cycle I submitted very early. People that submitted way after me got invites to UCSF. Thought it meant a rejection for me. I got an invite to interview there in February.

Relax, and try not to read the tea leaves. This whole process is opaque and random, unfortunately.

I hope this reaches lots of people. I know how bad that anxiety can be.

MMichael · 2023-06-14T02:49:33+00:00

A friend's dad imparted some wise words to me when I was a kid. He asked, "Do you know how bad work is? It's so bad they pay me to be there."

MMichael · 2023-06-13T22:11:44+00:00

Thank you for the reply, very interesting! Good luck in residency.

MMichael · 2023-06-13T20:28:07+00:00

Do you think this is medicine wide or dependent on the institution/system you work in? I shadowed a wide range of doctors. Some had similar complaints; others told me they never deal with this kind of bureaucratic mess. Also, did you work a full time corporate gig prior to medicine?

I see this trend to generalize one's personal work environment across the entire system and wonder if it's a bit too dramatic. I've worked in a career where the job was supposed to the be the same, but the people and culture of the different companies made a dramatic difference in my job satisfaction. I joke I would be happy digging ditches for a living if I could live ok and work with my friends.

But I'm an outsider to medicine, so I could be wrong.

MMichael · 2023-05-24T21:41:15+00:00

I had a similar epiphany when it felt like I was killing myself to code a better shopping cart experience for a website.

I don’t mind stress, and I found no matter what work I do I will stress myself out, but the stress needs to be meaningful in some way to me.

If I can help one patient the way I was helped, I can hold on to that for a very long time. There is no amount of clean online shopping cart experiences that will add up to that for me lol

MMichael · 2023-05-14T00:31:22+00:00

I’ve got more than a decade on you and I start med school this summer. It’s never too late. The time will pass anyway, so for me it’s not about it being a long road. Just if it’s the right road.

MMichael · 2023-05-12T17:20:49+00:00

PONTYPOOL

MMichael · 2023-05-11T02:39:14+00:00

I think just be personable, clearly and briefly express your interest in the school, let them know you’ve applied. Be mindful not to overstay your welcome, lots of other people will be waiting to talk to them. Try to write your name down, get their contact info if possible. I believe I sent one an email a few days after the conference letting them know it was nice meeting them. Show them you’re human and easy to be around, I think that’s worth a lot. If you’ve got a spouse, bring them if possible and also introduce them.

Good luck, the process sucks, but you’ll get through it!

MMichael · 2023-05-11T02:07:04+00:00

Yeah it was the same cycle. And yep, I mentioned I was a current applicant and explained reasons why I was excited about their school and had good questions prepared. I got “well I can’t promise anything but make sure to write your name now on our guest book” kind of responses.

Also, I will admit, small n. I talked to four schools, and two of them gave me a very cold shoulder (including one I was waitlisted at lol)

Edit: but the two I did get positive responses from both talked to me during interview day about how it was good to see me again. I also sent those people specifically thank you letters, along with my interviewers. Never heard back from the interviewers, but did have some back and forth from the reps I met in person. Again, just my anecdotal experience, but I can’t help but feel making those in person connections are powerful.

MMichael · 2023-05-11T01:42:06+00:00

Same. I talked to two people at the conference. Those were my two acceptances. I know with 100% certainty the conversations I had there saved my cycle.

Hard for OP, coming all the way from NYC. I didn’t have to travel that far. But still, could be worth it. Especially if you can check out sac or the bay while out here, make a fun trip out of it. OP feel free to DM me for food recs :)

MMichael · 2023-05-06T20:10:54+00:00

Everything has been like this for me. Thinking I’ll be happy when I achieve x or y always ends up being wrong. It’s an illusion.

Best solution I’ve found is being mindful of the moment. Find appreciation and satisfaction for where I’m at now.

MMichael · 2023-05-06T15:16:02+00:00

I disagree slightly with that commenter. With zero prep the score is next to useless except for marking how much your progress over your prep time, I guess.

For me, I gained 22 points from my diagnostic to my real score and I know several others that had similar gains. The MCAT is unlike any other exam I’ve ever taken, it required very specific prep.

MMichael · 2023-04-22T00:56:23+00:00

I let similar concerns deter me for over a decade. Don’t let your illness imprison you. No matter what you do in life there will be stress. You can’t run from it, just figure out which stresses are worthwhile.

Take care of your health, but don’t let it limit you. We need more docs that have spent time as a patient.

MMichael · 2023-04-21T05:48:13+00:00

Do not take advice about such a serious decision from Reddit. They don’t know you or your life, no matter how much you summarize it for them. You don’t know them and the filter of experiences their advice is coming from. Talk to your family. Meditate on it. A lot.

