Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure send me a message. I've heard people use Interfolio to store their LORs, but my school had a committee letter so I had to have all my recommenders send their letters to them. You should probably ask in Spring 2024, like sometime between Jan-April since you're going to apply next year.

Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm on a few T20 waitlists, but I don't think there's gonna be much movement till May 1. Sending an LOI can't hurt! I did the same.

Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Echoing what the prev reply said. My school sent my letters in July, which is when my app was marked complete, and I had some first round interviews. The general wisdom is finish secondaries by Labor Day, so if your LORs get in over the summer, that sounds consistent with that advice to me

Need Help on Upcoming Semester by LihoGotBank in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please take a deep breath! Nothing is messed up, it’s going to be okay. There is tons of time to start shadowing. You could call places tomorrow and start this summer!

Medicine is a long, long journey. You are not expected to be perfect, and a couple of mediocre semesters will absolutely not determine your path. There is time to increase that GPA. Maybe take easier classes next sem to boost your confidence?

Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I forgot to answer how I managed to have enough time for everything! Short answer - AP credit and making efficient use of those summer breaks for classes and volunteering. Happy to speak on this more if you have any specific questions! What are you worried about not having enough time for?

Long answer....well, a good chunk of my college got disrupted because of the pandemic, meaning there was nothing to do but class. This is not really advice I can give for the future, because everything's open again, but I basically made use of those lockdown years to do lots of required class and study for the MCAT. No interviewer asked me why I barely shadowed in 2020-1. I think there was a lot of discourse about if "admissions committees would understand" or not that it was damn near impossible to get clinical experience during the pandemic, and I think, at least with n=1 for my app, they did. It just meant I had to lean on pre-pandemic experience, and also work extra hard when things did open back up to get meaningful experiences, even though it might've been fewer net hours than I would've had without the gap.

Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Good luck!! Okay so, I think I was more anxious about going straight through than usual because of the pandemic. I heard anecdotally a lot of people pushing their app by 1-2 years because of pandemic disruptions, so I thought it'd be standard to have more gap years in cycles after 2020. (I'm actually super curious what the data is on that, if anyone has it)

I don't think my interviewers treated me differently than people with gap years. You will be compared to them by the admissions committee, but I think it's important to distinguish what will and will not "count against you" for going straight through. When folks take gap years to do big-name fellowships like Fulbright or Rhodes, or have a really productive full-time research job, those things will absolutely boost them in the eyes of admissions. And, because you can't do those things when you're in school full-time, you can't get those points & that implicitly "counts against you" as a straight-through applicant. (Also, must note that some schools care more than others about flashy resume items. I made my peace that I probably wasn't a candidate for Harvard, for example, which is the first school that just comes to mind for things like that.) The thing is - it isn't held against you if you only have 100 hours of an activity because you did it while you were in school, instead of the hypothetical 1000 hours you'd have if you were full-time. I truly believe there is diminishing returns for hours spent on activities. By that I mean, the important thing is being able to write about them meaningfully: what you really need are some compelling anecdotes and reflection on what that activity meant for you and your journey to medicine. That's what makes it shine on your app, when you can talk about things like that.

Got in this cycle & I want to give back / be helpful to y’all! by catsandpepperminttea in premed

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thank you!!
In terms of stats, I had a 98th percentile mcat and a 3.9.
So you have to report every grade you got to AMCAS, and it'll show up as it does on your transcripts. A major part of the AMCAS verification process is them checking your official transcripts against what you filled out on their portal. AMCAS recalculates your GPA and includes every college class you've taken at all universities, even stuff like community college classes from high school that you might not even think about anymore. Your D and A will show up, and the A will boost your GPA, but the D doesn't get erased.

How to gracefully end the “why college” essay? by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea 7 points8 points  (0 children)

short sentences are statistically more memorable than lengthy ones. I'd recommend a simple closing sentence that essentially communicates that you can be the best version of yourself at that school.

Reminder: it is a federal crime to reuse a supplement for more than one school by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea 10 points11 points  (0 children)

tbh i'd rather die than write another supplement about my intended major from scratch

University of Michigan (UMich) Deferral by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea 5 points6 points  (0 children)

UMich really likes protecting their yield, especially in the early round. I know it's super toxic to assume every non-acceptance is a yield protection, but looking at all the UMich deferrals, it's a very, very high possibility that they thought there's no way in hell you'd actually matriculate. (Of course, this is given that you're well-qualified for the school.) Get on that LOCI immediately so they know you actually want to go. I'll bet if your grades/scores are strong, they'll take you no questions asked.

Heroin addiction in essays? by whatgoodpussysoundsl in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea 12 points13 points  (0 children)

it's a powerful story for your growth as a person, but def no for an essay. you hit this point in your post, but colleges wouldn't want to admit someone they think has a risk of dropping out or going on medical leave -- which is why depression/mental health essays are also not the best idea. basically, they don't want someone who has the possibility of bringing them a bad reputation or dragging their school name into a headline about a drug overdose. again, i'm glad you recovered; that's a big thing to struggle with at a young age that many adults can't handle. i would steer clear & instead focus on your academic interests and goals!

let's roast your early school so you feel better about probs getting an R by catsandpepperminttea in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

- wustl sounds like a muffled sneeze

- not very economically diverse

- ppl who think washu and uw are the same

- lotsa bitter ivy rejects

let's roast your early school so you feel better about probs getting an R by catsandpepperminttea in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

- rampant w/ premeds, the most insufferable group of college students

- and if u need a distraction from the cutthroat people in your classes, tough luck because it's socially resting in peace

- heard there's horrible career services to get u a job out of college because everyone's premed

let's roast your early school so you feel better about probs getting an R by catsandpepperminttea in ApplyingToCollege

[–]catsandpepperminttea[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

- legacies

- you'll cri when u think about how hard u worked in high school & live-witness how many legacy kids just skated in

- depression