Can You Have A Social Life During MCAT Prep!? (ft. two 515+ scorers!)

Show Notes

It's holiday season!! 🎄 If you're in the midst of studying for the MCAT, you might be feeling all kinds of ways... You might be feeling trapped, having to study while you see others around you taking breaks from their busy lives and having fun.  You might be feeling guilty, not studying as much as you think you should be, while spending a lot of time with family and friends.  We've been there. Those of us who tested in Jan or March were dealing with the same struggles during the December holidays. In fact, this is an issue regardless of when you're taking the MCAT (it's no different if you're testing in the summer!). We got through it but today as we're tutoring students, we're seeing history repeat itself!  Here's the deal: More often than not, we're too hard on ourselves. We're seeing students completely isolate from social interactions, facing burnout, and losing our on both ends; their scores don't increase because of the stress, and they don't get to enjoy the holiday season either! We're not saying you have to pick one or the other (good MCAT score or chill with fam/friends)... We're saying it's possible to have both! How?  That's what Monika and Ariana are discussing in this special podcast episode! Both dealt with these inner conflicts, yet they both scored 90+ percentile on the MCAT! 🙌  Here's their advice for you.

What is MCAT Mastery?

From plateauing MCAT scores, and having to retake, to breaking down days before exam day, all 70+ MedLife Mastery Mentors suffered the frustrations and disappointments that come with MCAT prep. Yet we ALL ended up getting 90+ percentile MCAT scores and are on our way to (or already in) med-school! Now we want to help you do the same!

If you're struggling with the MCAT, need some extra motivation, want to know how top scorers before you studied and learn their best strategies, this show is for you. You have what it takes to beat this exam. We’re here to make sure of that!

everyone. It's Ariana and Monica back again. Today we're going to be talking about the importance of maintaining a social life while studying for the MCAT. This is a topic I am super passionate about. Having a social life during my study process personally was like one of the things that saved me to be honest. So I think it's super important to talk about and we're just going to go over with you guys, you know, the importance of it, how to build a social life and maintain it while you're prepping. And then just the benefits overall. But yeah, that's what we're going to be talking about. Ariana, do you want to say anything? Yeah, hi. I'm excited to be back and I agree. I think the social life is one of those things that's the first to go when you're studying and like you don't really want to do it because you feel like you need to be studying. But it's actually something that even though it's not necessarily studying for the MCAT is something that can help you improve your score. So I'm excited to be here and talking about the MCAT and why it's important to have a social life, maintain your social life. Yeah, yeah. What is it usually like to study for the MCAT? The answer is it can be really, really isolating to be honest. And as you're going through it kind of feels like it's the end all be all and it's the only thing that is in your life and is allowed to be in your life. I feel like I've heard a lot of top scores and just students in general talking about how when they step away from MCAT prep to be social or to do things that they enjoy, they feel really guilty. And then they all they're thinking about the whole time is how they should be studying for the MCAT. And so it's just like a huge thing that takes over your brain and that can be really, really isolating. And that's usually the way people go about it. And it's just not healthy to me in my mind. So hopefully people can see that and maybe implement a social life. I don't know. Yeah, I agree. I know I personally definitely struggle with that. Like I would be out with my friends and I'd be thinking about it or I'd be like, oh, I'm not doing this. I could have got this done or I'd be late because I wanted to like keep studying. But I think ultimately like something that I found really helpful was to begin to compartmentalize and really be like, if I'm studying, I'm studying, but if I'm out with friends or going home to see my family, like I'm not doing the MCAT and kind of letting that be a break. And again, I try and tie a lot of these topics like back to medical school, but we have this week before our exams where all we do is study. And it's something that I really found during that time. Like some people can study all day. I'm not one of those people. So when I get into those weeks, having practice with the MCAT, taking breaks and allowing myself that space, I really found it was helpful when I came into medical school. I didn't feel as guilty as I did when studying with the MCAT because I had experienced it, I practiced it, I like learned how to do it and ultimately it paid off. So again, it's one of those things applicable to medical school and applicable to real life because even in non-medical jobs, you're still going to need to take breaks and have time for yourself. Yeah, definitely. And if you don't take those breaks and if you don't like allow yourself to step away or change tracks at least for a little bit, when you're so isolated like that, it's damaging to your mental health. So it can make you feel constantly stressed. And as people who are going into the medical field, we know how damaging stress is for your