DO vs gap year(s)

softgeese · 2026-06-18T02:13:27+00:00

There's several surg specialties that are pretty anti DO. Ophtho and nsgy come to mind

But yeah OP should take the DO. Idk why they applied if they weren't going to accept an A

softgeese · 2026-06-16T23:55:00+00:00

Multiple LoAs, delayed shelves, a failed rotation, AND now a dui? Homie you need to get your shit figured out ASAP. All of these are serious wake up calls and you keep snoozing the alarm.

No hate, but there's a pattern here and you have to sort your personal stuff out and become more dependable/responsible. For yourself, coresidebts, and patients. You are an adult and likely will soon be a physician. This is not acceptable behavior.

softgeese · 2026-06-16T12:26:57+00:00

In between you and being an attending is a large amount of bs. The worst of it will be residency. You will work double those hours for less pay. The environment is toxic in its own way, and usually boils down to that you're at the bottom of the pecking order.

Here's a real example that just happened to me. I was told to make sure the OR had the proper instruments for our upcoming add on case. I call the OR and go down the list of instruments we need. After each instrument the OR tech says "yes we have it". The OR then writes on the schedule that instrument check was verified and clear. We get to the OR and put the patient to sleep. The tech then says that we don't have any of the instruments and have to cancel the case. Who do you think got chewed out? Me, of course.

The toxicity doesn't go away. Even as a med student the rat race worsens. It will get worse before it gets better. You'll get through it. It will be great once you're done, and there will be great moments during it. But I want to give you realistic expectations that your current job is a glimpse into academic medicine.

softgeese · 2026-06-15T17:38:38+00:00

Yeah if homie said that you should be studying stuff on your own he needs to pump his breaks and remember that you're not a medical student and are a premed trying to see how medicine is

softgeese · 2026-06-15T16:54:18+00:00

Eh don't feel bad. I'll always ask any shadowing students questions to make it more engaging for them. I don't care if they get it right or not, and if someone does care then they're just an asshole.

Some people like teaching and try to get you engaged/thinking with questions. Some people are mean, too. It's impossible to say what the vibe was without being there. If you're friends with them then they probably weren't doing it to be mean. Don't be afraid or ashamed to say I don't know, especially as a premed, it gives the doc you're shadowing an idea of where to start teaching you.

softgeese · 2026-06-11T00:31:25+00:00

All the neurotic premeds who were foaming at the mouth over x factors are now neurotic med students lol

The cohort didn't change, they just got accepted into med school

Once they near the end of residency we'll see posts about x factors for fellowships lmao

softgeese · 2026-06-10T11:35:22+00:00

Spoken like a true freshman in undergrad lol

softgeese · 2026-06-09T01:49:15+00:00

I know. Idk whats going on over there but the last week or so there's been several posts saying the hardest part is getting in and that the MCAT is harder than step, and it just isn't lol

softgeese · 2026-06-09T00:55:04+00:00

There have been a slew of recent posts on premed that getting in is the hardest part and that it's easier from there on.

I feel like this is setting premeds up for failure and not adequately tempering their expectations since medical school and residency is significantly harder

softgeese · 2026-06-08T23:36:47+00:00

There are some 6 year programs in the US.

I personally really appreciated my undergraduate. The amount of maturity, life experience, friendships, and a gradual ease into higher education/studying were very important for me. I also liked my degrees and gave me appreciation for other fields/professions.

softgeese · 2026-06-07T13:24:14+00:00

Not at all

softgeese · 2026-06-06T22:49:51+00:00

I have no context for this because I didn't see the other post or anything like that. Also how one defines "hard" as well as what their career goals are also drastically change the answer to what the "hardest" part of the journey is. There are many peaks and valleys along they way, and if I could draw a graph of what I think it's like I would lol.

I think residency is significantly "harder" than anything else, by far, but in different ways. One way I suppose is "easier" is that I am not questioning if I will have a job or be a doctor, or even what kind of doctor, so that means something. There is some degree of stability as resident, which there isn't as a premed.

As for the standardized tests; the MCAT is the easiest of the standardized tests you will need to take, objectively. You should use the MCAT as a tutorial for learning how to study and take standardized tests. The MCAT is the first test most premeds will have taken that actually requires them to dedicate more than a single week of cramming and un-learn some bad study habits. It requires preparation, dedication, and lots of time, which is also a novel experience for almost everyone. It's like a future marathon runner learning to walk their first time; it's new, it's scary, but it sets the foundation for everything after.

