What was your worst/most hated part of the application process?

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I haven't even applied yet but for me so far it has been the month waiting for my MCAT score. What about you guys?

All of it.

The endless, endless waiting.

Clicking the 'submit payment' button over and over and over again.

Originally Posted by aSagacious

Clicking the 'submit payment' button over and over and over again.

But seriously, 1) writing (and paying for) secondaries, 2) waiting, 3) waiting, 4) more waiting.

Originally Posted by kexy

But seriously, 1) writing (and paying for) secondaries, 2) waiting, 3) waiting, 4) more waiting.

Yeah, this. Waiting was horrible, even though I had one decision to wait for and learned my answer before almost anyone else via EDP.

Secondaries. I feel like I wrote more this past year than every previous year of my life combined.

I hated the secondaries where all I did was check a box saying I wasn't a felon and submit a $75 processing fee. Even though those applications were less work, it just felt like pure thievery.

Originally Posted by EBTrailRunner

Secondaries. I feel like I wrote more this past year than every previous year of my life combined.

Hahaha. Yes.

doing the 2093438545th secondary essay answering "WHY THIS SCHOOL"

Complete lack of post-interview transparency from most schools. You don't know if you'll be waiting 2 weeks or 5 months for a decision. Exceptions: Michigan, Case, UCSD.

The MCAT because I think the fact that every section of it, even physics, o-chem, etc. was 'passage' based is really biased to a certain type of test-taker.

Other than that, by far the worst part is waiting. I am a re-applicant and my first cycle I sat on multiple wait lists until July from schools that I had interviewed with the previous August/September. Nearly a year of waiting to find out that I'm not getting in and have to find something else to do for a year. That's the worst.

1. Paying money for secondaries
2. Paying more money for interviews
3. Getting waitlisted and waiting endless months

Originally Posted by ModusPwnens

I hated the secondaries where all I did was check a box saying I wasn't a felon and submit a $75 processing fee. Even though those applications were less work, it just felt like pure thievery.

Seriously. The sheer cost. The waiting. And the fact that there's literally no way to bypass the madness should I have to reapply.

Originally Posted by nadaba

Complete lack of post-interview transparency from most schools.

Agreed.

I interviewed at a particular school in September. By late March, I assumed I had been waitlisted since I hadn't heard anything. I called admissions to ask when I'd get the official rejection or waitlist notification. The person on the phone told me, "You'll get something in the mail the 1st week of April." It actually came by email mid-April.

When I interviewed at another school in October, we were all told to expect a decision in 6-8 weeks. Result: waitlisted in March. I called admissions to ask if we were ranked or if all waitlisted applicants were reviewed on equal footing. The person on the phone told me "both."

Yes! The waiting! I felt that the silent treatment for months and months sucked the most (oh, it's April? I guess I got rejected after waiting 8 months without any notification)

1.waiting.
2. obnoxious people at interviews

the weight...gained from nervous eating while waiting to hear back

Asking for LoRs.

Originally Posted by 1289

obnoxious people at interviews

OhMIGAD where else have you interviewed are you accepted how does this school rank i heard this school doesn't match well do you have the match list i love this school let me in so glad i did well on the mcat relieved to get this interview even though i already have 10 considered not coming but I AM HERE.

Oh, and admissions officer/4th year medical student, please allow me to ask 22 questions about medical school that I already know the answers to and that I think will make me look interesting but will make everyone else present on my interview day hate me.

Originally Posted by tantacles

OhMIGAD where else have you interviewed are you accepted how does this school rank i heard this school doesn't match well do you have the match list i love this school let me in so glad i did well on the mcat relieved to get this interview even though i already have 10 considered not coming but I AM HERE.

Oh, and admissions officer/4th year medical student, please allow me to ask 22 questions about medical school that I already know the answers to and that I think will make me look interesting but will make everyone else present on my interview day hate me.

Word to the above!
My fav, in early october:
Person: "This is my 8th interview, are you interviewing at ____? I will be there next week, I have so many interviews in early october at all of these top 10 schools. How about you"
Me: "This is my first and only interview so far"
Person: "Oh (with pity), that's nice. I am so excited because of the research lab I am running this summer is very impressive, but I am stressed about being so busy. it is crazy flying around to all these interviews and still being awesome and scientific. What did you do this summer?"
Me: "Family reunion, hosted family from overseas, working at community college, AMCAS and essays"
Person: "Oh (now with disgust), that's nice."

The soul-destroying effect of waiting

The soul-destroying effect of having people ask "have you heard anything yet" and the look in their face when you say no

The soul-destroying effect of being asked increduosly "what happened" when you say you have a 3.6 GPA.

The soul-destroying effect of being asked by interviewer why you sound like you are defending yourself in your PS.

Writing PS, feeling naive about "knowing about medicine" but feeling like I had to write like I did "know" why I wanted to go into medicine. Ever heard the Eric Clapton song, More Than Words??? Can I submit that as my PS?

Secondaries. Same issue as PS. Feeling like you need a degree in bull-**** to write a good essay for these things. (mostly due to lacking confidence in writing)

What was your worst/most hated part of the application process?

When I had to do it all over again for residency,

then fellowship,

then credentialing,

then credentialing at the other hospitals I want to cover,

then licensing...

Originally Posted by kexy

But seriously, 1) writing (and paying for) secondaries, 2) waiting, 3) waiting, 4) more waiting.

The wait is absolutely nerve-racking!!! Even this late in the game I am still waiting to hear back about interviews from 2 schools.

After waiting months for interviews, being wait-listed definitely is the worst I think. Mostly because I would love to know where I am going to be next year so I can start planning on housing. It looks like I might have to shack up in a motel/hotel for a week until I know for sure that I won't be going somewhere else.

