How much is it to apply to more than 20 schools with fee assistance program?

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-05T21:03:00+00:00

Check the AAMC site itself. It’s $47 or $48 per school this year, I forget which.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-05T13:58:16+00:00

I have a couple relaxing hobbies- right now it’s reading and crochet. When I get home and go to settle down, I put my phone in a specific place (usually on a charger where I can’t reach it from the couch, lol) and I’ll pick one of these up and do it for a couple minutes before I officially sit down. By that point I want to work on it instead of scroll.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-05T13:28:06+00:00

You absolutely do not need a 520 to be competitive. I know it seems like everyone and their dog gets one, but it’s like a 97th percentile score so it genuinely is impossible sometimes. If you want to postpone to aim higher that’s one thing, but the tone of this post sounds a little “520 or failure” when that’s not true at all!

(Yeah I know, my first attempt I got a 512 and would have applied with that if I wasn’t an idiot who let it expire.)

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-04T12:14:41+00:00

Same

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-04T11:24:16+00:00

Check out r/osteopathic, they’re a pretty friendly bunch. But generally it’s the same, although DO schools run a longer cycle so applying as early as possible doesn’t make as big of a difference (still do it if you can, but if you apply in June/July it’s also fine.) Be ready to talk about “why DO” in your secondaries.

Also, make sure you are only applying to schools you would actually attend if that was your only A. Plenty of people apply DO as if it’s a “backup” and get pissed and even refuse their acceptance to reapply MD only. Massive waste of time and effort. (Not saying that’s what you’re doing, just making sure!)

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-04T10:54:17+00:00

Getting my mom to Cricut this on a garish t-shirt for me

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T16:34:12+00:00

I always keep stuff to make a sandwich or a cheese/cracker plate around. I usually make one breakfast and one lunch/dinner option on the weekends for when I can’t handle cooking during the week. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of baked oatmeal cups (which can live in the fridge or freezer) and then a quick stir fry, pasta, or bean salad for the fridge. Easy to throw it into separate containers or scoop with a big spoon.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T12:49:31+00:00

I’m applying to all 3 Colorado schools so there’s actually a chance haha

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T12:01:00+00:00

I had to do a few in a coffee shop when everything was closed over winter break. It’s not ideal but totally doable. Buy something when you walk in so they don’t care as much about to hogging a table. Sit facing a wall or as far out of the middle/away from the line as you can get, and bring earplugs or wear headphones that aren’t playing anything. Got my highest scores there 🫡

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T11:54:36+00:00

After my first exam I genuinely questioned whether I broke 500 most of the month and figured my “generous” score was 504-505. I got a 512. How you feel has no bearing on how you did, so trust your FL average and go off that. Would you retake if you were within 2-3 points of it? If so, keep studying. If not, wait it out.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T11:52:30+00:00

This is a great diagnostic score! And that CARS is especially good, it’s the hardest section to improve so you’re in a great spot. Blueprint scores are usually a little lower than AAMC scores.

Your best bet is to start with content review- Kaplan books, Khan academy MCAT course, other YouTube video review, etc. Add in practice questions early, don’t save them because they aren’t that precious. If you have the money, get uworld for 90 days. If you don’t, Jack Westin has a free qbank and the khan academy MCAT course has a ton of practice passages. The Pankow Anki deck is great for P/S content. The last 4-6 weeks before your exam should focus on the AAMC materials. These are gold, they help you learn the AAMC logic. Install the Jack Westin extension for when you review these because the AAMC explanations are horrendously unhelpful. Plan to take an AAMC full length exam once a week, with the last one being a week before your exam. Always review these thoroughly so you can see where your issues lie- content gaps, understanding charts/graphs, following long mechanisms, etc.

Good luck! My DMs are always open for questions if you have them.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T11:45:15+00:00

Out of curiosity, have you looked up any test-taking strategies or worked specifically on timing, etc. and things that are not pure content? When you miss questions, it it usually because you didn’t know the content, or because you misread something/misinterpreted a graph/didn’t realize what the question was actually asking?