mental health as well as your physical health. All of it is so all-encompassing. So having that level of stress, just taking over your entire life and not having this other half of your life to escape to when you need to, I think can just be really, really hard for people and difficult during MCAT prep and probably in medical school as well. Totally agree. So I think one of the things that people struggle with is maybe they recognize that, okay, I need to be kind of having a social life. I need to go out with my friends. But how do I go about doing that with the MCAT so that I still feel like I'm accomplishing my goals and I still feel like I'm also getting the time that I need to like take a break? I know for me, something that I did to give myself space is like, if I knew I was going out, I would take like a 30 minute nap after studying before going out just to like give my brain time to process whatever I had studied and like reset. And now I'm like, okay, I'm now friendly me going out to see my friends, not MCAT me obsessively studying. So that's like one random trick I found that helped me. Yeah, that's actually a really good idea because then you're not still thinking about the MCAT when you're trying to like transition back into being so. There's like a division there, which is really nice. Yeah. And I think that goes back to compartmentalization as well because on the MCAT, we talk about compartmentalization. We talk about that a lot when it comes to the specific sections and compartmentalizing between them and taking a minute to shut your eyes and breathe for a second. That's that same type of barrier where you're kind of in a transitory period almost and allowing yourself to forget about the past and move on. So yeah, that's super important. I also think that Arianna you kind of mentioned this already, but just making sure that you schedule breaks in no matter what. Some people like you start at the beginning of the day and you're like, I'll take a break when I get to it after I finish what I need to finish. And that's fine. But if you schedule in a break instead, you'll definitely take it and you'll be able to compartmentalize a little bit better, I think rather than taking a break and being like, I didn't finish what I needed to finish. I'm stressed stuff like that. So definitely be sure to take breaks because it'll help you a lot with all that. I agree. And I think one thing that kind of goes with compartmentalizing and taking breaks is if you need to, it's okay to schedule in your social time. You don't have to be like, well, I'm just going to go out whatever and like that. Sometimes I found it helpful for me. Like I knew I was going to take Friday afternoons off and like Friday evening would be I'd get off my work, would take the evening off and like that'd be my time to socialize with my friends. And then I think I would go see my family on Saturday or Sunday or something. And like the other day I would study. So it's okay to like build in that time into your schedule. I think the flip side sometimes is maybe you can feel pressure and people will be like, Oh, come out, come out, come out. You're studying too much. And so saying like, I can come out on Friday after five PM, like that's when I have availability. It's good. Great. And if not, I'll catch you next time. It can also be like a good compromise with yourself between going out, but also not feeling this pressure to blow off your study schedule. If it's just a part of your schedule, not necessarily your study schedule, but like your, your MCAT schedule as a whole, which should include wellness and taking care of yourself. I think that can be really helpful, especially if you're a type A personality, which most people probably taking the MCAT are. Yeah. Yeah. Having boundaries. That's so important. I like that you mentioned there's two sides to the scale, I guess that we're talking about where like there is a balance that you need. You obviously still need to prop a good amount, but also being social at the same time and you don't want to like fall too much to each side. So I think that's definitely a great point. And you also like bring up conversing with people and kind of sitting down with them and like talking with them and scheduling that social time. And that doesn't mean that you can't talk about the MCAT during that time either. I think talking to your friends about the MCAT is so healing, you would not believe. So like that can either be friends who have taken the MCAT. That's amazing. If you have friends who have taken the MCAT, like we're sitting right now, Ariana and I, I'm having a therapy session about our MCAT experiences. And I had a friend while I was taking it, who had taken it like the semester before me and having her there to complain about the MCAT with and having someone to acknowledge that it is really difficult and is just so helpful. And it makes you feel a lot more small. Yeah. And I think that goes back to the point about isolation. When you can say like, oh yeah, you know, bio bio, I don't get it. And like someone's like, yeah, I understand, you know, maybe try this trick or like, yeah, I've struggled with that too. A lot of times that can help you just not feel so isolated and you're able to like perform better. If you feel like, okay, I'm not alone. Like it's not just me. And so I think you're right. That's a big aspect of it. And I think again, kind of like the flip side of that is having non medical friends or non MCAT friends who you can go out with. And same thing you said, you can talk about the MCAT or you can choose not to like whatever you want to do, but just