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

BU Medical Sciences
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medicalapp12 said:
In no particular order:

1. Waiting for that first interview and not knowing if you may ever get it even though you thought your application was pretty solid.

2. Having your self worth tied to this process and not knowing if there will be something happy waiting for you at the end.

3. Having a panic attack every time a school sends you an email when they keep informing you that you're already complete...looking at you Toledo.

4. How every paycheck you get disappears into thin air.

5. Having friends and family ask you how the process is going and you can only shake your head saying you haven't heard anything yet.

6. Reading SDN and seeing everyone else get interviews.

7. How the whole process can seem so random and there's little to no transparency about why schools rejected you or if they have even rejected you since some are so soooo quiet.
Click to expand...

This. All of it.

Plus listening to classmates talk about their upcoming interviews and wondering if you are EVER going to get one.
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the waiting game....:scared:
Starting with the wait for my MCAT score, I increasingly became apathetic about this cycle.... waiting for verification, secondary invite, interview invite.... but now that Oct. 15th is very near, my anxiety is reaching near hysterical levels. My mind control must be wearing off XP
 
At first it was studying for the MCAT, then it was waiting for scores, then it was secondaries, now I just hate the empty waiting the most. Waiting and knowing that there's nothing more you can do to help yourself and that you're at the mercy of whatever faceless adcom is looking at your application. Man, I hate this process. :(
 
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The endless writing...

...Of cover letters for your letter writers so they know what you want them to talk about
...Of the Work & Activities section that has to contain not just what you did, and why you did it, but how this would make you a better physician. In a paragraph
...Of the *$&I#*! Personal Statement, wherein I'm supposed to write a riveting tale of my life/motivations that jumps off the page without coming off as saccharin or maudlin. In a page and a half. Oh, and has to be better written than those of most of the other stellar applicants.
...Of mountains and mountains of Secondaries, each with it's own set of essays, big and small, boring and out of left field. That again, had to be better written than those of most of the other stellar applicants. In two weeks or less.
...Of dozens of handwritten thank you notes for your interviewers that you know are going straight to the recycler once read but that you Can't. Possibly. Not. Send! because of the off chance that your interviewer expects it and you look poorer in comparison to other applicants.
...And finally...of the pages and pages of updates/ interest/ love letters that essentially amount to you begging for them to throw you a bone of an interview/acceptance.
 
Every single part of the process is as grueling as the last. I think just the money and mcat portion is the worst. While it is to screen applicants it is also a business so money can become a problem.
 
GatsbyK said:
Every single part of the process is as grueling as the last. I think just the money and mcat portion is the worst. While it is to screen applicants it is also a business so money can become a problem.
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Yes. Money. I'm $600 away from being clear of all my application debt (almost $8500).

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Deciding which top 5 med school to attend and which merit school scholarship to go with. It's horrible.

JK! Nobody freak out.
 
Definitely the waiting. From August til February felt like the longest period of my life.
 
def1 said:
Definitely the waiting. From August til February felt like the longest period of my life.
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I thought you were a guy

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The worst part was checking my MCAT score the first time and realizing I would have to do it all over again. It's all over now. Happy tears.
 
Irish Football said:
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?
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Explaining to family members over and over and over again why I interviewed a year ago and still haven't started.
 
getting science LORs were the worst for me... damn English major
 
Trying to keep track of all my different secondaries. Was || this close to sending one to a wrong school once. Good thing I caught it before it was too late...
 
mnhockeyfan said:
Also this, since psychology doesn't count as a science...even though I got a B.S. in Psychology.
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congrats on your acceptance btw. always good to see another minnesotan succeed :)









even tho the gophers suck


;)
 
The night before match day found me watching Doctors Diaries and crying on and off wondering if I would be a doctor. Yeah, it was melodramatic, but I couldn't handle the anxiety!
 
WorksInProgress said:
The endless writing...

...Of cover letters for your letter writers so they know what you want them to talk about
...Of the Work & Activities section that has to contain not just what you did, and why you did it, but how this would make you a better physician. In a paragraph
...Of the *$&I#*! Personal Statement, wherein I'm supposed to write a riveting tale of my life/motivations that jumps off the page without coming off as saccharin or maudlin. In a page and a half. Oh, and has to be better written than those of most of the other stellar applicants.
...Of mountains and mountains of Secondaries, each with it's own set of essays, big and small, boring and out of left field. That again, had to be better written than those of most of the other stellar applicants. In two weeks or less.
...Of dozens of handwritten thank you notes for your interviewers that you know are going straight to the recycler once read but that you Can't. Possibly. Not. Send! because of the off chance that your interviewer expects it and you look poorer in comparison to other applicants.
...And finally...of the pages and pages of updates/ interest/ love letters that essentially amount to you begging for them to throw you a bone of an interview/acceptance.
Click to expand...
Well said...
IniestaDeMiVida said:
The night before match day found me watching Doctors Diaries and crying on and off wondering if I would be a doctor. Yeah, it was melodramatic, but I couldn't handle the anxiety!
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Texas student?
 
