you asked at the perfect time: right after a whiskey neat. gather round the campfire kids. I'll turn spell check on for this one.
'19-'20 cycle: MCAT of 492, scribing in ER, 19 schools, all DO, a truck load of secondaries, jack diddly for interviews, all rejections. Thought to myself "maybe next time."
'20-'21 cycle: MCAT of 495, scribing in orthopedics/pain management/etc., 10 schools, all DO, 4 secondaries since Campbell was still picky, no interviews, all rejections. Thought "this is more of a money pit than my 4runner."
'22-'23 cycle: MCAT of 502, scribing pulmonology/sleep medicine (finally making $20/hr), 13 schools, all DO, 12 secondaries because Campbell's chicken noodle had no possibility of me getting a secondary, 1 interview with OUHCOM, 1 waitlist, 12 rejections. Thought "Yeah the 12 schools probably didn't want a guy with an outstanding sub 2.0 GPA in General Chemistry 2, but why the flying duck did no one,
including my undergrad pre-med advisor, post bacc advisors, and 18 schools other than OUHCOM not point this out earlier."
mad props. it is wednesday, my dude.