Waiting, people at interviews that act like they're too good to be there, and the copious amount of secondary questions at some schools coughLoyolacough.

Originally Posted by PMPMD

When I had to do it all over again for residency,

then fellowship,

then credentialing,

then credentialing at the other hospitals I want to cover,

then licensing...

-sigh- yayyy...

Oh, and silent rejections.

Originally Posted by NeuroLAX

-sigh- yayyy...

yeah I suppose it's better than not getting to do all those apps...

Originally Posted by tantacles

OhMIGAD where else have you interviewed are you accepted how does this school rank i heard this school doesn't match well do you have the match list i love this school let me in so glad i did well on the mcat relieved to get this interview even though i already have 10 considered not coming but I AM HERE.

Oh, and admissions officer/4th year medical student, please allow me to ask 22 questions about medical school that I already know the answers to and that I think will make me look interesting but will make everyone else present on my interview day hate me.

hahaha. or the "not so subtle" name droppers.
"at Harvard this, Harvard that.. " "Johns Hopkins blah blah "

Originally Posted by 1289

hahaha. or the "not so subtle" name droppers.
"at Harvard this, Harvard that.. " "Johns Hopkins blah blah "

I don't mind the name droppers, mainly because dropping my school's name outs me as a Jew, which is awesome.

Not religious, but still reaping the rewards of the culture.

Shalom Sesame? Yes, please.

the loss of 5k from my savings

Lets see
MCAT physics -___-
Being a CA applicant
the waiting
the complete lack of transparency: one school told me I'd hear back on or around March 1st, still have yet to hear back -_______________-

Yes, the waiting does suck. I interviewed at one school in October and hadn't heard back from them by mid-April! Ultimately I got into one of my top choices and rejected them before they could reject me. But if I didn't have that acceptance, the waiting would've been 10X more brutal.

The waiting...for everything

Originally Posted by tantacles

OhMIGAD where else have you interviewed are you accepted how does this school rank i heard this school doesn't match well do you have the match list i love this school let me in so glad i did well on the mcat relieved to get this interview even though i already have 10 considered not coming but I AM HERE.

Oh, and admissions officer/4th year medical student, please allow me to ask 22 questions about medical school that I already know the answers to and that I think will make me look interesting but will make everyone else present on my interview day hate me.

I'm looking forward to meeting this person! He/she sounds charming and probably won't be a gunner!

Having an interviewer that takes themself or their school too seriously. There is nothing positive about applying to medical school. It all sucks, really.

Originally Posted by Praefectus

I'm looking forward to meeting this person! He/she sounds charming and probably won't be a gunner!

Stream of consciousness bull**** is something I specialize at imitating.

Originally Posted by pp77

Asking for LoRs.

As a non-trad who has been officially away from school for a while this wasa huge pain in my rear. I hate asking for LORs in the first place but trying to corridinate everything on my own while following all the rules was such a great time. Really.

Also, like everyone else, I agree the whole waiting process blows. I mean, here it is almost May and I still don’t a firm idea where I will end up going to medical school (just that it’s going to be out of state). The non-transparency also is really irking. There has been only one school that I would say has done a superb job.

Waiting for my MCAT score and waiting to hear back from schools after interviewing.

All aspects of waiting are by far the worst part. This is the one area where SDN is terrible. It never feels good to be one of those people patiently waiting for a decision letter/call from x school when you see on the x school thread that people have already received theirs.

Family member: Do you know where you're going to med school yet?
Me: No. I'm still waiting to hear back from some places.
Family member: But didn't you apply a really long time ago?
Me: Yep.

The time between secondaries and an invite (waiting)
The time between an interview and a status update (waiting)

Originally Posted by Mazdave

Family member: Do you know where you're going to med school yet?
Me: No. I'm still waiting to hear back from some places.
Family member: But didn't you apply a really long time ago?
Me: Yep.

So true... Friends and family were asking me around September if I decided on a school yet... Then I would have to explanation the extent of the process. I'm pretty sure as more people asked, the explanation kept getting shorter until it became, "Yeah, it takes a long time"

As many have mentioned, the costs no doubt about it are the worst part and it seems to grow through each stage-- $33 for a primary, $75-$150 for the secondary, and then for interviews I spent from $50-$100 on the ones I could drive upwards to almost $500 for a 2 day MD/MPH interview in Miami. It's such a long drawn out process too and each step feels like an eternity from filling out the AMCAS to writing all those secondaries to hitting the road for interviews to waiting and waiting and waiting post-interview. I definitely appreciate the undergraduate process where we didn't have to apply until December 15-January 1st and then we found out by March 15-April 1st-- much shorter, less cumbersome, and less costly. At least I've built up some hotel points and frequent flier miles

Waiting

Originally Posted by aSagacious

Clicking the 'submit payment' button over and over and over again.

THIS. Defintiely.

Also the secondary essays that are all almsot the same with one tiny little difference so you have to rewrite the whole thing, saying the same thing in a different way. lol

And of course the worst part is the waiting.

+1 all of the above and also each rejection and waitlist was like a kick in the gut.

3. getting "small-pooled" early on for an interview invite, and being naive enough at this stage to actually think its a "small" group people and thinking your invite's coming any day...

...
...
8 months later...

getting placed on a waitlist level that accepts all applicants one year, but only 50% the other year, on top of that not knowing where exactly you are on the waitlist

Originally Posted by HurricaneKatt

THIS. Defintiely.

Also the secondary essays that are all almsot the same with one tiny little difference so you have to rewrite the whole thing, saying the same thing in a different way. lol

And of course the worst part is the waiting.

Why would you need to say it a different way? It's not like schools share your secondaries with each other. Secondaries made me quite proficient at copypasting. Just keep a general template and supplement with specifics about the school.

The amount of money it cost was just insane. Everyone is trying to make a buck...