Regrets

[JennaQ]

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I know what I need to do as far as volunteering and medical exposure go, as well as maintaining high grades. But what are your biggest regrets? This question is in general posed at Medical School applicants who have and have not gotten in. If you could go back in time, would you change anything? Beat yourself up more? I personally need to pull through Organic Chemistry tonight or else this WILL BE my biggest regret probably. Thanks so much for the time and effort put into helping me, along with many other prospective applicants who know what they have to do, but are hesitant to move forward.

Please be emotional.

The alternative is that you can slap me in the face and tell me to study. But that would hurt after awhile! :<

For me, my biggest regret would be for me getting three Cs and only being in my fourth semester. I didn't discover this forum site until after my second C. After I discovered the site, I still messed up big time on Organic Chemistry I. Instead of putting my time into learning the subject, I stuck up my nose and studied it last after everything else. I can't believe I was so stupid. I can't believe I didn't learn from my first two Cs. And now I'm forced to play minimum 3.85~4.0 GPA redemption games to climb my way back to the matriculating average. Angry? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. And now I have the motivation to study Organic Chemistry II. Whoo!~

Also I'm angry that I let working 30 hours a week and doing research justify getting a C. Extracurriculars never justify incompetence. NEVER!

 

[ksmi117]

I know what I need to do as far as volunteering and medical exposure go, as well as maintaining high grades. But what are your biggest regrets? This question is in general posed at Medical School applicants who have and have not gotten in. If you could go back in time, would you change anything? Beat yourself up more? I personally need to pull through Organic Chemistry tonight or else this WILL BE my biggest regret probably. Thanks so much for the time and effort put into helping me, along with many other prospective applicants who know what they have to do, but are hesitant to move forward.

Please be emotional.

The alternative is that you can slap me in the face and tell me to study. But that would hurt after awhile! :<

For me, my biggest regret would be for me getting three Cs and only being in my fourth semester. I didn't discover this forum site until after my second C. After I discovered the site, I still messed up big time on Organic Chemistry I. Instead of putting my time into learning the subject, I stuck up my nose and studied it last after everything else. I can't believe I was so stupid. I can't believe I didn't learn from my first two Cs. And now I'm forced to play minimum 3.85~4.0 GPA redemption games to climb my way back to the matriculating average. Angry? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. And now I have the motivation to study Organic Chemistry II. Whoo!~

I haven't applied, but my biggest regret (although I don't regret it much... I've enjoyed my pre-med life) is not starting research stuff until my sophomore year. I had a lot of free time my freshman year and could be a lot farther along.

Also, go study!

 

[NSDQ]

I've been accepted, but here are the things I wish I would have done differently:

1) Applied early (I took the MCAT too late - in August)
2) Started research earlier (didn't start until the end of sophomore yr)
3) Volunteered in non-medically related area (was asked about this in interviews - I had no non-medical volunteer work)
4) Spend more time on secondaries (I just hurried through all of them)
5) Been involved with school organizations (I wasn't a member/leader of any)

 

[premedrose]

I haven't applied, but my biggest regret (although I don't regret it much... I've enjoyed my pre-med life) is not starting research stuff until my sophomore year. I had a lot of free time my freshman year and could be a lot farther along.

Also, go study!

I definitely agree with this. I wish that I could have done more volunteering, shadowing or other EC during my freshman year.

 

[erskine]

lol, i guess i'm pretty much the opposite of you guys. I wish I hadn't focused so much on classes and research my first two years. As a result of pursuing those two i had to abandon a lot of other interests that I know will definitely bug me for quite some time. So much so, that i've decided to take a few years off between graduating this year and applying to med school to pursue those activities. And to the TS, i know that admission committees are more lenient in regards to your grades if you are forced to work throughout the academic school year as well, so hopefully that alleviates some stress.

 

[GH253]

my life got badly derailed my third year of college and I ended up dropping out... I'm 26 now and am just now making plans to finish. I will be late 30s by the time I finish residency if I can even find the balls to go through with this ****

 

[butac]

I have been accepted, and it is hard to find regrets once you get to that point...I obviously did enough, and I don't regret doing TOO much in any area because I will never know if that activity was the difference between acceptance and not.

 

[silas2642]

I know what I need to do as far as volunteering and medical exposure go, as well as maintaining high grades. But what are your biggest regrets? This question is in general posed at Medical School applicants who have and have not gotten in. If you could go back in time, would you change anything? Beat yourself up more? I personally need to pull through Organic Chemistry tonight or else this WILL BE my biggest regret probably. Thanks so much for the time and effort put into helping me, along with many other prospective applicants who know what they have to do, but are hesitant to move forward.

Please be emotional.

The alternative is that you can slap me in the face and tell me to study. But that would hurt after awhile! :<

For me, my biggest regret would be for me getting three Cs and only being in my fourth semester. I didn't discover this forum site until after my second C. After I discovered the site, I still messed up big time on Organic Chemistry I. Instead of putting my time into learning the subject, I stuck up my nose and studied it last after everything else. I can't believe I was so stupid. I can't believe I didn't learn from my first two Cs. And now I'm forced to play minimum 3.85~4.0 GPA redemption games to climb my way back to the matriculating average. Angry? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. And now I have the motivation to study Organic Chemistry II. Whoo!~

Also I'm angry that I let working 30 hours a week and doing research justify getting a C. Extracurriculars never justify incompetence. NEVER!

