A General Rant about this ENTIRE process

[shnuffles]

I hate some of the people who are already in to medical school and act smug about the admissions process - like a year ago they didn't worry about the things that I am worried about now, especially when we both know that it couldn't be further from the truth.

"It's no big deal... I'm sure you won't have a problem"

Really? Is that why you applied to 45 schools?

Yes! And just in general, anyone who says, "oh you're a SHOE-IN for med school." Yes, along with the 29384832809 other shoe-ins.

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[Lukkie]

or people that call it 'shoe-in' and not the proper term

 

[efitzpat]

There are 2 main things that I have a problem with:

1. The cost. And not only the cost of applications, but tuition, tests, etc. If I wanted to continue my research in graduate school, people would pay me to study algae! But I want to save people's lives and so I have to pay through the nose.

2. This is the biggest for me. No one outside this process understands it!!!!! My family just kept telling me that I was stressing out for no reason that of course I'd get in. And I'd patiently point out my weaknesses (lowish GPA, lack of volunteer hours, etc) and they'd just say "but you have a good MCAT." I'd try to explain that MCAT is 1 of MANY criteria, but they just didn't get it. And then when I got acceptances they said "I told you do." What!?!?!?! This is not an "I told you so" situation.

 

[p30doc]

2. This is the biggest for me. No one outside this process understands it!!!!! My family just kept telling me that I was stressing out for no reason that of course I'd get in. And I'd patiently point out my weaknesses (lowish GPA, lack of volunteer hours, etc) and they'd just say "but you have a good MCAT." I'd try to explain that MCAT is 1 of MANY criteria, but they just didn't get it. And then when I got acceptances they said "I told you do." What!?!?!?! This is not an "I told you so" situation.

I absolutely could not stand that either...parents/non-premed friends were constantly like of course you'll get into medical school etc etc. They just don't understand the odds stacked up against us, and how big of a bear this process really is.

 

[J1515]

2. i hate how premeds think that being premed is the hardest thing you can do in college. its absolutely not. just go ask an engineer.

Just to add to the list, I love the socially inept premeds who have never spoken to a girl and use the "I'm too busy for a girlfriend" excuse to make them feel better about themselves.

Hate to burst your bubbles, but being "pre-med" really is nothing difficult or special. Your lives aren't that difficult. If only everyone's biggest problems in life were writing a couple of annoying essays and studying for a chemistry final. YOU ARE IN COLLEGE - STOP WHINING!

 

[MDman87]

1. i hate how people complain about the process....especially writing the essays...i mean yes, some of them are stupid but these schools are trying their best to pick good doctors and what's on the AMCAS may not be enough sometimes

2. i hate how premeds think that being premed is the hardest thing you can do in college. its absolutely not. just go ask an engineer.

3. i hate how people (especially on SDN) make believe that a 4.0 at any school and in any major is some sort of amazing accomplishment. If you're a humanities major who took 1 or two math/science courses a semester and you were at a less competitive school then your 4.0 doesn't impress me.

4. i hate how people on SDN grossly understate the importance of a good MCAT score

5. i hate how people on SDN greatly underestimate the importance of which college you went to...whether its the name or the fact that you typically end up with a better MCAT score because of the rigor/competition. Its no accident that if you go to an interview at a decent med school you'll find that approx. half of the interviewees are ivy leaguers.

6. i hate how people on SDN think that "get a 4.0" or "get all As" are valid pieces of advice

7. i hate how some people on SDN are completely delusional and think that they are entitled to get into med school with < 30 on the MCAT

Perhaps you should spend your time on a different site

 

[efitzpat]

Perhaps you should spend your time on a different site

 

[235009]

Just to add to the list, I love the socially inept premeds who have never spoken to a girl and use the "I'm too busy for a girlfriend" excuse to make them feel better about themselves.

Hate to burst your bubbles, but being "pre-med" really is nothing difficult or special. Your lives aren't that difficult. If only everyone's biggest problems in life were writing a couple of annoying essays and studying for a chemistry final. YOU ARE IN COLLEGE - STOP WHINING!

amen!

Perhaps you should spend your time on a different site

haha...maybe....

well i didn't really start reading this site until i started the app process...and didn't really start posting until i was accepted....this site is VERY VERY useful for application-related issues. The thread with tips on how to enter your activities is great and the interview feedback is extremely useful.

but if you're a freshman or sophomore in college the only advice you need is: go to the best school you can (taking into consideration geography and cost), major in something you enjoy or are interested in, do the best you can, and do activities you enjoy.

i swear i'm not filled with that much hate

EDIT: it's just that this site is full of people ready to discourage you and put you down....its disgusting....when the process is over i will elaborate and then promptly make my exit.

 

[DeadCactus]

Another vote for peers who think you should get a cross to hang from when you sign up for pre-med classes...

 

[Lukkie]

i like you skinMD, please don't leave

 

[JPanda]

What i dislike about this process is the constant reminder that wealth and priviledge plays a tremendous role in succeeding. Anyone who does not come from a background of means will automatically be less competitive.

 

[vadd0]

What i dislike about this process is the constant reminder that wealth and priviledge plays a tremendous role in succeeding in the medical school admissions process. Anyone who does not come from a background of means will automatically be less competitive.

O rly?

 

[medhearter]

I just dont like it when people say, "oh its really hard to get in.. oh the competition is crazy.. oh you should really come up with a plan b"

and all this before you've even had a shot at the process. this kind of a mindset that gets fed into you prepares your for failing in ways you didn't have to fail had you been surrounded by encouragement instead of all the misguided discouragement

 

[235009]

i like you skinMD, please don't leave

awww

too bad ur a dude and not that hot chick in ur avatar

What i dislike about this process is the constant reminder that wealth and priviledge plays a tremendous role in succeeding. Anyone who does not come from a background of means will automatically be less competitive.

welcome to the real word....you exaggerating WAY too much though

I just dont like it when people say, "oh its really hard to get in.. oh the competition is crazy.. oh you should really come up with a plan b"

and all this before you've even had a shot at the process. this kind of a mindset that gets fed into you prepares your for failing in ways you didn't have to fail had you been surrounded by encouragement instead of all the misguided discouragement

i'm a big proponent of having a plan B but i certainly don't mean it as a form of discouragement....i'm just being realistic....you better believe i had a very solid plan B and now that I got in (which almost everyone on here told me wouldn't happen....you won't know why until i tell you later) i don't regret having a plan B at all...its important to take steps to ensure your own success no matter what happens.

 

[otterpop]

awww

too bad ur a dude and not that hot chick in ur avatar

At one point I thought that chick really was Lukkie and assumed he was a tranny. Then I realized that the person in your avatar doesn't have to be you.

 

[What up doc]

i hate that i threw away the latter part of my junior busting my ***** studying for the MCAT, and still fell short of my expectations.

i hate how much fooking money ive had to spend interviewing.

i hate how you can only start being honest about your motives AFTER youve been accepted.

i hate how that even after aquiring a professional degree after 8 years of training you are only worth 30K a year.

i hate that im rushing through my fooking senior year of college because i am always waiting for the next word on acceptances.

i hate that i am addicted to SDN.

 

[Dissected]

i hate that i threw away the latter part of my junior busting my ***** studying for the MCAT, and still fell short of my expectations.

i hate how much fooking money ive had to spend interviewing.

i hate how you can only start being honest about your motives AFTER youve been accepted.

i hate how that even after aquiring a professional degree after 8 years of training you are only worth 30K a year.

i hate that im rushing through my fooking senior year of college.

i hate that i am addicted to SDN.

Wow, couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[GoodMorning]

3. i hate how people (especially on SDN) make believe that a 4.0 at any school and in any major is some sort of amazing accomplishment. If you're a humanities major who took 1 or two math/science courses a semester and you were at a less competitive school then your 4.0 doesn't impress me.

My rebuttal:

3a. I really dislike that people (especially on SDN) underestimate the difficulty of humanities majors. Some majors are easier than other, for sure, but much of that variation is dependent on the individual school and the reputation of the departments. I am humanities major from a liberal arts college who did extremely well with both my science classes and MCAT scores without much difficulty, while I worked my ass off for lesser grades within my major. I resent the implication that your biology/chemistry major is more difficult than my humanities major simply because yours is science and mine is not. I know of no one within my major with more than one solid A on their transcript from my department.

