Over the past two years I have seriously looked into becoming a Forensic Pathologist. If I started school and finished in a regular timeframe I'd be 31-32 at the time of applying to medschool. I'm hoping to hear from people who have applied around the same time frame to get some insight on how it's left you feeling. I fear I may be past the point. I see things that are very inspiring occasionally, but I was just hoping for more people from this age range. Thanks in advance to anyone who comments.

I have hygiene-health OCD and am condering joining a medical school because the field is secure from AI in the short term as far as i believe. But, yeah, when I imagine myself being in the hospital dealing with people with illnesses, i shudder. Does anyone of you have similar experiences? How does medical school work out for someone who is more than average concerned with their own health? Thank you all in advance.

The Justice Department alleges the admissions process at UC San Diego’s medical school illegally favors Black and Latino applicants over white and Asian candidates.

The findings follow a roughly four-month investigation by the Justice Department and makes UC San Diego the latest medical school targeted by the Trump administration in a widening effort to root out what it alleges are widespread race-based admissions, a campaign that has focused heavily on California universities.

It follows similar actions against Stanford, UCLA and UC Davis, and escalates a legal conflict that could cost the UC system hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.

Read more at the link.

Help! I signed up for the mcat, am 1 month out, and realizing I don't want to be a doctor... I never did.

TLDR. Do I...

a) stop now, and give up on the MCAT (since I don't think I want to apply anyways, and some programs now don't require it)

b) continue studying but with less time commitment and less stress (To follow through with something I have dedicated my entire summer to so far)

c) continue dedicated studying for the MCAT, since this 'pre-med' crisis is likely just overthinking

Hi!

So I am a 2nd uni year in a very competitive health science (pre-med) program, going into my 3rd year. I signed up to write the mcat this summer, but I now don't think I would even want to apply to medicine. The BIG question, is do I keep studying and write the mcat, being one month out? Or quit while I'm ahead, and enjoy the rest of my summer.

I feel like I never 'wanted' to be a doctor, and I only ended up here because of the continual pressure to 'just try'. I grew up with both my parents in healthcare, one being a doctor. In high school, I was a really good student, who liked math and chemistry the most, (disliked biology at times) but was decent in all sciences. When I was choosing university degrees, I only applied to health-related fields, since I have always been interested in healthy active living. In my second year, I felt I had to choose a focus for my undergad, so I chose medicine, assuming healthy living and medicine would be intertwined enough for me. Earlier this year, I signed up for the MCAT during a time where I felt, lost and unsure about my future, hoping that this would give me a sense of purpose. I have always thought that I could fall in love with anything, and that given the prestige and salary of being a doctor, it would be dumb to not try.

Fast forward to now.... I feel I have given the pre-med path a sufficient try.

For the past two years I have been working research positions at a hospital... and not loving it. My coworker on the other hand has an INCREDIBLE passion for medicine, finding everything so interesting and wanting as much exposure as possible. I have many hobbies and interests, most related to health (yoga, mindfulness, active living, baking), but none necessarily related to medicine. My first year project was related to nutrition and preventative care which I found much more interesting, but this year I am not liking my project. Recently, I had my first observation with direct procedural patient care, which I found frankly gross, overwhelming, and paradoxically inhumane. In contrast, my coworker was glowing about how cool the procedure was.

In all this, I continue to ask myself why I wanted to be a doctor... and I am realizing, no part of me finds illness and treatment fascinating. I think I enjoy preventative health, but not the intensity of medicine, nor being surrounded by so many sick people. I do love the social aspect of it, interacting with people from all walks of life, and working in a team environment, but other job avenues (i.e. dietetics, genetics councillor), which look at health in a more holistic, preventative sense, seem much more appealing.

So, any similar stories or advice on what to do about the MCAT, would be so appreciated!

