What Did You Think Was (or Expect to Be) the Hardest Part of the App Process?

I picked Expenses. I applied to 34 schools, submitted 30 secondaries, booked 6 interviews, and although I've been paying as much as I can for the last 2 months, I'm still nearly $5k in the hole.

I chose academic repair because my youthful indiscretions from 20 years ago drags my GPA down alot!

Post 2008 = Awesome
Pre 1994 = Awful

A full load of prereq classes was easily the hardest part of the process. My strategy was to get perfect grades in all the prereqs so I could point to that as a better indicator of my potential academic performance than my cGPA, which I never even tried to repair.

There should be an "Everything" option.

I'd have to say the hardest part for me was deciding between schools.

Writing the essays has been the hardest thing to get motivated to do. Some of these essay topics give me serious writer's block. I voted for "getting your apps completed."

I'm a ways off from applying but already the expense part is kicking my butt. Mostly because all the "help" my hubby and I are suppose to be getting (fin aid and his VA disability) seems to keep getting pushed back. Waiting year and a half for VA and been waiting over a month for school to release my fin aid.

With full course load and him not being able to work many hours due to medical issues I can't even imagine how I'm going to come up with the money to apply couple years from now if money doesn't trip me before that lol.

Other: Reapplying

Not that any of it was easy the first time around, on subsequent cycles everything* seems so much harder.


*everything except reentering coursework into AMCAS - that rollover feature is really nice!

Even though letting go of an acceptance was very hard, I chose interview. And I tend to think more people are in my boat without realizing it--therein lies the difficulty. I literally interviewed horribly with a student because I didn't know it was an interview situation and had the exceedingly poor judgement to view him in an attorney/client privileged sense.

I started to realize he was getting frustrated as I stuffed my face with jambalaya. The sensuous flavors delaying my realization until I'd already aired my dirty laundry. Dumb huh?

Being uninhibited makes it hit or miss business for me. One I rocked, one I stepped on my own face.

I have no idea how to do it different. Kind of like mcat verbal. I can't get my brain to think defensively, strategically, cautiously, politically all at once. I just have one move...honest. And when nervous, too honest.

So I suck at it. And really don't think I can get a whole lot better. It seems to polarize my interviewers into really digging me and looking like I make them physically sick.

Beats me...?

Yeah withdrawing acceptances sounds really terrible, I feel for you.:

Definitely the MCAT. There were times (usually in the middle of the semester) when I was super worried about how I was going to do in a course and I eventually pulled it off. The MCAT is in 4 days for me and I'm not prepared. What's worse is that I'll have to wait 4-5 months to retake the thing, which is way too much waiting time.

For me, everything was riding on how I did on the MCAT. My grades were okay from a great school and my EC's were pretty decent, but I really needed to rock the MCAT. I spent 5 weeks hardcore studying and was averaging a 29 practice score near the end--very nearly considered canceling my scores/skipping the whole test and rescheduling. Then the month of waiting to see how it all went was incredibly agonizing; instead of using that time to write my PS, ended up basically panicking for a month. The day I got my score, I literally sat at home and watched cartoons all day in the vain hope that my heart would stop racing. When I pulled up my scores, I misread them at first and thought I had completely failed which of course really helped calm me down. But it all worked out for the best

Thank goodness that's over. Now off to the other fun parts of applying!!

PS--I'll bet if you asked this question again in April/May, people would shift to "waiting to hear from schools," me included!

doctorwho101 said:

For me, everything was riding on how I did on the MCAT. My grades were okay from a great school and my EC's were pretty decent, but I really needed to rock the MCAT. I spent 5 weeks hardcore studying and was averaging a 29 practice score near the end--very nearly considered canceling my scores/skipping the whole test and rescheduling. Then the month of waiting to see how it all went was incredibly agonizing; instead of using that time to write my PS, ended up basically panicking for a month. The day I got my score, I literally sat at home and watched cartoons all day in the vain hope that my heart would stop racing. When I pulled up my scores, I misread them at first and thought I had completely failed which of course really helped calm me down. But it all worked out for the best

Thank goodness that's over. Now off to the other fun parts of applying!!

PS--I'll bet if you asked this question again in April/May, people would shift to "waiting to hear from schools," me included!

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Congrats on the 33

Dianyla said:

Other: Reapplying

Not that any of it was easy the first time around, on subsequent cycles everything* seems so much harder.


*everything except reentering coursework into AMCAS - that rollover feature is really nice!

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this. I haven't reapplied but if got zeros across the board, it would be such a mental drain to do it all over again.

QofQuimica said:

I picked "other." For me the hardest part was withdrawing acceptances. You work so hard to get each one, and every time I withdrew from a school, it felt like I was slamming a door in my own face. But "waiting to hear from schools" would be a close second. Waiting to hear from schools is the pits.

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I chose MCAT. However, I do believe a multiple answer option should be available! The MCAT prep for me was almost a semester long. It was pretty grueling, stressful (knowing a lot of my application would come down to a 4.5 hour exam), and the month afterward, waiting for the score, was AWFUL.

The apps were just busy work, to me.

LPpostbacc said:

I chose MCAT. However, I do believe a multiple answer option should be available! The MCAT prep for me was almost a semester long. It was pretty grueling, stressful (knowing a lot of my application would come down to a 4.5 hour exam), and the month afterward, waiting for the score, was AWFUL.

The apps were just busy work, to me.

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Just wait until an 8 hour test determines the rest of your life

MCAT and that darn essay! lol I am a good writer but I am a creative writer and application essays want more of a factual directness and less "...on a cool, stormy night..." But those 2 are a big part of me not completing my app yet...oh and lets not forget THOSE DAMN RECOMMENDATION LETTERS THAT PEOPLE TAKE FOREVER FILLING OUT! Like really? Do I have to slit your tires and hold acid to your face to get you to write the damn thing. I mean you agreed to do it. [end rant]

If it weren't for the MCAT, I'd likely be prepping to start med school in the fall. Instead, I'm still studying for the test. C'est la via! The second hardest thing will be collecting letters of recommendation: "Yes, I aced your class and you loved me as a student... a decade ago."

MCAT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Academic record repair>PS>Secondaries>interview

Essays, secondaries and PS. Probably the most unpleasant writing that I ever had to do. I've said it before - I'll take the MCAT or any of the pre-reqs again, worse grade goes to my app, if that would let me off the hook from writing secondaries.

Expenses.....with the MCAT as a close second.

The MCAT stopped me in my tracks two years in a row. College and the prereqs were really fun. I'm going through interviews now so.