Class of 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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BTheM said:
Yeah, though it's really hard balancing MCAT studying with classes, especially with finals coming up. I probably could have started studying earlier but I spent about a month after I got my score just moping about and figuring out what I wanted to do with myself. I scored low 30's and my averages were a lot higher.

Yeah, pre-med has been fairly tough... it's a lot of work, which I guess is par for the course for this line of work. I probably could have made things easier on myself by picking a less competitive major than biology. The bio I studied in my classes ended up not being that helpful for the MCAT anyway. A lot of the time I think I should take it easy and lower my expectations, but the problem is it isn't that easy to get into med school in the first place. If you aren't giving it 100%, someone else will be. After going through college admissions, I definitely feel like there's no such thing as a guaranteed acceptance. I've had a lingering feeling ever since starting college that med school admissions will be just as disastrous. Even though I've worked hard, there are definitely things in this process that are totally out of my control. For example, how will my professors "read" me and my behavior and what will they write in their recommendations? What will my interviewers think of me? Will the adcoms read my application in the most positive light? What if I lose out to better candidates from my school? And so on.

Another problem is, I really want to attend schools in my state and stay close to home. In my current position, I'd definitely be applying to random low and mid-tier schools out in the middle of nowhere, hundreds or thousands of miles from home. Being close to family has been really important throughout undergrad since they've been a constant source of support and I feel like I can always go home and relax, talk to my parents, and re-gain my motivation. Med school is really stressful so I feel like it would be even more important to have that source of support. Anyway, all that is a long way of saying that I'm trying to make sure I have the best shot possible of getting into my in-state schools. I have a decent shot as it stands, but not as strong as if my MCAT score was higher.
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Yeah, I can imagine it would be hard to balance that. I scored low 30s too, but my score was my average. You sound like a much better candidate for retaking!

Ah, yeah. There are sooooo many factors. It's absolutely insane. It's hard to think about them all! Your reasons for retaking make sense. I wish you the best of luck!!!
 
I know this sounds stupid but try looking at the Craigslist volunteer ads in your region. Some people are just looking for people to participate in trials and experiments but you can find a lot of really interesting stuff on there. Just make sure it's with a legit company and not some random foreigner looking for a volunteer sex slave 😉

You guys are right though - I really feel like my ECs are **** after going through the site for a while. I keep seeing clinical experience emphasized on here but I can't seem to find many places that will let me do much or interact with patients a bunch. Mission trip sounds like a good idea but I'm a broke college student 🙁
 
missdr10 said:
I know this sounds stupid but try looking at the Craigslist volunteer ads in your region. Some people are just looking for people to participate in trials and experiments but you can find a lot of really interesting stuff on there. Just make sure it's with a legit company and not some random foreigner looking for a volunteer sex slave 😉

You guys are right though - I really feel like my ECs are **** after going through the site for a while. I keep seeing clinical experience emphasized on here but I can't seem to find many places that will let me do much or interact with patients a bunch. Mission trip sounds like a good idea but I'm a broke college student 🙁
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I think a lot of us are over thinking it though. Some of our EC's may look like **** to us because we have become slightly neurotic because of SDN :laugh: but I think what matters most is what we get out of it. The experience you know... did it change us? Humble us? Change our perceptions? Make us more compassionate?

Hit up hospitals, urgent care facilities, rehabilitation clinics, and hospices. They should let you interact enough with patients to make it a clinical experience. 🙂
 
My life as a pharmacy tech counts as clinical (or so I've read, LizzyM usually confirms this, since I work with "patients" all day).
Then there's my experience in nursing school, lots of direct contact and I also was fortunate enough to do an OR observation.

It's not clinical I'm worried about.
However, I was told by another source that by the time I apply, the volunteering I do have should be okay.

I just need to do well on the MCAT.
 
Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgivings!

I ate way more than I intended to and I'm on a three day ice cream streak but I have no regrets 🙂
 
postbacpremed87 said:
This is getting bad....I think C/O threads should only be allowed for people currently in the cycle and those who are in the next cycle
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How unfortunate that would be for others like myself. I suppose everyone has to start somewhere, right?
 
Hey guys if you had a friend considering going to Caribbean for med school although they had a decent shot at MD/DO schools in the US, would you try to stop them?
 
BTheM said:
Have you guys made schools lists yet? I think I will start pre-writing over winter break.
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Yep!! I'm going to write my personal statement and activity descriptions over winter break. I'm also planning to find the prompts for all my schools and start pre-writing secondaries next semester.
 
BTheM said:
Have you guys made schools lists yet? I think I will start pre-writing over winter break.
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Most of us have started making our schools list. I will definitely finish my PS during winter break and maybe start prewriting some essays.
 
No Limits said:
Hey guys if you had a friend considering going to Caribbean for med school although they had a decent shot at MD/DO schools in the US, would you try to stop them?
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Absolutely I would try, but I'd only push so hard. If they were a best friend, I'd insist a lot more fervently than if they were an acquaintance, so as not to impose and create tension.
 
I need to write my PS for the committee interview. That's basically the last step, since I'll take my MCAT before that.
I'm not even thinking about secondaries yet..
 
No Limits said:
Hey guys if you had a friend considering going to Caribbean for med school although they had a decent shot at MD/DO schools in the US, would you try to stop them?
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Unless they plan on spending the rest of their life in the Carib, yes. Were they only accepted to carib school this cycle despite applying to US MD/DO schools? I'd strongly urge a second application year for US schools before committing to Carib. Going to the caribbean is basically a one-way street; it's very difficult to make it back into US residencies which means basically you can't be a U.S. doctor. It's not impossible, but its certainly a last resort if you're dead set on becoming a doctor.
 
sunflower18 said:
Absolutely I would try, but I'd only push so hard. If they were a best friend, I'd insist a lot more fervently than if they were an acquaintance, so as not to impose and create tension.
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Exactly, I don't want to create tension and appear to not be happy for them. They got accepted to the Caribbean school and are ecstatic about it.
 
No Limits said:
Exactly, I don't want to create tension and appear to not be happy for them. They got accepted to the Caribbean school and are ecstatic about it.
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Ooohh I thought you meant they hadn't started applying yet. Convincing someone to not apply is way easier than convincing them that their bird in the hand is NOT worth more than two in the bush.

If you say something, come armed and ready with statistics to back up your claim so you don't look like you're making it up.
 
sunflower18 said:
If you say something, come armed and ready with statistics to back up your claim so you don't look like you're making it up.
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The numbers will definitely help make your arguement; and can make it seem less like a "personal attack."
 
nOchemallday said:
Unless they plan on spending the rest of their life in the Carib, yes. Were they only accepted to carib school this cycle despite applying to US MD/DO schools? I'd strongly urge a second application year for US schools before committing to Carib. Going to the caribbean is basically a one-way street; it's very difficult to make it back into US residencies which means basically you can't be a U.S. doctor. It's not impossible, but its certainly a last resort if you're dead set on becoming a doctor.
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I agree 100%. My friend got accepted to a school that doesn't even require an MCAT score I believe... And I'm pretty sure my friend did not even apply to other schools in the US and pretty much just fell prey to the BS the school promised when they came to speak at my University. SDN is the only reference I have on the subject but the Caribbean school said "things on SDN is grossly over exaggerated and people match in top competitive programs all the time."
 
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sunflower18 said:
Ooohh I thought you meant they hadn't started applying yet. Convincing someone to not apply is way easier than convincing them that their bird in the hand is NOT worth more than two in the bush.

If you say something, come armed and ready with statistics to back up your claim so you don't look like you're making it up.
Click to expand...
nOchemallday said:
The numbers will definitely help make your arguement; and can make it seem less like a "personal attack."
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Thats thing guys, whats stats can I use? I looked at the match list and most of the people who match from Caribbean schools match into prelim spots (so I have read on here) but the Caribbean schools don't distinguish those who are in prelim spots and those who are in categorical spots. Also can't find the stats about those who passed step 1..who gets to do rotations in the US etc..

Also I didn't know my friend was applying until they told me recently they got in. We were suppose to apply together next summer with some other friends...
 