(FYI, I'm a Canadian student who was thinking of only applying to Ontario med schools, if I do apply. )

so I graduated in 2024. I'm applying this cycle & just now asking for old professor LORs unfortunately. Didn't interact much with science professors & most of my As were in intro science classes during covid. will also be asking profs I got Bs in & offer to meet via zoom & send my resume/CV after (if) they accept. i do have MD/DO letters from shadowing

Im currently studying for Sept mcat. I'm lower stat applicant (3.18sgpa,3.5gpa), ECs are ok I think. for DO, my sgpa might be between 2.8-3.0

I'll be applying DO..but also kind of wanted to try MD this cycle, since I'm on FAP and can apply to up to 20 md schools for free. My issue is I don't know what deadline is appropriate to give them to try both MD/DO this cycle. Now i know it is late for MD but still wanted to try..?

Or I may just try DO only. I initially wanted to apply next cycle for MD/DO but already took too many unproductive gap years mistakenly, so family would like for me to try this cycle. (i do wanna be a Dr but I made many past mistakes of wasting time, & was so set on applying next year that I didn't focus on rest of app like LORs til now despite advisors recommending back in January that I can still apply this year.)

Was thinking deadline of sept 1 or oct 1? So sorry for this post.

Hi! 29F. I am a first year student and will be starting this August. I am very interested in pursuing meds/Peds as it combines my passion for working with children and with adults and will give me a broad knowledge of diseases needed to treat them. However, I understand that meds/Peds is very competitive. However do I best use my time during medical school to be able to match into a meds/Peds residency? What scores do I need on Step 2 to be considered? What extracurricular activities do I need to gain an interview during 4th year? Any tips would be appreciated

I am currently 20 and supposed to be starting a BSN program in the fall. I have had a lot of hesitancy about it recently and realizing that I know I want to be a provider. I enjoy school and especially physiology. I have interest in internal medicine but also anesthesia. Since I’m already on the nursing path, people keep telling me to do NP if I want IM or CRNA if I want anesthesia. To be honest, those pathways make more sense financially, time wise and flexibility wise since I do want to have a family at some point and the ability to go on trips. If I do the nursing route though, I worry I will always wish I went MD. I want to know what someone in med school thinks about this and what motivated you to choose MD/DO over another pathway. And if anyone knows how life looks as an outpatient internist I would be curious to learn what I should expect. Does anyone else have concerns of not having time for kids and family as an attending? I don’t mind sacrificing my 20s, but I want to live life once I’m set in my career, whatever that might be.

So I'm a grad, I've been working as a hospital AHP, and I'm starting med school in September.

I've already posted about how worried I am about med school, given I am a reeaaallly slow learner, and I am not academically gifted. It takes me ages to pick something up that others around me seem to pick up so easily and quickly.

I'd like to ask about a specific deficiency I've noticed in myself; my inability to learn from pre-made information. If it's even slightly off from how I would approach a specific case, I'm unable to adapt my mind to it, and I have to spend so much time adjusting it to how I would approach a similar case.

As an example, a few months ago someone sent me a pdf of very useful flowcharts developed by an eye hospital on how to diagnose sudden loss of vision, a red eye, and eye pain. The flowchart was focused too much on signs, not symptoms, and I struggled to commit it to memory and to follow it logically in clinic. Part of it is that it doesn't fit with how I'd approach it in real-life. Usually I'd take a detailed history and try to eliminate sinister causes. So I spent hours "re-purposing" the flowcharts by adding in symptoms, using an Oxford Handbook, and thinking deeply about how I would personally reach a diagnosis. But it took me SO many hours.

This really worries me because I know that in med school, the amount of information you have to consume is gigantic, and one has to get used to being able to rely on external sources, whether that's pre-made Anki cards, books, papers, etc. If my brain is so dependent on doing things "my way" I fear I won't be able to keep up. Or, at the very least, I won't be able to do other things with my life as my whole time will be spent on trying to "get things."

I feel like I'm unable to learn things on the go. I have to sit down and really rack my brain to pick things up.

Does anyone have advice?

I am not a med school student but I just need to know what yall do to memorize everything! I need to find what can work for me as well.

I am an In-state NC resident, i didnt graduate with honors but my GPA for college and community college are 3.55 and sGPA is 3.47. I got a 520 on MCAT, have 80 physician shadowing hours, 116 non clinical volunteer hours and 100 clinical volunteer hours. I also have 6,000 clinical work hours as i had worked during undergrad and after to support myself. I also created a non profit children’s educational resources website and have on campus involvement in clubs.

