I’m a third year MD-PhD student living in NYC.
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From the Blog
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Approaching the “Leadership” essay in your secondary applications
A common prompt you will encounter while writing your secondary applications is the “leadership” prompt: Please describe your most meaningful leadership positions. (Columbia) What has been the one most unique leadership, entrepreneurial or creative activity in which you participated? (UCLA) The Approach I think a common mistake students make with this prompt (especially ones worded…
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Pre-writing Secondary Essays for Medical School Applications
Now that many students have submitted their primary applications, it’s time to start prewriting secondary essays! What are Secondary Essays? Secondary essays are prompts that medical schools will send out after the AMCAS transmission date. Unlike the primary application essays, which are sent to all schools, secondary essays are additional essays you submit to that…
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How I got a 132 in CARS (10-week prep!)
Some background: I know this might be hard to believe now, but coming into the MCAT I knew CARS was going to be my “weak spot”. I remember studying for SAT reading and not doing as great as I wanted (I don’t even remember if I broke 700 for SAT reading lol), but actually, I…
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How to answer “anything else?” in medical school interviews
As the cycle goes on I will be sharing some of my interview advice for med school–if you have any suggestions on what questions I should break down, or any questions you’d want me to address, leave me a comment and I will take a stab at it. :) Today I wanted to talk about…
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USMLE STEP 1: What to expect on test day
I took STEP 1 back in February 2023, and after the exam, I jotted some notes down on my overall experience, lessons learned, and advice. I think at the time I was hesitant about posting STEP 1 related content before results were released, but that’s not a concern anymore now in July 2023 (I passed,…
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If your PI leaves before you start the PhD Phase…
I came across this Reddit post today: My PI is moving to a different university across the country and has invited me to come with him. The plan is for him to move in a year from now, which is after I would be starting my Ph.D. I am currently starting MS2 and have only done lab…
About Me
Hi, I’m Cindy
I originally started this blog as a way to document my life as a premed–but it evolved into a blog where I share advice and resources for premeds (and sometimes, my musings as a med student). I hope to help make the process of getting to medical school a little less opaque for others by honestly sharing my experiences.
Feel free to browse around! Thank you for visiting.