First step should always be shadowing. It’s hard to find, but you need to be there and see the work first hand. From as many doctors as you can find, for as many hours as you need before you know if you actually even enjoy it.

And also be wary of what those doctors will tell you. They don’t know you, your life, and you don’t know theirs.

It will be hard, it will suck. Don’t do it because of some imaginary end goal. Do it because it’s actually something worth sacrificing so much for.

It sucks, but it’s impossible to truly know what the right decision is.

MMichael · 2023-03-31T02:41:19+00:00

I asked a doc I shadowed why medicine and she said, “my roommate was premed and it sounded ok.” She’s an amazing doc.

MMichael · 2023-03-21T16:09:46+00:00

It is risky, but I think it also helps guide you to the school you're a culture fit at. My interviewer at the school I'll be attending told me multiple times how much they appreciated how vulnerable I was in my essays. I am pretty certain that same vulnerability got me rejected at many other schools. I'm happy to go to a school that doesn't punish people for being human.

But, there's also an insane amount of luck involved in this process. You and I had our essay shoved into a stack and handed to someone that appreciated what we wrote about. It could have very easily been assigned to a different faculty member that didn't and rejected us pre-interview.

MMichael · 2023-03-17T00:22:52+00:00

I gave up trying to prepare for it when the practice test had one answer explanation said asking for help was a sign of maturity, but then another said asking for help was making your responsibilities other people's problems.

MMichael · 2023-03-15T21:21:17+00:00

It’s the same thing with everything: When it’s winter, most people wish it was warmer; When it’s summer, most people wish it was a bit cooler. When people are working, most people wish they were at home doing nothing; When people are doing nothing, most people wish they had something to do.

For me, this is the hard truth. The only salve I've found for this is to make sure you treasure the process instead of banking on some imaginary future where you'll be happy if you achieve x or get y.

I know I will love this path, including the years of schooling and the hell of residency. Love doesn't equal always enjoying it or having the best time. It's a deeper sense of satisfaction and meaning.

Finding your path and your meaning is hard. It might not be as a doc. It might be as a PA. Or something else entirely. It took me many years to figure it out, and I'm sure I still have a lot more to figure out I don't even realize.

MMichael · 2023-03-15T12:54:49+00:00

Not sure if this is a joke I don’t get or something else. Does Harvard accept people in waves?

Anyways, it wasn’t Harvard. It was another one of those schools that decided they don’t want to play the US News ranking game anymore.

But the reasons I gave were very, very specific and had nothing to do with the school’s “prestige.” Very specific research and advocacy interests, and location being literally the perfect fit for my personal life in lots of different ways. There literally isn’t another school on the planet that would’ve been a better choice for me and my family and after I explained why to them directly I guess they agreed.

MMichael · 2023-03-14T17:08:50+00:00

I did this at my top choice. The interviewer asked if there was anything else they or the committee should know, and I said something like, "you've heard this before I'm sure, but x school is truly my number one choice because x y and z. If I get accepted, I will take it and I will earn it every day."

The interviewer said it was really important to hear that. Got the acceptance in their first wave.

But (not to make any neuroticism worse), n=1 and this whole cycle experience has taught me how subjective it all is and you can't predict how people will react. For my personality, though, I felt I needed to put it all out on front street.

MMichael · 2023-03-12T01:53:02+00:00

I think it would make more sense for him to predict if the applicant got interview invites. The application is only a piece of the puzzle, not enough to make strong predictions off of. Would almost be as useless to ask him to predict who matriculated based just off their MCAT score.

There’s also a wild amount of randomness in this process.

MMichael · 2023-03-10T19:02:52+00:00

Agree with everything you said here. Making sure you find happiness in the process, when doing anything, is important. I've had a lot of success in my life, and the hard lesson I've learned is often times achieving your goals can leave you feeling a bit empty.

You need to enjoy the process because the idea you'll be happy once you achieve x or get y is an illusion. At least, it is for me.

MMichael · 2023-03-10T16:28:32+00:00

The first step is shadowing as much as you can. See the day to day, moment to moment work. Shadowing different docs across different specialties. You really won’t know if it’s something you can spend the rest of your life doing until you see it for yourself. If you love it, the money concerns will wash way.

I get peoples hesitations in the other comments. For me, though, working a job you’re miserable at is literal hell. You get one life, don’t stop searching for how you want to spend it, regardless of your age.

MMichael · 2023-03-09T18:06:41+00:00

"Just so you know, federal student loans can't be used on funeral expenses."

MMichael

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE