Accepted to schools with extremely low MCAT

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
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IdealNFP said:
I would celebrate if I were OP. Congrats! Don't let anyone rain on your parade! You know what's in store for you, but once again congrats!
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kovalchuk71 said:
Congrats, OP.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of your interviewing skills. Be extremely grateful that you have that ability! :)

Best of luck!
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Super grateful for every opportunity that has come my way, and yes.. thankful for solid interview skills. I practiced a lot for my interview knowing what was on the line. Thanks for the encouragement!
 
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Congratulations! I know your story probably gives a lot of hope to people with similar scores or situations. Concerning all the biochem pathways people say you will need to know your first week of school, nobody really knows what you will need to know. As an undergrad I wasn't required to memorize all those pathways--my prof said that if he is allowed to look up the pathways, we should be to, besides, you forget that stuff right after the test anyway. In medical school, the situation was different, but it was fine. Was I the smartest in my class? No way. Did I learn what I needed to know? Yeah. Had I pre-studied for medical school? Not at all--I would say that the only pre-studying you should be doing is your coursework. Med school moves as such a fast pace that pre-studying isn't really going to get you too far in all honesty.

But again, congratulations and best of luck!
 
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Goro said:
There are a LOT of pathways you'll need to know.. Don't know about glycolysis; but you don't need the Krebs cycle, thank Gawd. Pick up a copy of the Lippincott review of Biochemistry.
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Wait you don't need the Kreb's cycle for med school??
 
Goro said:
Any Biochem Faculty member who makes you learn the Krebs cycle in med school is a sadist.
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Haha well that's good to know. I wonder why we needed to know it for the MCAT then. For some reason I assumed we had to memorize every single biochem pathway in the human body...
 
Congrats OP. Don't listen to the haters. There's so many practicing DOs today that never could have cracked a 24 on the old exam back when it was a lot easier than it is today.

I know a guy who couldn't crack 22 on the MCAT after 4 tries and an smp. He's an an interventional cardiologist now. Don't get sucked into SDN's pissing contest.
 
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AB877 said:
I feel like my post needs a disclaimer. I've read similar posts to this, and I've seen the comments. I fully recognize that my success is comparable to "winning the lotto" and I'm prepared that some of you will comment "I would seriously doubt your ability to succeed in medical school if you scored this low on your mcat".

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to become a physician, and thankful for those who saw something in my application that made them consider looking past my flaws. I recognize that I don't fit the bill of your typical applicant, and I'm not trying to give false hope to anyone with a similar situation. Take my situation with a grain of salt, but maybe this will help just one person feel a little better :)

I've received two acceptances this cycle, with an MCAT score of 492.

SDN can be a harsh place, and once you read some of the posts on this forum, it's hard to find hope when you already feel like a POS pre-med student. Hang in there and do your best!
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Congrats OP and best of luck! Go prove everyone wrong.
 
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How diabetes affects glycolysis.... O, the complexity....:bag:

Ioannes Paulus said:
You're celebrating now but wait when you start biochemistry your first week. Your professor will expect everyone to be fairly competent in many of these pathways and will probably start lecture discussing how Diabetes affects glycolysis.
I say this not to demean or troll but to tell you that you have to work hard irregardless of your MCAT score and the professors will hold everyone to the same standard, those who score in the bottom and top 25th percentile.
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Ho0v-man said:
Congrats OP. Don't listen to the haters. There's so many practicing DOs today that never could have cracked a 24 on the old exam back when it was a lot easier than it is today.

I know a guy who couldn't crack 22 on the MCAT after 4 tries and an smp. He's an an interventional cardiologist now. Don't get sucked into SDN's pissing contest.
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SDN is definitely a daily pissing contest among many in these forums. If I took seriously even half the crap some people spew on this website I would have never even tried to go to medical school. I can relate to The OPs situation, I was a low MCAT applicant and low GPA as well (mainly due to old grades in my younger years). But I am now getting close to being done with second year and prepping for boards.

So I say good on you OP, you made it. Keep your head down, work hard and you'll make it through med school. I have plenty of classmates that had low MCAT scores according to SDN standards and many of them are straight A or A/B students.


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Thank you for this post of hope, much appreciated!
 
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Goro said:
There are a LOT of pathways you'll need to know.. Don't know about glycolysis; but you don't need the Krebs cycle, thank Gawd. Pick up a copy of the Lippincott review of Biochemistry.
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So first week of class they expect us to know Krebs perfectly? Is there anything else we should be expected to know? :p
 
tony101 said:
So first week of class they expect us to know Krebs perfectly? Is there anything else we should be expected to know? :p
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No. They're trying to scare you. Don't even memorize the Kreb cycle before starting. Do you know the goal of the kreb cycle? Then that's good enough. You will have a lecture on all of this stuff. The material will go a hell of a lot faster than UG but don't go memorizing the Biochem pathways before you start school.
 
What schools?
 
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tony101 said:
So first week of class they expect us to know Krebs perfectly? Is there anything else we should be expected to know? :p
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For Krebs, just remember:

Can I Keep Selling Sex For Money, Officer?
 
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DO2015CA said:
No. They're trying to scare you. Don't even memorize the Kreb cycle before starting. Do you know the goal of the kreb cycle? Then that's good enough. You will have a lecture on all of this stuff. The material will go a hell of a lot faster than UG but don't go memorizing the Biochem pathways before you start school.
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But would it be helpful to try to memorize the pathways again or know them concretely before I go to school?
 
White Coat Hopefuls said:
Congratulations! I know your story probably gives a lot of hope to people with similar scores or situations. Concerning all the biochem pathways people say you will need to know your first week of school, nobody really knows what you will need to know. As an undergrad I wasn't required to memorize all those pathways--my prof said that if he is allowed to look up the pathways, we should be to, besides, you forget that stuff right after the test anyway. In medical school, the situation was different, but it was fine. Was I the smartest in my class? No way. Did I learn what I needed to know? Yeah. Had I pre-studied for medical school? Not at all--I would say that the only pre-studying you should be doing is your coursework. Med school moves as such a fast pace that pre-studying isn't really going to get you too far in all honesty.

But again, congratulations and best of luck!
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Thank you for this!
 
Ho0v-man said:
Congrats OP. Don't listen to the haters. There's so many practicing DOs today that never could have cracked a 24 on the old exam back when it was a lot easier than it is today.

I know a guy who couldn't crack 22 on the MCAT after 4 tries and an smp. He's an an interventional cardiologist now. Don't get sucked into SDN's pissing contest.
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Thank you! Great to know :)
 
Jbirdski said:
SDN is definitely a daily pissing contest among many in these forums. If I took seriously even half the crap some people spew on this website I would have never even tried to go to medical school. I can relate to The OPs situation, I was a low MCAT applicant and low GPA as well (mainly due to old grades in my younger years). But I am now getting close to being done with second year and prepping for boards.

So I say good on you OP, you made it. Keep your head down, work hard and you'll make it through med school. I have plenty of classmates that had low MCAT scores according to SDN standards and many of them are straight A or A/B students.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
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Thank you, this is really encouraging and I appreciate you taking the time to share!
 
tony101 said:
But would it be helpful to try to memorize the pathways again or know them concretely before I go to school?
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It all depends on you. I would say no but im not you. I hadn't seen the krebs cycle in more than 2 years and did fine. They are going to explain to you what you need to know. As of right now you really don't know how to study as a med student and you don't know what is important about the information you are looking at. As you go through OMS1-OMS2 you will learn to spot what is important in the redundant power points that the professors read off of.

If you were to study them right now you will probably forget them by the time that test comes because there is just so much that will be thrown at you. I did well in those classes (no pre-studying) and when it came time to study for boards I couldn't remember it all because of how much material had been thrown at me, but I could remember important steps/dysfunctions. For you, you don't know what the important steps are because you haven't taken pharmacology, don't know the diseases, and don't know the clinical presentations based on what is messed up. That is why I find it to be low yield and you will hate your life soon enough. You should spend the last few months you can living life. They're too precious to waste them on stuff you can/ will learn in class.
 
