Medical Applicants Fear Rejection

“For non-trad applicants, I’ve people getting into med school without research. I’ve a CS degree / Math minor graduating in 2020 cGPA: 3.4 / sGPA: 3.7. I spent around 6 semesters + summers (around 800+ hours) employed as a paid undergrad research assistant in university. I have around 6 publications in EE & CS. In EE 4 pubs (2nd, 3rd author) radar signal processing for ASL recognition. I wrote a lot of software to help the PhDs, ran trials with volunteers, etc but the EE PhDs did the actual r”

“I have a bachelors of arts in an unrelated(ish) field and am currently at community college getting my science prereqs. I have been advised that most med schools dont care about community college credits anymore especially if youre a non traditional student but my concern is that being at community college limits my ability to gain extracurriculars. I work full time at a psych hospital doing admin (close enough to “smell” the patients but not doing patient care work yet, hoping that will change”

“I’m applying to med school in 2027 and plan to apply to both MD and DO schools. I’m taking the mcat in late January, so for now I’m focusing on studying and working my part-time job. I have shadowed three doctors and accumulated over 100 hours of shadowing, but they’re all MDs. I don’t think I have time to shadow a DO, and I’d rather focus on gaining more clinical experience. Is that okay when applying to DO schools? Or do I need a LOR from DOs? Of course, I’m also doing more research into what”

“I’m 30 and seriously considering changing careers and pursuing medicine, with neurology being my current primary interest. I’m looking for realistic advice about whether my academic record is repairable and what route would make the most sense. I graduated in 2019 with a BA in Biology. I attended two schools. I did very well initially at University 1, then transferred to University 2 and lost a lot of motivation toward the end of college. My grades dropped significantly. University 1 — 63 credit”

“I always wanted to be a doctor but I’m scared of not getting into med school so I’m currently in electrical engineering. I still want to give med school a shot and I’m willing to go through premed for that. However, since my major doesn’t overlap too much with premed I’m thinking of taking the courses during the summer and after I finish my degree. Ik med schools are picky af over everything so I wanted to know how they view taking more time to do your course work. Also is it ok to take the cour”

“Asking on behalf of my close friend since she doesn’t have enough karma to post on here! 😭 Hihi I’m a rising senior studying ChemE and wanted to ask advice as to how to apply to med school with an engineering background? For context, I was premed my freshman fall but I ultimately dropped it once I started taking my main engineering courses and struggled to pursue extracurricular in the premed realm. I still was able to work one day a week as an MA but I don’t think that’s enough sadly. However”

“3.6 cgpa 3.5 sgpa Mcat FL practice exam - 503 Current senior still finishing biochem/orgo2. ORM Undergrad- large state school with a known and rigorous chemistry program. 650 hours research - 1 middle author pub on a presented abstract. Did not present myself. 450 hours working at psychiatric center . Direct patient care. 150 hours volunteering at hospital as bed side volunteer/patient monitor 100+ hours shadowing (3 different specialities) 100 hours serving as a volunteer in underserved communi”

“I'm a high school senior applying to colleges soon (1 month), only UCs. For most of my life I've planned on becoming a doctor. I'm pretty interested in biology, it comes naturally to me, and the salary of medicine is obviously nice too. Recently, though, tuition and student loans have become a major concern in my family. My sister is currently a senior in college, and after dealing with college costs and dental school private loans, my mom has been encouraging us (specifically her) t”

“I had misplaced priorities and undiagnosed adhd as an undergrad. I was academically dismissed twice but after being medicated, I had a 3.7/3.8 gpa every semester until I graduated for my last two years. I was able to bring my gpa up by a whole point within two years and ended up graduating with a cumulative 3.1gpa. I am now currently in a post bacc and just want to know if it’s still worth sticking to or if my chances are pretty much 0. I majored in business but I really want to work in healthca”

“I graduated in 2023 and my oldest pre reqs are from 2019 (gen bio, gen chem). I havent taken any upper level science courses since 2023, and ill be applying in the 2027 cycle. I graduated with a 3.8 cGPA and 3.7 sGPA. Should I do a masters or do some type of post-bacc to show recency in upper level science coursework since have a 4 year gap? If so, could this be during my application cycle or would they not see those grades? If not, I was thinking of enrolling in human anatomy + lab at a communi”

