.
Last edited:
-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
2
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
1) Ace all courses from now on
2) Get shadowing experience in
3) Get clinical exposure (paid or volunteer)
Med schools aren't going anywhere. Forget about this notion you have about sticking to some artificial schedule. You apply when you have the best possible app.
2) Get shadowing experience in
3) Get clinical exposure (paid or volunteer)
Med schools aren't going anywhere. Forget about this notion you have about sticking to some artificial schedule. You apply when you have the best possible app.
I don’t think you will be ready to take the MCATin Spring 2023. I doubt you’ll have the prereqs completed by then. You have to work on your grades and doing well on the MCAT. Your ECs can wait a bit. I don’t think you’ll have a complete and competitive application to apply in 2023. And that’s fine. You only want to apply one and with the best, most competitive application possible. When you have your final GPAs and your MCAT, come back and people will help you develop a list.
Last edited:
Too many factors to tell right now. If you kill your MCAT and get your grades up, you likely won't need a post-bacc. However, if you were to graduate with a 504 and get under, say, a 510 on your MCAT, then a post-bacc might be a good idea.
Considering you need more time to get some extracurriculars done, you likely won't be able to adhere to the schedule you've formed.
Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors
Considering you need more time to get some extracurriculars done, you likely won't be able to adhere to the schedule you've formed.
Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors
Give yourself a break. Slow down. Focus more on your end goal (becoming a doctor and from your handle I'm guessing that ultimately you want to be a psychiatrist) and give your "schedule" a back seat. If you have to, lighten your course load so that you can ace your classes and eventually the MCAT AND get in more clinical experience. Research is a real nice to have, but not in the same category as clinical. If you ace the remaining classes and do well on the MCAT, you may not need the post-bac or SMP. Time will tell. And, time could also give you the means to avoid a post-bac or SMP.
As Dr. Barry Rothman, former director of post-bac programs at SF State likes to say, "Frequently, the fastest way to medical school is slowly."
If you want to do research, there are summer research programs that are seeking URM participants.
See: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
Start by shadowing physicians to get a better feel for whether you even want that as a career given the difficulties of the journey and the destination (which seems to be less desirable every year as physicians lose autonomy and come up against preauthorization and insurance companies, and employment in a company vs being a private practitioner running a small business, etc).
Don't take the MCAT until you are scoring above your target in practice tests. Don't apply until you have the best application you can manage. Do it right; do it once.
See: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
Start by shadowing physicians to get a better feel for whether you even want that as a career given the difficulties of the journey and the destination (which seems to be less desirable every year as physicians lose autonomy and come up against preauthorization and insurance companies, and employment in a company vs being a private practitioner running a small business, etc).
Don't take the MCAT until you are scoring above your target in practice tests. Don't apply until you have the best application you can manage. Do it right; do it once.