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Every minute details is high yield. If you study for each test in order to understand every single mechanism for every minute details, I guarantee you that medical school will become progressively easier. There's a lot of memorization. However, if you just memorize that little minute detail for the test and then forget it, medical school will only get harder or you will hit a plateau.

Don't worry about remembering every single mechanism on the first go. However, if your thought process is to understand the mechanism, the repetition of these mechanisms from class to class will grind the so called high yield on board to be common sense down the road.
 
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GypsyHummus said:
And then someone brings up the topic of DO vs MD and the residency disparages and it ends.
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dis·par·age
dəˈsperij/
verb
  1. regard or represent as being of little worth.
    "he never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors"
 
AB877 said:
I feel like my post needs a disclaimer. I've read similar posts to this, and I've seen the comments. I fully recognize that my success is comparable to "winning the lotto" and I'm prepared that some of you will comment "I would seriously doubt your ability to succeed in medical school if you scored this low on your mcat".

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to become a physician, and thankful for those who saw something in my application that made them consider looking past my flaws. I recognize that I don't fit the bill of your typical applicant, and I'm not trying to give false hope to anyone with a similar situation. Take my situation with a grain of salt, but maybe this will help just one person feel a little better :)

I've received two acceptances this cycle, with an MCAT score of 492.

SDN can be a harsh place, and once you read some of the posts on this forum, it's hard to find hope when you already feel like a POS pre-med student. Hang in there and do your best!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your accomplishments! If you don't mind me asking which were the 2 schools you were accepted to?
 
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W19 said:
The MCAT was also easier... One of the physicians who gave me a LOR when i was applying to med school got into DMU in the 1990s with an 18 MCAT...
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Back then it was more of a memorization exam. I believe even before the 90s, I think it was a large chunk of memorizing minuta. Back then it was an exam you could actually "study" for...
 
IslandStyle808 said:
Back then it was more of a memorization exam. I believe even before the 90s, I think it was a large chunk of memorizing minuta. Back then it was an exam you could actually "study" for...
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The MCAT I took in 2013 was mostly a reading comprehension exam except for the PS section... VR was a pain!
 
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IslandStyle808 said:
Back then it was more of a memorization exam. I believe even before the 90s, I think it was a large chunk of memorizing minuta. Back then it was an exam you could actually "study" for...
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Makes you wonder why they make it harder and harder for admission into medical schools especially with the physician shortage. Clearly, those students accepted into DO students with lower stats are now doctors in hospitals all around the US.

I've spoken to a few doctors I shadowed and they said it was much easier back then to get into medical school. They didn't have to have hundreds of volunteer hours, or research, or leadership in EC's. The journey and end result will be worth it though.
 
AB877 said:
Thank you, I really appreciate it.

I grew up in a medically underserved area (did not apply as URM), and had very solid experiences with underserved populations and applied to schools that over emphasized this. I think fitting with the mission of a school can cary significant weight, as well as having a genuine passion and ability to articulate in your personal statement and secondary questions as to why D.O. and why underserved populations. My GPA was less than average, so I can't say that I had that to fall back on either. I did not do a post-bac or SMP, but I do have a masters degree and I may have some 'real life experience' that was looked upon in a positive light. I felt my interviews went well, and I was honest when asked about my MCAT score and provided a list of ways I felt I would be able to handle the rigors of medical school. I have been reading SDN for several years, and also spent many of these years comparing myself to others and feeling inadequate. I just hope that someone feeling really terrible about themselves can see that they may be better off than they think
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Your story is so inspirational! Congratulations! Can I ask what schools you got into??
 
Yeah congrats OP. I'm also wondering which schools you got into
 
If the MCAT was more indicative of medical school success, I'd agree with all the complainers here. I had a friend with an ever-so-slightly higher score than the OP do above average in medical school. Not terrible, not stellar, just pretty good.

OP can do perfectly fine.

Although, I'm extremely curious which schools he was accepted to!
 
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