*~*~* Official Class of 2023 Thread *~*~*

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Sagebrush said:
It's crazy how neurotic this process can make you. I can't stop worrying that I somehow completely tanked my applications as I have yet to get an II.

I think I need some Xanax and a new hobby!
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I'd definitely recommend picking up a new hobby to keep you sane. I don't know about you, but I have a plethora of books I've been meaning to read. Once were in med school, it might be hard to find time for leisurely reading (or whatever it is you do), so take advantage of the time you have now! Stay away from the benzos though haha
 
Sagebrush said:
It's crazy how neurotic this process can make you. I can't stop worrying that I somehow completely tanked my applications as I have yet to get an II.
Click to expand...

I feel this so hard right now but just keeping my faith up!

treesnm3s said:
I have a plethora of books I've been meaning to read. Once were in med school, it might be hard to find time for leisurely reading
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I'm reading a lot in my spare time too! I'm also writing and catching up on Netflix. Can you tell I'm trying to pay my hobbies forward? 😀:cat:
 
treesnm3s said:
I'd definitely recommend picking up a new hobby to keep you sane. I don't know about you, but I have a plethora of books I've been meaning to read. Once were in med school, it might be hard to find time for leisurely reading (or whatever it is you do), so take advantage of the time you have now! Stay away from the benzos though haha
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Agreed. I'm going nuts building furniture and diving back into creative writing.
 
Sagebrush said:
It's crazy how neurotic this process can make you. I can't stop worrying that I somehow completely tanked my applications as I have yet to get an II.

I think I need some Xanax and a new hobby!
Click to expand...

I relate to this so much
 
treesnm3s said:
I'd definitely recommend picking up a new hobby to keep you sane. I don't know about you, but I have a plethora of books I've been meaning to read. Once were in med school, it might be hard to find time for leisurely reading (or whatever it is you do), so take advantage of the time you have now! Stay away from the benzos though haha
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I'm definitely going to start reading again.

Unfortunately, most of my neuroticism comes out at work, as I do have a significant chunk of downtime where I'm stuck in front of a computer. I was using the time to work on secondaries, but recently I've been using it to neurotically refresh my email every 3.7 seconds. Maybe I'll need to get back into writing as well, since I can do that while I'm stuck in front of a computer with nothing to do!
 
sherlock_obsessed_m&m said:
So many people into writing! What do you guys write?
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I used to write trade non-fiction for a living, but my real interest is in creative fiction. I've published like 7 short stories, mostly science fiction. I'm working on an urban fantasy novel right now.
 
sherlock_obsessed_m&m said:
So many people into writing! What do you guys write?
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Fantasy. Although I feel that it's important to note that I am not by any means a good writer - in fact, I'm downright terrible! It's just something I enjoy doing, so I figure it's fine to keep writing as long as I don't make anyone else suffer through reading it :laugh:
 
freedoctor17 said:
I miss the days when I was just laughing at how unreasonable others were being with their neuroticism... now I feel guilty, it's like karma
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Right?! I remember reading all the posts from neurotic people asking if they were sunk because it was 8/1 and they still didn't have any interviews and thinking they needed some serious counseling.

Now, here I am, thinking the exact same thing!
 
I think a big thing with the II's is just seeing other applicants with them.

If noone else had II's, we wouldn't really care. And the thing is, it's a combination of the schools we applied to, how early their cycle begins, how late their cycle ends, and how fast our application gets looked at. Every single one of those things has a multitude of factors that makes them change. Schools change cycles each year due to X, Y, and Z. Cycle start and end changes due to schools being behind, inclement weather, policy changes, etc. And applications, oh, that's the big one. You might be first app of the season to get looked at (and knowing me, thrown right in the trash) or you may be looked at around the beginning of November for the first time. Noone even knows how that can work because there's too many things that can affect it per school.

Bottom line: there's no way to know, man. We have to just use the same thing we did for the MCAT: trust the process. If we did what we were supposed to, studied hard, worked hard, lived balanced lives, developed social skills, and showed this is what we truly want, then that's our equivalent of a AAMC FL test for this cycle. We just have to trust the process and have faith.

I'm fortunate to be so busy at this time in my life that I barely have the time to devote to worrying. Somehow, though, my brain finds a way. I'll be on that 6AM drive and then I'll hear "hey, remember that school you submitted to 7/3? We still haven't heard a single thing from them, lol, what's up with that". Just have to keep on keeping on.

We got this, my dudes.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I used to write trade non-fiction for a living, but my real interest is in creative fiction. I've published like 7 short stories, mostly science fiction. I'm working on an urban fantasy novel right now.
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That's amazing!! I'm working on a science fiction piece now, so we'll see how it ends up :happy: if you've got tips for me I'd love to hear them

Sagebrush said:
Fantasy. Although I feel that it's important to note that I am not by any means a good writer - in fact, I'm downright terrible! It's just something I enjoy doing, so I figure it's fine to keep writing as long as I don't make anyone else suffer through reading it :laugh:
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It might not be as bad as you think!! But I admire that you write simply out of your love for it 😉
 
sherlock_obsessed_m&m said:
That's amazing!! I'm working on a science fiction piece now, so we'll see how it ends up :happy: if you've got tips for me I'd love to hear them



It might not be as bad as you think!! But I admire that you write simply out of your love for it 😉
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I like to write science fiction too
 
sherlock_obsessed_m&m said:
That's amazing!! I'm working on a science fiction piece now, so we'll see how it ends up :happy: if you've got tips for me I'd love to hear them
Click to expand...

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to read Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s great.

