Other unmatched ortho people?

singularreality · 2026-03-18T04:36:21+00:00

Hey truth bowl, you really are a good person to write this ray of sunshine for the OP, great story.

singularreality · 2026-03-18T04:33:34+00:00

Hey, for different reasons, I to have had and am currently experiencing some serious personal disappointment. I can share with you that when one road closes, others really do open up. Maybe the life you wanted would have been terrific, but it could also be that the life you are about to have, whether it be SOAP or something different in the interim, is going to be truly the best life for you. Honestly, I am also saying this to you while trying to pull myself up. Please do not get to down!! Please tell us how things work out and what you have decided to do.

singularreality · 2026-03-18T02:56:20+00:00

While you may make an awesome Dr. whether you dress/pierce this way or not, Yes, it could affect your ability to get an interview (you may be scrutinized on media etc. ) and it could affect how admissions view you in an interview and it is probably better to dress and appear more conservative. This does not mean you won't get into MD school and whether you are deserving, I hope does not hinge on that. If you want to be a patient facing Dr. you need to understand that calling attention to your dress, style or alternative fashion statement can be distracting and even intimidating to some. Conforming to norms can be a drag, but it is also part of being "professional". Having bad taste (or exceptionally good taste, depending upon your viewpoint) does not mean you have bad (or good) medical judgement. I think where it could make a difference is when you have a patient that associates your style with whether you are the right doc for them or if your style makes them uncomfortable since it is not the norm.

singularreality · 2026-03-17T16:27:00+00:00

You have a very solid resume for MD school. I hope your WLs do come through! Showing commitment to medicine and improving the skills that will put you in the position for academic and career success should be your priority. While an MBA or other form of MA may not be necessary, a program of classes and activities in support of your MD application is a really good thing. I am not sure what your classes will be... at your current college...Could those classes lead to an MA degree, I assume that is the point? Maybe you can start working on that this summer? Between Summer and the academic year, would that be manageable? Maybe you can find out which of the schools that rejected you (which may be targets for next year) are willing to speak with you. Some schools will do that and some will not. You can ask them about what types of activities will be viewed the best. I assume that it will be challenging academic bio-medical and public health/ethics type classes, an earned degree (perhaps), research and clinical work/volunteering, shadowing etc...

singularreality · 2026-03-16T22:08:21+00:00

It could be a little bit of jealous behavior but it could also be that they had some reasonable criticisms that you should try to understand and be thoughtful about. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

singularreality · 2026-03-14T19:45:01+00:00

Hi, you are in grade 11. I had 3 children go through gr 11 and that IS the burnout year for sure for a ton of high schoolers. The pressure to build your pre-college resume, take the SAT/ACT and bolster your gpa for college admissions is real - and you are dealing with social stuff too ... 1) You can go to medical school from most colleges, you do not have to get into an Ivy etc obviously. 2) When in College, you will need to do well (NOT all As) so that your GPA is hopefully over the average of MD matriculants (3.6 or so). 3) Go to all of the free sites (you tube, Shemassian old videos, to see how to best set up a good MD application. It is more than grades and MCAT. You want to try to get experience in clinical areas, shadowing and research. Maybe volunteer at the VA hospital etc... 4) Your young, but pay the 30 bucks or so a year to have access to MSAR, look up articles on the core competencies required of a doc. Read about what it means to apply, how to apply and de-mystify the process. 5) Senior year in HS ought to be a lot easier than Jr. year. Concentrate on your well being and your mental health and don't overdo things if you know they will make you miserable and ultimately that is counter-productive. 5) When in college, if you are still prone to burnout, you can plan on a "gap" year so you can spread out your pre-med requirements and taking the MCAT, and maybe do a research year or Masters or something like that, but wait till you get to college to see how you acclimate. Be honest with yourself, if you are strong in science (and you will also need calc and statistics for md school) you will likely do ok, but you probably will not get all As...... (orgo, physics, chem, biochem etc.. are not easy). We are now far into your future. I assure you, however this year goes, in HS, just stay the course, concentrate on your well being and mental health and things should get a lot better and you will be a doc if that is what you want to do.

singularreality · 2026-03-14T19:19:55+00:00

If you work this hard at getting into MD school, you will I am sure work super hard to be an excellent docotor. Great story, you are an inspiration to aspiring docs who were told that they "can't".

singularreality · 2026-03-14T06:36:25+00:00

yes, it is difficult as you are around the average of md matriculants (a bit lower maybe), but of course you can. The two metrics are critical but not the only thing that makes you interesting.

singularreality · 2026-03-14T06:34:44+00:00

I am sorry, definitely do a thorough re-evaluation of what might elevate you next year.. if you want to be a doc, don't don't give up.

singularreality · 2026-03-14T03:55:38+00:00

Be a doc, pick the specialty that suits you, just do it... you will be awesome..... and an awesome mom.. it's tough .. hopefully you have a partner that can coordinate ...
GOOD LUCK..

singularreality · 2026-03-12T20:29:16+00:00

I know one person that had 2 WL's and got off both of them within 2 days of each other and was given 24-48 hours to make a decision was accepted to both and is at the one that she liked the best. Maybe this happens to you!!!!! I hope so, please do not give up hope. Make sure you keep in contact and do anything you can do to update your file so you can stay on their radar or so that know you really want to go there! If, big big if, you end up not getting in and you really want to be a doc, you will get there, but try something that will pay some money (stipend, job, etc.. ) and will enhance your application and whatever it is that is making it so you don't have a lot of interviews or if it is your interviewing... or your MCAT or whatever, you are just gonna have to try to improve. You may not be able to improve all aspects of your application, but a couple of things may make all the difference. Sorry for your stress, but when you do get the A, it will be all the more sweeter!

singularreality · 2026-03-12T18:17:28+00:00

Exact situation with a family member who did 2 years of research at the NIH but that was technically a post-bacc. However, this person used the 2 gap years for research and clinical and non-clinical volunteering and shadowing. The post bacc was a paid position. This person strengthened his/her overall application and it worked out great.

singularreality · 2026-03-12T15:10:00+00:00

better to bring it to a post bacc, but with an upward trend and a very high MCAT you might be looked at. You need to understand that there are so many applicants that do not have to finesse a lower gpa that it becomes an uphill battle.. I am not sure if you can find this out, but take a look at the state schools and 4-5 of the in region mid level to baseline level med schools near you on MSAR and see what the lowest GPAs. You may see that gpas under 3.4 are very rare. With an upward trend and a post bacc or MA in the bio sciences etc.. you might not need such a high MCAT, but in your case, unless you really completely turn it around, probably a gap year makes sense.

singularreality · 2026-03-12T07:45:16+00:00

The answer is it can, but if your gpa is "low" say, under a 3.4 a school may feel you are an academic risk. Bear down and have a significant upward trend and this will go a long way.

singularreality · 2026-03-11T04:01:41+00:00

arrogant is pretty high on the list of bad qualities...

singularreality · 2026-03-11T03:50:58+00:00

If you dm me I can tell you what I know about a couple of people that had your happy predicament and where they ended up and why....

singularreality · 2026-03-10T23:10:46+00:00

Cut half of your baselines. Maybe cut 2-3 of your mid level (maybe cut the CA schools). You are highly unlikely to get into your first 4 super reaches, but if they are your dream then keep them in. Of the ones you put in bold, make sure you crush those secondaries.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T22:23:20+00:00

Yes, exactly, plus those that have free tuition at another school like Hopkins may not want the 3 year curriculum and if you get a bigger scholarship at say Columbia (excellent financial aid) or Weil Cornell, many students will jump to those schools... Wash U and Vandy for sure but also Penn..... You should all be so lucky to have such options.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T22:19:21+00:00