I'm still applying to undergrad schools, but my GPA is the worst part. Lol
 
I agree that writing 2ries was no fun but I think the worst part for me was waiting for the first interview invite. It is such a relief when you realize that someone out there agrees that you have a shot at medical school.

Next to that I think studying for the MCAT while working full-time was very challenging and I am so glad that is over.
 
For me, I hated working three jobs to be able to afford housing, food, flights and a suit. My financial aid this last semester didn't even cover tuition fully for some reason. I worked 30 hours a week on top of 18 credits and interviews.

None of my professors were nice about me going to interviews either. I had a interview in Richmond and had to fly back that night, get home at about 1:30 AM and then get up at 7 for a test the next morning that the professor wouldn't let me make up. I got a 60% because I forgot to do a whole page of the test! It was curved, and a 60% was the average. I am still kicking myself on that one.
 
BABSstudent said:
For me, I hated working three jobs to be able to afford housing, food, flights and a suit. My financial aid this last semester didn't even cover tuition fully for some reason. I worked 30 hours a week on top of 18 credits and interviews.

None of my professors were nice about me going to interviews either. I had a interview in Richmond and had to fly back that night, get home at about 1:30 AM and then get up at 7 for a test the next morning that the professor wouldn't let me make up. I got a 60% because I forgot to do a whole page of the test! It was curved, and a 60% was the average. I am still kicking myself on that one.
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Sorry to hear that! I did pull an overnight flight for one of my interviews and then showed up for work... I was so out of it.
 
Early on I thought the MCAT was the worst. Then I thought it was writing secondaries. Next I thought it was waiting for interviews and then preparing for and traveling to interviews. Finally, I thought the hardest part was waiting to hear back post interview.
All in all, MCAT was the worst part in terms of stress and hard work, but the rest of the process is way worse in terms of not having any sort of control.
In conclusion, all of it.
 
For most of the cycle I wasn't too stressed, but the only part I hated was the weeks post-interview in which I had to an hour commute on the way home. Every day I replayed my interviews in my head and got nervous about whether there would be a letter in my mailbox. Most days ended in disappointment with junk mail or bills :laugh:
 
Everything was horrible for me. Nothing about this process has been fun. Except receiving an acceptance, but then new worries start to set in. I finally feel at peace and excited, though, but it took a long time to get here.
 
Spending all the money, the waiting, filling out secondaries... but the worst part: being rejected post-interview.
 
The financial expenses. App fees, travel costs, etc...

Sent from my Galaxy S2, I think. But I don't really know, I'm just a lowly premed.
 
Worst part, hands down, was trying to get my LOR in on time! Having been out of college for a few years, my professors are now all over the place. Weekly emails quickly turned into daily emails which turned into daily phone calls to get them to actually finish the recommendations!
 
touchpause13 said:
getting science LORs were the worst for me... damn English major
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This sucked big time. How does engineering not count as science?

But I think the worst part for me is the game. A deadline isn't really the deadline for those in the know. Letters of interest, thank you letters, letters of intent, all of the checkboxes of unspoken requirements. Those killed me the first time I applied. Then I learned about sdn, upped my game and got in. But you shouldn't have to use some unofficial forum of neurotic premeds in order to understand how to apply successfully!
 
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Hardest part for me besides the agonizing wait, was flying. I have an EXTREME FEAR of flying and every single time I boarded a plane, i thought I was going to die. I remember on my flight back from California when we hit some turbulence, thinking how could everyone be so calm as the plane (in my opinion) was violently shaking. DEF worst part of application process for me.
 
The first 2/3 of MCAT studying because its when I cared about what my score was going to be.
 
I disliked how I rarely used my own toilet for like three months, during interview season.
 
The waiting game post-interview. But I am also afraid of what the result would be. This is a no win situation. :scared:
 
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Time and money spent. The process is extremely inefficient and since there is no way to score outcomes it will remain so.
 
Getting waitlisted. Its like suspended animation. You won't hear a different decision until May, another 4 months.
 
iave9963 said:
Hardest part for me besides the agonizing wait, was flying. I have an EXTREME FEAR of flying and every single time I boarded a plane, i thought I was going to die. I remember on my flight back from California when we hit some turbulence, thinking how could everyone be so calm as the plane (in my opinion) was violently shaking. DEF worst part of application process for me.
Click to expand...

You're not alone. I was a skydiver for several years with hundreds of jumps, but my little secret is that I'm still terrified of flying.
 
mirimonster said:
This sucked big time. How does engineering not count as science?

But I think the worst part for me is the game. A deadline isn't really the deadline for those in the know. Letters of interest, thank you letters, letters of intent, all of the checkboxes of unspoken requirements. Those killed me the first time I applied. Then I learned about sdn, upped my game and got in. But you shouldn't have to use some unofficial forum of neurotic premeds in order to understand how to apply successfully!
Click to expand...

engineering does count......

i feel u about the game...ugh

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Not just the application process, but the process in general:

1. Volunteering
2. Personal statement, essays
3. MCAT, MCAT studying, MCAT fees
4. Application fees
5. Letters of recommendation

Shadowing was cool because I got to see some genuinely f-ed up stuff.
 
Getting accepted

[youtube]buP4ZjXjOgA[/youtube]
 
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