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No Limits said:
Hey guys if you had a friend considering going to Caribbean for med school although they had a decent shot at MD/DO schools in the US, would you try to stop them?
Click to expand...
I think I would try to explain other options but it would be hard to convince them to go US MD/DO without accidentally insulting Caribbean medical schools. In your argument, you'd probably just mention how much more reputable US med schools are, so you'd have to be careful not to come off condescending.
 
I figured I would start with my PS (god I still think physical sciences when I see that abbreviation lmao) over winter break since a few of my friends keep suggesting it. Problem is that I spent last summer doing MCAT and just got my score in Sept while away at school, so I didn't have much time to do anything super exciting recently. It's my fault that I've been so research and leadership oriented through undergrad though and I should have allotted more time for clinical stuff.

The highlight of my app is probably my research and I don't know how much of that research I can tie into my pursuit of a medical career. I don't have much interesting shadowing or clinical work to discuss so I'm kind of nervous about this 🙁 Makes me feel bad for not thinking about this stuff beforehand for sure
 
No Limits said:
Thats thing guys, whats stats can I use? I looked at the match list and most of the people who match from Caribbean schools match into prelim spots (so I have read on here) but the Caribbean schools don't distinguish those who are in prelim spots and those who are in categorical spots. Also can't find the stats about those who passed step 1..who gets to do rotations in the US etc..

Also I didn't know my friend was applying until they told me recently they got in. We were suppose to apply together next summer with some other friends...
Click to expand...

I'd start with the statistic of US IMG matches (53% vs 92-94% for US MD schools). This is for US citizens that graduated from an international medical schools (yes caribbean counts as international medical graduates). The US IMG spots will be composed mostly of carib students. Also, remember that Puerto Rico schools are US schools, not carib schools.

Those numbers can be found in the first pdf (Data report 1.) on this site:
http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/
and US IMG matches to specific residencies can be found in the second pdf (Data report 2.) from the above link.

This article:
http://studentdoctor.net/2011/01/caribbean-medical-schools-what-to-consider/
can help them understand some of the difficulties of attending a carib med school. A very compelling points is that "most US citizen IMGs match in internal medicine and family medicine; it is extremely difficult to match in competitive specialties."

You won't find USMLE scores because frankly most schools don't publish those numbers, but chances are you're going to have to study hard to do well no matter where you go.

Edit: grammar/spelling errors + incomplete sentences.
 
nOchemallday said:
I'd start with the statistic of US IMG matches (53% vs 92-94% for US MD schools). This is for US citizens that graduated from an international medical schools (yes caribbean counts as international medical graduates). The US IMG spots will be composed mostly of carib students. Also, remember that Puerto Rico schools are US schools, not carib schools.

Those numbers can be found in the first pdf (Data report 1.) on this site:
http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/
and US IMG matches to specific residencies can be found in the second pdf (Data report 2.) from the above link.

This article:
http://studentdoctor.net/2011/01/caribbean-medical-schools-what-to-consider/
can help them understand some of the difficulties of attending a carib med school. A very compelling points is that "most US citizen IMGs match in internal medicine and family medicine; it is extremely difficult to match in competitive specialties."

You won't find USMLE scores because frankly most schools don't publish those numbers, but chances are you're going to have to study hard to do well no matter where you go.

Edit: grammar/spelling errors + incomplete sentences.
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Thanks for this man, this should help a lot especially the match data.
Also, thanks Sunflower and Missdr10 for the advice.
I'm having lunch with my friend today so I'll remember what you guys said so it doesn't come off as a personal attack or condescending. Now that I have some stats I have a better argument than "well someone on student doctor network said..." lol
 
No Limits said:
Thanks for this man, this should help a lot especially the match data.
Also, thanks Sunflower and Missdr10 for the advice.
I'm having lunch with my friend today so I'll remember what you guys said so it doesn't come off as a personal attack or condescending. Now that I have some stats I have a better argument than "well someone on student doctor network said..." lol
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Good luck!! I hope it goes well.
 
sunflower18 said:
Good luck!! I hope it goes well.
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Didn't really go well. My friend seems really excited about the acceptance and appears to have already made up her mind. She is making this decision for all the wrong reasons and I know shes going to regret it in a couple of years from now. On top of that she wants to go into an ultra-competitive residency (think Derm or Plastics) and when I mentioned the data and how its close to impossible to match into competitive specialties it turned into a "you don't believe I can do it? You don't think I'm smart enough?" thing so I dropped it and wished her well. I care about her like family and would like to see her succeed but its her choice to make...
 