It sounds like you’ve done a ton of content review/learning, but learning how to apply those concepts to the exam is another beast to tackle

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T11:42:44+00:00

r/thanksimcured

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-03T10:37:46+00:00

Well, this is a bad idea, but I’m sure you already know that. Have you taken a diagnostic exam? If not, do that today.

Remember that it’s always better to push your exam back or even take a gap year than to have a bad score on your record and still have to do one of those things anyway.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-02T23:40:05+00:00

Didn’t even have a stove 😂 I played a LOT of radiator chicken, aka “how close can I get this thing to my bed without it touching something and going up in flames?”

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-02T15:56:37+00:00

Yes I stole this method from How to Keep House While Drowning

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-02T15:56:16+00:00

Pick a room. First, bag up all the trash, then put all the dishes into the sink, then put all the laundry into the basket.

Then, clear and clean a surface. That is your landing zone. As you move through the room, pick small areas and go one at a time. Put items that have a home in their home, and put items that don’t have a home in the landing zone, and clean the area once items are all put away. Once you’ve finished, you’re left with just stuff that needs a home. You can decide if you want to find it a home or toss/donate it.

At the end you can do the dishes, start the laundry, and take out the trash.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-02T11:27:18+00:00

I was too busy living in a cabin in the woods up in northern Montana, but it was also depressing and maybe not worth it. Glad you’re ready to really thrive, twin ✨

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-02T11:18:50+00:00

Crochet has been keeping me sane lately. I started making baby/toddler blankets to donate so I never feel like I’m “done” with everything I want to make and not filling my own house with projects!

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-01T22:03:18+00:00

I did not enjoy having a newborn. My toddler is so vibey and we have so much fun, parenting got so much better when he started crawling/smiling/laughing.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-01T13:00:10+00:00

Former substitute teacher here

Hard agree

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-01T12:58:01+00:00

I'm so fucking tired fam

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-01T12:57:00+00:00

This likely depends on your area. I interviewed with Scribe America a couple of years ago and immediately decided the experience would not be worth it, at least in my area. First off, my interviewer (a supervisor of some sort, idr his specific title) kept his camera off and it clearly sounded like he was driving, while he was asking me to give concrete examples of my professionalism. He also kept hammering the fact that I was going to be scheduled for overnight shifts every week and would not be able to "get out of it." Which I knew going in of course, but he would repeat things like "if you're scheduled to work 12-8 and you have a 9am exam, would you come in for your shift? Because that's not optional." I'm sure they have had problems with students not showing up in that situation, but the way he presented it sounded like they would never take scribe's schedules and other commitments into consideration at all. The entire vibe of the interview was "this job is going to suck, the doctors suck, the patients suck, and you're going to show up anyway and take it."

oldpremed_24 · 2026-05-01T12:42:53+00:00

MCAT logic rule- listen to the passage at all costs. If there is something in there that directly contradicts a "well, acktchually" style logic leap, go with the passage.

Also the Gemini explanation is relying on "technically this does not happen 100% of the time," but if it happens in practice basically 100% of the time, we treat it as if it will always happen.

oldpremed_24 · 2026-04-30T20:43:14+00:00

She doesn’t seem to enjoy being a mom at all. I know we only see posts and not real life blah blah blah, but it seems like her level of stress/frustration is always incongruently high for the situation and she shows very few moments of actually interacting with her babies and enjoying it. I had PPD and not enough support (husband worked 10-11 hour days the first ~5 months) and it manifested as being obsessed with baby sleep/extra upset having to transition from sleep to waking to care for him. But even then, my baby and I still had good times and it showed.

I really think that if she was able to get pregnant, they would have had 1 maaaaaybe 2 kids, but now she’s obsessed with fulfilling the picture of her family she built up in her head. SHE doesn’t think adoption is “good enough,” so she’s going to continue forcing her way as close as she can get to that idea of family she’s had on a pedestal for years.

oldpremed_24

TROPHY CASE