I suppose then that my greatest critique of SDN is that members often assume that the stereotypes of different majors that exist at their school are universal law. Take a moment to consider how significantly individual professors set the tone for a department and the grading within a class. Then remember that every school has an entirely different set of faculty. Can we please stop this pissing contest "my major is harder than yours?" I have NO idea what it's like to be a physics major at your school, how could you begin to fathom what it's like to be a humanities major at mine?

 

[235009]

My rebuttal:

3a. I really dislike that people (especially on SDN) underestimate the difficulty of humanities majors. Some majors are easier than other, for sure, but much of that variation is dependent on the individual school and the reputation of the departments. I am humanities major from a liberal arts college who did extremely well with both my science classes and MCAT scores without much difficulty, while I worked my ass off for lesser grades within my major. I resent the implication that your biology/chemistry major is more difficult than my humanities major simply because yours is science and mine is not. I know of no one within my major with more than one solid A on their transcript from my department.

I suppose then that my greatest critique of SDN is that members often assume that the stereotypes of different majors that exist at their school are universal law. Take a moment to consider how significantly individual professors set the tone for a department and the grading within a class. Then remember that every school has an entirely different set of faculty. Can we please stop this pissing contest "my major is harder than yours?" I have NO idea what it's like to be a physics major at your school, how could you begin to fathom what it's like to be a humanities major at mine?

GENERALLY in terms of difficulty of curriculum:

engineering > pure science > humanities

i don't know about your specific department in your specific school but the above is true in the vast majority of cases.

 

[229141]

GENERALLY in terms of difficulty of curriculum:

engineering > pure science > humanities

i don't know about your specific department in your specific school but the above is true in the vast majority of cases.

Engineering is harder but honestly they don't need to have the same kind of GPA nor go through anything rigorous like med school apps. My friend has a 3.2 and is doing an internship where he picks up rocks and makes 40 an hour...plus they promised him a job upon graduation : \

 

[LifelongStudent]

As someone preparing to take the MCATs this may, the thing that I hate the most is not knowing if it will pay off.
I wouldnt mind spending the long nights in the library or the stacks of cash if i knew i would be fine in the end. Sometimes, I feel like its hard to put everything you have into a goal that still seems so distant (even as I keep finishing more and more undergraduate semesters)

But...maybe that's just me.

 

[Lukkie]

GENERALLY in terms of difficulty of curriculum:

engineering > pure science > humanities

i don't know about your specific department in your specific school but the above is true in the vast majority of cases.

can you find any statistics that show this trend?

 

[rama kandra]

true, there is very minimal payoff in the day to day grind, especially in the mcat prep... it just seems so far away. however, this does beat having a specialized undergraduate major like engineering, where everything you are learning is sort of geared toward your profession from early on.

im glad i went liberal arts, lol.

 

[cbrons]

can you find any statistics that show this trend?

Lukkie

I just looked at your MDapps
That one guy was out of line
the best part though was you're response: "lol"
dude I cannot tell you I was nearly crying in the middle of my living room and everyone thinks im ****ing crazy

 

[235009]

can you find any statistics that show this trend?

having taken a significant number of classes in all three areas it is my opinion that this trend holds true....and it is certainly not the case that i'm better at humanities classes as my MCAT verbal score of 9 would prove....if anything i go into those with a disadvantage and still do just fine...in fact my non-science/non-engineering GPA is close to a 4.0.

However, if you want statistics i'm sure you would agree that one measure of the difficulty of the curriculum would be the number of requirements to graduate which would translate into a bigger courseload every semester. According to http://www.college.upenn.edu/majors/credits.php (i don't go to UPenn...that was just the first thing to pop up in the google search) almost every science major requires more credit units to graduate at this particular school. Add to that the fact that the majority of your classes are math/science classes, which i'm sure most people here would agree are harder (see all the "OMG i'm failing orgo" threads), then you can see where you can make the argument that a science major is harder than a humanities major. As for engineering....if you really need me to prove that it requires way more credits to graduate then you are just naive.

Another measure might be rigitiy of the curriculum...and again, in terms of being able to chose your classes, in engineering you basically have no choice whatsoever...in science you have more choice and in humanities you have the most choice. And reading through these boards it doesn't take a genius to figure out that premeds (especially the SDN kind) would graviatate toward easier classes.