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BTheM said:
My clinical experience is weak as well. I'm going to try and work at a free clinic over break and next semester. Maybe you can try that?
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Thanks, I might try that. I was looking into a hospice community and hoping I would get some interaction there. I won't have anything but apps to do so I might as well strengthen my application with as much clinical work as I can, so a free clinic would be great. I'm from a really suburban area so I wonder if I would have to drive out about an hour just to find one.

No Limits said:
Didn't really go well. My friend seems really excited about the acceptance and appears to have already made up her mind. She is making this decision for all the wrong reasons and I know shes going to regret it in a couple of years from now. On top of that she wants to go into an ultra-competitive residency (think Derm or Plastics) and when I mentioned the data and how its close to impossible to match into competitive specialties it turned into a "you don't believe I can do it? You don't think I'm not smart enough?" thing so I dropped it and wished her well. I care about her like family and would like to see her succeed but its her choice to make...
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Just out of curiosity, what are her reasons? She seems like she's a very smart girl with otherwise competitive stats.
 
missdr10 said:
Just out of curiosity, what are her reasons? She seems like she's a very smart girl with otherwise competitive stats.
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Without going into too much detail, 70% of her decision is based on her s.o. who travels internationally a lot... the other 30% is based on the fact she didn't have to study to take the mcat because its not needed to get in.
 
No Limits said:
Didn't really go well. My friend seems really excited about the acceptance and appears to have already made up her mind. She is making this decision for all the wrong reasons and I know shes going to regret it in a couple of years from now. On top of that she wants to go into an ultra-competitive residency (think Derm or Plastics) and when I mentioned the data and how its close to impossible to match into competitive specialties it turned into a "you don't believe I can do it? You don't think I'm not smart enough?" thing so I dropped it and wished her well. I care about her like family and would like to see her succeed but its her choice to make...
Click to expand...

Well you did what you could. If she's determined she wants to go into Derm or Plastics, that's her uphill battle. She'll just have to be as competitive as she possibly can considering only 6 US IMGs made it into derm and 1 US IMG made it into plastics last year. You'll be faced with this scenario in the future, for instance trying to convince patients to take medicine etc. and they'll refuse treatment despite the overwhelming evidence you present them. Wishing her luck is about the best you could do at that point.
 
Haha I'm struggling with a new problem now... I overplayed all of the songs on my quiet/studying playlist while studying for the MCAT this summer so now I have nothing to listen to during finals week. 🙁 All of those songs bring bad such bad memories

Hope finals week is going well for those of you still in school
 
nOchemallday said:
Well you did what you could. If she's determined she wants to go into Derm or Plastics, that's her uphill battle. She'll just have to be as competitive as she possibly can considering only 6 US IMGs made it into derm and 1 US IMG made it into plastics last year. You'll be faced with this scenario in the future, for instance trying to convince patients to take medicine etc. and they'll refuse treatment despite the overwhelming evidence you present them. Wishing her luck is about the best you could do at that point.
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Yeah you're right, thanks for your help again.
missdr10 said:
Haha I'm struggling with a new problem now... I overplayed all of the songs on my quiet/studying playlist while studying for the MCAT this summer so now I have nothing to listen to during finals week. 🙁 All of those songs bring bad such bad memories

Hope finals week is going well for those of you still in school
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Lol pre-med problems :laugh: good luck on your finals, mines are next week
As time winds down I'm getting more nervous about the MCAT :barf::barf::barf:
 
I am also nervous.
More nervous I have no desire to study.
 
ciestar said:
I am also nervous.
More nervous I have no desire to study.
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I've been forcing myself to stick to a schedule and have gotten pretty use to it now but I can't wait until its over... when are you taking the test again?
 
