The Premed Years

(00:00) — Growing Up Around Medicine: Hallie describes having two surgical physician associate parents and knowing from childhood that medical school was her path.
(04:24) — Division I Fencing Meets Premed: How training at 5:45 a.m., attending class, and working overnight ER shifts defined her undergraduate years.
(07:52) — Deciding to Delay, Not Quit: Why Hallie chose two gap years over dropping fencing, and what the full college experience cost her timeline.
(09:03) — The MCAT Sucker Punch: Three attempts, one void, 28 full-length practice exams, and a score that moved less than one point.
(12:17) — What She Got Wrong About MCAT Prep: The difference between checking off practice tests and actually diagnosing your mistakes.
(17:00) — Applying Broadly and Going DO: How she decided to apply to over 40 schools, what happened on the MD side, and why she ultimately found the right fit.
(22:43) — DO vs. MD and Orthopedic Surgery: What she knew early about the match landscape for competitive specialties, and how she processed the disappointment.
(25:29) — Building a Research and Networking Foundation: Starting research at 19, scrubbing into ORs outside her rotation, and why genuine interest beats strategic positioning.
(35:39) — Rewinding to the Application Mindset: Reflecting on what the MD rejections really meant and how her perspective shifted once she was inside medical school.
(38:56) — Final Words for the Premed Who Is Stuck: What Hallie would say to any student on their 27th practice exam who is questioning whether to keep going.

Hallie took the MCAT three times, voided it once, and logged 28 full-length practice exams before applying to medical school — and her score barely moved a single point. In this episode of The Premed Years, she talks honestly about what went wrong in her prep, what she eventually understood about quality versus quantity in studying, and how that same lesson came back around when she hit Step 1 in medical school. A Division I fencer who worked overnight ER shifts between tournaments, Hallie built a strong application in every dimension except the one score that gatekeeps the process. She applied broadly to both MD and DO programs, processed real disappointment on the MD side, and found her footing at a DO school where she is now in her clinical years with orthopedic surgery in her sights. She also gets specific about what she is doing right now — walking into orthopedic ORs on her own time, introducing herself to every member of the surgical team, and building relationships with genuine interest rather than calculated positioning. This episode is for any premed who is putting in the hours and not seeing the results, and who needs an honest conversation about what it actually takes to get to the other side.

What You'll Learn:
- Why taking more practice tests without deep review is one of the most common and costly MCAT prep mistakes
- How to honestly assess whether you understand a concept versus whether you have simply seen it before
- What pursuing a competitive surgical specialty as a DO student actually looks like in terms of preparation and match strategy
- How to build meaningful relationships with attendings and residents before your official surgical rotations begin
- Why the reasons you choose medicine matter as much as the credentials you build to get there

(00:00) — First Spark: How a hospital shadowing program in high school shifted Justin's view of medicine from negative to hopeful.
(00:27) — Immigrant Family Expectations: The doctor-lawyer-accountant conversation that narrowed Justin's focus and why he's grateful for it.
(04:34) — Choosing Seton Hall: Why staying close to home and picking a smaller school turned out to be the right call for staying focused.
(10:22) — Collaboration Over Competition: How studying alongside classmates pursuing PT, PA, and med school kept Justin on track without the cutthroat dynamic.
(16:20) — MCAT Rescheduling Spiral: The honest account of pushing back the MCAT four or five times and what finally made Justin ready to sit for it.
(21:52) — Checking Boxes vs. Meaning: Why running around doing every premed activity left Justin with experiences he could barely remember by application time.
(23:39) — Applying Late and What It Cost: Submitting two months after applications opened, what that felt like in real time, and how it still worked out.
(32:50) — TikTok Origin Story: The mall conversation about Washington, DC that accidentally launched a multi-million-follower social media presence.
(35:19) — Social Media vs. Medicine: The pressure to quit one or the other, and how Justin reframed content creation as a hobby rather than a competing identity.
(38:52) — Dad's Long-Term Question: The family conversation that settled the debate between full-time content creation and medical school.
(42:23) — Closing Advice: What Justin would tell any premed trying to balance a public platform with the demands of the path to medicine.

Justin was a freshman in college when a friend's embarrassing geography gap turned into a TikTok video that got 100,000 views overnight. By the time he applied to medical school, he had millions of followers across platforms. He also submitted his application two months late, rescheduled his MCAT four or five times, and took a gap year he never planned on taking. In this conversation, Justin walks through the full arc of his premed path — from a hospital shadowing program in high school that flipped his negative view of medicine, to navigating an immigrant family's expectations, to figuring out that checking off every premed activity was producing experiences he could barely recall when it came time to write about them. He talks honestly about imposter syndrome in his first year of medical school, the time management shift that made studying feel less like punishment, and how he handled the very real pressure from people on both sides — doctors warning him that social media would hurt his career, and followers telling him to drop medicine entirely. His answer to both was the same: stay true to what you actually want.

What You'll Learn:
- Why rescheduling the MCAT repeatedly is not a strategy, and what finally made Justin commit to a test date
- How a smaller undergraduate institution can sharpen focus rather than limit opportunity
- Why submitting a medical school application late has real consequences, even when things ultimately work out
- How to hold a social media presence and a premed identity at the same time without letting either one define you completely
- Why a gap year you did not plan for can become one of the most valuable parts of the path to medical school

(00:00) — Born in India, raised in Canada: How early experiences with navigating healthcare planted the seed for a medical career.
(03:03) — Canadian medical school odds: Why the stat-heavy, seat-limited system makes it one of the hardest paths in North America.
(06:51) — First application cycle, zero interviews: What went wrong and what "being a perfect applicant" actually cost her.
(09:02) — Second cycle, authentic essays, a few interviews: How honesty on paper moved the needle — but not enough.
(15:29) — Ruling out India, weighing the US, Ireland, and the Caribbean: How she narrowed her options after two rejections.
(19:05) — Researching Caribbean schools: Attrition rates, match stats, LinkedIn outreach, and a campus visit with her mom.
(23:26) — The financial reality for Canadian students at Caribbean schools: Private loans, OSAP, and a scholarship that changed the math.
(28:21) — First days at SGU in Grenada: The pressure of IMG status, 12-to-15-hour study days, and staying focused on today.
(32:13) — The "Caribbean med school is a vacation" myth: Why the stigma is wrong and what the attrition numbers actually show.
(37:53) — Adjusting to island life: Grocery runs as the only break, finding a study rhythm, and getting comfortable in a new environment.
(41:57) — Words for students considering the Caribbean path: Why a different road is still a real road.

After two application cycles to Canadian medical schools — zero interviews the first time, a handful the second — this premed from Ontario made a decision that changed everything: she packed up and headed to St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada. In this episode, she walks through exactly how she got there, from growing up as an immigrant child helping her family navigate the healthcare system, to a five-year co-op undergrad, a master's degree, a second MCAT, and ultimately the realization that the Canadian system's stat-driven, seat-scarce process simply wasn't going to open for her. She talks honestly about the financial side — private bank lines of credit, OSAP, and a merit scholarship from SGU — and about what it actually feels like to sit down with a tuition bill that size. Once on the island, she found that Caribbean medical school is nothing like the vacation stereotype: class sizes in the 500-to-600 range thin out every term, and she routinely puts in 12 to 15 hours of studying a day. Her strategy for handling the pressure of IMG status, uncertain residency prospects, and being far from family comes down to one discipline: focus only on what today requires.

What You'll Learn:
- Why Canadian medical schools function as a stats-first filter and what that means for applicants who are strong but not perfect on paper
- How to research Caribbean medical schools beyond Reddit — including what data points actually matter for Canadian and US students
- What the financial pathway looks like for Canadian students attending a Caribbean school, including private loans, provincial aid, and institutional scholarships
- Why the "Caribbean school is easy" stigma is inaccurate and what the real academic demands look like from a current student
- How to stay mentally grounded when the pressure of loans, IMG status, and an uncertain match future is constant

