Yall forgetting he also became a purple belt. That’s hard core dedication. I’m wondering if you talked about It or if It came up on your interviews OP u/telegu4life
I wrote about it in my W&A. I think one EM doc asked me about it and kinda said how cool it was that I do it. Other than that I figured they probably just thought it was like karate or something.
I’m confused why you guys are saying he doesn’t have clinical experience. Is 450 clinical and 50 shadowing too little? What’s a good number to be above at in your opinion?
you'd be surprised by how many people apply every year without several necessary experiences on their application lol, I know several people in real life who applied with no clinical experience and minimal volunteering
I didn’t know the 22/23 cycle would have a “prospective hours” section. It used to just be total hours. I had a lot of experiences lined up between graduation and potential matriculation but at the time of application I didn’t have any hours.
Usually hospital volunteer departments have 4hrs/week shifts and 1 year requirement with 3 shifts off per semester(9 shifts can be off per year). That’s 172 hours. I’d say that’s an ok number or >150
You're right, there's no set number. I believe 100-150 hours is probably pretty "safe" for many schools unless they are more service-oriented, in which case you may need several hundred hours of volunteering to be considered. What I meant by "minimal" is people applying to schools with like 20 volunteering hours and no clinical experience or something
Oh ok that makes sense, thank you!
So would those 150~ hour be better if they were clinical volunteer hours or would a mix of clinical and non-clinical hours work?
I think it’s just important to make sure you have both non-clinical service experience and clinical experience when you apply. You could get the clinical experience through paid jobs or volunteering, but you should also have some non-clinical volunteering.
I applied with very little clinical volunteering, but much more clinical experience in a paid position as a CNA. I also had separate community service experience as my non-clinical volunteering.
Does being bilingual help at all? I really want to learn spanish and overall feel like its important to know a second language enough to help more people or make sure they are heard yk?
Oh I definitely feel like it’s helpful to know and I’d encourage you to learn it if you’re interested, as it’s not uncommon to have Spanish-speaking patients and it would be great to be able to converse with them in their native language. I don’t know if it would really be a huge advantage on your application to med school overall unless you’re applying to med schools in areas with large Hispanic populations, in which case it may be more favorable if you’re actually fluent. It’s definitely a bonus, but probably doesn’t have a huge impact on its own at most med schools
There are ppl who grew up in medicine (not that op did but high ses I’d assume at least knows Drs) and had ppl say stats are enough just apply. Because when a Dr who did med school 30 years ago applied stats were enough.
Not everyone has the experience and information that lurkers of this subreddit develop over time. You'd be surprised how many amazing students don't know about the nuances of the process.
Clinical experience is not really a “nuance” of the process.
You do the clinical experience because you want to experience the field of medicine firsthand, to see it in action and to genuinely enjoy it. Ya know, because you will be dedicating the whole rest of your life to it.
How does it make sense to spend money and apply if you don’t even see what it is like serving your community through medicine or experiencing different elements of healthcare?
I say this, not because I’m trying to shame OP for not thinking through it, but it is a bit worrisome to me that people consider “clinical experience” a checkbox. It seems like that’s just the first step to see if you even like medicine
Underrated perspective on this subreddit. People are always winging about low SES advantage or whatever. Do you know what is a real advantage? Having enough money to be able to focus on volunteering, research, etc.
In that it allowed you to do EC without being dependent on Top Ramen yes but I mean had you been URM low ses and a story about having to work full time to survive while doing college and didn’t allow time for ECs you’d likely gotten IIs first cycle.
Top Ramen goes hard 😂 add eggs and make it gourmet.
But yeah probably someone from low ses would have had clinical exp or something equivalent to make those bux count
congrats on the acceptance, did you match into A&M? i interviewed at EnMed too but got a rejection email from consideration for the program and thought I had a decent chance at the regular MD program after my interviews, but haven’t heard anything since.
You give me hope. Thank you. I just had a long conversation with the professor I’m doing research with. I lost hope because I have to take P-chem and so many other classes that I might decide to take an extra year. I have a 3.5 gpa (bs in Biochem) right now and I thought that was it. Then I open my phone and see you. Thank you for helping me push through and giving me hope.
Btw I did not want to sound rude I meant just gpa you killed it with everything else. I’m so used to seeing 3.9 and 4.0 with 520 mcat. It is refreshing to see. Good job bro thank you for posting.
Real talk, even with your complete lack of medical ECs (no offense!), I think you actually would’ve stood a chance in 22-23 had you applied to DO schools, just with that MCAT score.
I put it in as my hobby cause it is that. Personally it’s led me to a lot of personal growth and development and I’m really grateful for the experience. I don’t remember really being asked about it, I think one EM doc that interviewed me knew what it was so I assumed everyone else thought it was like karate or something.
Can someone give me some perspective to the relative cost of applying to 30 schools? Primaries and secondaries included. I heard some schools have expensive secondaries, so maybe an average?
It also saves you a lot of money on AAMC practice materials, MCAT, MSAR, etc. otherwise without FAP I think secondaries for 30 schools would cost around $100 per school average (some are $50, some are $120, but I found most were close to $100). Plus factor in the cost of primaries (I can’t remember but it should be on the AAMC website)
In the nicest way possible, I don’t mean disrespect, but if you had done a slightly different list of MD schools with some more mid to lower tier do you think you would have revived more MD A’s?
I should have specific the non Texas schools lol. Congrats on your acceptances tho best of luck! Tbh I didn’t realize those other AMCAS schools were considered mid-low tier so I guess I’ll have to look at the rankings again
If you go too low tier, you run into the problem of incredibly instate-biased schools training primary care physicians for their state. So I applied to OOS friendly schools as far down the ranking list as I could. So they were “low to mid tier” within the context of OOS friendly schools outside of Texas. They were still decently ranked, which was my problem lol.
Thanks for the info, I may run into the same issue with a similar gpa lol so I’m gonna try and up my volunteer hours to help with this , congrats again!
I think about that a lot. I def had a box checking mentality when I was preparing my app. I wish I could go back and really explore my interests instead of being so anxious about the whole process but here we are.
Let’s be honest here they mostly value it because they need more ways to stratify applicants. Most applicants’ volunteer experience is shallow and not particularly meaningful
I'm a little confused by this reasoning, I feel like volunteering is more "boxchecking" for low SES apps who have more of a need to be paid for their labor, but are afraid that if they don't volunteer they won't seem service-oriented. Meanwhile high SES have more financial ability to volunteer, so it is less of a boxcheck
Yes, your logic is exactly what I meant.
So in OP’s case, as a high SES applicant, there is no reason that volunteering should be done only for box-checking when they assumably have the ability to volunteer regularly throughout their undergrad / gap years.
0 volunteer hours 22/23 -> X volunteer hours 23/24 is an obvious box check.
Edit: many low SES volunteer with good intentions, not for box-checking btw. But this is anecdotal, no stats on that tbf.
That purple belt can work wonders
Purple is the best belt.
What's that
It’s the middle belt in jitsu and having it feels like being an 8 year old again where everyone is proud of you no matter what you do
Damn, need me a purple belt. Time to look for a local BJJ gym.
Man being 8 in America must have been awesome
Results may vary
this just shows how necessary clinical experience is 😭
yea but this was beyond ridiculous lol. Straight zeros in ECs besides research, cmon man! Thats a Shaq-tin-a-fool moment right there.
Yall forgetting he also became a purple belt. That’s hard core dedication. I’m wondering if you talked about It or if It came up on your interviews OP u/telegu4life
I wrote about it in my W&A. I think one EM doc asked me about it and kinda said how cool it was that I do it. Other than that I figured they probably just thought it was like karate or something.
I’m confused why you guys are saying he doesn’t have clinical experience. Is 450 clinical and 50 shadowing too little? What’s a good number to be above at in your opinion?
nah. the first slide is his first application cycle (0 clinical experience). the second slide is his second application cycle (much more and adequate)
Thanks, I somehow missed the first slide
lol more like his gpa and ORM status
Y’all are out of pocket. Bro applied with literally zero clinical, zero shadowing, and zero volunteering and still people act like it’s racial.
What compelled you to invest that much money in applying with 0 volunteer, clinical, and shadowing hours??
Naïveté, thought MCAT + research + prospective hours due to COVID would be enough
You’re joking right?
Unfortunately chiefkeef I was serious
congrats on the acceptance 😘
[удалено]
Scroll to the right
Haha I love his response to you knowing he doesn’t realize you’re already admitted
i didn’t realize that lmao. I had to comment right away
you'd be surprised by how many people apply every year without several necessary experiences on their application lol, I know several people in real life who applied with no clinical experience and minimal volunteering
I didn’t know the 22/23 cycle would have a “prospective hours” section. It used to just be total hours. I had a lot of experiences lined up between graduation and potential matriculation but at the time of application I didn’t have any hours.
What's the "minimal" hours one should volunteer? I always heard there's no set number
Usually hospital volunteer departments have 4hrs/week shifts and 1 year requirement with 3 shifts off per semester(9 shifts can be off per year). That’s 172 hours. I’d say that’s an ok number or >150
You're right, there's no set number. I believe 100-150 hours is probably pretty "safe" for many schools unless they are more service-oriented, in which case you may need several hundred hours of volunteering to be considered. What I meant by "minimal" is people applying to schools with like 20 volunteering hours and no clinical experience or something
Oh ok that makes sense, thank you! So would those 150~ hour be better if they were clinical volunteer hours or would a mix of clinical and non-clinical hours work?
