Looking back, What would you have done differently?

[Kaustikos]

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Not wanted to be a doctor.

 

[citgosign]

and modest, too! May I ask where you went to school?

MIT..

 

[koolbeenz]

I would have retaken the MCAT to get a score above 40.

 

[riverwoman1040]

MIT..

I'm glad to hear that their Humility 101 course is still a smashing success...

 

[riverwoman1040]

Sorry, I guess that was kind of unnecessary. just a pet peeve of mine, I'll stop.

 

[Doublecortin]

What would I have done differently...

1. Applied earlier. Really, I can't say this enough. My first interview (finally!) is next week, and I have only myself to blame for all the crazy nail-biting stress these last months.

2. Avoid the "easy" classes. Honestly, with more difficult classes in my schedule, the easy ones were ignored and my worst grades are in some of my easiest classes.

3. Not taken the "more impressive" Physics with Calculus. They won't know/care that you took the general physics. Unless you really enjoy calculus and physics, the headache is really not worth it.

4. Avoid my community college... maybe. I keep going back and forth on this one. Yes, it isn't as prestigious to take your general science classes at a community college. BUT mine was such a good school, my classes were small, my professors were amazing, and I feel I learned a lot more in some of my classes than I would have otherwise. -shrug-


That's it, I think! Good luck, and try not to be too stressed out about this whole process. 🙂

amen, my point exactly, ad comms aren't going to be impressed by fancy titles, just by the final grades you get

 

[Doublecortin]

I really hate to be mean here, but Doublecortin is right. I am really passionate about History and decided to minor in that when I started university. Bad move. I was at the top of my classes and I was getting B+ in each one. Because of that, my first year GPA was 3.3. I realized what a mistake I had made early in my second year and got a 3.76 GPA. Last semester I got a 4.0. This however only brings me up to a 3.6, due to my first year. I don't have any acceptances thus far in the season and I got only 3 interviews. This is not due to the rest of my application because it was good. Med school admissions is a game. You have to play by the rules, and bend them a little if you can. That means taking bird courses all the way. Its really sad that it has to be this way, but by personal experience, its better to be safe than sorry. Indeed, getting out of this mentality makes for much more interesting applicants who just get screened out before interviews. The best bet is to do the things that you love in extracurricular activities and do anything to excel in school. That is the real winning deal.

word. you might be mother theresa, martin luther king jr. and jesus combined, but if you don't have the numbers, you application will never get looked at. this is just hard cold reality of this game

 

[spilledmilk]

I didn't really have any control over this as there was only one date available when my interview was offered, but if I could go back in time I would want to interview LATER at my top choice school. I feel like I learned so much and changed so much throughout the whole application process, partly from going through the process and partly from my job and things like that. I feel like I came out the other end as a better applicant. Not only that, an applicant that actually has good answers to some of the questions I totally had no response to at the time. Plus, after all the interviewing I felt a lot more comfortable and not on the verge of panic like I did at this interview. I wish I could do it again, but at the same time I'm glad its all over!

I guess the moral is I should have prepared better for my early interviews.

 

[Star2008]

I wish I had scheduled my top choice school interview later too. I would have been much more prepared to highlight my strong points. I also wish I had taken MCATs more seriously.

Well, now i have the next cycle to make things right!