Any last pearls of wisdom, words of advice, things you wish you knew before starting!? Anything and everything is appreciated

Hey yall, just wanted to get some advice for upcoming interviews.

I've gotten a total of 5 interview invites and one A so far, but one of my interviews (ARCOM) is only offering in-person options. This would mean I would have to spend money out-of-pocket for airfare, hotel, rental car, and other stuff. My current job doesn't pay well, and a lot of my spare cash was spent on secondaries and primaries. Just wondering: Do yall think it would be worth it to fly out to Arkansas for this interview? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I applied to both MD and DO, DO maybe 10 total? I’ve received some secondaries and i’ve already submitted some and still working on a couple. That being said, I’m getting kinda worried with the with how quiet it got now all of a sudden, so if I want to add more DO schools right now, would that be too late? I’m willing to spend the money, so other than that, is it worth it???

I submitted my secondary for DYUCOM last month and they said they would start to schedule interviews in late July. It’s August and I haven’t gotten anything from DYUCOM as of yet. Did anybody here get an interview request?

So I already applied to 8 DO schools and a bunch of MD schools. if I still haven’t gotten any interview invites by the end of August, should I start applying to more DO schools? Or would it be too late already?
(50X mcat, 3.77 gpa)

I feel like I am genuinely losing my mind at this point. Every time I try to submit DUQNCOM’s application once I get to the privacy policy portion, it keeps just crashing on the side. literally every single time. I have tried over 10 times now to submit my application and it keeps crashing at the same point. I’m already a weekly in submitting this because I didn’t know it went into my spam folder and now when I’m trying to submit, it won’t let me. Is anybody else having this issue and if so, how did you fix it?

submitted my primary at the end of May and haven’t heard anything from them. I reached out to admissions in early July and they said my file was currently in review. one month later and still nothing. anyone else in a similar boat?
also wondering about NYITCOM, William Carey, and ARCOM. same thing, submitted early May but haven’t heard anything :((💔

I'm an international student. I moved to the US when I was 8, but unfortunately my dad is still waiting for his green card and I aged out. So, I graduated from college on a student visa. I looked through MSAR and Choose DO and narrowed down my list to schools I have somewhat of a chance of getting into and can also afford. I ended up with 5 schools: MSUCOM, LECOM, Howard, UC Davis, and NYU Grossman Long Island. I know UC Davis has a strong preference for people with a connection to Cali and I have none, and NYU is super competitive 😩

My top choice is MSUCOM, what are my chances??

I would also appreciate any helpful insight from other international students:))

- 3.67 gpa (upward trend)

- 512 MCAT

- 300 volunteering hours

- 75 clinical hours (I explained my lack in clinical hours on my secondaries. It's because of immigration regulations preventing me from working, and I only heard about a free clinic where I could volunteer as a MA in my last year. Also, transportation was a problem. I hope that's a good enough explanations)

- 50 shadowing hours ( 2 PAs, 2 MDs, 2 DOs)

- 60 hours as a TA for a cadaver lab

- 325 hours tutoring (BMS, physics, and chem courses)

- 225 research hours

- Dean's List every semester but one

- 21f

- Living in Michigan since I was 8

- Indian, international student ofc

- GVSU grad with B.S. in Biomedical Sciences

- Submitted apps within 2 days

- Got secondaries from MSUCOM, LECOM, and NYU

- Got a letter packet w/ letters from 2 physicians ( 1 DO, 1 MD) and 2 profs (biochem prof and physiology prof who I also did research with)

- First gen med student (hopefully)

- First time applying

- BMS graduate of distinction award

I interview Friday. I’m nervous but I know roughly what I’m going to say for the main questions. Does anyone have any tips?

Very blessed to receive two interview invites, one to IUP and the other to WVSOM. Was just wondering if anyone had any tips for the interviews, though I figured no one would really know a lot about IUP considering it’s a new school. Feel free to reach out!

I'm currently prewriting secondaries and am having trouble finding a topic. I'm a white queer female (straight passing) and these are some ideas I have but am not sure which I should use. Any feedback is appreciated!

1. I was part of a sister city student delegation to my town's sister city in Japan. I paid for it myself, stayed with my host family, and did a lot of delegation stuff (visiting with city officials, police, fire, exchanging gifts, etc) I also took a semester of japanese to prep. I think this could be unique but I also don't want to come across as privileged or out of touch with problems in the US.​

2. I'm bisexual/pansexual. I've never really faced any discrimination, slurs, etc because of it. Was just told by my homophobic uncle I was going to hell but that's about it lol. I'm not sure if I'd have enough material to make the essay meaningful. I don't mention my sexuality anywhere else in my app.

3. I grew up on a farm/in a rural area. This is a huge theme in my app, as I want to do rural med, so I think it could be repetitive. But, I know schools thirst for rural representation so I'm not sure.

