2013-2014 Panic Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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johnamo said:
No. However, I have worked with doctors that should be ashamed of the way the act, and make me embarrassed for the profession. It's just not becoming to act like you're always right. Speaking from my own experiences working in the Emergency Department, I don't care if you're an M.D., Ph.D. from HMS... the ED could, and does, run just fine without you. Acting like you know everything just makes people angry and wastes time and money. Don't order tests that aren't necessary. Talk to nurses, talk to radiology, ... don't assume you know more than everyone else, because many of the hardworking staff you're alienating have worked for decades and have a lot more knowledge in their area of expertise than you ever will. Rant over. :laugh:
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Okay, I am in the ED and I completely agree with everything you said. I work with some doctors who will be so fake with their patients, and then will come out of the exam room and talk negatively about them. It's disgusting! I don't know if I am just burnt out and sick (3 planes in last 2 days, feel like I may be getting strep, working 8 hr shift 1.5 hrs away from house, etc.), or what. I just am not enjoying being here today and the doctor I am with is extremely passive aggressive and just making me want to go home and give up. Lol :/ I'm sure I'll feel differently in the morning, but right now...yeah.
 
eizeral said:
Okay, I am in the ED and I completely agree with everything you said. I work with some doctors who will be so fake with their patients, and then will come out of the exam room and talk negatively about them. It's disgusting! I don't know if I am just burnt out and sick (3 planes in last 2 days, feel like I may be getting strep, working 8 hr shift 1.5 hrs away from house, etc.), or what. I just am not enjoying being here today and the doctor I am with is extremely passive aggressive and just making me want to go home and give up. Lol :/ I'm sure I'll feel differently in the morning, but right now...yeah.
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Actually the first doctor I "shadowed" in the ER told me to switch to business while I still had the chance. I think he was just frustrated that he had to stitch up a girl's foot during his scheduled lunch break haha.
 
Just wanted to drop in and give you guys my support. My first acceptance was on May 15 (multiple-accept deadline). I know how hard this is for you guys, feel free to PM if you want to vent or need advice on how to deal with the uncertainty.

Hang in there 🙂
 
TheShaker said:
Accepted to SLU, a school that interviewed and wait listed me last cycle. I just...can't believe it. I felt like it was obligatory to announce it in this thread since so many people from last cycle have pushed through this journey with me. 🙂
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A belated congrats, man! Now sit back and relax.
 
Word is if you come to this thread and vent it will bring you good luck.

So....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! I've worked so hard over the past few years to gain admission to med school and now I'm hearing NOthing. I cannot bear to imagine another year spent to improve my app. To make it all worse my job isn't keeping me busy enough...And if one more family member or friend or random street person asks me about how applying to med schools is going, I'm going to go medieval on they arse.

I'm a pacifist but seriously, I might have to beat down just one person so that they might serve as an example for what happens when they ask about this app cycle.
 
Dead silence for months and its almost December. ...I know a good number of schools interview until March, but honestly, what are the chances of getting interviews at this time of the season?
 
kat987 said:
Dead silence for months and its almost December. ...I know a good number of schools interview until March, but honestly, what are the chances of getting interviews at this time of the season?
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It really depends on the school. Some schools are much slower than others in handing out interviews and it's just difficult to say without a better understanding of school-specific admissions processes.
 
kat987 said:
Dead silence for months and its almost December. ...I know a good number of schools interview until March, but honestly, what are the chances of getting interviews at this time of the season?
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I'm in the same boat for the vast majority of MD schools I applied to. The odds probably aren't that good. 🙁
 
Again, the application cycle is far from over. I was complete late September, early October. I have pretty good stats (mid-30s MCAT, high GPA), good ECs, pubs, major national scholarship, and I only just received my first interview invite. I do think the AMCAS backup has slowed things down, and the time for worrying is at the very least a month or two away.
 
eizeral said:
Has anybody ever worked with a doctor that has made you rethink being a doctor? Not enough to change, but to at least reconsider it?
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Well not worked with, but lived with my Dad, an academic physician researcher. He's pretty disgruntled with the research funding prospects, and now does all clinical work. Very interesting to "shadow" his experience. My mom is in hospital finance at the same academic institution, and that is more scary than the limited research funding. The only thing that turned me off so far is an academic research career. I'm all for academic clinical practice though.
 