“Hey I am a senior undergrad at UMD, kinesiology major with around a 3.0 GPA. I did poorly (F’s and all) my sophmore year due to personal reasons but know I want to go into medical school and have showed a steep inceasing slope. During that bad year I had attempted gen chem and gotten a F and then a D, making me ineligible to retake at UMD. I need the chem sequence (Gen chem 1 and 2, Orgo 1 and 2, biochem) and physics 2 and some upper level bios would help my application. I am unsure of what to d”

“Hi, I’m a current student at UTD 22M. Caucasian, Texas resident. I had a couple questions about my potential app and maybe some advice/feedback from fellow premeds or med students! My stats by time of application would most likely be 3.65 cgpa, and a 3.77 sgpa. Cgpa is lower d/t first semester not taking school seriously. Since then I’ve average a high 3.8. 3.8 sgpa since then as well. My ECs and stats (again) at time of application ideally will be as follows Stats 3.65 cgpa, 3.77 sgpa MCAT: Las”

“Has anyone gotten into TX Medical schools (MD or DO) with prerequisites from Portage learning? I am also looking into UNE Online but they are much pricier. I am a non traditional student aged 27 who still needs almost all of my science prerequisites because my BS is in Public Health. I still of course need all of my shadowing and clinical hours, so will need to get those as well. I know that it’s hit or miss regarding which schools do/dont care if courses with labs were taken online, but my life”

“I’m a nontraditional applicant, who realized they wanted to apply to med school after graduating from undergrad. I took almost all of the prerequisites except for organic chemistry lab. My school offers a two sequence organic chemistry course (8 credits) which I took and a separate two credit lab, which I did not take. It’s been a few years since graduation so I forgot and thought the 8 credits included lab but just recently realized it didn’t when checking for a school.I don’t remember if I mar”

“Hi! Im a non traditional applicant applying next year. I did engineering at a T5 school, and now doing a biomedical engineering PhD at a T5. decided to apply to med school but missing organic 1, organic 2, and biochem pre reqs... I'd like to think my strong stem background makes up for it but I know schools want to see these. I was thinking of doing online lectures for organic chem 1, 2 and biochem at university of new england and then taking organic chem 1 lab in person at American Universi”

“Background Rising college sophomore bio? Major might switch Coursework: 4.0 gpa 4.0 sgpa, orgo 2 and lab, physics, psych left for premed reqs Clinical Took EMT class over the summer Currently searching for EMT jobs/positions, 2 interviews soon Nonclinical volunteering Volunteered with kids with autism: ~30 hours Planning to do more over summer Have quite a bit of volunteering from high school 200+ hours of hospital volunteering and refugee camp volunteering Those programs shut down, so I can&#39”

“I’m 33, thinking about applying to med school. When I think about all the highschool people I knew who got into med, I don’t think I’m like them, which makes me question if I have the qualities to become a doctor. They were competitive, eg asking other people every day about their scores, or had huge egos and self esteem issues and take it out on other people. They’re all smart or are good at studying, but I wouldn’t take myself or anyone to see them as doctors. I would probably trust one or two”

“I’m 32 been working in hybrid sales/clinical rep roles for the last 8 years. I graduated from with a Bachelors in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and then did my masters in biomedical engineering from an ivy. Undergrad GPA was shit but got a 3.7 in grad school back in 2017. I’ve got LORs from physicians at academic institutions across the country. Taking my MCAT in a month but practice exams have been consistently 515+. But lot of the programs I’m seeing have cutoffs of 5-6 years on the prereqs.”

“Hey, if I start my non-US-style 6-year direct-entry medical school this year in the UK, will I apply as a First-year or as a transfer for fall 2027? I am not sure about medicine. Also, Medicine is a professional 6-year undergraduate degree in the UK and Europe, but it's a postgraduate degree in the US. submitted by /u/Ok-Hyena2737 [link] [comments]”

“Due to my personal circumstances, I plan to apply to medical school in the next cycle, even though my extracurricular hours are relatively low. By the time I apply, I expect to have approximately 600 research hours with no publications, 300 clinical hours as a scribe, 100 clinical volunteering hours, and 200 non-clinical volunteering hours, with limited leadership experience. My academic stats are a 3.95 cumulative GPA, a 4.0 science GPA, and a 519 MCAT score. I understand that my hours are not”