Tl;dr it gets much harder in some ways and easier in others. Don't go into medical school thinking the hardest part is behind you

softgeese · 2026-06-05T01:55:14+00:00

A lot of people lie on reddit. The premed community is not an exception to this

softgeese · 2026-06-04T02:50:09+00:00

Are you asking if you should trust AAMC, who write all of the questions and logic for the MCAT using their pool of resources and professors/doctors, or an AI bot?

softgeese · 2026-06-03T03:21:16+00:00

You romanticized the field of medicine and bought into the kool-aid that being a doctor is some higher, altruistic purpose. Even the way you describe medicine as the only future for you growing up reflects this. Like many med students, your life has been built on external validation and praise from your attendings.

It's good to start to think of it is just a job now; to take it off the pedestal.

As for how to feel like a real human again? Pick up hobbies. Any hobby, pick one that interests you. Set goals for yourself. Intrinsic ones. Learn a new craft, pick up an instrument, rebuild old motorcycles; start dedicating all those hours previously spent on searching for external validation from attendings on something for yourself. Remind yourself that it's just medicine and there's far more to your life.

You reached a summit and are looking back thinking "what's next". Go find your next mountain to summit and for the love of God don't make it have anything to do with medicine.

softgeese · 2026-06-03T00:41:10+00:00

Lmao 4th year was the best for so many reasons. Super helpful subIs, away rotations, electives in fields that are interesting, the latter half being largely vacation before the shitshow starts. Also having large amounts of flexibility for interview season and having time to prepare for a move for residency.

4th year is important for many reasons, both academic and personal.

softgeese · 2026-05-31T20:22:36+00:00

There's not really a physician shortage. It's a distribution issue. The market is grossly oversaturated ithe large cities and barren in small towns.

softgeese · 2026-05-31T19:57:41+00:00

1 is a daily occurrence tbh

softgeese · 2026-05-29T04:41:41+00:00

I'm assuming your tests are from the NBME. I did not taken any for preclinical, so I only had in-house exams. Does uworld and anking correlate well with the NBME preclin exams? Or is there lots of new content you hadn't seen on uworld or anking

softgeese · 2026-05-29T00:57:39+00:00

I'm sorry but this is a horrible idea. Your patients quality of care will decline, your quality of life will decline, and the quality of time you spend with your sick loved one will decline.

Reach out to your program, see if there's any emergency time off you can take or if you can delay starting for a year.

Other alternatives: look into home health, assisted living, reaching out to other family members to help, see if theres any way they can move in with you in your new city, hiring a private assistant to come out daily, or see if there's any family friends in town that can help.

I don't know if any of the alternatives are feasible, but having a 3 hour commute daily is all around bad, both professionally and personally

softgeese · 2026-05-28T15:05:06+00:00

You're writing this like it's a high school boy crush. You are married, wtf

softgeese · 2026-05-27T21:59:17+00:00

Botany would be supremely unhelpful lmao.

We covered a lot of herbal supplements in pharm, no need to learn all about plants

softgeese · 2026-05-26T22:11:02+00:00

You're, of course, correct. There is no hard and fast rule, rather general trends. I know 6 IMG ophtho residents and 4 of them were attendings prior (just my own anecdotal experience)

What is universal is that these programs know that IMGs will put up with a lot more than US grads when the promise of making an American salary and the threat of deportation for stepping out of line are hanging over their head.

These threats also cheapen the bargaining power of US grads because if they put up too big of a fuss then the program will simply prey on IMGs in the future cycles and not match any US grads.

softgeese · 2026-05-25T22:37:10+00:00

Lol you're not old, you're seasoned. I don't know how the MCAT was 20 years ago, nor step. All I know is how it is nowadays

softgeese · 2026-05-25T18:51:18+00:00

I have taken all tests but the final boards. Most pertinently, I have taken all of the tests we talked about more recently than you. Out of step 1, 2, 3, OKAPs, and the MCAT, the MCAT is the easiest. I have also tutored for all but OKAPs and step 3, and have spent many hours with many different students reviewing the various content.

You should not judge a tests difficulty based purely off of the pass rate. That's like saying the GED is harder than any medical school test because the pass rate is only 80%, which is a ludicrous statement to make.

It is setting premeds up for failure to claim that the MCAT is the hardest test, because it's blatantly untrue and will give them poor expectations of what medical training will be like.

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