3 Questions

[chulthok]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello,

I have three questions, but first a little about me.

Degrees:
AAS
BA Psychology, minors: Spanish, Religion
MA Psychology (in progress)

Undergrad GPA: 3.94
Grad GPA: 4.0

I am currently finishing my masters in psychology, completing my thesis in the field of neuroscience and behavioral pharmacology (not the typical "psychology" most think of, but psychology nonetheless). I currently only require one more class for my masters, and will have completed my Med school prerequisite classes next year. My research experience is good, having conducted research in undergrad and for my masters for about 4 years total. I have presented research as several conferences including NSF 2010, and although I am not yet published, I have plans for a study being published prior to submitting my application to Med School. I speak Spanish and have spent a good deal of time volunteering and working to help the community (i.e. Manager for a homeless shelter, community development in Mexico, etc.). Something I think is desirable in the LA area, which is my area of primary interest. I'm smart and very hard working. Finally, I'm 26 years old, married and have a beautiful 1.5 year old daughter. Oh, and I want to be a doctor.

I plan on applying this fall 2011 to be matriculated fall 2012. Although I believe I have a fairly strong application I have three primary concerns.

1.) General Biology Prerequisite: When I started taking my pre-med classes, the biology department, seeing that I was in the masters program and prior experience, told me I should take a more advanced biology class. I took their advice as I did already know the material and enrolled in the 2nd semester of Gen Bio. Now, however, I am wondering will Med school admissions require me to go back and take the 1st Gen Bio class? Or is it possible for me to petition this as I have demonstrated my knowledge of the material through obtaining an A in my more advanced Bio class, as well as having conducted research in a Biology Lab. One school I talked to said they would waive the class. Is it worth trying this, or is it possible that it may have a detrimental effect on my application. Due possibly to them seeing that I have taken one less class than the rest of the applicants. If I can get out of it I would like to as extra time is not something I have. However, I do not want to give them any reason to have fault with my application.

2.) Shadowing Hours: This is one area in which I am lacking. I understand that they want shadowing hours in order to be sure that the applicant knows what he/she is getting into. I've had a lot of school, a wide range of experiences, and know what I want. But I need to make sure they see this. Is there any methods or advice you can give me concerning how and when I can acquire shadowing hours or volunteer experience geared toward a person who has a very busy family life, work, and school (Note: my wife is in the first year of her Doctorate of Psychology, so help from her is about as likely as my nonexistent photographic memory finally developing. Pardon the pun).

3.) MCAT: I will be taking one of year O Chem over the summer, and will need to take the MCAT in August. Between now and then, I will not have very much time to study for the MCAT, this combined with the fact that I will be taking my physics classes after August, has me a little worried. How much emphasis should I place on getting an exceptional MCAT score? Is it necessary enough to postpone my application one year in order to ensure a good MCAT score? I would rather not wait another year unless absolutely necessary. Will my GPA and obvious ability to excel in grad school compensate for a possibly mediocre MCAT score?

You're advice is much appreciated.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

ok. i am not fully understanding all of your questions so i will do my best to answer.

1.) is general bio 2 your "more advanced" class, or have you taken other bio classes? if it is the former, gen bio 1 and 2 is not like chem 1 and 2 or physics 1 and 2. gen bio 1 and 2 are completely seperate classes, so you will need thiat. if it is the latter, what classes have you taken? if you have 8 credits of bio classes, depending on what they are you might be ok. if you don't you need them. if you are looking at california to go to med school, you need to be a competitive applicant because they are very hard to get into. if you are looking at louisiana, disregard.

2.) make time. that is really all there is to say. i work 2 jobs take 20 credits raise my 3 kids with my wife, shadow, volunteer, and study. i do what it takes to make my dreams happen. you just need to make the time. 2 hours of volunteering a week (average), and shadowing doesn't need to be regular. if you have a day off, schedule an 8 hour block of shadowing.

3.) honestly, you should be worried. it is absolutely enough to postpone a year. physics will be on the mcat in some manner and the mcat is a beast. people study for 10 hours a day for months. we are not talking the SATs or ACTs. You need to do well on the test. depending on where you want to go to school you should aim for a 30+. The higher the better, especially in california. do not underestimate this test. people take it 4 or 5 times and never get above a 25. and schools won't give two s**ts about your grad school if you don't do well on the MCAT, they will throw your app in the trash. That is a fact. your GPA is very good but not taking the MCAT seriously will ruin your app.

this isn't a sprint. it is a marathon. if you can't study for the mcat than don't take it. if you don't have ALL of your prereqs done, don't take it. if you feel you aren't ready, don't take it. probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

[chulthok]

Thanks for your response.

You're right it's not what I want to hear, but you're also right in that it is what I should do. Honestly, I just really needed someone to tell me this to help it sink in.

 

[JKinSC]

ok. i am not fully understanding all of your questions so i will do my best to answer.

