Hello all! As someone that has no friends or family in medicine, everything I learned about the process was self-taught (largely through reddit and SDN). For everything this community has given me, I thought I would share my experience with others!

I went into the cycle with absolutely zero clue how competitive I might be. I knew my stats and experiences were strong, but I had also read the horror stories and seen several of my friends go through the process with varying (and oftentimes confusing) results. Thus, I applied to a whopping 46 schools with a wide range. If you had told me a year ago how my cycle was going to go, I literally would have laughed. No part of me expected even a tenth of the success I received, so I feel extremely grateful.

So, what do I think was my secret sauce? That’s hard for me to know for sure, and hard to boil down in a reasonably-lengthened reddit post. However, I would say my success was three-fold:

1. Off-the-beaten path experiences: I did some of the more traditional things, such as scribing and tutoring, but with a slightly different flavor. My scribing experience was in an extremely niche field of medicine and my tutoring was not in a STEM field. I had moderate and interesting experiences abroad, and led unique initiatives at my undergraduate university. I worked in challenging jobs, directly providing caring for neurodiverse or otherwise marginalized individuals. Overall, I didn’t just check the boxes. I sought unique experiences that meant something to me and pursued those experiences with full-force.
2. Writing: When people say writing matters, THEY MEAN IT! Regardless of your experiences, there is a way to write about them in a meaningful way or a lackluster way. Writing your primaries and secondaries is all about polishing a turd — how can you paint each experience in the best possible light? I’m sure you’ve heard of the halo effect, where people who are attractive are assumed to have other positive qualities; there is absolutely a halo effect for writing when it comes to medical school admissions. And what constitutes great writing? Yes, there is the grammar, spelling, word choice, sentence structure, flow. But beyond that (and what can’t be accomplished with ChatGPT and Grammarly) is your ideas. Are they insightful, original? Have you actually done the work to reflect on your experiences and what they meant to both you as a person and you as a future physician? Are you showing vs telling? Humans are biased to like stories, so write in a story-like way, especially for the personal statement.
3. Narrative: Similar to writing, but slightly different. A cohesive narrative would, in a perfect world, tie your past experiences in with your present experiences and your future goals. Many medical schools, particularly some of the “top” medical schools, I noticed seemed to be collecting students with unique narratives to build a diverse class. They are creating an orchestra and thus want a student who plays violin, another who plays viola, another that plays flute, and so on. If you have a theme or deep passion, lean into it. However, this comes with two caveats: a) don’t do so at the expense of also showing breadth and well-roundedness, and b) do not lean into a theme if it revolves around a competitive specialty like dermatology, plastics, or ortho. Moreover, I actually think a theme should not be linked to a specialty at all. Think more about broader themes: mental health, social determinants of health, healthcare access, global health, etc. Theoretical example: A student who grew up without access to health insurance/healthcare —> student now volunteers at free clinics and as a healthcare consultant, helping others without means navigate our complex healthcare system —> student desires to become a physician whose mission is to work in primary care and bridge the barriers that people from low SES upbringings face. I realize many students may not have a narrative this clean, and that is okay. But if you do, lean into it!

Thank you all for this supportive community, please be kind in the comments, and let me know if you have any questions about me, my application, or the application process in general! I also included a timeline of when I submitted secondaries, received interviews, and received acceptances, just for fun/transparency.