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

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Taking it July 8. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you! To be honest, I'm not really worried about it. Only 2 schools that I'm applying to are requiring it, and one has stated that it won't be used at all for admissions decisions. The other school is one I'm fairly unlikely to get an interview at anyway, so this test is about as low pressure as a test could be!
 
Sagebrush said:
Thank you! To be honest, I'm not really worried about it. Only 2 schools that I'm applying to are requiring it, and one has stated that it won't be used at all for admissions decisions. The other school is one I'm fairly unlikely to get an interview at anyway, so this test is about as low pressure as a test could be!
Click to expand...

Yeah, only two of mine require it too. I max out at 132 wpm, so I'm not worried either. Just praying I don't have a random brain fart lol.
 
Did anyone get secondaries yet or do they send them after the 29th?
 
futuredoc813 said:
Did anyone get secondaries yet or do they send them after the 29th?
Click to expand...

Not many schools send secondaries before the primaries are out. I’m not expecting any until July at the earliest (probably August for me because my mcat is June 30, with the exception of USUHS because of the program I’m in).
 
How's everyone holding up so far?

My last LOR was just received and I already submitted for verification, so now the only outlet for my neuroticism are the secondaries I'm pre-writing!
 
Sagebrush said:
How's everyone holding up so far?

My last LOR was just received and I already submitted for verification, so now the only outlet for my neuroticism are the secondaries I'm pre-writing!
Click to expand...

Still waiting on my committee letter. I take the MCAT on Saturday. Plenty to be neurotic about.
 
Sagebrush said:
For some reason I thought you'd taken the MCAT earlier in the month.

Good luck on it, I'm sure you'll kill it!
Click to expand...

I should have taken it in May. It'd be over with, and both of my friends who took it in may said ochem was a very small part of it. That was the only reason I am taking it now instead of then--so I could finish ochem 1 first. Oh well. It'll be done in 3 days.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I should have taken it in May. It'd be over with, and both of my friends who took it in may said ochem was a very small part of it. That was the only reason I am taking it now instead of then--so I could finish ochem 1 first. Oh well. It'll be done in 3 days.
Click to expand...
Honestly though, better safe than sorry. When I took mine, it was quite Ochem heavy. I was really counting my lucky stars that I had done some Ochem research!
 
Sagebrush said:
Honestly though, better safe than sorry. When I took mine, it was quite Ochem heavy. I was really counting my lucky stars that I had done some Ochem research!
Click to expand...

Well, I'm hoping any ochem will be from ochem 1 and be pretty restricted to SN1/SN2 and nomenclature lol. We went over Zaitsev and Hoffman and all that crap, but I didn't focus too much on it.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Well, I'm hoping any ochem will be from ochem 1 and be pretty restricted to SN1/SN2 and nomenclature lol. We went over Zaitsev and Hoffman and all that crap, but I didn't focus too much on it.
Click to expand...
As someone who took the MCAT last year, I have absolutely no idea what any of that means. Ah, it's good to be ignorant.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Well, I'm hoping any ochem will be from ochem 1 and be pretty restricted to SN1/SN2 and nomenclature lol. We went over Zaitsev and Hoffman and all that crap, but I didn't focus too much on it.
Click to expand...
mine did have more orgo than expected, a lot of reactions such as choosing the product of the reaction. C/P was my best subject on practice tests but my worst on the real thing!
 
futuredoc813 said:
mine did have more orgo than expected, a lot of reactions such as choosing the product of the reaction. C/P was my best subject on practice tests but my worst on the real thing!
Click to expand...
I'm okay with that. If I get some of those questions, I think I have a pretty good shot at getting them right so long as they aren't anything insane.
 
How important actually are secondaries? Will schools legit reject you if your answer isn't amazing?
 
Yeah, they're important.

Poor can break an app. Average can help or hurt depending on content. Great can get you an interview you otherwise would've gotten. It's basically how individual schools get to know more about you to help inform their interview invite decisions. Some schools weigh them more heavily than others.

That said, I've only pre-written for 15 schools. The others I'm going to just do on the fly. I think forcing myself to do more would make the quality of mine worse.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I feel really good about it, so I’m not particularly worried. I’m sure I did well enough to not need a retake, thank God.
Click to expand...
after I took it I felt pretty good but then my confidence decayed exponentially with time. My original impression was closer to the truth, so remember that if you feel the same way!
 
Lucca said:
after I took it I felt pretty good but then my confidence decayed exponentially with time. My original impression was closer to the truth, so remember that if you feel the same way!
Click to expand...
I've never been on a rollercoaster of emotions to the same extent as post-MCAT.

Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Fortunately, I have CASPer and ochem 2 to distract me.
Click to expand...
Nothing like some other massive stressor looming over you to take away from post-exam stress! 😴
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I have a 4.0 in my postbacc so far, but my desire to keep that 4.0 versus take it easy and get a B in ochem 2 (the only class I have left) is really strong lol.
Click to expand...
Would that even show up on your transcript lol?
 
altblue said:
Would that even show up on your transcript lol?
Click to expand...

I mean, my app is already submitted, but I'm planning on updating my schools once my summer grades are in (which is just ochem 1/2). So it won't be on my app, but they'll have that info. I'm not sure how much they'll care about a B in ochem 2 when I have As in everything else lol.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I mean, my app is already submitted, but I'm planning on updating my schools once my summer grades are in (which is just ochem 1/2). So it won't be on my app, but they'll have that info. I'm not sure how much they'll care about a B in ochem 2 when I have As in everything else lol.
Click to expand...
Hasn't SDN taught you that med schools want straight A's. Lol.
 