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PreMedRookie said:
I am pretty much losing all hope right now. I have two rejections and just got put on hold at Drexel (aka rejected). I have interview at my state school but have not heard from any other schools. I have a 3.8/33 with pretty solid ECs considering I worked through out school to pay for tuition and living expenses. My biggest concern is that my IA is severely holding me back. If this is the case, there is nothing I can do to improve my app for next year. My IA is really stupid, I wasn't even the one that got in trouble.

I do not know what to do.
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What is IA?
 
I know the cycle is far from over, but it's really hard to stay positive at this point; 36 MCAT, 3.65c, 3.55s, three II's (attended two so far, rejected from one, which was a state school), one pre-interview rejection, and two holds (lolrejection). Still waiting to hear back from 14 schools, including several state schools, but with the New Year right around the corner, it's starting to feel pretty bleak.
 
Everyone (not already accepted) feels bleak. We are all in the same place. I applied to about a billion schools (24) because I had no idea what to expect (I was still studying for the MCAT when I submitted my primary on AMCAS).

I'm sort of glad I did, but I've only heard from 6 of them! (4 II [I've been to 2, no word yet], 1 reject, 1 small pool-whatever that means). that leaves silence from 18 schools. I'm sending LOIs to 5 of these to try to kick something loose, but apparently the others would rather not hear from me at all.
 
EMME25 said:
Everyone (not already accepted) feels bleak. We are all in the same place. I applied to about a billion schools (24) because I had no idea what to expect (I was still studying for the MCAT when I submitted my primary on AMCAS).

I'm sort of glad I did, but I've only heard from 6 of them! (4 II [I've been to 2, no word yet], 1 reject, 1 small pool-whatever that means). that leaves silence from 18 schools. I'm sending LOIs to 5 of these to try to kick something loose, but apparently the others would rather not hear from me at all.
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I applied to 30+ schools! D= Although I do have 2 interviews coming up within a week. I'm praying that I get accepted at one of the two so I can stop freaking out already lol
 
mdhopeeful said:
I applied to 30+ schools! D= Although I do have 2 interviews coming up within a week. I'm praying that I get accepted at one of the two so I can stop freaking out already lol
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Good luck! Hope you nail them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
EthylMethylMan said:
I know the cycle is far from over, but it's really hard to stay positive at this point; 36 MCAT, 3.65c, 3.55s, three II's (attended two so far, rejected from one, which was a state school), one pre-interview rejection, and two holds (lolrejection). Still waiting to hear back from 14 schools, including several state schools, but with the New Year right around the corner, it's starting to feel pretty bleak.
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Waiting on two IIs you're in a pretty good position, and some schools wait fairly late to give out interviews (Rush, MCW,etc) you'll be fine man.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
3.8 GPA, 28 MCAT, URM, Florida resident. Got my first rejection today. Havent heard back from anywhere else. Dont like this lol
 
Are LORs generally due on the same day as a school's secondaries deadline? I made the stupid mistake of waiting until the secondary deadline to deliver my LORs from Interfolio to AMCAS, so it won't be transferred until the next day. Are my chances of medical school acceptance now shot? UGHHH.
 
kat987 said:
Dead silence for months and its almost December. ...I know a good number of schools interview until March, but honestly, what are the chances of getting interviews at this time of the season?
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I'm probably more anxious than the average applicant, but I started calling schools( I called 2) that I was waiting at for a long time( like 2 and half months) . You shouldnt do this if their online portal is really transparent .One of them gave me an invite about a week later ( idk if the call helped or not, I just asked if I was complete and if any more info was needed for my file to be sent for review or if it had been reviewed?. Today I called a school who had my file for 3 months and did not even send it to review and the woman said she was going to tell the admissions I was interested in the school and that I called to check my status.
 
This cycle is super stressful guys. On the bright side seems like schools are still giving interviews out! I just received two in a span of a week. A load off my shoulders...now just the interview portion haha.

I just need to ease my mind a little and was wondering if there are any success stories out there with those that have just two interviews? The possibility of an acceptance? I'm just pre stressing out 🙁
 
With two interviews the math isn't that hard- look up the numbers in MSAR/USNews or on here (most school specific threads have them) of interviews and acceptances (not matriculates).

Assuming most schools accept about 1/3 of interviewees (a big assumption), with two interviews your chances jump from 33% to about 56%

I'm still hoping most schools aren't 100% done giving out interviews- here's to waiting!
 
