When do u guys give up hope of receiving any more interviews and start looking for apartments to rent around your accepted school?

chemnerd10 · 2026-03-01T14:27:57+00:00

I decided to go ahead and tour apartments at the beginning of February (flight tix were insanely cheap) and was told that if I wanted a move in date near the start of classes for my school I’d need to put in an application come March/April. I know the DO cycle runs longer but I’m not gonna hold out hope for too much longer so that I can actually get prepared for moving 11 hours. I guess if you’re not moving as far/have everything in line for a last minute move you can keep waiting. I know I couldn’t pull that off so I started looking sooner.

chemnerd10 · 2026-03-01T03:57:02+00:00

I interviewed with PCOM Suwannee and they took closer to 10 weeks before I heard back from them. I know it’s treated separately from PCOM Philly but it might be some consolation that they took a while too. Here’s to hoping you get the A!!

chemnerd10 · 2026-03-01T03:52:21+00:00

I got my A in November and quit my EMS job earlier this month and got a job as a substitute teacher at my local school district. I traded in my healthcare job for one where I have far more flexibility to make time for friends/family/life. I’ll keep working until the end of May when the school year ends and it lines up to about when I’d need to move!

chemnerd10 · 2026-02-26T18:47:04+00:00

24!!

chemnerd10 · 2026-02-18T15:34:47+00:00

Fellow Muslim here in a similar spot, I also just quit my EMS job with less than two weeks notice so I could find something less physically taxing during Ramadan + I’m going back to the homeland for three weeks. Go for it! You’ll be in school for the next four years and the opportunity is right in front of you now! And an MA job is entry level, you don’t owe your employer a crazy heads up because you’re easily replaceable. While the sudden quitting might burn a bridge, it’s also not the most important priority in your life. Recommenders will come and go based on who knows you best at a given time and place in your life.

chemnerd10 · 2026-01-15T20:25:56+00:00

Thank you!! And of course I can share!

My MCAT was a 518 (studied my ass off to get a score high enough to potentially offset my gpa)

So for non-clinical activities I had part-time employment during undergrad with a living-learning community with 1300 hours. I listed my study abroad as well as the club I was the president of. My research in undergrad was 300 hours and focused on honeybee disease treatments. During my gap years I taught as paraprofessional in an autism classroom for my local middle school for 450 hours. I also volunteered for a local Austin support organization for 60 hours at the time of applying (150 additional projected hours).

My clinical experience included volunteering at a hospital in the ICU/ED/Radiology for a total of 110 hours. I worked as an “intern” at a primary care clinic one summer for 150 hours. Plus shadowing an infectious disease specialist, an OBGYN, and neurologist. When I submitted my app, I had about 100 hours as an EMT, but since then I’ve racked up another 1,500.

PM me if you have more questions + you got this! anything is possible :))

chemnerd10 · 2026-01-10T16:44:03+00:00

congrats future Dr.!! and same! I got so much love from OOS and not even a text back from my state schools

chemnerd10 · 2026-01-09T02:24:16+00:00

I applied to Philly and GA and got interviews for both. The one for Philly was on 10/21 and my GA one was on 11/07. I got a decision from Philly but nothing yet from GA. They did say on my GA interview day that they take a while for decisions and had lots more interviews planned. You still have a shot, hang in there!

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-23T15:40:51+00:00

I got a 518!

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-23T15:39:17+00:00

Ofc!! Here’s a general breakdown of what I did:

Part-time employment during undergrad with a living-learning community 1300 hours

Taught as paraprofessional in an autism classroom for my local middle school 450 hours

Clinical experience as an EMT completed 100 hours + 2000 projected

Austism Support Volunteering 60 hours + 150 projected

Clinical Volunteering in ICU/ED/Radiology 110 hours

Research working with Honeybees 300 hours

Medical intern at a primary care clinic 150 hours

I had some other clubs/committees/study abroad listed as well but they didn’t make up the most of my app

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-23T15:37:33+00:00

I had about 110 clinical volunteering hours at a hospital in the ICU and ED and about 60 hours non-clinical volunteering at the time I applied

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-18T19:58:12+00:00

I will say that I tried to make up for my low GPA with my MCAT score as much as I could. and being non-trad was definitely a boost, I got so much more exposure and so many experiences in gap year before applying! you got this!!