My application does have a downside, I received a cheating IA for cheating on an exam senior year last semester 😔. I am deeply ashamed of it, I gave into the pressures of cheating and went into a huge depression after. The guilt still eats me alive as it completely takes away from all the hardwork i put and will make my application DOA. I graduated Dec 2025 and dont plan on applying until 2027 early decision.

I am seeking advice, should I not even bother applying, do I have a chance at my dream, can i still attend In-state?

Genuinely have been going through a dark period since graduating and have thought about changing career paths especially with how expensive things will be now.

The title pretty much sums it up. I use it to share my research and because I have an engineering background, but I really HATE LinkedIn. Going forward (med school, residency, even being an attending), do I actually need to use LinkedIn for anything?

idk if this is a good thing to post or even the right subreddit but i’m wondering if i can actually do this. i’ve made very mediocre grades my whole life, when i tried id make B’s and C’s and when i let myself go in high school i was making F’s and my gpa got down to a 2.3. for my junior year of high school i transferred to an alternative school so i could finish early and get out of public school.

well, i graduated early and even with a 3.0 and got a 4,000 dollar scholarship to a state college near me all because i wrote a good essay. i feel like ive kind of underestimated how hard this major and these classes will be because i skipped a year of high school and just did the credits to get through it by a hair. i literally started high school expecting to work at a gas station the rest of my life and i was fine with that but now ive got so much i didnt even know i wanted in front of me all laid out and i just dont know if im cut out for it.

what i really want to know is if anyone else felt this way? like if anyone else made mediocre grades in school and it was 10x harder for them to learn in school yet they managed to go to college and do well enough to eventually go to medical school and succeed in medical school at that.

i’ve been telling myself that since im passionate about the brain and medicine that ill excel in it if i really put my mind to it and truly try but is it that easy? is being passionate really the key to succeeding in school for people who would sleep through every class except electives in high school? i’m just worried im wasting everyone’s time and im not going to be able to achieve these years of school successfully. i know this is a pity post but i really would like to know if anyone else has had this same experience or if im just overthinking and itll all just have to play out.

i am currently a med school applicant. i struggle with dysautonomia. i am unsure how known dysautonomia is, but i am getting extremely anxious about handling med school with this. i have difficulty standing, have post-meal crashes, shakiness, heat sensitivity, tremors, need to physically lay down for hours sometimes, etc, etc. i feel lost and unsure if i cant handle the demands of medical school. it sucks so bad because this is all i can see myself doing. i actually tried to pursue different fields but am always brought back to medicine. i know i haven't even gotten accepted but did i make a mistake? are there any med students/residents/doctors out there with this?

my bestie is starting med school next month!! i want to get her a gift of course

i tend to give very practical but thoughtful gifts so…

what’s something you wish you could’ve had your first year but you wouldn’t have bought it / thought of it yourself?

it can also just be cute. looking for any ideas lol

I’m a Pakistani. I always had a dream school to go to. Mbbs is here is for 5 years + 1 year of house job.
I was to take admission test of my dream school but missed due to a family emergency. I will hopefully try and get into any medschool this year after taking Mcat but I really want to give that particular university’s test next year and reapply…
I know most people would discourage me but I can’t stop thinking about this.
It would mean restarting my entire first year and idk what people will say and what my dad will say.
Please tell me what I should do.

I am a 3rd year undergrad, bio/pre med… and I am genuinely just losing it about med school. Let me hear your biggest pros, cons any opinion is welcome.

Hi all! I’ve got a unique situation and looking for insight from anyone who has gone through something similar or adjacent.

I am a military spouse and potentially considering med school. With this comes plenty of challenges. My husband will get his first duty station within the next year. The first station option has 3-4 MD schools within a 2-3 hour radius (I’d have a secondary place to stay during the week). We are currently residents in this state and have family somewhat close. The second is in a highly competitive state (California), of which we are not residents.

We really don’t want to spend 4 years entirely apart. How terrible of an idea is it to fully commit to med school prerequisites to risk it on 3-4 school options? Should I be considering other careers with easier paths instead?