Member954786 said:
I'm probably more anxious than the average applicant, but I started calling schools( I called 2) that I was waiting at for a long time( like 2 and half months) . You shouldnt do this if their online portal is really transparent .One of them gave me an invite about a week later ( idk if the call helped or not, I just asked if I was complete and if any more info was needed for my file to be sent for review or if it had been reviewed?. Today I called a school who had my file for 3 months and did not even send it to review and the woman said she was going to tell the admissions I was interested in the school and that I called to check my status.
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I have been complete around that time as well. I might try calling some schools. Although it may not change anything, its worth a shot. Congrats on the interview invite!
 
kat987 said:
I have been complete around that time as well. I might try calling some schools. Although it may not change anything, its worth a shot. Congrats on the interview invite!
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Just make sure to check online first, because some people will just refer you to their site. But it's definitely worth a shot cause one DO school that I had applied to sent the II to the wrong email ( apparently they had 2 on file). I applied 8/28 and I called like 3 weeks ago to ask what was going on with my app and they said they sent me II a few weeks prior to when I called and that if I didn't call to check up on my app I would have been automatically withdrawn from the applicant pool- from failure to respond to the invitation. The school I called today and the other one that had sent the II were both MD programs, so I think both are receptive to general questions about the status of your application. At the very least it shows that you are interested in their program.
 
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food2 said:
This cycle is super stressful guys. On the bright side seems like schools are still giving interviews out! I just received two in a span of a week. A load off my shoulders...now just the interview portion haha.

I just need to ease my mind a little and was wondering if there are any success stories out there with those that have just two interviews? The possibility of an acceptance? I'm just pre stressing out 🙁
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You asked for an anecdotal success story: my friend had two interviews when she applied. Low GPA (we're talking really low, not SDN low, ~2.5*edit: this was her BCPM GPA, I don't remember her overall GPA but obviously it wasn't particularly high with her being a science major and the science GPA dragging the overall GPA down), 32 or 33 MCAT (took it twice, that was her best score), top 15 undergrad, applied only MD, I don't know for sure how many schools she applied to (20s?). From the two interviews she got accepted into one of the schools and is now in medical school doing quite well and applying to cardiothoracic residency programs. She's obviously not the norm, but you wanted to know that it can happen and it certainly can.
 
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ReadyToRumble said:
You asked for an anecdotal success story: my friend had two interviews when she applied. Low GPA (we're talking really low, not SDN low, ~2.5), 32 or 33 MCAT (took it twice, that was her best score), top 15 undergrad, applied only MD, I don't know for sure how many schools she applied to (20s?). From the two interviews she got accepted into one of the schools and is now in medical school doing quite well and applying to cardiothoracic residency programs. She's obviously not the norm, but you wanted to know that it can happen and it certainly can.
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Wow what was her story? Awesome ECs I'm sure
 
food2 said:
This cycle is super stressful guys. On the bright side seems like schools are still giving interviews out! I just received two in a span of a week. A load off my shoulders...now just the interview portion haha.

I just need to ease my mind a little and was wondering if there are any success stories out there with those that have just two interviews? The possibility of an acceptance? I'm just pre stressing out 🙁
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Here's another story that might make you feel better.. I know a guy who applied to only 1 school because he has a wife and two kids and couldn't picture himself moving anywhere else. He got an interview with the school and was accepted. This was U of MN - TC, so definitely a pretty good school, too. He didn't have amazing stats either. I think he had a 3.7 GPA and a 31 or 32 MCAT. Don't lose hope - it only takes one II!!
 
food2 said:
This cycle is super stressful guys. On the bright side seems like schools are still giving interviews out! I just received two in a span of a week. A load off my shoulders...now just the interview portion haha.

I just need to ease my mind a little and was wondering if there are any success stories out there with those that have just two interviews? The possibility of an acceptance? I'm just pre stressing out 🙁
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My first interview invite turned into my first acceptance. Even if I'd only gone to that 1 interview, I'd still be in. And, actually, I think my interview skills were better near the beginning of interview season - my nervousness made be prepare a lot, and I didn't have any reason to be complacent. Use your nerves to keep yourself going - study your application and the schools you're interviewing at inside and out.

My advice after 8 MD interviews: always have an answer to the question "Why this school?". But don't just have any old answer. Have an answer that is so specific to that school that you couldn't re-use the same answer anywhere else.
 
wow you guys rock! Thank you so much. Here's hoping for bigger and better things in our future!
 
got rejected from my state school, biggest blow yet. feeling pretty crushed
 
I am just going to work on improving my application further and leave everything to God.
xg5IDb
 
jk1006 said:
got rejected from my state school, biggest blow yet. feeling pretty crushed
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Brother, I was rejected from my "lower tier" state school and am looking at a possible rejection from my "top tier" and top-choice state school. It sucks. But **** em.

Regardless of where any of us go, we are going to become great physicians. KEEP THE FAITH.
 
Another day without an interview invite. I just told my friends who are all at med school how I'll probably have to take another year (braved it, yall, and just told them, which was so hard to do because I look up to them so much) and they were just so sad for me. You know when people don't know what to say to make you feel better? It was that. Terrible.

Anyway it just sucks more because it's Thanksgiving Break and my parents are both out of the country so I'll be spending it alone, wallowing in self-pity and misery.

That, and praying to God that someone will send me an interview invite before they go home for the Holidays - but let us be real, that's probably not going to happen.

I can't believe it's already December...BLARGHHHHH.

*venting my sadness*.
 
hopefloatsss said:
Another day without an interview invite. I just told my friends who are all at med school how I'll probably have to take another year (braved it, yall, and just told them, which was so hard to do because I look up to them so much) and they were just so sad for me. You know when people don't know what to say to make you feel better? It was that. Terrible.

Anyway it just sucks more because it's Thanksgiving Break and my parents are both out of the country so I'll be spending it alone, wallowing in self-pity and misery.

That, and praying to God that someone will send me an interview invite before they go home for the Holidays - but let us be real, that's probably not going to happen.

I can't believe it's already December...BLARGHHHHH.

*venting my sadness*.
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5c6663b34c155bcf8d8c5afe905608eb.png


Sorry to hear. Perhaps they're some friends/classmates you can spend Thanksgiving with? Or even just a community event that you can attend to keep your mind off of the process. Nothing is worse than spending the holidays stressing over things you can't control.
 
hopefloatsss said:
Another day without an interview invite. I just told my friends who are all at med school how I'll probably have to take another year (braved it, yall, and just told them, which was so hard to do because I look up to them so much) and they were just so sad for me. You know when people don't know what to say to make you feel better? It was that. Terrible.

Anyway it just sucks more because it's Thanksgiving Break and my parents are both out of the country so I'll be spending it alone, wallowing in self-pity and misery.

That, and praying to God that someone will send me an interview invite before they go home for the Holidays - but let us be real, that's probably not going to happen.

I can't believe it's already December...BLARGHHHHH.

*venting my sadness*.
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Vent away! We gotta find you something good for you to do for yourself this holiday. I went to undergrad on the opposite side of the country from my family and spent many a Thanksgiving in my dorm. I coped by marathoning Christmas specials; is there something you could do for yourself to soothe your soul?
 
nexusofavalon said:
I honestly don't know. My extracurriculars were good, and I have a lot of clinical and research experience. I talked to my pre-health adviser and the only thing we could come up with was that I had a really bad LOR, but I don't know which one.
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This is my number one fear. :nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:

EDIT: Also, due to the fact that it is likely that all of my schools have reviewed my app now, I'm beginning to be more afraid to check my email than excited. I just saw some rejections go out at one of my top choices on the school specific thread and opened up my email while squinting and turning away my head. 👎
 
I know I probably shouldn't post here given my early success, but now I've started to get a lot of rejections to schools I thought I had a good shot at. Sometimes this process can be so crazy that it just becomes better to stop trying to make sense of it all. I really do hope you guys that have yet to receive an invite get one, I know the feeling all too well. During the 2011-2012 app season, I didn't get a single invite til 2012 after applying in July. Its still very possible for you guys to get some love thrown your way come Dec/Jan.
 
@SilentSoldier no worries man, I've gotten an II and I'm a (semi) regular on the Panic Thread. Everyone has different expectations going into this process (which often change as reality sets in) so one person's panic inducing situation may be another person's success story.
 
Also, to add to the panic, I totally just added another school to my list. 😛 Who knows what's gonna happen.
 
alk;sdgjae;rlkjga;elrjg i hope my IA doesn't screw me over. Also I am waiting until this December (when I graduate!!) to send some LOI's. plzdontgetrejectedyet plzdontgetrejectedyet plzdontgetrejectedyet
 
Where's nabilesmail? Haven't seen him in a while, he must have received his acceptance from HMS
 
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