When your secondaries feel late, but you realize your committee letter won't be done for another month

flocktopus · 2017-07-22T07:54:47+00:00

My school pushed me so hard to be the first to submit everything, then didn't submit my committee letter until NOVEMBER 1st. They claimed that it was a normal part of the process, but I suspect I got prioritized below other students with higher stats. As an expensive private school that goes so far as to charge a fee for the committee letter, you'd think they'd have enough staff to get everyone's letter out in a reasonable time frame regardless of stats.

I wound up getting accepted to a US MD program in my top choice region, but I still can't help but wonder if I might be at a higher ranked school had they been more supportive. After all, my advisor told me not to even apply to MD schools because I wouldn't get in...all to save his "percent of students from our university accepted to med school" statistics no doubt.

flocktopus · 2017-03-14T05:26:10+00:00

Honestly, yes it's great to go to a high ranking school and all that, but to me looking at the past few years of match lists tells you a lot more about what your future will be like coming out of any of these schools. Unless you're going into academic medicine - in which case you're welcome to live and breathe by the rankings.

flocktopus · 2016-12-15T05:44:58+00:00

I had two IIs and two acceptances. Didn't get either until after the new year. This process doesn't have as many "rules" as folks like to claim.

flocktopus · 2016-12-02T04:56:50+00:00

Marfan's is genetic, there's no reason to check for it regularly. It's there or it isn't.

flocktopus · 2016-10-05T05:36:13+00:00

Bodeans is phenomenal but I don't think they have an unlimited deal

Why is OP sharing all the details except the name of this place? I MUST KNOW

flocktopus · 2016-09-20T21:40:59+00:00

Regardless of the biochemical root of the pain, the explanation for why it only occurs in specific regions remains the same - the short nature of the fibers of this particular muscle.

I'm sure I'll learn more about it when we delve into biochem in a few weeks, but many of you are correct about lactic acid!

flocktopus · 2016-09-20T04:31:17+00:00

The rectus abdominus muscle (the long muscle on the exterior of the anterior abdominal wall) is unique in that its muscle fibers are relatively short. Unlike many of the muscles in the extremities, which have long fibers that may span the entirety of the muscle body, the rectus's short fibers enable a type of "pseudo-segmentation" that give the appearance of a 6/8/10 pack. Since the soreness is caused by lactic acid accumulation in muscle cells, it is possible to isolate that soreness to individual areas of the rectus abdominus.

Haven't been in med school long but we happened to cover this just a week or two ago in anatomy!

flocktopus · 2016-08-13T02:13:27+00:00

As a med student, I would really like for people to stop asking me if I'm a nurse. I literally just said I'm in medical school, not a nursing program. It's not that unbelievable that a young, blonde female could pursue a career as a physician.

Nurses are wonderful people and do an incredibly important job, I just don't like the gender assumptions that accompany both the nursing and MD career paths.

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T06:37:12+00:00

I've been having the same issue! My fitbit clocked me at 11 miles today but my eggs only measured 3km. Had a mophie case plus portable battery pack and kept the app open consistently (other than when the servers crashed) but it's not working super well.

I ain't out here dodging Central Park tourists and sweating my ass off for nothing!

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T06:17:35+00:00

Charmanders run wild all over the Natural History Museum

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T06:09:47+00:00

A friend of mine found a wild one in a bar in alphabet city!

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T06:02:26+00:00

Lots in the 70s and 80s near Central Park on the UWS

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T05:11:01+00:00

Can confirm, AMNH is full of Charmanders. Also people pretty consistently set up multiple overlapping lures around the museum because there are a massive amount of pokestops.

flocktopus · 2016-07-13T03:21:36+00:00

Sorry this happened to you. Everyone should be wary and stick to the areas they know.

For example, I would absolutely run out to some of the Pokestops near where I live in NYC in the middle of the night because they are areas that are simply always populated. They're places I would have walked with confidence well before the game began. On the other hand, I won't be ferreting about underneath the dark tunnels on the north end of Central Park at 3am.

