Am I nuts???

[ERPeds]

Hey everyone-
This is my first time posting but I've been a long time reader. Anyway, my question is: is it possible (or even worth attempting) taking the MCAT with no upper division chem (i.e. orgo)??? As a little background on me, I'm a pedi ER nurse (2 years exp.), so I've had courses that are heavy in some of the bio sciences (such as patho and a&p), but my experience with chem/physics is very limited (one lower division chem. and my pharmacotherapeutics in nsg. school). I've already graduated college with a B.S.N. and work full time nights so I was wondering if it's possible to get through the MCAT just on studying on my own or are they really 'make or break' courses? I'm a decent student (cum. GPA 3.64), but can it be done?
Thanks!

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[DrBowtie]

I think it would be a waste of your $200 if you just took it cold.

In order to matriculate to med school you need bio, gen chem, orgo, and physics sequences so by the time you completed these courses your score would have expired most likely.

If you want to see how you stand, Buy a prep book (Big Blue Kaplan one or Examkrackers package) and study from that a bit. Then take a practice test and see how you score.

 

[caldoc44]

Your nursing classes and experience would probably not help at all on the mcat, maybe a bit on the physiology questions. The rest of the test is general chem, physics, o chem, biology. You see things like acid/base, titrations, orbital theories, atomic trends, electromagnetism, waves, periodic motion...etc that you probably never saw in your nursing classes.

You could probably learn a lot of it just out of mcat books, but i think Brett is right in that it would probably be a better idea to have taken a few of the prereqs before taking the mcat bc it will take u a least a year to finish the prereqs, most probably more. Plus they are gonna administer the mcat on more dates starting soon.

Good luck

 

[MollyMalone]

I agree with the above posters... I'm a registered nurse, too, and I think that while it might be possible to do, there's no reason to stress and struggle trying to learn the stuff on your own when you're going to need to take the classes anyway. Do the classes first and then the MCAT.

Good luck!