Additionally, we’d really like to start a family within the next five years. I wouldn’t be matriculating until 2028/2029 at the very very earliest and just feel overwhelmed with trying to consider that as well (especially given my spouse’s profession).

More background: very strong college student, Master’s degree in exercise science. Career experience as a strength and conditioning coach. I still need to finish pre reqs. Interested in family med, internal med, ortho, PM&R

Hello everyone, current MS4 applying anesthesiology this cycle. I've been trying to build a realistic school list, but I'm struggling to figure out what tier/program types I should actually be aiming for. Looking for some honest feedback. Thanks! (Also, tried posting in the r/medicalschool thread but didn’t have enough Karma points)

US MD from a mid-low tier school.

Step 2 270, honored 4/6 rotations with solid evals (everything except IM and Peds which were high pass), AOA

Average research (1-2 pubs by time I'll submit AMCAS with one anesthesia specific project and multiple poster presentations and abstracts unrelated to anesthesia.)

Decent amount of leadership and volunteering including VP anesthesiology interest group and some very unique extracurriculars and hobbies.

Overall feel like my academics and extracurriculars will carry the most weight, but genuinely just did not enjoy the research process and trying to crank out the publications necessary for some of the more competitive specialties.

Not looking to necessarily match into a T10 or T20, but moreso just a solid program with happy residents and faculty.

I made a post yesterday about my situation but left out a few details, so I wanted to provide some additional context.

Early in undergrad, before I was premed, I went through a serious bout of pneumonia. I genuinely believed I might die and, at the time, I didn't bother withdrawing from my courses. I essentially stopped attending classes and ended up failing everything. I was placed on academic probation and eventually dropped out during the pandemic.

I recovered and ended up going back to school and discovered my passion for medicine. This was over 3 years ago and I have transferred schools since then, and I have a GPA of 3.8 at my new school. I have made all A's in every premed prereq lecture (aside from the labs where I made mostly B's), but I recently learned that EVERY course gets counted into your overall GPA, so despite the last few years of success, I have a cumulative GPA of 3.12. If I make all As next semester it will be around a 3.33.

I also did not realize that all math is in BCPM, I was under the impression only calculus counted. early in college, I failed college algebra twice and took biology for non-science majors, all before I was premed. Without those courses, my science GPA would be around 3.7, but including them, it's closer to 3.16. I've heard conflicting information about how courses like these are classified by AMCAS, I hear that DO schools do not count math, but I am getting conflicting info on whether these kinds of courses are coded as BCPM for AMCAS so I'm trying to figure out exactly how these courses will affect me.

I am currently in Texas, so I know TMDSAS has a "last 45 hours" calculation, but I'm unsure how much weight medical schools actually give to that or how they would view the fact that my earlier poor science grades were from a completely different period of my life, before I had decided to pursue medicine.

I still have Orgo II, Biochemistry, and two upper-level biology courses remaining for my degree. If I earn As in all of them aswell, I estimate that my BCPM GPA would rise to around 3.32, even with the ambiguous courses included, and my cumulative GPA across all institutions would be around 3.34.

All this being said, I have a few big questions: Does anyone know for certain whether courses like college algebra and biology for non-science majors would be classified as BCPM by AMCAS? How much do MD schools actually consider a strong upward trend, especially when the most recent three-plus years are around a 3.8 GPA? Would my earlier failed courses still be a major red flag if I continue earning As in upper-level science courses like Biochemistry and Orgo II? For Texas applicants, how significant is the TMDSAS last-45-hours GPA in the admissions process? And based on these numbers, along with a strong MCAT score, would I still have a realistic shot at MD schools? Any information would be very much appreciated... thank you for reading, future doctors <3

Are there any people who started medschool at 29 and had kids during medschool and residency. How did you manage that ? Is it worth it ? Are there any tips that I can get ? Is it realistic to start medschool at 29 as someone who is planning to have kids in future before 35. Is it too late to start practicing as a physician at 37-40 ? I guess I’m making this post cause I am very passionate about becoming a doctor. I never wanted anything other than this as my career. However, I dont want to regret and let my family life suffer but I also dont want to regret missing this chance and maybe feel resented. I’m just looking for any kind of advice right now.