As far as general writing tips, the most common issues seem to be:

1) use active voice whenever possible
2) every sentence should advance the story somehow, even if it’s just getting a character into position—to that end, start the story as close to the climax as possible without losing the arc
3) along those lines, every character should have a goal, no matter how small or unrelated to the MC’s goal—filler characters are boring
4) take it easy on the dialogue tags—stick with said or asked if you use them at all
5) use as few adverbs as possible—if you need an adverb, use a stronger verb instead
6) know the rules really well before you decide to break them—the writers who break the rules and make it work knew what the rules were in the first place and how to make it work without them

And because I like the number 7:

7) just get words on the page—you can edit, rewrite, or delete scenes later
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to read Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s great.

As far as general writing tips, the most common issues seem to be:

1) use active voice whenever possible
2) every sentence should advance the story somehow, even if it’s just getting a character into position—to that end, start the story as close to the climax as possible without losing the arc
3) along those lines, every character should have a goal, no matter how small or unrelated to the MC’s goal—filler characters are boring
4) take it easy on the dialogue tags—stick with said or asked if you use them at all
5) use as few adverbs as possible—if you need an adverb, use a stronger verb instead
6) know the rules really well before you decide to break them—the writers who break the rules and make it work knew what the rules were in the first place and how to make it work without them

And because I like the number 7:

7) just get words on the page—you can edit, rewrite, or delete scenes later
Click to expand...

I recently read this book as well. Recommend it too
 
sherlock_obsessed_m&m said:
That's amazing!! I'm working on a science fiction piece now, so we'll see how it ends up :happy: if you've got tips for me I'd love to hear them



It might not be as bad as you think!! But I admire that you write simply out of your love for it 😉
Click to expand...
I appreciate the vote of confidence, but it definitely is that bad! I write non-fiction fairly well, but can't wrap my brain around correct fiction writing. I do enjoy it and try to work on learning something new about fiction writing each time I make an attempt!

I actually did NaNoWriMo several years ago and I'm debating doing it again this year, if only to keep me occupied.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to read Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s great.

As far as general writing tips, the most common issues seem to be:

1) use active voice whenever possible
2) every sentence should advance the story somehow, even if it’s just getting a character into position—to that end, start the story as close to the climax as possible without losing the arc
3) along those lines, every character should have a goal, no matter how small or unrelated to the MC’s goal—filler characters are boring
4) take it easy on the dialogue tags—stick with said or asked if you use them at all
5) use as few adverbs as possible—if you need an adverb, use a stronger verb instead
6) know the rules really well before you decide to break them—the writers who break the rules and make it work knew what the rules were in the first place and how to make it work without them

And because I like the number 7:

7) just get words on the page—you can edit, rewrite, or delete scenes later
Click to expand...
I'm thinking I need to pick up a copy of this..... seems like something that could help me understand fiction writing a little better!
 
Sagebrush said:
I'm thinking I need to pick up a copy of this..... seems like something that could help me understand fiction writing a little better!
Click to expand...

I think it should be required reading for all writers. It’s an excellent resource.
 
Sagebrush said:
I appreciate the vote of confidence, but it definitely is that bad! I write non-fiction fairly well, but can't wrap my brain around correct fiction writing. I do enjoy it and try to work on learning something new about fiction writing each time I make an attempt!

I actually did NaNoWriMo several years ago and I'm debating doing it again this year, if only to keep me occupied.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year! I have many stories that I've been neglecting, but 5 years of being too busy to do creative writing has made it a real struggle to get back into the groove. Hopefully NaNoWriMo will help me get back into it again.
 
scribbles&rambles said:
I'm hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year! I have many stories that I've been neglecting, but 5 years of being too busy to do creative writing has made it a real struggle to get back into the groove. Hopefully NaNoWriMo will help me get back into it again.
Click to expand...
I had an absolute blast when I did it (I think it was 6 years ago)!
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to read Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s great.

As far as general writing tips, the most common issues seem to be:

1) use active voice whenever possible
2) every sentence should advance the story somehow, even if it’s just getting a character into position—to that end, start the story as close to the climax as possible without losing the arc
3) along those lines, every character should have a goal, no matter how small or unrelated to the MC’s goal—filler characters are boring
4) take it easy on the dialogue tags—stick with said or asked if you use them at all
5) use as few adverbs as possible—if you need an adverb, use a stronger verb instead
6) know the rules really well before you decide to break them—the writers who break the rules and make it work knew what the rules were in the first place and how to make it work without them

And because I like the number 7:

7) just get words on the page—you can edit, rewrite, or delete scenes later
Click to expand...

Thank you so much!! I'm keeping all of these for future writing reference and will check out the book for sure :cat:
 
I suck at writing or else I'd volunteer. If you guys decide to do a fantasy football league, though, let me know.
 
Sagebrush said:
Well, I'm officially complete at all the schools I applied to. I would really feel a lot better if I had an II, I'm getting really anxious.... :nailbiting:
Click to expand...

I hear you. I got my mcat score on Tuesday and haven’t heard anything from my schools that screen, and nothing from the ones I’m now complete at lol.

Hang in there. We got this!
 
Lucca said:
over on the Physician Scientist board, one MD/PhD director has said that they expect this cycle to be slower and more protracted than those in the past given the new traffic rules. I wonder if the same will be true for the MD side.
Click to expand...

Could be. I'm not sure why the new traffic rules would only affect MD/PhD.
 
Lucca said:
over on the Physician Scientist board, one MD/PhD director has said that they expect this cycle to be slower and more protracted than those in the past given the new traffic rules. I wonder if the same will be true for the MD side.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I would have thought it would be faster, not slower.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Could be. I'm not sure why the new traffic rules would only affect MD/PhD.
Click to expand...

they certainly dont, but they might have an outsized effect since programs are so small and over-enrolling is a bigger deal. Each over-enrolled MD/PhD candidate is an extra 500k-1 million dollar investment for the program over eight years.
 
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