Aurarice said:
You're already 95% of the way there. Finish strong then never care about ochem again!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I probably will. I would feel bad if I took a B just because I got lazy. We have an exam on Thursday, so I'm probably going to spend the evenings cramming this week.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Yeah, I probably will. I would feel bad if I took a B just because I got lazy. We have an exam on Thursday, so I'm probably going to spend the evenings cramming this week.
Click to expand...
Work ethic always pays off. Meanwhile I'm still here drooling on my TMDSAS secondaries :drowning:
 
altblue said:
I mean I was supposed to have 10 secondaries done or pre-written by now lol
Click to expand...

I told myself I'd do that during the tail end of my SMP...which ended in early May. Didn't even finish my primary until early-to-mid June, and only got started on secondaries a couple of days ago
 
Aurarice said:
I told myself I'd do that during the tail end of my SMP...which ended in early May. Didn't even finish my primary until early-to-mid June, and only got started on secondaries a couple of days ago
Click to expand...
I submitted a few days later than expected because I had a bad cold and was still working long hours.... but now I'm working less and feeling great as I'm getting secondaries. No excuses there, just getting less motivated.
 
altblue said:
I mean I was supposed to have 10 secondaries done or pre-written by now lol
Click to expand...

I was planning on having all 6 done. I ended up doing 4. Now I’m having to write the 6000 character autobiography for UCSD (thanks!), and I haven’t even looked at JHU.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I was planning on having all 6 done. I ended up doing 4. Now I’m having to write the 6000 character autobiography for UCSD (thanks!), and I haven’t even looked at JHU.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I though JHU had some of the easiest prompts. It helps that they have very low character counts for most of their essays.
 
Sagebrush said:
I honestly really appreciate the low character counts. I'm usually a fairly concise writer, so when I'm finished with my essay in 400 characters and there's a 10000 character limit, I feel like I'm doing something very wrong!
Click to expand...

UTSW has four (or five) essays with 5,000 character counts. Slowly working my way through writing essentially four more personal statements, and constantly reminding myself that it'll all pay off in the end...

altblue said:
Can't wait for Duke's to come in
Click to expand...
Waiting on FAP to confirm everything so I can actually afford the AMCAS application. Definitely not looking forward to Duke's, let alone everyone else's.
 
Anyone in their gap year and plan on picking up new activities? I'm currently working FT, but I'm unsure if I should pick up a weekly volunteering gig, or if working is enough. I volunteer at a camp as well, but that's usually a week or two during the summer and then a weekend(s) in the fall/spring.
 
diene_daily said:
Anyone in their gap year and plan on picking up new activities? I'm currently working FT, but I'm unsure if I should pick up a weekly volunteering gig, or if working is enough. I volunteer at a camp as well, but that's usually a week or two during the summer and then a weekend(s) in the fall/spring.
Click to expand...

I am currently completing my second gap year and I did pick up a lot more volunteering and shadowing. It's not too much if you don't overwhelm yourself. I also work in research so my schedule is pretty flexible.
 
diene_daily said:
Anyone in their gap year and plan on picking up new activities? I'm currently working FT, but I'm unsure if I should pick up a weekly volunteering gig, or if working is enough. I volunteer at a camp as well, but that's usually a week or two during the summer and then a weekend(s) in the fall/spring.
Click to expand...

Not doing anything new, but I have more time to do things I enjoy and haven’t had a lot of time for. I’m going to do some creative writing and build my girls new bed frames.
 
diene_daily said:
Anyone in their gap year and plan on picking up new activities? I'm currently working FT
Click to expand...
Lol, as someone who commutes to work FT, yeah, I have. I'm currently enjoying the bountiful benefits of eating cereal for dinner and arriving home before 7-8PM.

No, but really, just sticking to my hobbies, learning things I couldn't during undergrad, and going on a trip I've wanted to go on but couldn't afford. I'll do something if I think it matters (like I want to volunteer at a specific camp next summer). Other than that, I'm good. I met EC requirements as I did my undergrad. If I wasn't working FT to pay off undergrad debt and afford this cycle, I'd probably be doing more.

This is a workable schedule for me now. I want to feel refreshed and ready for school if I get accepted; if I took on more, I think I wouldn't be looking forward to starting school again. Alot of the schools I've applied to have all asked what I'm doing during my gap year. I'm happy to tell them that I'm pursuing my interests.
 
I'm in a gap year getting my master's, but I'm not doing anything new per se...however, I have opportunities to volunteer in new areas through my current gig (hospice). My husband has actually requested that I try to phase out a few activities gradually, so I have more time to get the house and the kids and paperwork wrapped up in case we're moving this time next year.
 
diene_daily said:
Anyone in their gap year and plan on picking up new activities? I'm currently working FT, but I'm unsure if I should pick up a weekly volunteering gig, or if working is enough. I volunteer at a camp as well, but that's usually a week or two during the summer and then a weekend(s) in the fall/spring.
Click to expand...

Sleep
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

chilly_md
~*~*~*~*~* Official Letters of Evaluation Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*~*~
2
Replies
70
Views
4K
chilly_md
chilly_md
wysdoc
  • Sticky
*~*~*~* Official TMDSAS Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*~*
2 3 4
Replies
160
Views
10K
wysdoc
wysdoc
chilly_md
  • Sticky
*~*~*~* Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2025-2026 *~*~*~*
2
Replies
86
Views
10K
chilly_md
chilly_md
gyngyn
Official Waitlist Manifestation Thread 2023!
2 3 4 5
Replies
235
Views
22K
Saxappeal1
S
chilly_md
*~*~*~* Official AMCAS Questions Thread 2023-2024 *~*~*~*
2 3 4
Replies
150
Views
24K
deleted1043440
D
Top