primary application

Hello applicants! Are you feeling confident about your primary medical school applications? If you have questions about how to frame your activities, fill out the demographics section, or tackle the optional essays, don’t miss office hours with Dr. Rachel Rizal tomorrow from 5-7pm PST / 8-10pm...

Hey guys, thoughts? I took the mcat in the fall of this year and got a 510. I have a 4.0, have 1000 hours working in 2 diff research labs with 8 published abstracts and poster/podium presentations. Also have 1000 working as an EMT for my university hospital. I’m a music major and do a lot of...

I submitted my primary a couple of days ago and I can't help but look back and wish I'd done a better job describing my most meaningful clinical experience. I didn't write about any specific patient encounter and instead focused on what I learned/impact, and while I thought it was good at the...

I took CASPER already and am thinking that I no longer want to apply to a school that I marked for distribution (my understanding is that you can't undo this once you've taken the test)- is this OK?

Hello, Wondering if anybody has any advice on the issue I'm facing: I applied to schools with no designation for legal state of residence, as I did not meet the legal criteria for claiming residence in any of the states I have been associated with. I was recently contacted by one of the...

I used excel to calculate my hours by inserting the start/end dates, then having it calculate the amount of time & hours worked. I just realized that I put the year wrong for a clinical work experience so it looks like I worked an extra year, grossly overestimating the hours. I copy and pasted...

I submitted my primary application June 20th (a little later than I wanted but needed the extra time), and I am assuming it will be processed in the next few weeks. I am starting to get nervous that I created an ambitious school list and am wondering if I should add some lower stat schools...

For my most meaningful section, I included a patient's first name along with their disease and how it tied to their ancestry. Am I screwed??

Please do not judge me as I do think it’s the anxiety of everything catching up to me. I understand that we can submit tangible documents like LORs, MCAT scores, transcripts etc, but I’ve been curious as to how I would present “Scribing 900+ hours” or EC hours listed on an excel spreadsheet to...

Hello all, I am excited to be entering my fifth year of advising medical school and residency applicants! I have helped numerous folks successfully enter medicine or their desired specialty. I offer comprehensive services - primary and secondary application editing, interview preparation and...

Submitting primary today. Casper Aug 11. Already working on secondaries. What else can I do and when to make sure I don't totally mess up this cycle. And yes its late - I know!! Things happened but I am a non trad and cannot bear the thought of waiting one more year to submit an application...

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for your help. I am currently in a predicament, I am planning on retaking the MCAT May 14, 2022, and I get my score back June 14, 2022. I already have a score on file with AAMC but I'm not happy with it, so how will me applying this cycle work. If I get my...

Hello everyone! I am applying this upcoming cycle and wanted advice about one of my choices for the most meaningful experiences. I will be volunteering full time as a Medical Spanish interpreter starting the beginning of May through a program at my university. This is the final part of a program...

Hello! To preface, I have a 3.2 cGPA and roughly a 3.0 sGPA. I haven't taken the OAT yet and I have years of experience at an eye clinic, which forms the backbone of my ophthalmic experience. I am still polishing up my OptomCAS and having my personal statement tweaked to perfection. However...

Hi I have a unique situation. I had issues with my work/activities section failing to save and had to re-do the entire section. The majority of my shadowing experiences have been as components of other experiences (for example, I worked in an dr's office and also shadowed that doctor as part of...

I made this to prewrite my activities section, I hope it helps you too. Color-coded yellow for most meaningful experiences. Google Sheets - AMCAS EXPERIENCES TEMPLATE

I just wanted some feedback on my personal statement for the primary application. Please hit the link below and feel free to reply your comments. Thank you! =)

Application timeline questions- Am I on track?

Thanks in advance for reading. I'll try to keep this short - essentially I am an otherwise well-qualified applicant with no MCAT score. (feel free to skip specifics in bullet points, only showing this to demonstrate MCAT truly is the rate-limiting step for me) . TLDR at bottom - 3.88/3.94...

I am scheduled to take the MCAT May 23, score release on June 25. I wanted to maximize the time available to me to prepare for the MCAT, given the damage a poor score would might do to do my standing as an applicant (3.88 sGPA, EC boxes checked). I chose this MCAT date because it is the latest...

Hi! I’m planning on applying to med school this cycle and wanted to gauge how much people ended up spending in total. I’ve seen there are some threads for previous years as well as a cost estimator made by SDN (Medical School Application Cost Calculator by SDN), but I was hoping to get some...

Letter of recommendations matter. Don't settle for GOOD letters of rec. But strive to get strong letters of recommendation for your medical school applications! Read our tips on how to ask for a medical school letter of recommendation: How to Ask For a Medical School Letter of Recommendation...

I volunteered overseas as sophomore, and I actually think the experience was very beneficial. We did not partake in any medical procedures, instead we helped set up medical clinics and did other tasks such as helping the on-site pharmacist organize drugs and run a tooth-brushing station for...

The next part of your assessment will examine how you presented yourself to the admissions committees. (You can review part 1 of your assessment in our earlier post, Reapplying to Med School: Evaluating Your Medical School Profile.) Keep in mind that this part of your application is necessarily...

Hello. Since this is an anonymous forum, I'll reveal some things about my application in regards to what's going on. My science grade is quite borderline (this is my second time applying for med school), but I found a way to make it at least 3.0 before the summer time - something that allows...

Hi all, I am new to SDN, so I am sorry if I do not get this right or this question has been asked recently. I was wondering if adcoms viewed an undergraduate doing original research (creating a hypothesis, carrying out the experiments, getting results, publishing, etc.) more highly than...

Most of us have heard the saying “less is more,” but how many of us put it into practice when it counts? Your application essays are the perfect forum for reaping the benefits of this deceptively simple principle. What does “less is more” really mean? It’s the idea that we must resist our...

I am applying to six MD schools, (5 public and one private). I have a 3.8 GPA (3.73 BCPM, 3.9 AO) with a 508 MCAT (128,123,129,128). I have shadowed numerous physicians and currently work a full-time job as a microbiologist while also volunteering as an EMT. I had originally intended to submit...

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My university makes a distinction between a W (just dropping one class), and a Medical Withdrawal (WM) that needed to be approved with lengthy paperwork to justify extreme conditions that made you unable to complete your semester, which gives you a WM for each and every class you were taking. It...

Is it acceptable to group EC's into one category on your primary? For example, can I list all undergraduate research under one slot, all graduate research under another slot, and all publications yet another slot? I also hope to do something similar for community service. If I were to do this...

I have a strong, signed letter from a reputable person at a large healthcare related institution. Stupidly, when I asked for a letter of recommendation for my time interning under them in summer of 2016, I requested it as a signed letterhead pdf, and not as a sealed submission to a third party...

As you all know, applying to med school requires years of dedication. In the midst of fulfilling pre-med requirements and studying for the MCAT, it can be easy to slip into a “check the box” mentality with your extracurriculars for med school. What does checking the boxes look like? Take the...

I am in somewhat of an unique situation. My previous MCAT is enough to get me to all my secondaries. However, it is not enough to get me into all my interviews. I guess you could call me a "near miss" this year. With a 510 MCAT and 3.87 cGPA, I received two interviews last cycle. Alas, I...

Hi, I've called a couple of schools and asked about my stats specifically and they said I would be within range. But realistically, is it too late to submit a primary right now? Schools: LECOM, NYITCOM, PCOM, UNECOM

Hey All, what are my chances?

Hi I know I am late in the process for sending my primary application but had a question whether to send my primary application first without the DAT score or send the whole package with my DAT test which I will take in next 2 weeks or so... I have almost finished my primary application (just...

Hi all, Should I apply now without this last grade (with an sGPA of 3.36) to make sure I'm on the early side, but exclude this final grade from my sGPA? Or, should I wait it out and hope I get my new transcript processed by the end of June and submit by 6/30? Any advice is sincerely appreciated!

Hello So my primary is all ready to go for submission tomorrow morning. I got a call recently for a job interview later this month. Should I just throw in my app June 1st, or wait until maybe mid-June to submit? Again, this is just an interview. Not even sure if I'll get the job. Part of me...

Currently, my university is on a student strike. This basically means we have not taken classes for an extended period of time. Once we resume classes, our semester will be extended over the summer to make up for lost time. My transcripts (depending on when we start) that include this semester's...