I wish that I had planned better financially for the interview season so I could have more easily gone on more interviews and applied to more schools. I highly suggest applying wisely, sitting down with and figuring out about how much this process is going to really cost you, and then trying to save some money accordingly if you can.

 

[tiedyeddog]

I haven't applied, but my biggest regret (although I don't regret it much... I've enjoyed my pre-med life) is not starting research stuff until my sophomore year. I had a lot of free time my freshman year and could be a lot farther along.

Also, go study!

If this is your only regret then I'd say you've got nothing to worry about....

 

[ksmi117]

If this is your only regret then I'd say you've got nothing to worry about....

Well, I guess we'll see if I regret anything else more after I apply. But I feel like I got what I needed to done, and I have a pretty good shot of getting into some good schools. And I've had fun doing what I love to do these past few years.

 

[medhearter]

I regret the day my friend told me "All you need is to make cutoffs, then nobody cares what GPA you have"

Can't blv I internalized that. Big Mistake.


I also regret not starting research earlier

 

[WashMe]

I know what I need to do as far as volunteering and medical exposure go, as well as maintaining high grades. But what are your biggest regrets? This question is in general posed at Medical School applicants who have and have not gotten in. If you could go back in time, would you change anything? Beat yourself up more? I personally need to pull through Organic Chemistry tonight or else this WILL BE my biggest regret probably. Thanks so much for the time and effort put into helping me, along with many other prospective applicants who know what they have to do, but are hesitant to move forward.

Please be emotional.

The alternative is that you can slap me in the face and tell me to study. But that would hurt after awhile! :<

For me, my biggest regret would be for me getting three Cs and only being in my fourth semester. I didn't discover this forum site until after my second C. After I discovered the site, I still messed up big time on Organic Chemistry I. Instead of putting my time into learning the subject, I stuck up my nose and studied it last after everything else. I can't believe I was so stupid. I can't believe I didn't learn from my first two Cs. And now I'm forced to play minimum 3.85~4.0 GPA redemption games to climb my way back to the matriculating average. Angry? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. And now I have the motivation to study Organic Chemistry II. Whoo!~

Also I'm angry that I let working 30 hours a week and doing research justify getting a C. Extracurriculars never justify incompetence. NEVER!

Bologna.

My biggest regret is putting academics first. I don't mean that I haven't had fun in college... I mean that out of academics/extracurriculars, it seems to be extracurriculars that get people into medical school. Check out my mdapps and you'll see why I regret focusing on school rather than doing more volunteering stuff.

Look at the numbers published by AAMC; after about 3.75 GPA and 34 MCAT, it doesn't make you much more likely to gain acceptance. I should have aimed for those numbers but done some more stuff like Habitat for Humanity or something.

edit: Medical schools do not care how smart you are. Really, see if you follow me here. Medical schools only care if you are sufficiently smart, then it comes down to other stuff. Don't worry about showing you are smart enough, because most people are smart enough. You need to show that you are qualified, which is entirely different...

 

[Element]

You guys have some pretty meek regrets. Really, not to sound cliche but, all your regrets are worthless in the sense that you can't change them. The only point to draw worth from them is in shaping your future and there is always time to do that.

 

[chiz2kul]

I shoulda played more video games and gone out more while pre-med. I'm making up for it now tho b4 med school starts.
COD4 and pes 2009 baby!!!

And oh yea, I prob shld have taken more non-med related classes...

 

[Emmet2301]

I wish I had put more effort into studying and learned the study skills earlier.

I'm paying the consequences now...

 

[ACSurgeon]

I know what I need to do as far as volunteering and medical exposure go, as well as maintaining high grades. But what are your biggest regrets? This question is in general posed at Medical School applicants who have and have not gotten in. If you could go back in time, would you change anything? Beat yourself up more? I personally need to pull through Organic Chemistry tonight or else this WILL BE my biggest regret probably. Thanks so much for the time and effort put into helping me, along with many other prospective applicants who know what they have to do, but are hesitant to move forward.

Please be emotional.

The alternative is that you can slap me in the face and tell me to study. But that would hurt after awhile! :<

For me, my biggest regret would be for me getting three Cs and only being in my fourth semester. I didn't discover this forum site until after my second C. After I discovered the site, I still messed up big time on Organic Chemistry I. Instead of putting my time into learning the subject, I stuck up my nose and studied it last after everything else. I can't believe I was so stupid. I can't believe I didn't learn from my first two Cs. And now I'm forced to play minimum 3.85~4.0 GPA redemption games to climb my way back to the matriculating average. Angry? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. And now I have the motivation to study Organic Chemistry II. Whoo!~

Also I'm angry that I let working 30 hours a week and doing research justify getting a C. Extracurriculars never justify incompetence. NEVER!

I know you weren't looking for a pep talk, but here it goes anyways. Med schools will notice an upward trend. If you hit 3.85-4.0 each semester from now on, you'll get their attention to say the least. You can retake some courses (especially if you didn't learn them well enough to do well on the MCAT).

It seems like you still haven't learned much. In my opinion, when you are in 'make up mode' (aka need as close to a 4.0 as possible) you should never be in a situation where the night before can make or break your grade (aka should have done most of your studying well ahead of time, and had the night before as bonus studying time). You still have time. Worst case scenario you'll have to wait a year to get into med school (to bring up your GPA or polish your app). No point in focusing on regrets. Rather, learn and move on. Best of luck.

 

[bioman2006]

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