worst part of application process

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worst part?

  • college classes

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • college extracurriculars

    Votes: 2 1.3%
  • MCATssss

    Votes: 27 17.3%
  • AMCAS

    Votes: 2 1.3%
  • secondaries

    Votes: 7 4.5%
  • travel

    Votes: 3 1.9%
  • interviews

    Votes: 4 2.6%
  • the WAIT

    Votes: 105 67.3%
  • stupid SDN polls

    Votes: 5 3.2%

  • Total voters
    156

mr burrito

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which was worst for you?

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Its not even a question, without a doubt its the waiting. The lag time between submitting applications and hearing back about interviews, let alone acceptances is painfully long in most cases.
 
The essay and having to shell out the cash to AMCAS.

Can't speak to the waiting part. I had my app in 10/15 and was interviewed in November, admitted at my state school within a week. Since my numbers were too low for oos or private, it was open and shut within a couple of months. It sure beat my grad school experience.
 
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HAHAHA only on SDN will you find 60%+ of people thinking that taking the MCAT is more enjoyable than waiting on school's decisions.
 
HAHAHA only on SDN will you find 60%+ of people thinking that taking the MCAT is more enjoyable than waiting on school's decisions.

i don't know if the MCAT was more enjoyable... but imo 6+ months of an agonizing process is much more annoying than the painful month leading up to and including 8 hours of testing.
 
The worst part was the expense. THEN the MCAT
 
The wait was the worst, easily. Languishing on a waitlist (after waiting 4-5 months for THAT news) for 4-5 months is just horrible, and I at least had an acceptance. I can't imagine how bad it is for someone who doesn't have that.


The MCAT was a pain, for sure, but it wasn't unnecessarily painful, like the wait.
 
The essay and having to shell out the cash to AMCAS.

Can't speak to the waiting part. I had my app in 10/15 and was interviewed in November, admitted at my state school within a week. Since my numbers were too low for oos or private, it was open and shut within a couple of months. It sure beat my grad school experience.

The worst part was the expense. THEN the MCAT


that's why $$ isn't listed. it would win--hands down-- and the poll ineffective :laugh:
 
The worst is easily the wait.


Second guessing your interview answers....
Thinking of how great it would be to get into your dream school.....
Thinking of how much it would suck to not get into your dream school....

That said, waitlisted at everywhere I really really wanted to go. Its GrRrrRrrRrrRrrEAT! :oops:
 
I think this poll is biased on the account that we're all waiting/recently finished waiting. How many of you remember how miserable you were as a freshman taking chem/bio 4 years ago?

I vote for the classes, because you put in a TON of work without even knowing if you had a chance to be a doctor.
 
for all the waiting voters... how much would you pay to know a month early? two months? at your interview? exiting the MCAT?
 
for all the waiting voters... how much would you pay to know a month early? two months? at your interview? exiting the MCAT?

just cause i hated the waiting, doesn't mean i would pay more. they can tell me, but i wont pay, haha =)
 
The correct answer is: whatever stage you're currently in. I feel like we always have a tendency to complain about how hard the stage we currently are in is.

e.g.: schooling.

During college: "ohh man this is soo much harder that high school. HS I didn't have to study 1 drop!" Yea? Well remember how much a pain in the butt it was to do that geography paper the night before it was due?

Prereqs: "Damn, taking physics and chem1 together is TOUGH!"

Upper level science: "Man, this is so much harder than prereqs!"

MCAT: The "biggest" hurdle for med school. When you take it, it's the "hardest most grueling test ever."

Then comes med school 1st and 2nd yrs: "College was a piece of cake. In college, I barely had to study at all. Now, I'm non-stop studying JUST TO PASS!"

Step I: "The MCAT was a joke compared to this. The MCAT was all about basic science, how fast you read, and test-taking ability, this test you actually have to memorize everything AND be a good test-taker!"

3rd year: "DAAAMN, I'd much rather be back in 1st and 2nd year than this!"

Residency: "OMG bring me back to 3rd year NOW! 80 hr work weeks and 30 hrs shifts are killer!"

Granted, maybe it really does get harder, but it seems like for us on the pursuit of medicine, everyone immediately above you is gonna tell you how great you have it where you currently are :D.
 
The worst is easily the wait.


Second guessing your interview answers....
Thinking of how great it would be to get into your dream school.....
Thinking of how much it would suck to not get into your dream school....

That said, waitlisted at everywhere I really really wanted to go. Its GrRrrRrrRrrRrrEAT! :oops:

post-interview rejected at 2 of the three schools i really wanted, waitlist-rejected at the third (almost everybody who interviewed at nyu got either an acceptance or a "waitlist"). but i'm lucky to be in anywhere in this frickin process.
 
The correct answer is: whatever stage you're currently in. I feel like we always have a tendency to complain about how hard the stage we currently are in is.

Yes! Having to choose, i feel like if I make the wrong one I'm fu<ked!:eek:
 
I think this poll is biased on the account that we're all waiting/recently finished waiting. How many of you remember how miserable you were as a freshman taking chem/bio 4 years ago?

I vote for the classes, because you put in a TON of work without even knowing if you had a chance to be a doctor.

but the thing is, when we were taking classes, studying for mcat, or preparing for interviews, these were all things that we *could* work toward. our efforts had an impact on our chances of admission.

but post-interview waiting is just waiting. there's nothing we can do to change the outcome at that point, and the outcome is the OUTCOME: "will i be 250k in debt in the northeast in four years, or 100k in debt in the midwest? agggh!" or "will i get an acceptance anywhere?" so there's the unfortunate combination of having no control over outcomes any more, and having unoccupied time to imagine the possible outcomes and how our actions shaped them. toss in a little sdn and you're a wreck by spring.
 
Granted, maybe it really does get harder, but it seems like for us on the pursuit of medicine, everyone immediately above you is gonna tell you how great you have it where you currently are :D.
Maybe? Try "definitely." I have less busy work now in med school than ever before, but I never before felt like if I shook my head too hard, I'd forget half the information I learned for a neuro exam. I have siblings in high school, and they can easily see that I'm working much harder than they are. My brother got his MBA with minimal effort, and he knew it. It snowballs - you pick up speed the farther you go.

But as for this:
3rd year: "DAAAMN, I'd much rather be back in 1st and 2nd year than this!"
I usually hear the reverse, along the lines of "DAAAMN, I'm so glad I'm not a 1st or 2nd year anymore."
 
you forgot the waitlisted/rejected/not-considered-worth-sending-a-reponse from everywhere you'd like to go option
 
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