The Premed Years

(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

(00:00) — First spark for medicine: Medical kit, microscope, and a fascination with how life works.
(03:01) — Surgical tech discovery: How a quarter-life crisis and financial strain led Karen to a trade-school OR program during a UCLA gap year.
(06:58) — Working and studying simultaneously: Managing OR swing shifts and on-call hours while finishing the last two years at UCLA.
(12:35) — The seven-year gap explained: Graduating in 2019, pandemic disruptions, and repeated delays to the application timeline.
(14:25) — Weighing other healthcare careers: Why nursing and PA didn't fit, and what finally locked in the MD decision.
(17:39) — Turning down the first acceptance: The financial reality of a new DO school without federal loan eligibility and a 12.5% private loan rate.
(23:53) — Rebuilding the application: Retaking the MCAT, rewriting the personal statement, and changing the entire strategy.
(28:31) — Early decision to one school: Why Karen applied to a single out-of-state program and what happened when the early decision answer was no.
(34:28) — The acceptance call in Hawaii: What it felt like to hear yes after years of setbacks.
(38:09) — Medical school so far: The scope of what an MD degree actually opens up.
(42:10) — Final words for struggling premeds: What persistence looks like in practice.

Karen path to medical school did not follow a straight line. She left UCLA after financial pressure began dragging her GPA down, spent a year and a half earning a surgical technology certification, worked in hospital operating rooms on swing shifts and on-call hours, and completed a medical mission abroad — all before finishing her undergraduate degree. When she finally applied to medical school, she got in. Then she said no, because the school's private loan interest rate was 12.5% and it was not yet eligible for federal financial aid. She spent the next cycle rebuilding her application from scratch, retaking the MCAT, rewriting her personal statement, and applying via early decision to a single out-of-state school. The acceptance call came while she was standing in an airport in Hawaii. In this conversation, Karen talks candidly about the self-doubt that stretched her timeline, the financial realities that shaped her decisions at every stage, and what finally made the difference in her second application cycle.

What You'll Learn:
- How a surgical technology program can provide deep clinical experience that strengthens a premed application
- Why new medical schools may not qualify for federal student loans and what that means for applicants
- How to decide whether retaking the MCAT is worth it when your existing score is already competitive
- What changes Karen made to her personal statement the second time that she believes made the difference
- Why applying to fewer schools with stronger fit can be a more effective strategy than applying broadly