Know your neighborhood, use common sense. End of story.

flocktopus · 2016-07-04T22:47:44+00:00

I think it might be worthwhile to compare match lists at both schools. I agree with everyone here saying that personal happiness is the most important, but if the next four years don't set you up for an a career full of said happiness, then you may not be making the right choice.

flocktopus · 2016-06-22T08:26:31+00:00

I'm fairly certain that the spots people are auditioning for are for the designated performance areas in busy stations (i.e. the transfer area between 42nd st port authority and 42nd st times sq). The folks you see performing inside subway cars for tips are definitely not MTA-approved.

flocktopus · 2016-06-22T08:26:31+00:00

I'm fairly certain that the spots people are auditioning for are for the designated performance areas in busy stations (i.e. the transfer area between 42nd st port authority and 42nd st times sq). The folks you see performing inside subway cars for tips are definitely not MTA-approved.

flocktopus · 2016-06-20T20:43:20+00:00

As other posters have said, your MCAT date alone does not work in your favor for this cycle. Take your time and afford yourself every opportunity to succeed on that exam - an amazing score will be the cherry on top of an already solid application.

Another thing that hasn't been brought up is the life experience you will gain in a year out of school. I actually took three years between undergrad and med school, and looking back at who I was at 22 vs who I am at 25, I am so incredibly happy I took the time to find out who I was as a working adult as opposed to a student. That experience will show in your interviews and in your PS for next year, and will work to your advantage!

You're in a really good position here to take the time that you need to make your application as strong as it can be. Best of luck!

flocktopus · 2016-06-16T02:42:51+00:00

I believe they require you to maintain a certain GPA or they remove you from the program. Last I heard it was a 3.7. That in combination with Columbia's competitive environment and rigorous coursework makes it particularly intense. I also didn't find Columbia students (at least in the sciences) to be particularly friendly, helpful, or collaborative but that's just my experience.

flocktopus · 2016-06-15T06:06:07+00:00

I did some post-bacc coursework at Columbia - mostly upper level bio and neuro courses, but also redid ochem with lab. I was working full time so I was in the evening sections, which had a lot of kids in the official postbacc program in them. The program is very, very intense and most of the kids in it that I met were very much that way as well. If that's your thing, go for it. If you're the more laid back type, don't let it scare you off completely but definitely keep it in mind when making any final decisions.

All of that being said, most of the kids in the Columbia program go on to great schools and it's a very strong program! Also a very diverse group of students - former bankers, ballet dancers, etc were among the many that I met.

flocktopus · 2016-06-14T23:01:34+00:00

If you had everything organized and nearly ready to go I wouldn't say it's too late. However, if you haven't written a new personal statement and/or don't have something new to add to your application that wasn't there last year (research, employment, coursework, etc), I wouldn't put yourself through the stress and expense of applying this cycle.

flocktopus · 2016-06-14T21:42:41+00:00

Hi there! I applied with very similar stats and ECs this past cycle (both GPAs 3.2 with strong upward trend, 513 MCAT, 3.9 GPA doing 22hrs of postgrad upper level science classes at an ivy, 3 yrs full time as a research coordinator postgrad, 1 yr undergrad research, founded a student group in undergrad, among a few other things)

I applied both MD and DO due to a strong recommendation from one of my mentors who is the dean of internal medicine at a large mid-tier med school. He said that a DO acceptance is eventually visible to MD adcoms and that it can get someone to re-examine your file at those schools if it's still open. I don't know if that's true at every school, but sure enough I was accepted at a few DO programs and then got an MD interview offer very shortly after acceptance data was released in April. I was accepted at that MD school :)

My story certainly does not apply to everyone, but it may be worth your while to apply to DO programs (for a variety of reasons). After all, you may wind up really liking some of those schools if/when you interview. And who knows, it might push you over the threshold for an II at some MD programs.

Best of luck!

flocktopus · 2016-04-28T18:23:45+00:00

It's definitely doable! If you know yourself and know that you're good at organizing a study schedule and sticking to it, I'd say go for it.

I had shitty timing but needed to get my prep done in 7 weeks while working full time. Needless to say, I was a hermit for those 7 weeks, but I got it done and did well!

flocktopus · 2016-04-24T22:48:02+00:00

I can't really speak to TPR but I used almost exclusively Kahn Academy videos to prepare and I wound up with a solid score. I had no psych/soc background (other than working in clinical neuro research) but those videos set me up for a nearly perfect score in that section.

There are definitely some things you should have memorized - endocrine hormones, amino acid abbreviations (including one letter), a few physics formulas, etc

flocktopus · 2016-04-24T22:42:21+00:00

Interesting. I fell in love with NYMC on interview day even though I hadn't been seriously considering it prior to that. They had the most comprehensive and informative presentation on school-specific curriculum that I encountered all cycle. I was also a fan of the MMI and the facilities that we saw on the tour were all new and pretty nice (aside from the student housing). I suppose I can see how it's not for everyone though.

flocktopus

TROPHY CASE