- Joined
- Jan 7, 2015
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 20
Hello everyone,
I am new around here and had a quick question or two about the old and new tests... I posted this in the MD/PhD forum but haven't had my questions answered yet. My hope is to end up in an MD/PhD program somewhere, although it doesn't have to MSTP. Brief bit about myself: I am a non-trad student (senior) at a middle-of-the-road state school, but did my first two years a CC. I have a couple years of research, and my GPA is slightly above the national matriculation average for 2013. It does have an upward trend. I have around 1000 hours in a hospital thanks to work, plenty of volunteering as well.
Here is my situation... I have had to work for my entire UG career, and my boss finally let me take a month off to finish my classes and study for the MCAT. I started studying in early December and I am sitting for the MCAT on the 15th of this month. I have taken all of the AAMC full-length's except 10, which I will take on Tuesday. My average is right at the national matriculation average for MD/PhD programs, including all three of the past FL's I have taken. While this sounds okay, I am older than most applicants and this is fairly frowned upon in the MD/PhD world, and so I really don't need another reason to be turned down. At this point, I worry about walking out with a score slightly below the average, and I feel that I need some more time to cover the material. I did not have physiology in anyway (not even in gen bio) and have found this has taken a lot of my study time (I am taking it this spring though). I genuinely think I can hit a better score but I'm unsure of how the new exam will work out both on my end and on the admissions end.
Ultimately, my questions are:
1) What do you think my chances are of being able to improve my situation by the April or May test enough to warrant taking a new exam given that I won't have more than 15 hours a week to study for it? (I have had all relevant courses except statistics, taking physiology this semester).
2) Lets say I end up scoring in about the same percentile on the new test that I am now on the old one, is this better or worse when it comes to admissions (I ask this because I fell like there is a bit of an excuse to flounder on the new test, given its... so new).
3) Lastly, how might I best prep for the new test given I have just reviewed for the old one so much?
Thanks for your time and help, any additional advice is always welcome!
-Serac
I am new around here and had a quick question or two about the old and new tests... I posted this in the MD/PhD forum but haven't had my questions answered yet. My hope is to end up in an MD/PhD program somewhere, although it doesn't have to MSTP. Brief bit about myself: I am a non-trad student (senior) at a middle-of-the-road state school, but did my first two years a CC. I have a couple years of research, and my GPA is slightly above the national matriculation average for 2013. It does have an upward trend. I have around 1000 hours in a hospital thanks to work, plenty of volunteering as well.
Here is my situation... I have had to work for my entire UG career, and my boss finally let me take a month off to finish my classes and study for the MCAT. I started studying in early December and I am sitting for the MCAT on the 15th of this month. I have taken all of the AAMC full-length's except 10, which I will take on Tuesday. My average is right at the national matriculation average for MD/PhD programs, including all three of the past FL's I have taken. While this sounds okay, I am older than most applicants and this is fairly frowned upon in the MD/PhD world, and so I really don't need another reason to be turned down. At this point, I worry about walking out with a score slightly below the average, and I feel that I need some more time to cover the material. I did not have physiology in anyway (not even in gen bio) and have found this has taken a lot of my study time (I am taking it this spring though). I genuinely think I can hit a better score but I'm unsure of how the new exam will work out both on my end and on the admissions end.
Ultimately, my questions are:
1) What do you think my chances are of being able to improve my situation by the April or May test enough to warrant taking a new exam given that I won't have more than 15 hours a week to study for it? (I have had all relevant courses except statistics, taking physiology this semester).
2) Lets say I end up scoring in about the same percentile on the new test that I am now on the old one, is this better or worse when it comes to admissions (I ask this because I fell like there is a bit of an excuse to flounder on the new test, given its... so new).
3) Lastly, how might I best prep for the new test given I have just reviewed for the old one so much?
Thanks for your time and help, any additional advice is always welcome!
-Serac