having people who don't necessarily know is also very helpful too, because I think it gives you like a fresh perspective and just helps you get out of your MCAT bubble. And again, it's something that happens in medical school. Like it's great when you're around people who understand what you're going through. And you can like commiserate and complain and be like, this sucks. It's also really helpful to have people who like don't necessarily know and can be like, you're going to do great or it's all going to be fine. Like it always is. And like both of those are so needed in just like not being isolated and being able to like have human contact and have people support you. Yeah, for sure. And I think those non pre-med friends or like outside of the medical field friends when you're in medical school as well are so helpful too, because like you said, they give you a fresh perspective and that's because they have truly a different perspective. And when they do have that perspective, they are so validating. They're like, the MCAT is so hard. Most people cannot do that. So it's so admirable of you to be going through this process and all of this stuff. So I always found that to be really, really helpful. And it just makes you feel better about the journey in general and how difficult it truly is from an outsider perspective. So when we're talking about these conversations, we're talking about these casual conversations that you're having. But another thing that comes with having this social life and maintaining it is these maybe deeper conversations that you can have as well as you're like going through this journey and asking for support when you need it and being kind of truthful and honest with people about how difficult it might be for you. So like for example, like if you're going through PrEP and you're really struggling and you want to complain about the MCAT in a casual way, like that's completely fine as well. But it might help you a lot to also be like, this is really, really hard for me. Can I just talk to you about how difficult this is or reaching out to people for support like family members or just anybody else who you feel like can just help you to deal with some of the discouragement and consequences that come with maybe struggling with the exam? Yeah, that's a great point. And I think that sometimes like when we're stuck on stuff, we can find the solutions through like talking through it. And so having somebody else like bounce ideas off of it be like, okay, that makes sense. Or like, actually, are you sure you really want to do that? It's so helpful. And like you said, it can be friends, it can be family. I even think like a great resource is a counselor, like a lot of students have access to counselors through their school or even like a therapist through their insurance. That's another just great person to have to be able to like bounce ideas off of and like work through things you may be thinking of because there are a lot of almost mental health aspects that come with it as we talk about pretty regularly. But just like the isolation, getting stuck, feeling like you're alone, having all of those levels of support, whether it's friends, family, a professional, they all are kind of what helped create a setting so that you can be successful because it's not about getting rid of those feelings. You're not going to be able to get rid of it. It's about how do I manage it and like help myself do it in the most healthy way possible. Exactly. Exactly. There are varying levels of what the social experiences that you want to have. And it's completely up to you like how you want to be social and what you want to do. But you know, having connections and having support is just so important to being successful. And like you said, Ariana, being healthy. So kind of on a smaller note then, so these are all really big kind of broad ways for you guys to get involved. So we did also want to give you some like concrete like smaller tips that you can like start doing today if you're studying. So starting with the first one, this one saved my life during prep, I promise. So you have to eat right while you're prepping. Don't stop eating, please. So when you're getting meals, that's the perfect time to be social with somebody because you're going to eat regardless. Why not eat with someone? If you eat by yourself, that's completely fine, but you might be stressing out the end gap or you might feel like you have to study through lunch and then you're just like munching mindlessly as you're going. So planning to have a meal with somebody, I would get lunch with my roommate or I would have dinner with her after studying for a full day and stuff like that. It was just always something to look forward to. And it held me accountable to eating as well. I know a lot of people feel like, oh, I don't have time to eat. You should have time to eat, honestly. Yeah, I also am a big using food as your break. I tend to be more of a dinner person. So like I like to be distracted during the day, but dinner was my thing. And so I think that kind of ties into our next tip, which is like take a day off to do something purposeful like with your friends. And so for me, it was a half day, but it meant like going out to dinner. Like that's just what I like to do. And I would just like rotate which friends I went with, but I knew that for me was I'd eat, I'd feel relaxed, I could get to enjoy the food. And so that I found to be really helpful. Another thing like kind of going back to the purposeful activity, I guess, was like I used one day for like my family time where I did go back and see my family, which