1.) is general bio 2 your "more advanced" class, or have you taken other bio classes? if it is the former, gen bio 1 and 2 is not like chem 1 and 2 or physics 1 and 2. gen bio 1 and 2 are completely seperate classes, so you will need thiat. if it is the latter, what classes have you taken? if you have 8 credits of bio classes, depending on what they are you might be ok. if you don't you need them. if you are looking at california to go to med school, you need to be a competitive applicant because they are very hard to get into. if you are looking at louisiana, disregard.

2.) make time. that is really all there is to say. i work 2 jobs take 20 credits raise my 3 kids with my wife, shadow, volunteer, and study. i do what it takes to make my dreams happen. you just need to make the time. 2 hours of volunteering a week (average), and shadowing doesn't need to be regular. if you have a day off, schedule an 8 hour block of shadowing.

3.) honestly, you should be worried. it is absolutely enough to postpone a year. physics will be on the mcat in some manner and the mcat is a beast. people study for 10 hours a day for months. we are not talking the SATs or ACTs. You need to do well on the test. depending on where you want to go to school you should aim for a 30+. The higher the better, especially in california. do not underestimate this test. people take it 4 or 5 times and never get above a 25. and schools won't give two s**ts about your grad school if you don't do well on the MCAT, they will throw your app in the trash. That is a fact. your GPA is very good but not taking the MCAT seriously will ruin your app.

this isn't a sprint. it is a marathon. if you can't study for the mcat than don't take it. if you don't have ALL of your prereqs done, don't take it. if you feel you aren't ready, don't take it. probably not what you wanted to hear.

+1 to all of the above.

But I also want to stress the importance of point 3. I took the MCAT during my Org. Chem. II semester, knowing from all that I had heard here on SDN that organic wasn't nearly as big on the MCAT as it once was. Imagine my surprise when I got 2 passages and several discretes on the subject. To top it off, the passages were on Aldol condensation (something we had literally gone over 2 days before in class) and an insanely convoluted NMR passage that we'd studied on only a couple of weeks prior. Suffice it to say, I got lucky.

With the year you gain by putting the test off, you're bound to have some added days off. Literally all of my shadowing was done in 10-12 hour shifts once a week or once every other week on my rare days off. It adds up far faster than one would think.

Good luck to you!

 

[BenjaminT]

Most schools waive gen bio requirement with sufficient upperlevel coursework.

Get shadowing hours. If you want to apply this year then realize that this is crunch time.

Take practice MCATs on the AAMC website to get an idea of how you will do on the real thing. I know everyone has their own opinion of how accurate they are (some say the real test is easier, most say it is harder) but if you do a couple of them it should give you an accurate representation. If you haven't taken ANY physics I would think it would cause a ton of problems. Also, remember it is sort of a crapshoot when you take the mcat as to which topics you will be tested on. You might get lucky and have a ton of passages over an area that you are an expert in, while you might also get a majority of ochem and physics. The only safe way is to be prepared for everything.

 

[clausewitz2]

Mostly agree with the previous posters, and want to express concern at O-chem in one summer. As someone with a psych/neurosci background myself, I underestimated o-chem significantly. I eventually grew to like it as a subject and did very well in the second semester, but the first semester kicked my ass up and down the classroom. Got the kind of B you're really thankful for, if you know what I mean.

In grad school for brain-related stuff, you will no doubt be very good at reasoning your way through problems and sussing out the deep logic behind complex systems. This will not serve you very well in undergraduate organic chemistry, at least not how it normally seems to be taught. There are principles, yes, but there is also an enormous mess of superficially contradictory things that are empirically true and you just have to know. You get a feel for it eventually (or at least, I did), but it takes a while. I'm worried that everything being so tightly compressed means you won't have that much time to consolidate your experience.

I do, however, understand about non-optimal schedule constraints. Otherwise I wouldn't be taking the MCAT while doing pchem.

 

[familyaerospace]

1) I had to go back and redo almost all my lower level coursework despite having 400 and 500 level courses in Biology and Physics. Still had to redo them.

2) I'm a parent and spouse and work and have a crazy schedule. There is a way to do it. Volunteering I can't say much other than apply for a volunteer spot at a local hospital and if nothing comes of that one, apply for another. I have to travel 1.5 hours each way for mine. For shadowing, I have set of blog posts about shadowing. (See my signature)

3) Won't compensate much unfortunately. Do your best to find time to study even if you have to retake a few months later. You might already be at a disadvantage if you are applying this year even apart from your MCAT. Aim for a 30-32.

 

[crazycooljoel]

Here's to the bio question. Notice that the med schools typically have in the catalogs "one academic year of...". Some don't necessarily say specifically what class. An academic year of bio can be bio 2 and biochem, in your case. Double check with the school you intend on applying as that isn't the case for all schools.