<p>The medical school application process is INSANE. (that's with all capital letters). I can assure you that asking questions like "will taking Latin help me get into med school?" and "when and how should I shadow/get involved in research?" are pointless if you can't show the ways in which these classes, experiences, and activities are meaningful to you.</p>
<p>My 2-cents? Only get involved in activities and enroll in classes if you actually LIKE them. Don't like the lab you're in? QUIT. Don't like research at all? YOU'RE NOT PROVING ANYTHING BY DOING IT (I actually love my clinical research, surprisingly). Not involved on campus? Do something FUN! Right now I'm so glad that I did, as I'm finding the essays are livelier, more real, and even entertaining.</p>
<p>After submitting 11 secondaries (and I have 1 auto-invite, so I skip the secondary and go straight to the interview?), I'm absolutely, positively, 100% DRAINED. ...and there'll only be more to come. ...and for once, I'm tired of talking about me. :-).</p>
<p>So, that's it. On my first 4-day weekend, I'm sitting in a Starbucks on a perfectly amazingly Friday in midtown Manhattan writing the last essay for the last secondary I've received so far. Tonight will be amazing.</p>
<p>Good luck to all. Please, for the love, stop stressing about silly things <3, and remember to live your life to the fullest. SpendingTimeWithPeopleWhoLoveYou > AnythingElse (even the MCAT!)</p>
<p>Yeah, you couldn't pay me to go back to this time last year (although I was a bad pre-med and hadn't submitted my primary by this time last year). Secondaries are brutal.</p>
<p>I'm glad that you feel like your college activities give a good idea of who you are rather than who you think a pre-med student should be. It definitely makes things easier to write about and (you'll find later) easier to talk about during the interviews. My own advice on these things is always the same: do things about which you can be enthusiastic because that enthusiasm always comes across later.</p>
<p>here u r talking about finishing secondaries and I haven't submitted my primary yet.....hopefully it'll be in this weekend <em>crosses fingers</em></p>
<p>...but i totally agree with the advice in this thread</p>
<p>I'll let you in on a secret. I finished my primary the last weekend of July last year, and I kept almost all of my secondaries until the last possible minute. But then I got into the school I most wanted to go to in November, and I was able to withdraw a number of applications before I'd had to pay the fee for the secondary. Please note that I DO NOT encourage anyone else to follow this method. In hindsight, I am amazed both that I did this and that it worked.</p>