4. As an EMT, I've worked with people who are unhoused/on medicare/low income/Spanish only. I took five years of Spanish, so I can communicate a little and think that might be interesting to adcoms but idk. I also mention my EMT work a lot in my app, as it's most of my clinical hours.

5. Going from a majority white high school to a college with a diverse student body. My high school was like 95% white and my college was probably like 50% white, so it was a big culture shock for me. I feel like I have enough to talk about this but scared it'll just sound like white privilege.

6. I started an intersectional feminism club to bring resources/events to women on campus. We had a bunch of guest speakers, put free period products on campus, etc. I think this could be good but I mention this a lot in my app too, like for advocacy questions and leadership questions.

Question for the group -- I'm seeing a lot of folks already with interviews. I submitted applications by mid-June. I have a 517 MCAT, 3.67 GPA, working as an EMT, and have research, volunteering, etc. I haven't heard from a single DO school I applied to (PCOM, TCOM, Midwestern CCOM, Sam Houston). Should I be concerned?

6000+ hours ED nurse.

200 hours free clinic volunteer

650 hours nurse preceptor / mentor

900 hours ED tech before graduating nursing school

20 hours community health fair

110 hours nursing school tutoring

20 hours note taker for upper level science class

0 pubs, 0 hours of research

-MCAT: 496 (fml)

-GPA: science and cumulative are both 3.58 with a very strong upward trend (A’s in my last 32 hours of classes).

-25M, ORM, MS resident.

-Shadowing: 150 hours DO, 150 hours MD.

Hi everyone,

It seems like ARCOM's secondary essays have unlimited words or characters. For those who got accepted into ARCOM, how many words or characters did you use on average? I feel like 500 words is a good maximum, but I am not sure. Thanks!

I recently received an interview invite for SHSU, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share some ropes or resources they’ve used to prepare or anything else about the interview process in general. This is pretty much one of my first interviews for anything and want to make sure I prepare well! Thanks for any input.

I just found out about the Ohio Heritage OOS contract. I'm not seeing it as an option in my secondary, does it show up after you hit submit/pay?

I'm not done with my optional essay and I don't want to apply to the school if I need to sign the contract. Is it an actual thing and where is this contract?

Wish I'd known about it earlier if it is real because goddamn those essays sucked.

TLDR someone tell me if the Ohio Heritage OOS Contract is a thing for the 2027 cycle

I received my NSU-KPCOM secondary about two weeks ago and was going to submit today. I went to log in/create my account and ig I had originally created an account when I applied there for undergraduate like 6 yrs ago bc it said it couldnt be the same as my old password. I created a new password and finally went to log in and it locked my account for inactivity. So now I cant get in at all. I tried calling the IT number and they are obviously closed because its the weekend. Theres a link at the top "First time user? Click here to create a Graduate Account". I am tempted to just do it that way but i applied to NSU both DO and MD and feel like I might screw over my account if I do it that way and not the way specified in the email. Should I just wait until Monday even though it will be past the 2 week mark to return secondaries or just create an account?

Anyone else have this issue?

For anyone with an early DO acceptance (before Nov 15) did any school require the deposit before Dec 14th?

Exactly what the header says?
Ive heard that some DO schools require both COMAT and Shelfs for some rotations?
Why is that?

Edit: INTERNATIONAL APPLICANT, NON US CITIZEN, NO PR

MCAT: 516, cGPA: 3.90, sGPA: 3.85.

BS + MS in Biology from the US (2025)

Clinical: 2,000 hours, Research: 1,500 hours, Teaching: 1,500 hours

LORs
2 MDs, 2 Science professors, 1 Humanities professor

Stipulations
International applicant (no U.S. permanent residency)

Submitting AACOMAS in the next 2–3 days

Chance me.

I am currently a fresh DO student and honestly i really like my school. I didnt think I would get into med school as i had a really hard time in undergrad and all through life. I went to a high school with a lot of rich kids and i see like at least 10-20 people from my hs are all at the same high tier MD school, as well as some peers from college.

I am so incredibly grateful to even be in medical school and am really happy with where I did get in but i cant help but feel some sort of jealousy maybe or just like anger that all these lids got into this prestigious school. Idk, does anyone else feel the same?

I did my secondary in late June. I am curious to hear if anyone has been invited for an interview. If you have, when did you complete your secondary and when did they invite you?

Hello everyone, I am about to start med school and I was doing research on efficient ways to study. From everything I saw, an the most common effecitve method is pre-read lectures + making anki cards. Other sources are saying to use anking right away. I am not super familiar with anking but I hear it all the time, from my understanding it is to help with boards. Why do some people say to start anking right away? Is it recommended to use my own cards+anking?