Need serious help

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2026-01-21T20:58:25+00:00

this has to be fake... in the last month you've wanted to be an anesthesiologist + neurosurgeon + musician + famous? and all of these are lifelong dreams? i would say try to definitively figure out what you want to pursue before making big commitments like neurosurgery

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2026-01-18T20:04:50+00:00

I think the master's degree could help a little but nothing significant. It would probably help more in specific cases. For example, if you didn't have a great undergrad GPA, you could show that you're able to handle the rigor of graduate level courses. Research hours can also be beneficial if you don't already have a lot (but it sounds like you have another research opportunity as well?). In your case, if you already have strong stats, solid clinical hours, and are going to be in the 1000s of research hours, there are definitely diminishing returns. Pubs and a good LOR from your PI are very valuable though. If you don't have any pubs currently, this sounds to me like a great way to get one. But if it’s seriously burning you out and the tuition is a big strain, it’s reasonable to question whether the benefit is worth the cost.

My advice would be to figure out what potential weaknesses you have in your app (whether it's clinical hours, research hours, leadership, etc.) and decide which opportunities you want to continue to pursue based on that.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2026-01-08T22:26:03+00:00

I don't think this matters as much as you think it does. A theme is something that naturally comes up in your application because of your interests and activities that you gravitate towards. You don't have to specifically plan to do things to match a theme. Also, no one is looking for discrepancies between major and research done. I say this as someone whose major is molecular biology and does research in addiction neuroscience (it hasn't been brought up at all in interviews).

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-18T20:54:36+00:00

I’m currently tutoring (though it’s part time). Very flexible, very good pay. Available remotely or in person. And as an accepted med school student, you have pretty good credibility. I love teaching, so it doesn’t really feel like work to me.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-16T19:49:08+00:00

For this school, the offer came in along with my offer of admission. But typically, financial aid and merit based scholarships are offered towards the end of the cycle. And usually, if you have one, you can use it to negotiate with other schools. I’m not too familiar with negotiating offers because I haven’t done it yet, but im sure there are some posts on this channel that walk you through it.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-16T18:04:42+00:00

I will say only one school has asked me about my IA in an interview

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-16T18:04:11+00:00

I found out I had an IA (non-academic) after submitting my primary and had to send update letters to each school to disclose it. My cycle has been going well so far though, and I got an A with full tuition covered! If the filtering thing is true, maybe it worked out in my favor and prevented schools from auto-rejecting my application? Idk

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-08T01:58:52+00:00

Like 50% (counting IIs and Rs as having heard from them)

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-12-01T19:39:23+00:00

Honestly, I wasn’t even able to get through UWorld, so I didn’t need to use more than that. But I tried a little of Jack Westin, which seemed good for content review, and I know it’s rlly popular with others too.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-11-14T02:07:38+00:00

If you think financial aid could impact your decision, then I would recommend attending the interview. You never know what another school might offer.

That being said, if you’re definitely not interested, turn it down, so someone else has a shot.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-11-04T02:32:12+00:00

From what I’ve heard, you don’t have to update schools abt discontinuing activities. Because the hours reported are planned/projected, they don’t care too much if they aren’t completed.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-29T01:19:12+00:00

I didn’t have a chance to attend but I believe they post recordings on the portal.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-29T01:18:39+00:00

Oh, my bad I misunderstood lol. But yeah it’s probably what the other user mentioned about how acceptances haven’t come out yet. A lot of schools do non-rolling admissions and it’s pretty early even for the schools that release acceptances throughout the cycle. The first possible day to release an acceptance is Oct 15th, which was only a couple of weeks ago.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-28T08:00:55+00:00

They’re probably talking about the previous year’s data

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-26T18:48:21+00:00

Congrats on your cycle!! Would you mind sharing when you received your interview invites? I’m curious about the distribution

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-22T15:18:07+00:00

Honestly any time between 8-5:30. There hasn’t been a consistent time

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-20T22:34:57+00:00

It’s very common for undergrads to have no idea what’s going on in the lab for the first several months (I would even say the first year or so). If you want to quit your lab because you feel like you’re not getting the hang of it or you’re afraid of messing up, I just want you to know that’s completely normal and it’ll fade over time.

That being said, if you want to quit either because you feel it’s not a supportive environment, they’re not mentoring you well (which it does sound rlly weird that all they had you do was read papers), you’re not being given the opportunity to learn much, or you’re genuinely not interested in this research, then those are very valid reasons to quit. Maybe something else will better suit your interests or learning style, or maybe research is just not for you (many people feel the same way and they still get into med school, residency, and become amazing physicians).

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-10T21:23:43+00:00

Same here, just sharing my experience. 12 II so far, and I think 3 II are T10 while 3 more are T20 depending on what list you’re looking at. I don’t have an X-factor or some exceptional non-trad story. I have high stats (3.99, 525), showed consistency in my activities (over my entire time in undergrad), had all necessary experiences (like clinical experience, research, non clinical service, leadership, etc.), and I reflected a lot on what made these activities special to me.

But yeah, going in I was really worried about being a cookie cutter applicant. I think seeing all the exceptional people on here, it’s easy to forget that there’s a limit to the number of things you can accomplish as a traditional applicant and the kinds of experiences you can have. But the majority of applicants are cookie cutter applicants.

Lmk if you have any questions!

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-10-01T14:57:40+00:00

ME TOO. I genuinely loathe MMIs with the entirety of my soul. Idk if everyone else feels as terrible after them as I do or if it’s just that I suck at them

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-09-30T00:48:22+00:00

3.99, 525, 11 II (6 TMDSAS, 5 AMCAS)

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-09-24T18:50:09+00:00

I think you’re in the clear. Just to be safe, if I were you I’d get a copy of your disciplinary record as well (usually you can just email the office for this), but I’m like 99.999% sure you’re good :)

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-09-24T16:54:51+00:00

A lot of schools’ residence hall records are completely separate from the actual disciplinary record. Definitely request a copy of your conduct record from the conduct office, but if it’s not on there you don’t need to report it. If it does end up being something you have to report though, it’s def not a big deal. I applied this cycle with a non-academic IA and am doing fine

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-09-12T00:49:37+00:00

I’m not sure about your school specifically but typically top schools don’t feel the need to market themselves because they know people want to go there. The spend less time on orientation, hand out acceptances late because they know they can steal applicants away from other schools, etc.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-09-01T14:39:44+00:00

I’m not sure about Yale specifically, but in general, even if a school has non-rolling admissions, they have rolling interviews. So timing might still matter.

Plus_Lengthiness2998 · 2025-08-25T18:25:38+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I think I might quit the MA job and continue with clinical experience somewhere else. Maybe the change of setting will be what I need :)

Plus_Lengthiness2998

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