“Ok so I’m a US student and Im applying to mcgill for fall 2027 for a STEM course. But my high school made a mistake last year and put me in Ochem instead of Chem and didn’t let me switch out. So I’m taking Biology, Chem, and Precalculus my senior year. Do you guys think that would hurt my chances of getting into McGill because I’m doing all the prereqs senior year? I had good grades in ochem but I’m not sure if that’s relevant. I won’t have a grade available for them because I’m applying in Sept”

“40 years ago, 50 hours was the RECOMMENDED amount. I heard that now there are even schools requiring (unofficially?) 400 hours. Would you pursue med school application even if the requirement was, say, 1000 hours? submitted by /u/Exciting_Ad_6837 [link] [comments]”

“To start off, here are some quick facts about my background. I am a chemical engineering student at a large public US university. I am going into my junior year with a 3.87 cumulative GPA. I do not have any clinical or medical volunteer experience. I applied to college as a computer science major. However, when I enrolled I decided to switch to engineering because it seemed more grounded in the physical world. I could work on projects with my hands and make the products that people use every day”

“Im applying this cycle with a 3.85 cgpa, 3.99 sgpa and sub500 mcat. I have 500 hours of clinical experience(150 paid, 250 volunteer) Edit: Non clinical volunteer: 250 community outreach and teaching undocumented immigrants English. ORM Military veteran Raised as a kid and still live in the IE(socal) Im going to apply to DO as well and I would preferably like to stay in the west/southwest So far Im going to apply to burrell, noorda and azcom. For MD im going to try my luck with ucr but idk. Do I”

“I didn't realize that most people take bio first and now seeing that most people did it that way I'm worried that med schools will see this as a red flag especially since a lot of them list it first in their prereqs. I have AP Bio credits from high school if that helps but it's not listed on my transcript. Will med schools look down on my app for this? /s submitted by /u/Agitated_Depth_6881 [link] [comments]”

“I had the option to go to organic chemistry with my AP Chem credit, but decided to opt out of it since I heard med schools prefer that you take 100s level stem courses in college However, I am still being given the option to choose between gen chem 1 and gen chem 2, and I am not sure what to pick. Since they are both 100s levels courses, will med schools be okay with me going straight to gen chem 2 or is it best to still do gen chem 1 submitted by /u/amangodish [link] [comments”

“I’m 28 years old I went to college initially as a premed. I spent 1.5 years there (finished with 5Ws, 3.16 GPA, 30 credit hours). I was academically separated due to poor grades. I got an F at a community college when I was 20. (3 credit hour course - data management) I transferred and did 4 year finance degree. (3.58 GPA, 4 Ws, 120 credit hours) Worked for 3 years in a corporate job then did a postbacc. Postbacc gpa (4.0, 50 credit hours, just the basic prereqs,, MCAT is a 518). Total GPA: 3.57”

“Hi! After high school, I took a 5 year gap to work for financial reasons and better understand my goals and passions. So, I decided to return to community college in spring 2025. I earned my associate degree and completed most of my med school prerequisites by spring 2026, all while working part-time as a nail technician and gradually gaining clinical/ nonclinical experience. I’m planning to apply to med school during the next application cycle. As you can see in the pic, these are the activitie”

“Hello everyone, I am a 19 year old incoming sophomore and I’ve been meaning to transfer schools. However my dilemma is that I’m supposed to be taking ochem this year however our ochem classes has a near 60% drop rate (I go to a small liberal arts school with nearly 2000 students in total) and I’m worried it’ll affect my gpa of not only transferring but also for med school if I don’t do well. So I’ve been doing some research and I’ve boiled it down to 3 options I bite the bullet and take ochem at”

“1) Medical Intern. 300 hours, over 4 months. Responsibilities: Scribed, roomed patients, took medical histories, assisted with preop and postop care. 2) Hospice volunteering. Mostly companionship. 200 hours over 2 years 3) OT volunteer. 100 hours over a. year. Assisted therapists and interacted with pediatric patients who were chronically disabled. 4) Free clinic volunteer. 150 hours over a year. Student run clinic, vitals, interacted with underserved community members. im worried that a) I dont”

“Was one of the handful of schools I fully prewrote and still haven’t received it submitted by /u/Substantial-Law-210 [link] [comments]”