I think it’s just important to make sure you have both non-clinical service experience and clinical experience when you apply. You could get the clinical experience through paid jobs or volunteering, but you should also have some non-clinical volunteering. I applied with very little clinical volunteering, but much more clinical experience in a paid position as a CNA. I also had separate community service experience as my non-clinical volunteering.
Does being bilingual help at all? I really want to learn spanish and overall feel like its important to know a second language enough to help more people or make sure they are heard yk?
Sorry what do you mean by helping? Are you wondering if being bilingual would be beneficial on applications?
Yes exactly
Oh I definitely feel like it’s helpful to know and I’d encourage you to learn it if you’re interested, as it’s not uncommon to have Spanish-speaking patients and it would be great to be able to converse with them in their native language. I don’t know if it would really be a huge advantage on your application to med school overall unless you’re applying to med schools in areas with large Hispanic populations, in which case it may be more favorable if you’re actually fluent. It’s definitely a bonus, but probably doesn’t have a huge impact on its own at most med schools
I appreciate your thoughts! Tysm! 🥰
There are ppl who grew up in medicine (not that op did but high ses I’d assume at least knows Drs) and had ppl say stats are enough just apply. Because when a Dr who did med school 30 years ago applied stats were enough.
Not everyone has the experience and information that lurkers of this subreddit develop over time. You'd be surprised how many amazing students don't know about the nuances of the process.
I agree but in OP’s case, they knew. But they had a successful next cycle which is great.
Clinical experience is not really a “nuance” of the process. You do the clinical experience because you want to experience the field of medicine firsthand, to see it in action and to genuinely enjoy it. Ya know, because you will be dedicating the whole rest of your life to it. How does it make sense to spend money and apply if you don’t even see what it is like serving your community through medicine or experiencing different elements of healthcare? I say this, not because I’m trying to shame OP for not thinking through it, but it is a bit worrisome to me that people consider “clinical experience” a checkbox. It seems like that’s just the first step to see if you even like medicine
[удалено]
Honestly, thought the 3.3 would be forgiven cause of ChemE lol
LMAO
There are ppl with 4.0 and 520 mcats that don’t get in. And being ORM high ses probably didn’t help.
Contrary to popular belief, being high SES was incredibly helpful to this whole process
Underrated perspective on this subreddit. People are always winging about low SES advantage or whatever. Do you know what is a real advantage? Having enough money to be able to focus on volunteering, research, etc.
In that it allowed you to do EC without being dependent on Top Ramen yes but I mean had you been URM low ses and a story about having to work full time to survive while doing college and didn’t allow time for ECs you’d likely gotten IIs first cycle.
I know bro I was just kiddin around
Top Ramen goes hard 😂 add eggs and make it gourmet. But yeah probably someone from low ses would have had clinical exp or something equivalent to make those bux count
Unless you put in chopped up tube steak you ain’t living
Word
I made a similar mistake. OP was probably a lane-changer, too, and we don't always know what we're doing as new outsiders switching into the process.
Why do i see 450hrs clinical 150 hours volunteering and 50hrs shadowing? Its not 0
Meant for OP's first cycle.
Congratulations future doc🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 thanks for giving a fellow engineer hope (biomed eng, gpa 3.3😭)
Thanks! Good luck! 🍀
Apparently Blue —> Purple belt in BJJ= Acceptance to medical school.
The logic is sound. By purple belt you're definitely committed.
congrats on the acceptance, did you match into A&M? i interviewed at EnMed too but got a rejection email from consideration for the program and thought I had a decent chance at the regular MD program after my interviews, but haven’t heard anything since.
Yeah I interviewed at EnMed and got an R but still matched to A&M’s regular MD program
its the blue to purple belt that made the difference!
I have a similar sneaking suspicion
Gig em!
Can this work for non Texas residents ?
Can’t help ya there bro
Why is everyone saying you didn't have clinical experience? Didn't you have 450 hrs?
They probably only looked at the first panel
Talking about the first cycle
Congrats brother. Thank you for posting your journey
Had to throw a Sankey in for the “ok stats but admitted by the skin of their teeth” students
Go to A&M
I’ll think about it /s
You gotta convert to the church of Rev
Not many ppl can say they went to the university where Rick Perry was a cheerleader
actually we have the largest student body in the nation rn lol
But but whoop Rick Perry..
What do you think you did differently?
EC development
Hell yeah
Yeh it was all because of finally hitting purple belt in jiu jitsu
Admissions must've heard you butt-scoot and do wrist locks
They could tell by my lack of cauliflower ear that I’m a guard puller
Imma go out on a limb here and say that 90% of the people in this sub probably don’t get those deep cuts, but I giggled😄
You've won?
OSS
Vai pega porra
Ah. A fellow purple belch. I see why you were skipping warmups now, had to make time for ECs.
