Coming Soon

So it's been a while since I did anything with the blog... thought I should let people know about some awesome posts that will be coming soon-ish.

People's (Premed101's) Guide to the U of T Essay

• Comprehensive guide based on compiled/analysed accounts of those (on Premed101)  that were successful in receiving interview invitations for U of T med. Will aim to post by August at the latest.

EDIT: U of T no longer requires the essay, starting this year I guess. They now have 4 questions, similar to the ones that McMaster had a couple of years ago.

Big List of "Back-Up" Plans for Premeds

• An all-inclusive, easy-to-read list of alternate plans for applicants that were rejected from medical schools and considering (a) gap year(s), or another career in health care.
• Will include factors such as minimum, average, "competitive" GPA, tests required, deadline to apply, program locations, prereqs, potential salary, job market, etc.
• Multi-part series (~15?), including a short guide to US medical school admissions.
• This one will take quite a while, will post intermittently throughout the year. 

Guide to Canadian med school admissions

• An up-to-date admissions guide with recent statistics and honest advice. No BS.

...and possibly more. Probably the most useful stuff I'll ever write.

Incidentally, daily view count of this blog has almost doubled due to MCAT writers this summer (I can see google search keywords that led people to this blog)... good luck to you all. 

Matt

Premed Memes

Here are a collection of random premed-themed memes I made for premed101- thought it would be nice to see them all in one place. Most were made during times of frustration, boredom, or simply procrastination. 

Rage comic and meme made while waiting for rejection email from U of T med.

First world problems- premed 

My "Premed Bad Luck Brian" series

Just for fun, while I'm still working on the more "useful" posts.

Matt

How I destroyed the MCAT with minimal study time: a ragecomic post

After all the useful posts about "How to Destroy the MCAT with Minimal Studying", I decided to write about how I actually got through with minimal studying. In 2010, I decided to take the MCAT in May, giving myself exactly 18 days to study for the MCAT. In hindsight, it was stupid and insane- I originally planned on studying during the school year, but second year was too much so that all went to hell... but thankfully, things worked out better than I expected.

Here is a graphical + text representation of how the studying went down:

Figure 1. Started studying for the MCAT

Figure 2. Days 1-10- Reviewing general chemistry, physics, biology section, and solving problems for each section.

Figure 3. Day 11- First practice MCAT (Kaplan)- PS 7 BS 10 VR 7. Printed out dozens of practice exams for PS, and went through those for the rest of the day.

Figure 4. Day 12- Second practice MCAT (Kaplan)- PS 13 BS 9 VR 10. For the rest of the day, solved PS problems, started on VR and BS as well.

Figure 5. Day 13- Third practice MCAT (Kaplan)- epic fail, PS 8 BS 6 VR 9. For the rest of the day, solve BS problems until some sort of hemorrhage.

...and the rest:

Day 14- Practice MCAT- PS 9 BS 7 VR 9. Continue practicing BS, PS.

***Massive panic- realized I've barely practised for verbal reasoning. 

Day 15- Practice MCAT+ rest doing VR practice.

Day 16- D-4. AAMC MCAT #10, started mental prep for the actual thing.

Day 17- D-3. AAMC MCAT #8. Verbal reasoning still not good.

Day 18- D-2. Still in panic for verbal reasoning, resulting in 4 EK VR exams in a day. NOT a good idea (Refer to Part 2 of MCAT series). End of studying.

Figure 6. D-1- Dead for the entire day.

D-Day- The MCAT was a traumatic experience and my memories of it started to come back weeks later.

Figure 7. Self-portrait after writing the MCAT.

As you can see, it was a mad, frantic rush of desperation and frequent bouts of hopelessness and depression.

But by the end...

Figure 8. After receiving test scores three weeks later.

Thanks to all my previous research and the resources I got from that research, I somehow pulled it off... but this approach is too risky, and I think (and I should have as well) anyone should put aside at least 1.5 months to prepare (up to 4 depending on your major). In the end, I ended up studying ~8 hours per day, totalling ~1800 pages of work while completely fried by the end of the day, every day.

Thanks for reading, good luck!

Matt