How are my fellow incoming MD students feeling about this? What I don't like is how for us, we're going to be the "guinea pigs" in the sense that we don't really know what is important.
Also, a little scared because now that research, LOR's, clerkship grades, and STEP 2 are so important, it seems that we have to work so much harder during our 3rd and 4th years. I used to feel that the work was pretty evenly distributed throughout the 4 years where you worked hard during 1st and 2nd years to make sure your STEP 1 score was good and that would play a huge role in youyr applications and then you worked hard during 3rd and 4th on your application, LOR's, and clerkships.
Now it feels like, everything comes down to 3rd and 4th year where you need to kill clerkships, get great LOR's, and do well on STEP 2. Compared to before where the first two years you could focus on the major standardized exam (STEP 1) and then spend the later 2 years worrying about clerkships and LOR's.
Also, is school prestige really that important now? I've been admitted to a T15 so I guess I definitely need to attend that school now lol (Was gonna attend anyways due to financial aid)
I will note that I like that STEP 1 is P/F because now we can take some more time to relax during my first two years.