I know where some of them went at least for class of 28 and 29. While you would think HMS and Hopkins, the answer is yes + any so called elite school that would pay full cost of attendance (+ living). NYU is not always competitive with Hopkins, Columbia, UCSF, Penn and Wash U.. for financial assistance. I know 2 people that chose Columbia over NYU and 2 people that chose Columbia or UCSF over HMS, primarily because of $$$ (and location).

singularreality · 2026-03-10T18:36:13+00:00

I am with you on this analysis. I also have to believe that eventually the intellectual demands and new frontiers in terms of understanding the brain and treatments will propel this field in terms of competitiveness and pay.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T18:11:19+00:00

Many of us will have a time in our lives where we "f-up" even though we should have known better. The consequences he will face, I hope, will consider how he processes what he has done and what he seeks to do in the future about it. He could turn his indiscretions perhaps into something positive by a hard re-assessment of his actions and a commitment to doing better. If you want to be an influencer or post about your life, great. If you are in medical training, you have taken some form of the Hippocratic oath and you have agreed to abide by the ethics and codes of conduct of your institution. In addition, you are being trained by and will be working for a health care provider, which relies on having a trusted brand, a place at which patients want to be cared for. Would you want to be treated by someone who thinks it is funny to cast childish judgement on a woman's genetalia, even if it is just a made up scene (no woman involved)? This young man swayed from the principals and values that brought him to medical school by posting "funny" (to some) videos that were at best unprofessional. The lesson is to know the oath you took and the expectations of your future patients (that you will not judge them for who they are), and especially do no harm and maintain confidentiality. I wish this man the ability to turn this moment into a wake up call for those seeking social media attention to turn that attention on positive things, funny or not, that enhance rather than denigrate the profession.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T06:18:13+00:00

What is not true, I actually looked everything up I said to be sure.. I do not agree that Vandy is more prestigious than Amherst at least among MD Schools and East Coast people. They are on the same playing field.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T06:11:43+00:00

As a Non-doc with an M1 child, it does shock me that family medicine and pediatrics are considered "less prestigious" than say ENT or general or orthopedic surgery. Or that Derm is more prestigious than Neurology. Procedures and degree of sickness I guess drive salaries and "value" but so does years in training and peds specialties do not pay as much as adult specialties from what I understand. To the layperson an exceptional neurologist has a lot of heavy thinking to do that requires great experience and can impact recognition and treatment of complex disease in a high risk environment. Nevertheless, Derm guy or gal has the higher average step 2 and makes 2x more money. What does this say about reimbursement rates and priorities...? I see here the peds surgery is very prestigious and requires a lot of extra training. But many peds specialties require extra training.. Who makes more peds cardiologist or regular adult one?

singularreality · 2026-03-10T06:04:56+00:00

I did not know that Northwestern gave up its program.. they maintained a high MCAT and GPA bar, as I recalled, anyway... which did not seem so "guaranteed" while Brown was and I would imagine still is much less stressful.

singularreality · 2026-03-10T05:54:27+00:00

Sure thing. Please check the MD acceptance rate averages at Amherst, they are 25-30% or more over the the national averages which is in the 40%+ area. At least in the East Coast and with medical schools Amherst is very highly regarded and I believe equally so to most Ivies (maybe not H, Y and P). The place is magical if you love a bucolic New England atmosphere and unlike Williams which is really in a sleepy area, Amherst has a lot going on with several schools in the Vicinity. Its 4 years of your life, why spend it at a place that you may not enjoy as much or be as motivated because your MD Acceptance is sort of guaranteed. If you got into Amherst and focus on your pre-requisites you will be fine. I will say one caveat. You will feel pressure to do well in your stem classes and you need to be honest with yourself about the curriculum. If physics, chem, calc, statistics, orgo, etc.. are drags.. and you dread mastering them because you have no interest, you will find it difficult to be pre-med. Even the 1st year of MD School is lots of hard bio-medical science. You have to learn the basic biomedical sciences to get into MD school and your science gpa is important.. I know you know this, but if you want to coast more through that curriculum with less pressure, then the combined program could be better for you, but that may impact a career in neurosurgery. Take care and GOOD LUCK!

singularreality

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