(00:47) — Grandfather's Illness as Catalyst: Shemiele traces her interest in medicine to caring for her grandfather in Jamaica and losing him to a stroke.
(02:30) — Immigrating in Sixth Grade: How moving to the US opened up possibilities she hadn't considered growing up in Jamaica.
(05:37) — Deciding on Medicine in High School: The shadowing experience that confirmed she wanted to become a physician.
(09:49) — Approaching Graduation Without the MCAT: Why she didn't know the test existed and how she started piecing the process together.
(13:57) — Quitting Her Job to Study: How she structured her MCAT prep during the pandemic and what made her feel ready.
(16:42) — Building the Application from Scratch: Using online resources to learn how to structure a competitive application.
(21:44) — Six Versions of a Personal Statement: What made the writing process so hard and how she finally got it right.
(25:27) — Secondary Burnout and What She'd Do Differently: Applying to 17 schools, finishing only 10 secondaries, and the staggering strategy she wishes she'd used.
(51:37) — Learning to Use a Mentor: What she didn't do during the application process and what she now tells the students she mentors.
(57:10) — Run Your Own Race: Her closing advice for premed students who feel behind.

Shemiele grew up in Jamaica, immigrated to the United States in sixth grade, and became the first in her family to pursue medical school. She didn't know the MCAT existed until she was nearly done with her two concurrent bachelor's degrees. She learned the entire application process through online resources, figured out her personal statement through six different versions, and got buried under secondaries she hadn't pre-written. She also skipped mock interviews and wishes she hadn't. Despite all of it, she earned a medical school acceptance in Florida and is now a third-year medical student who mentors others going through the same process. This conversation is a candid, practical look at what the premed path actually looks like when you're navigating it without a built-in support system — and what you can do to give yourself the best possible shot.

What You'll Learn:
- Why pre-writing secondaries before your primary is submitted can prevent burnout and missed opportunities
- How to approach your personal statement as a cohesive message rather than a list of experiences
- What a mentor is actually for and how to use that relationship throughout the application process
- Why applying early matters and how to prioritize secondaries when they all arrive at once
- How to run your own timeline without comparing your pace to everyone else's

(01:57) — Father's passing at 13: the moment that pointed toward medicine
(03:22) — Growing up in Nigeria with no doctors in the family
(05:07) — Applying to med school in Nigeria and not getting in
(06:53) — Leaving home at 17 on a scholarship to study in the UK
(09:04) — Being premed in the UK with no advisor who understood US requirements
(10:32) — Why US medical school was always the destination
(16:17) — Researching which US schools she was eligible to apply to
(19:06) — Building the application largely on her own
(22:26) — Why she stopped comparing herself to other applicants
(26:38) — A family loss mid-cycle and a collapsing timeline
(28:13) — Deciding to apply anyway instead of waiting a year
(29:49) — Submitting her primary early while prepping for a late-July MCAT
(31:45) — Secondaries submitted on the deadline — the honest account
(33:57) — First interview invite, roughly a month after her last secondary
(38:41) — Three interviews, three acceptances
(39:37) — Choosing a school: full funding and research access
(40:08) — Final words for premeds navigating this without a roadmap

Ore grew up in Nigeria, lost her father at 13, and left home at 17 on a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. From her first year of undergrad, she was researching US medical school requirements and treating herself like a premed in the US — even when her advisors had no idea what she was talking about. She came to the United States for her master's in public health, worked to cover her living costs, and applied to roughly ten schools — the only ones she was eligible for given her background. Her aunt passed away mid-cycle. Her secondaries went in on the deadline. She had no US prereqs and no premed advisor who had seen a path like hers. She received three interview invites and three acceptances. In this conversation with Dr. Ryan Gray, Ore walks through every major decision she made — how she chose which schools to apply to, how she balanced her personal statement with MCAT prep, why she moved forward instead of waiting a year, and how financial aid shaped her final choice. She is direct, practical, and honest about the parts that did not go according to plan.

What You'll Learn:
- How to identify which US medical schools you are eligible for when your prereqs were completed outside the United States
- Why submitting your primary early matters even if your MCAT score is not back yet
- How to think through the decision to apply in a difficult cycle versus waiting a year
- What it looks like to build a competitive application without a premed advisor who understands your specific situation
- How to stop comparing your application to others when your path has been genuinely different