BUT i'm in no way belittling humanities majors! The fact that your major was easier does not mean that you're dumber or are going to be any less of a doctor...if anything i think the humanities classes that i took will make me a much better doctor. What I am trying to get at is that not all 4.0s are created equal and if you think adcoms see all 4.0s as being the same then you are delusional.

....i hope Lukkie still likes me

 

[closer23]

Going to college after working in the real world for a few years, I have to lough at a lot of the stuff pre-meds worry about. Help some random Joe that sits to your right, left, in front, or in the back of you is not going to hurt your chances of getting into medical school. What will hurt your chances of getting into medical is YOUR OWN performance.

Chances are that when a person asks for help on a topic they don't understand the topic. So even helping them understand a topic won't lead to them automatically getting more points on an exam.

The MCAT is the greatest equalizer out there. You can have the greatest GPA you want, but if you screw up the MCAT you hurt your chances. The skills, knowledge, work ethic, and all of the rest of your days in college comes down to those few hours in front of that computer testing YOUR ACUMULATED knowledge.

I always laughed at the pre-meds who sat with their head in the o-chem textbook for eight hours straight.

I went to college with a lot of people who were pre-med and are still pre-meds. Most of them major in biology or biochemistry because there is a way to take some very easy courses and get a killer GPA. As so they think. Many of these students only need to take 12 credits outside of the general chem, o-chem, physics, and general biology courses to graduate. So they just take A&P, nutrition, biotechnology, immunology and pathology and graduate with a killer GPA (unless they sucked at the chemistry courses). Out of all of the pre-med students that I knew in college (around 25), I only know of one student that got into medical school. Why? Because their MCAT scores suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and they went to college at a crappy small liberal arts college.

Being pre-med is not that hard folks. If you have the desire, the want to be a doctor, have the ability to learn complex material, and are a good test taker and work hard towards the MCAT, you can get into medical school.

General chemistry is easy. About all you do is solve math problems and other similar equations.

General biology: this course is easy. All you really do is learn the very basics of biology.

Physics: again, can you solve math problems.

O-chem: this class is actually hard because of the nature of the material.

Biochemistry: this class can be hard depending on the professor. But memorize the book and you will do just fine.

Immunology, pathology, and A&P: Just memorize the material and you will do just fine.

Need to volutneer at a hospital? Easy. call up or email doctors asking if you can spend a few hours a week shadowing them. Heck, I spent 300 hours shadowing the professionals in the field I"m workign to while taking classes, working, and having a social life.

Want to do research? Try to find a student job in a lab and learn how science is done. Don't need a job to pay bills? Volunteer in a lab until you get a paid position.

Need a job to pay bills? Get a job that does not require much work. Why not work in the library.

DO YOUR SUMMER INTERNSHIPS PEOPLE.

Get around a 3.6 GPA, get above a 30 on the MCAT, do some research, volunteer, and you are bound to get into A medical school.

No wonder you got banned...

 

[njmed]

1) Premed advisors who continue to stress the importance of the socalled plan B. We are all adults and we know that we should have a plan B. By saying to consider carribean, podiatry and etc, these people are just discouraging students.
2) Admissions office people who answer phone calls rudely. Here I'm waiting for an update from this school where I'm under review from July, I called the office one day and the lady said that I can be under review even untill April or May without any update.
3) An year worth of time that is wasted on the application cycle. In many countries, students are entering sooner into med programs and graduating sooner.
4) Unpredictable nature of the process. No cut offs or no requirements on MCAT, GPA, activities etc. Even our elections have a cutoff(270 electoral votes for presidential elections). When there is a cutoff, people will apply to selected schools or even won't apply if they are under the cutoff. Just imagine what would happen if there is no requirement for certain number of votes to win the election, it would be a chaos.
5) Lastly I want to applaud the schools that screen students before their secondaries. Some schools just send secondaries to all, get the fees, keep the students under different kinds of holds and pools, continue to grow the desire and then finally send a rejection letter (some even don't bother to send that letter).

 

[J1515]

1) Pre-meds who argue who has a more difficult schedule/life.

 

[fizzle]

One of my peeves:

Hearing something akin to "Given your numbers and/or ECs, [insert school name] should at least give you an interview..."

The med school process is so dependent on subjective, non-quantifiable factors that I'm continually annoyed at how people assume interviews and acceptances are just handed out to people with good numbers and good ECs. Happens both on and off this forum.