was really helpful like for me, because those are important relationships for me. So that's like another aspect of kind of just getting like when I say go see them, I mean, I like went and saw them. So I was kind of removing myself from the MCAT space of like me being in my apartment where I'm like, oh, I'm gonna study all day or the library. Here's what I'm going to do. So I think it can be really helpful to do something like go to a movie or like go to a friend's house. Those types of things are so great. If you can physically like remove yourself from where you're studying all the time and just like get a break, that's very freeing. Also, if you can combine it with going outside, bonus points, because like forgetting to eat and not going outside. I feel like there are two kind of issues with the MCAT. Yeah, while you were talking, I was like, I, you have to go outside too if like you can. And there's so many outdoor activities to do. So I'm definitely glad that you mentioned that because if you can go outside, like maybe have a picnic outside or like go back writing like nature's healing. Honestly, it makes you feel a little bit more invigorated when you go back to like sitting in front of your computer set of books. But yeah, so another like small tip is potentially if you want to, you could tell your friends or family, probably your family, but also friends when your MCAT is like what your date is so that they can support you and congratulate you as well when you're done. So this is something that I did. And I was really surprised at like how awesome it was. The day of my MCAT, several texts came through from people I didn't expect because I talked about it so much, obviously, but just having their support, like knowing that they were thinking about me on the day was just so nice. And it made me like feel really supported, even though it was just like one text, it just felt like they understood how important it was. So I think you'll be surprised if you do this one because it actually really does mean a lot to like have that type of like small support on the day. Yeah, so I totally agree with that. And I want somebody who like, I don't like to tell people when I'm taking a test, like I like don't talk to me about it. I'll talk to you on the other side if I get what I want. But I ended up doing the same thing for the MCAT. I like purposely was like, I'm going to talk about it because it's almost like manifestation. If I talk about it and like admit it's happening, it's going to happen. And I completely agree. Like when I got to the testing center somewhat, then more so when I like left the test and turned my phone back on to like have a bunch of texts from people being like, you did great or like really helped me through the scenario we talked about in our other podcast about how you sometimes feel like upset after the MCAT. And so knowing you have people supporting you and who are rooting for you and who believe in you, like really can just help you feel more connected. And again, all about isolation, like just knowing people are rooting for you makes you feel less isolated. And I think that's, that's so helpful. And that kind of goes into our, our next tip, which I think is something you did, which is having someone like drive you to and from the testing center to really help support you in person. Yeah, I did do this one. And it was like the best decision I could have made, because like on the way there, and she had taken the MCAT. So on the way there, she was like, it's going to be okay. Like listening to music, getting me hyped up before the exam, and then like having the consistency of her picking me up as well and just being like, it's over. It was just like so nice. And we went and got food after and I just think it was a lot better. I don't think I would have driving in silence like on my way there and on my way back because I would have thought so much and like ruminated afterwards and had anxiety beforehand. But she really helps to pull me out of that and like give me some confidence for and after. So if you can do this, like it's really fun. I hear about a lot of people who have their family members drive them as well or like stay in the hotel with them the night before. And I just think it could be like a potentially fun way to, you know, implement some support on the day of your exam. I love it. And so I think those are all concrete things you can do. But I think sometimes like we're telling you all to do these things, but like, I don't really want to have to go out. I really want to stay in studies, but I can get the score. I need like what is the benefit other than sure you'll be less isolated. But like, I think in the same way, it's helpful to have concrete tips. Sometimes it's helpful to have like concrete tangible things like this is what you're getting out of taking an afternoon or like a day off to go and associate with other people and like be a human and socialize. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So first of all, starting off with the benefits of these of maintaining your social life. First of all, and we've mentioned this a little bit already, it leads to mental health improvement. There have been studies done numerous times. And I know we've all probably looked into this after the pandemic when we were all like kind of isolated, how important having a social life is to mental health, because when you're isolated, not only are you able to ruminate, which leads to like anxiety and negative self-talk and all of these things. But you also just feel really lonely, which can then lead to sadness and all of these things. And especially with something as concrete as the MCAT where you might fail and you might struggle a lot and feel really discouraged, your mental health can fluctuate a lot as you're going through. And so having friends and family there to support you and like add to some consistency will improve your mental health. And that's definitely a benefit for going to the MCAT. Yeah, I think mental health's like definitely the number one spot because that is kind of the whole idea behind even this podcast episode is like, we keep bringing it up. It's all about not being isolated, feeling connected, like all of those things. So I think that's such a big one. And I think another aspect of that that kind of ties in is you're also building social skills. And that sounds kind of like, I don't want to say stupid, but it sounds a little bit corny when you're like, well, I'm going out and my friends like, how is that building social skills? But I think this kind of goes back to compartmentalization. If you think about it, like if you're in the healthcare field that really in any role, like there are going to be days where stuff goes wrong and things happen and like you're very upset, but you also might still have other obligations. And so practicing now, like being able to go out and enjoy your life and have fun, even though you may have like some big thing of pressure, like sitting on the other side, I think that's just like a great skill to have in your, in your back pocket. And to be able to like, no, okay, this is how I need to like flip the switch and move on, even though I want to sit here and like ruminate on something or think about it or like go back to it. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like all of these benefits are going to tie into mental health some way. So know that that's one of the biggest benefits. Yeah, with the social skills thing as well and Ariana, you've probably seen this, but as a physician, like you will be interacting with people a lot. So knowing how to work with people and cooperate with them and conflict resolution and just learning all of those things and getting better at that will never hurt you in any occupation. So always wanting to build those skills can never hurt honestly. And back until studying and relating it to med school as well, having a bunch of different things that you're doing during MCAP prep and maintaining your social life will also help you with your time management techniques. Because as you're like scheduling these things into your MCAP prep, you have to learn how to balance all of them and manage your MCAP prep a little bit more efficiently because you don't want to like waste any time obviously. And that's something that'll come back in medical school in any profession as well, but particularly medical school if you want to expand on that, Ariana. Yeah, for sure. So like I said earlier, I think a lot of the time management skills I kind of like started developing in the MCAP, I have reinstated in medical school. So things like knowing this particular day, I'm going to take off and not study. And it's one of those things like it changes depending on what I have going on and like that sort of thing. But I know like at least one half day a week, I need to take time off. And I think the same thing is like I like to schedule in my social time. So like I just it makes me feel better. Like if I know it's coming, I know I need to get through stuff. So like for me, that's something I learned during MCAP that really works. And I think it is the one thing about having a lot of things going on when you're taking the MCAP or like scheduling things and knowing you have a lot going on is when you get to med school, like most people are not just in med school studying all day every day, like they're in medical school, they're involved with clubs, they're volunteering, they're doing research. A lot of people are doing so many things. And so building the time management skills now, so you're not sitting there and like, wow, I'm studying 10 hours a day, I'm miserable, I don't see anybody. And I'm like trapped inside studying. Like you don't want to be that person. You want to be the person that's like, yeah, I'm studying, I'm efficient, I get done when I need to get done. I'm involved in everything I want to be involved with. If I don't want to be involved, I'm not involved, but like it's my choice. That's kind of where you want to be. And so I think just like, again, using this MCAP time to start practicing and figuring out what works for you because it's going to be different for different people too. And I think, I think a really important thing to think about too is are you more introverted or are you more extroverted? Because if you're introverted, you may not get as much from going out. And so that's probably why I schedule my stuff so much. I'm very introverted. So I have to know like, this is my going out time. And if it's not during that, it's not happening because I need time for me to like also just reset. Firstly, if you're extroverted, you may be able to go out three or four times as much because like you're really refilling during that time. So it's just a learning process and figuring it out now can really just help you as you go forward. Yeah, definitely. And I'm glad you mentioned how diverse everyone's interests are in medical school because I think that's another huge benefit to doing things outside of MCAP prep because you're able to kind of build hobbies and build other interests as you're doing things outside of MCAP prep that'll benefit you later on, especially in like medical school. So for example, like while I was