I have complete faith in you guys! Expecting 40+ from all of you 😉

No Limits said:
I've been forcing myself to stick to a schedule and have gotten pretty use to it now but I can't wait until its over... when are you taking the test again?
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I think that's the best way to do it haha I barely took any days off just because I didn't want to lose my momentum. I'll be honest here and say the worst part isn't even until the month after the exam when you're waiting for your scores. :/
 
missdr10 said:
I have complete faith in you guys! Expecting 40+ from all of you 😉


I think that's the best way to do it haha I barely took any days off just because I didn't want to lose my momentum. I'll be honest here and say the worst part isn't even until the month after the exam when you're waiting for your scores. :/
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Oh God :smack:... I can barely take the short time it takes to check my score after a practice test :scared::scared::scared:
thank you for the positive words I will do my best🙂
 
No Limits said:
I've been forcing myself to stick to a schedule and have gotten pretty use to it now but I can't wait until its over... when are you taking the test again?
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I haven't quite decided on a date yet. I'm going to play it by ear until my studying actually heats up. My work life sucks so the last thing I want to do after a 9-10 hour day is study. Maybe quitting would be a good thing if I can't get the motivation to do both 😕

Aiming for April though.
 
Guys I just had an epiphany. Slash realization that an option existed I hadn't even considered before.

I do enjoy research, and am interested in potentially doing research along with my clinical career. However, I absolutely LOVE teaching, and VERY MUCH want to make teaching medical students and residents a large part of my practice in the future. I found out that there are a few schools and residency programs that offer clinician-educator tracks that offer training in how to teach effectively. Do any of you know where I should look to find out more about these programs, and to figure out which schools offer something like this?
 
sunflower18 said:
Guys I just had an epiphany. Slash realization that an option existed I hadn't even considered before.

I do enjoy research, and am interested in potentially doing research along with my clinical career. However, I absolutely LOVE teaching, and VERY MUCH want to make teaching medical students and residents a large part of my practice in the future. I found out that there are a few schools and residency programs that offer clinician-educator tracks that offer training in how to teach effectively. Do any of you know where I should look to find out more about these programs, and to figure out which schools offer something like this?
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That's a cool idea. I know my undergrad Physiology 1 (quarter system) professor was an M.D. I imagine he took a similar route; although I wonder if there are opportunities for this sort of thing after I get too old to practice =).
 
sunflower18 said:
Guys I just had an epiphany. Slash realization that an option existed I hadn't even considered before.

I do enjoy research, and am interested in potentially doing research along with my clinical career. However, I absolutely LOVE teaching, and VERY MUCH want to make teaching medical students and residents a large part of my practice in the future. I found out that there are a few schools and residency programs that offer clinician-educator tracks that offer training in how to teach effectively. Do any of you know where I should look to find out more about these programs, and to figure out which schools offer something like this?
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If I'm correct, Duke 😍 and Vanderbilt has something like that. I will ask my mentor to check for more suggestions.

To be clear something like this when you're done with med school ?:
https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/basic-science-educator-clinician-educator-track

or something like this when you're in med school?
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md/prospective-students/academic-research-track.cfm
 
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No Limits said:
If I'm correct, Duke 😍 and Vanderbilt has something like that. I will ask my mentor to check for more suggestions.

To be clear something like this when you're done with med school ?:
https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/basic-science-educator-clinician-educator-track

or something like this when you're in med school?
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md/prospective-students/academic-research-track.cfm
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Yeah, I found those ones! Thanks!!!

Well, the vandy one looks cool. I'd really like a program similar to the Rochester one, but focused on education instead of just research.
 
nOchemallday said:
That's a cool idea. I know my undergrad Physiology 1 (quarter system) professor was an M.D. I imagine he took a similar route; although I wonder if there are opportunities for this sort of thing after I get too old to practice =).
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Oh really? I always wondered if MDs could teach undergrad! Cool!!
 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I'M BACK.

Whew mods be crazy with this 2-week post hold thing lolz
 
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