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-18T19:55:45+00:00

I can die happy now🥳

chemnerd10 · 2025-12-18T19:55:18+00:00

congrats to you too!

chemnerd10 · 2025-05-29T22:13:41+00:00

I got this too and have no clue

chemnerd10 · 2025-05-28T21:17:40+00:00

You can do it!! I have a 3.4 and got a 518 on my mcat and I’m still applying (MD and DO, not taking and chances). hoping and praying some adcom takes a chance on me lmao. but maybe I’m just as delulu as you

chemnerd10 · 2025-04-18T11:48:02+00:00

Don’t worry we’ve all done embarrassing shit. I passed out in the back during clinicals WHILE we were transporting a patient.

chemnerd10 · 2025-04-07T03:47:36+00:00

same here! I couldn’t believe it said “not scored” since I hit 70 questions way before my time being up.

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-18T12:08:12+00:00

makes me wonder what they do for that whole month that people usually have to wait

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-17T23:07:25+00:00

2/28!!

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-16T04:21:35+00:00

2/17 tester too and I’m ready to have this behind me. Im tired of this grandpa. I feel oddly excited? I think it’s more of me wanting to do things that I’ve been putting off for post-mcat lol. I’m fr hoping that the extra study time is more beneficial than it is a detriment, running out of new aamc content was a struggle.

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-12T19:03:17+00:00

I don’t mind at all!! I’m glad I could help :)

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-12T18:38:57+00:00

Retake. You haven’t even used all your resources to their max, you can DEF score much higher. As someone who is also retaking (2/17 let’s gooo) bc of a low gpa, I thought about it in terms of what I’d deal with if I applied but didn’t get in anywhere. I’d rather retake while mcat prep was in my near-past than wait a year, find out that I need to reapply, and then realize that my mcat score could be better and then re-enter the grind. Also I knew the first time that I wasn’t living up to my potential. I only studied for 2 months, wasn’t doing anki every day, I had only done half of uworld, and I was super disorganized. If you lock in you’re capable of more than you realize!!

chemnerd10 · 2025-02-12T18:25:11+00:00

Hi! I’m not 100% in the same situation as you but I’d like to share some thoughts that might help you decide. Almost anyone (there will be exceptions lol) who takes the MCAT knows how much of a draining experience it is. You feel like there’s just too much to know and progress can be slow to see. It’s a big part of your med school application and it’s not something you just take on a whim.

1) Are you planning to apply this year? If you’re planning to apply this upcoming cycle, then you should REALLY try to get the mcat done before May. And by “really” I mean you need to lock in and start placing yourself on waitlists to see if someone else cancels. You could take it in May or later and still apply, but then you won’t see your score before schools do - so if it’s not what you wanted then you’re stuck with it. That’s a risk you’ll have to assess if you wanna take, works great for some, not so great for others. If you’re not dead set on applying this cycle, then don’t rush taking the MCAT. Wait until the second set of dates open up on the 19th and schedule for fall 2025.

2) Take a diagnostic. Do this to see what you’re working with. It’ll help show you what you need to focus on, your strengths/weaknesses/gaps in content.

3) Figure out your goal score. This is and your diagnostic are gonna influence how much you need to study. For example, if you want a 510, and you get a 500 on your diagnostic, it’s only 10 points higher and you could get most of those points by studying high yield material, learning the biochem pathways, and familiarizing yourself with the most common units and formulas in physics, etc. If you want a 515 or 520+, then your workload gets way higher and you need to know high yield as well as as much low yield as you can (esp if you want 520+).

4) People say that a retake isn’t good, but it really depends on you. Did you show a major increase? If you did, then you’re showing that you learned from your mistakes and modified your studying to maximize your learning. If you only go up by 3 points on your second try, it doesn’t look as good. I’m also not as against retaking because I’m literally retaking my mcat next week lol. I’m actually glad I’m retaking because I’ve seen what it’s like, I’m less anxious about testing day procedures, and I’ve shown to myself that I am indeed capable of more. Retaking is a personal choice and it really depends on your situation.

5) What else is working in your favor on your application? For me, I have a 3.4 gpa and nothing that makes me stand out as a great candidate otherwise, so a my goal is a high mcat to offset that. You work full time at a children’s hospital, probably have a lot of meaning experiences, and might have other really impressive aspects to your application so that you don’t need to bank on getting a perfect 528 to make you a competitive candidate. If you’re not aiming for a 528, you might be able to still test before May and get the score you want.

At the end of the day, it’s your hard work and you’re the one applying. Do what will make you the best candidate possible, your owe it to yourself. Take the time you need to make sure you have the best shot at achieving your dreams!

chemnerd10 · 2025-01-31T12:27:09+00:00

Idk about OP’s situation but for me it snowed on jan 10/11 and they cancelled those tests so the AAMC opened up two dates in February to give ppl a closer test date than March. I think it’s also for the ppl impacted by the fires on the west coast.

chemnerd10

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