studying for the MCAP, I was also really getting into like movies. So me and my roommate watch a movie every week, particularly Marvel movies, but like it doesn't matter. But it was becoming a cult at the time. And it kind of helped me to have something to look forward to. And it built like this whole other side to me and my interests, which I'm still like maintaining today and making friends, kind of talking about that and finding ways to diversify your interests and become just like a more well rounded person outside of the MCAP. That's something that is going to benefit you later in life. But also when it comes to admissions and things like that, they love to see people who are passionate about things outside of medicine as well as medicine. So maybe you love hiking, maybe you love traveling and have traveled a lot. These are all like interests outside of the MCAP that are showing that you're well rounded. And there's more to you than your MCAP score and all these concrete things that they see in your application. Yeah, that's actually a great point too, because well, one it shows admissions committees that you can handle multiple things at once, which like goes back to our time management thing. That's a good thing to have. And I think you're right. And there's so many ways to do that. Like you can do it in a way, maybe geared towards medicine, like volunteering, and maybe that like fills your cup up and it doesn't feel like work, or you can do exactly what you said and like do something really non-medical related, which is also great because it totally like makes you use other aspects of yourself. You maybe don't. I think the best option is like a combination and do a little bit of both. But it is just really important to be well rounded. And I think it's very important. People will say this a lot with medical school. You want to have hobbies, you want to have things you do. And like even if your hobby is just like sitting on the couch and watching Netflix for a few hours, that's fine. But you have to have something where you can recharge. So that was a great point. Yeah, for sure. And I think when you mentioned recharging, that's something that you have to do in order to not burn out. And I feel like another thing that kind of goes hand in hand with that is how cluttered your mind can become. Like while you're going through MCAT prep and stuff like that, you have all these different tasks like in your head, like, you know, your test dates coming up, you know, you need to do bio tomorrow and second source tonight, and you haven't done your Anki in three days or whatever. Like you have constantly all this stuff in your brain. And so taking time to step away and recharge and just let it go to the wayside for a second so that you can pick it up with a clear mind and a calm mind. And you can tackle those things with more efficiency and productivity. Yeah, I'm a really big believer in this, like especially, and I think this kind of is one of the, like when you hear people say don't study the day before the exam, like this is what people are really trying to say is like, declutter your mind. So I'm a really big believer in that. Like, and again, it kind of goes back to what does that mean for you in terms of like, what do you get the most out of, but whether that's like going out with your friends and like just giving yourself that space to like not think about the MCAT and just do what you like to do or staying home and reading a book, whatever you have to do to give yourself some separation from the MCAT, it's extremely important. And again, like you will use it in medical school and every other aspect of life, but it's like extremely important to give yourself enough space to let your brain work. Because if you have a professor who calls it saturitis, like where you literally saturate your brain with so much information, it's too much. Like you can't process it all. So it's really important to give yourself that space. And that's a great way. Like I used to make myself feel better about taking time off is I'd be like, well, this is like me, I'm still working towards the MCAT just in a different way, but giving my brain a little bit of time to like have stuff processing in the background while I'm doing whatever else I'm doing. Exactly. It makes your studying like more efficient when you do return to it, which is ultimately the goal. Like you just want to study efficiently and this can help you. So those were all like very concrete and practical ways that a social life and like doing things you enjoy kind of benefits you. Lastly, one of the biggest reasons, honestly, in my opinion, is that doing these things is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be something that you can enjoy and look forward to. And honestly, like while you're studying for the MCAT, it can kind of feel like you're not enjoying it at some points and like, you're kind of feeling really isolated and bored or whatever. So having something like fun to look forward to and feeling like more engaged in something can be super, super helpful. And it's just like something to enjoy. Like I keep saying, which kind of links into everything else we've been talking about, but is the purpose of doing this in the first place? Yeah. I feel like if you take nothing else from this podcast, just remember that having a social life is good for your mental health and it's fun. So like it's really a win-win situation for you. The biggest thing is giving yourself permission to say like, okay, this is really important. And I think if you do that, you are benefiting yourself and you're getting to enjoy life, which