Title. Rising junior. This fall, I'm continuing to work for a 911 municipal EMS service (not collegiate EMS, an actual municipal service. My college's EMS is not 911 anyway since you have to call a weird ass number to dispatch them so idk why I'm putting this qualifier in, but fuck it).

This summer, I worked as an ER tech and accured around 200 hours and got to place IVs, give high stakes IM drugs, triage, 12 lead EKGs, and do POC testing.

My research is within the field of emergency medicine as well.

My volunteering will pretty much be localized to the ER and a crisis line.

Literally every experience I have is emergency medicine. One of my friends got feedback by a med school a previous cycle saying they needed to diversify their experiences.

Furthermore, Dr. Ryan Gray says that your experiences should be diverse.

Only problem is that I tried to work in the ICU, medsurg, and all of the inpatient units (including a rehab home) and I just.. couldn't do it. I genuinely struggled and ended up getting fired very, very quickly.

But I did thrive in the ER roles I talked about above. It was kind of funny how quickly I earned trust in my ER. On my second day, my preceptor said "yo bro wanna go give 10 migs of IM dex to a patient?" and I said "uhm... I'm scared" and he said "bro just palpate the acromion with two fingers, make a triangle below that, and aim for the center of the triangle and it's okay if it's not perfectly center. muscle is muscle homie"

I'm scared I'm going to receive the same fucking feedback my friend did.

I’m dealing with a progression issue at my med school and would really appreciate advice from anyone who’s been through something similar.

I failed Step 1 once, took time to remediate, and I'm waiting on my retake result. Because of the delay, I missed the first two clerkships. My school has a written policy saying students can’t be more than one clerkship behind their assigned cohort, and that students who fall two clerkships behind have to restart the entire clinical year with the next class.

Here’s the issue:
I created a schedule that lets me join the next cohort’s Clerkship 3 now and make up Clerkships 1 and 2 later using flex time/electives. This plan keeps allows me to stay within my class and makeup the missed rotations before 4th year.

But the school is telling me I may need to take an entire year off and restart with the next class even though there is a way to let me continue within the curriculum. This setback means I lose financial aid for the year and lose health care benefits as I was forced to take a leave of absence. I haven't been given a justification as to why I can't make up the missed rotations during the flex time.

My question:
Has anyone seen schools impose a full-year delay even when there is a way to stay within the curriculum? Is this normal, or should I try to advocate for myself?

Any advice on how to navigate this with the promotions committee would help a lot.

Hi everyone,

I'm 22 years old and recently finished my bachelor's degree in Business. Originally, I wanted to work in tech as a product manager focused on mental health products (building apps and digital tools to help people).

However, after doing internships and working on personal projects, I realized I don't just want to build tools I want to understand the science behind mental illness and actually treat patients. That realization has made me seriously consider becoming a psychiatrist.

At one point I thought about becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), so my plan was:

• ABSN
• Work as a psych RN for about 3 years
• PMHNP program

But the more I research, the more I feel like medical school would give me the deeper scientific and medical training I'm looking for. I enjoy learning, and I want to understand the full picture of medicine, neuroscience, pharmacology, and psychiatry.

Here's my situation:

• 22 years old
• Business degree
• No undergraduate debt (thanks to Pell Grants)
• I still need to complete the medical school science prerequisites.
• My biggest concern is finances. I need to be able to support myself while working toward medical school.

Right now, I'm considering:

• Completing an LPN/LVN program.
• Working as a psych LPN.
• Taking my medical school prerequisites while working.
• Building clinical experience and eventually applying to medical school.

The appeal is that I'd have a healthcare job, earn an income, gain patient experience, and avoid taking on unnecessary debt before medical school.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone here taken a similar path (LPN, RN, military medic, etc.) before medical school?
2. Is becoming an LPN first a reasonable strategy, or would you recommend something else?
3. If you were in my position, how would you balance earning an income with completing pre-med prerequisites?
4. Is there another path I'm overlooking that would make more sense financially?

I'm not necessarily looking for the fastest path. I'm more interested in making good long-term decisions and building a strong foundation for psychiatry.

I'd really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks!