M.D. students draw praise after sharing how many times they applied to med school

A group of med school students went viral after revealing how many times they applied to their program.

Helen Fanta (@helenfanta), a student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., shared the video on TikTok in late 2021. Over the last few months, the video has drawn almost 700,000 views and countless praiseworthy comments. In particular, many aspiring medical students found the revelations extremely encouraging.

The video features Fanta turning the camera on her classmates and asking them two questions. First, she asks what GPA they earned during undergrad. Then, she asks how many times they applied to med school.

@helenfanta

Reply to @helen_fanta here y’all go! I hope this video helps too, lmk! #premed #medschool #mcat #medtiktok #medstudent #hbcu #fyp #gpa

♬ original sound – Helen Fanta

As it turns out, several of Fanta’s classmates applied to med school two or three times — despite some of them having GPAs of 3.5 and above.

The video sparked a wave of comments from med school students and prospective applicants alike.

“This is really motivating,” one user wrote.

“This is a great video,” another added. “I’ve been on interview committees for medical school, and it’s not uncommon for people to apply several times.”

“This is helping relieve my anxiety so much. Thank you for this,” another added.

Fanta’s TikTok page features several similar videos in which she attempts to demystify the applications process. In another mega-viral video, she asks her classmates how many times they took the MCAT.

@helenfanta

I hope this helps someone out there that is discouraged bc things didn’t go how u planned it to go #MCAT #medschool #medtiktok #hbcu #medstudent #fyp

♬ original sound – Helen Fanta

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