is like very important. And exactly like you said, it can make you more efficient when you're studying. It gives you something to look forward to and you're kind of dragging and don't want to do anymore. So I just think it's like, it's very important to remember, hopefully say remember your why, like why you want to go into medicine and remember why you're like, why having fun? Like it just refills your cup and lets you, let you do what you need to do. So it shouldn't be something that you're like, oh, I have to do this because I'd rather be studying. It should be like, I really enjoy doing this. I'm going to embrace the time and do what I need to do and enjoy my life. So please like don't shut down your life and isolate yourself through the MCAT. Exactly. Exactly. There are all these benefits and all these things that go into it and it's ultimately for you to enjoy. And that means it's really individualized to you as well. So if you don't identify or relate to any of the kind of tips that we've been talking about when we were talking about ways to implement it, that's completely fine. Find something that works for you. If you are more introverted and it stresses you out to go socialize with new people or like do things you haven't done before, do something that you enjoy, do something consistent, hang out with someone that you know really, really well and that you're comfortable with or like get on a chat room or something that's not as intimidating, that's completely fine as well. Ultimately, it's up to you how you want to go about this. But as we've said a thousand times already, we really do think it will benefit you and give you just like more clarity and more motivation as you're going through. Yes. I just think the biggest thing is like find what kind of speaks to you, what fills your cup up and whatever that is, whether it is going out with a bunch of friends or whether it's like sitting on the couch and watching a movie, like whatever you have to do for you to refill, make sure you're incorporating that in. And if you do that, it's really going to pay off not just on your MCAT, but really for your overall mental health back to like the moral of this story, but your mental health and like how you cope with things and how you really feel. And that's the most important thing is you still have to live life by your taking the MCAT. So don't let it like shut down your life. Make sure you're still enjoying it and you're getting something out of it. Yes, exactly. That is such a good way to think about it. Don't let the MCAT take over. Ultimately, you guys can do this and you aren't isolated. There are people that are there for you. We're here for you. We'll be on this podcast every week. So if this is your break, we're here for you and we want you to know that you are supported and getting into this community when you get into medical school as well, it is competitive, all of it, but it's also a community and the whole purpose is to help people and to be engaged with bettering your community and bettering community health and things like that. So just remember that and know that we support you and believe in you. Yes. I love it. I would say the only thing I would add is like for the isolation, something that always helped me like deal with that is I was like so many people have been through this before me, like if they can do it, I can do it. And if you hold on to that, I think that helps a lot with just being positive, not getting overwhelmed or getting overwhelmed, but kind of coming back from it and saying if others have done it, I can do it. And again, like that's where socializing and getting out and seeing people and talking to people who have been through it, like you were talking about Monica can be so helpful. So you can definitely do it and we believe in you. Keep it up and we will be back soon. Yeah. Yeah. So that's all we have for you guys today. If you enjoy the podcast, if you like have time consider leaving us a review. We'd love to like hear what you guys think. And if you want to give like more specific feedback, feel free to email us at team at mcatmastery.net or like if you have any ideas, feel free to email us about that as well. Other than that, yeah, we'll see you guys next time and good luck. Hey everyone, this is Monica again. And before you go, I just want to remind you that if you're not receiving our daily free mcat strategy and success story emails yet, definitely be sure to sign up for those at mcatmastery.net slash free course. In addition to that, if you feel like you might need personalized help with the exam and would like to have an mcat mentor kind of look at your situation and help you identify exactly what's holding your score back, you can look into that too at mcatmastery.net slash mcat mentors. And lastly and most importantly, we just want you guys to know that you have what it takes to succeed on this exam. We know the mcat is intimidating and when you get a score that's lower than you expected on a practice or on the real thing, it's so easy to feel discouraged or frustrated or even hopeless about the exam. We get it. A lot of us have been there. So we want to give you the guidance that we wish we'd had when we were in your shoes. And that's what these interviews are for. That's what our emails are for. We want you guys to be able to feel confident again and most importantly be able to see that med school mission is possible and it's not out of your reach at all. So thanks again for listening and remember that every top score, every med student and every doctor made it through this journey. So you can do it too. You guys got this.