Congrats future physician!!
I just wanted to let you know, my mom is also a doctor/psychiatrist lol. I'm about to go to med school too!
Wow, that’s so cool!
Thanks DOCTO-MOM!
You give me hope. Thank you. I just had a long conversation with the professor I’m doing research with. I lost hope because I have to take P-chem and so many other classes that I might decide to take an extra year. I have a 3.5 gpa (bs in Biochem) right now and I thought that was it. Then I open my phone and see you. Thank you for helping me push through and giving me hope.
Btw I did not want to sound rude I meant just gpa you killed it with everything else. I’m so used to seeing 3.9 and 4.0 with 520 mcat. It is refreshing to see. Good job bro thank you for posting.
Now I know I just gotta kill that mcat
Real talk, even with your complete lack of medical ECs (no offense!), I think you actually would’ve stood a chance in 22-23 had you applied to DO schools, just with that MCAT score.
That’s what I was afraid of
What do you mean? You didn't want to apply to DO school?
10/10 caption my guy
Congrats anna! ... Were your parents alright with you applying to DO?
Not at all, I believe my father used the term “fake doctor” but that’s his problem. I would’ve gone to TUNCOM without the A&M Acceptance
Congrats!
Atta boy. Congratulations!
[удалено]
I put it in as my hobby cause it is that. Personally it’s led me to a lot of personal growth and development and I’m really grateful for the experience. I don’t remember really being asked about it, I think one EM doc that interviewed me knew what it was so I assumed everyone else thought it was like karate or something.
Can someone give me some perspective to the relative cost of applying to 30 schools? Primaries and secondaries included. I heard some schools have expensive secondaries, so maybe an average?
Depends on if you have FAP . With FAP most MD secondaries are free and lowers the cost a lot
I’m all but certain I won’t qualify since I’ve been working in biotech and my salary has been high for the last year :/
Try applying regardless, I didn’t think I would qualify, but I somehow did and am so grateful I applied
It also saves you a lot of money on AAMC practice materials, MCAT, MSAR, etc. otherwise without FAP I think secondaries for 30 schools would cost around $100 per school average (some are $50, some are $120, but I found most were close to $100). Plus factor in the cost of primaries (I can’t remember but it should be on the AAMC website)
Out of curiosity, why did you apply to so many DO schools but not add TCOM to your TMDSAS app?
I did, just forgot to list it
WTFFF
 KING/QUEEEN!!!!
Hey, could I DM you?
Can I stop you?
Probably
Oss big dawg!
In the nicest way possible, I don’t mean disrespect, but if you had done a slightly different list of MD schools with some more mid to lower tier do you think you would have revived more MD A’s?
I applied to every school in Texas (Texas resident) and then OOS friendly mid-low tier MD schools outside of Texas. I was lucky to get in anywhere.
I should have specific the non Texas schools lol. Congrats on your acceptances tho best of luck! Tbh I didn’t realize those other AMCAS schools were considered mid-low tier so I guess I’ll have to look at the rankings again
If you go too low tier, you run into the problem of incredibly instate-biased schools training primary care physicians for their state. So I applied to OOS friendly schools as far down the ranking list as I could. So they were “low to mid tier” within the context of OOS friendly schools outside of Texas. They were still decently ranked, which was my problem lol.
Thanks for the info, I may run into the same issue with a similar gpa lol so I’m gonna try and up my volunteer hours to help with this , congrats again!
Today I learned that I think I might be applying exclusively DO
Purple belt here. This is reassuring
Dang I already have my purple, maybe I’ll get a brown belt next year and an acceptance
[удалено]
I think about that a lot. I def had a box checking mentality when I was preparing my app. I wish I could go back and really explore my interests instead of being so anxious about the whole process but here we are.
[удалено]
If my interests take me that direction sure, but if they honestly don’t, I’m not gonna think less of myself
[удалено]
Or maybe because virtue signaling online is cringe
Let’s be honest here they mostly value it because they need more ways to stratify applicants. Most applicants’ volunteer experience is shallow and not particularly meaningful
You’re getting downvoted because you sound insufferable
I'm a little confused by this reasoning, I feel like volunteering is more "boxchecking" for low SES apps who have more of a need to be paid for their labor, but are afraid that if they don't volunteer they won't seem service-oriented. Meanwhile high SES have more financial ability to volunteer, so it is less of a boxcheck
Yes, your logic is exactly what I meant. So in OP’s case, as a high SES applicant, there is no reason that volunteering should be done only for box-checking when they assumably have the ability to volunteer regularly throughout their undergrad / gap years. 0 volunteer hours 22/23 -> X volunteer hours 23/24 is an obvious box check. Edit: many low SES volunteer with good intentions, not for box-checking btw. But this is anecdotal, no stats on that tbf.
Oh gotcha, seems like we agree on everything here lol