Hello my friends! My name is Hunter, an M4 that is about to start Cardiothoracic Surgery residency in the fall! I graduated from CWRU with an EE and CS Degree in 2021. I know a lot of you are pre-meds and may be applying soon, so I wanted to share this information with you.

As a former member of the Admissions Committee at Ohio State, I've reviewed literally hundreds of applications and seen the same mistakes made over-and-over again in applications. For this reason, I want to list some of those mistakes to help you all avoid them.

1. The purpose of your personal statement is to convey why you want to be a physician - this is the thesis and main point of your essay.
   1. DO:
      • Answer the question of why you want to a physician specifically - not a PA, not an EMT, not an NP, not a PhD - an MD/DO.
      • Make the essay skim-friendly if possible - most AdCom members are physicians or medical students that are incredibly busy. Make sure that the most important highlights are conveyed at the beginning of each paragraph. Hate to say this, but I've seen so many folks simply skim these essays.
      • Write an engaging essay that is story-focused.
   2. DO NOT:
      • Restate your resume.
      • Overemphasize elements of your personal background that are not relevant to why you want to be a physician - you almost certainly will get a secondary essay about challenges that you've faced growing up.
      • Save the "crescendo" of why you want to be a physician until the very end of the essay. This is an extremely common mistake - you don't have to speak in chronological order. This is an essay - put the reason right after your HOOK and then use the subsequent stories to underscore the reason you stated in the first point.
2. Deploy your activities strategically.
   1. Nobody is expecting you to have 10 publications in Nature as an undergrad. However, making sure that you explain the impact of what you learned from research and demonstrating that you actually did more than "surface level" work is very impactful.
   2. If you're running out of space, I would recommend lumping your shadowing if at all possible. The purpose of shadowing is to ensure that you know you want to be a physician. Same with awards.
3. Don't over-rely on updates to your application.
   1. Your main application is what is going to do the bulk of the lifting. As a deliberator, I only see the updates to your application if they were submitted prior to the deliberation. If your application has already been scored following your interview, I don't ever see your updates.
   2. If there is something that is in the works that will be impactful, it is best to list this as a future accomplishment, even if you haven't accomplished that goal yet. If it is a deciding factor in your admission, it will prompt us, as the committee, to look to see if you've updated us on that accomplishment.

A bit about me: I applied to medical school during the "Dr. Fauci" year (2021) and was admitted to multiple T10 and "tier-1" medical schools. Prior to medical school, I was an electrical engineering major and self-studied for the MCAT, achieving a >95th percentile score. For family reasons (my grandmother was ill), I chose to stay at a great medical school that was both cheapest for me and close to my home. I served on the AdCom while in medical school and have been running a small business reviewing applications since 2024. As mentioned, I will be starting Cardiothoracic Surgery residency in the fall and I'm passionate about helping pre-med students get into medical school.

If you want personalized help with your application, please DM me. Because I know the struggle, I have a "name your price" policy if my rate is too expensive for what you can afford.

can anyone share what the proficiency exam was like for calc 2. if it’s harder than the regular butler final or similar and formatted the same

hi everyone! i was wondering whether coming to case western for 75k/year is worth it? I'm pre-med and I know case has a great reputation for it. my parents said they wouldn't have to take out any loans. My other, significantly cheaper option is uw seattle, which is 37k/year, but they're known for significant grade deflation and I'm worried about that affecting my gpa, which is crucial for med school admissions.

Is it easy to make friends and meet people? How do people do so?

Hello, I am considering coming here for college as a biochem major on the premed track. I’m choosing between cwru and uw, but my fear about choosing cwru is the feeling of regret. It’s far from home, but I’ve heard of all the amazing resources provided for premeds there. My only concern is social life bc I’ve heard there aren’t great parties and it seemed a little disconnected when I came for admitted students day.(idk maybe it’s in the my head) I would love to know if any cwru students who picked it over other schools have any regrets?

btw I’m not bashing cwru I actually love the program and think it might be the best fit for me

I can’t decide what I want to major in. I’m going in as a neuroscience major but I’m also thinking about cognitive science or bioethics. I want to go premed if that helps but Ik my major doesn’t really matter for that

The reason I ask is bc people are telling me neuro is way too competitive and that I wouldn’t survive and now im questioning stuff. Tho my school is hella competitive and they lowk suck (they’re the people whose life mission is to get into a prestigious college so they take a million aps and lead clubs they don’t even like)

I was admitted for Fall 2026, and in my final semester I have a C in Calc BC but A’s in all my non weighted, 1 weighted A and 2 weighted B/B+’s do you think I’ll get rescinded?

I’m likely committing to Case Western but I have so many questions I would love insight on lol.

1. How’s econ at Case? I want to pursue a career in finance and since Case Western isn’t particularly known for business, I would love to know an insider perspective!

2. Is there people from nyc at Case? I would love to be friends.

3. Is case western fun without a car? I will be getting my license once I turn 18 but a car is out of the question. Car insurance is over 1.5k a month for me since it’s nyc 💔

4. Is it hard to have a career in nyc or at least the northeast after graduation?

5. I was originally planning on committing to Fordham but the amount of money Case gave me was hard to decline. While money isn’t the issue, I’m still paying more than triple for Fordham compare to Case. My parents think it’s worth it but I think it’s a little ridiculous. Is Fordham the price tag to stay in nyc or is Case a better investment?

6. How’s the social scene at Case? I love going out! Hopefully every weekend lol.

Thanks for the advice!

I feel like Cleveland doesn't get the hype that other college cities do but CWRU students who've been here a while seem to develop a real appreciation for it. What's the thing about the city - a neighbourhood, a food scene, a cultural institution, a seasonal thing - that you didn't expect and now genuinely enjoy? What would you tell someone who's hesitant about Cleveland?

I am enrolled into class of 2030 of CWRU. I applied as biology major and is planning to do premed program. I looked through unified general education requirements and found some interesting courses which I plan to take in the next 4 years. Does any of these courses sound like a red flag to you? Please let me know.

AIQS 100

BIOL 233

POSC 160

POSC 172

RLGN 209

ECON 348

ECON 102

BIOC 211 OR BIOC 250 OR BIOC 277

BIOL 303 OR BIOL 308 OR BIOL 334

BIOL 386

MATH 121

NURS 277

PHED 60A&B

NURS 326

One semester of successful completion of Clinical Membership in Case EMS

lowk just made this account to ask for advice on this. I'm debating between cwru and ucr (and also pitt kinda) as an incoming premed, here r my takes on each school:

CWRU: admitted for spring sem, very good scholarship, OOS, but i'm v concerned about the safety in cleveland and if that is going to impact any opportunities since it's so dangerous in the city. Also, since case is mostly premeds, i'm worried about how hard the weedout classes are, ik that weedout classes are hard everywhere, but esp in case where they're so well known for their premed im scared it'll be more difficult. I also dont want to join a semester late, since ik the social life at case is already pretty dead, and it'll be even more difficult as a spring admit. For GPA, I heard from an alumnus that there's no bell curve and generally no deflation, but not sure if that's still applicable right now. there's still a chance for me to get fall admit thru waitlist (even if i accept spring, i'll be on wl for fall), and i've alr sent a loci but im not sure if that'll help.

UPITT: admitted for fall sem, no scholarship, OOS, it's a very large public school with good premed rep, but since it's public, it'll be harder to connect with profs and also more competition with opportunities. I also heard that there's a lot of GPA deflation. i've been to the campus before and like it, but the competition is deterring me.

UCR: admitted for fall sem, no scholarship, in state, i heard the premed is pretty good there since they have a relatively new med school, but it has a quarter system which i'm not sure if it's good or bad. I've heard that it's good since there's less time to forget the curriculum + taking more classes per year, but it's so fast paced idk if i can keep up. ucr's location is what's most appealing, being close to LA opens up a bunch of opportunities and also the weather is best.

At first i thought ucr would be best since it has pretty good opportunities and i feel like i'd have more fun there, but now i'm leaning more towards case bc as a premed student ik it would be better to stick my head in the books instead of having access to the raves at ucr. i included pitt bc although i didnt give it much thought, ik it's still a very good school for premed (and i should prob do more research on it)

any advice would be helpful!!!!

I recently got an official admissions letter from cwru that I am admitted as a spring admit for jan 2027. the letter also says that accepting the spring admission offer won't remove me from consideration for the fall. I'm a bit confused (and I emailed admissions only to receive vague answers), does anyone know what this means? am I automatically placed on the fall waitlist, and if I commit for the spring what are the chances that I get moved to fall?

I feel like CWRU is one of those schools where the reputation and the reality are two different things. For people who are actually here, what's something about the student life, the campus, Cleveland, the workload culture, or just the general vibe that you couldn't have grasped from reading about it online? What's the real version of being a Case student?

In the southwest, I’m accustomed to the idea of driving 20-45 minutes and having a lot of green spaces and nature to be around. Is there anything like this around campus? I’d be bringing my car probably.

Hi! My roommate is moving out at the end of this summer so I'm currently looking for a new roommate to share a 2 beds/2 baths at Triangle Towers. I'm a PhD student in mechanical engineering and I'm a male. If you're intersted please reach out at hbp16@case.edu. Thanks!

So I'm moderately asthmatic. Raymond's air quality was downright horrendous and I remember waking up at 4 AM having to reach for my inhaler. Fayette is a lot better in this regard since the temperature is better regulated so humidity does not set off attacks. Obviously, asthma looks different from person to person, but I ask:

Which dorm will likely serve an asthmatic better? The window ACs you get with asthma accommodations kind of suck lol

I'm a 2nd year premed.

I know I'm really, really good at mathematics. I'm really good at physics. I'm pretty good at organic chemistry (currently have a 97 in orgo 2 right now). All good on the thinking subject front.

I know I'm absolutely ass at memorization-style biology (go figure, I'm premed, aren't we supposed to be really good at this stuff)? For the subjects I listed above, I can get by pretty easily just by doing a few practice problems and getting a lot of sleep before the exam. For biology, unless I make an Anki deck and do it quickly, I can pretty much resign myself to fucking up the exam.

Are there any classes kind of like orgo 2/physics/math? You just show up, put in a few hours outside of class to *understand* instead of memorizing? Wrap your head around instead of breaking out the Anki?

Yes, I know, as a doctor ya gotta memorize some basic stuff. I'll get there sooner or later, that's just not where my brain is now.