Adivce for the future?

[SiakTiDoc]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello Everyone,
First time poster long time lurker. I'm currently in my 4th year of Undergrad and my GPA is just a little over 3.1 (I'm shooting for a 3.3 by the end of the year). I have been working on raising it since my 2.3 GPA freshmen year (Increasing GPA trend through the years.) I didn't do too well on my lower level science courses (intro Bio/Chem), but I did manage to pull A's in my upper courses like Biochemistry and Genetics and I'm continuing to get more. So for my question. What should I do after my graduation?

-I was planning on delaying graduation by one semester to retake those lower pre-req courses to boost my GPA, as well as taking more higher science electives and partake in research.

-My other option was to just graduate this year and then study and finally take the MCAT (been pushing it back). Then apply the following cycle, which collegues of mine have been recommending me to do.

I've had unhelpful meetings with my pre-med adviser my freshmen year and have been making an effort to avoid going back to them for advising (been seeing my biology adviser) to avoid the "You should greatly consider other fields" speech. I was never introduced to DO as an option until further researched it on my own Junior year, and I'm working towards it.

Sorry for the long post, but any advice is appreciated,
Thank you all!

 

[mathnerd88]

Retake your courses that you did badly in, raise that sGPA and cGPA to a respectable level. Do well on the MCAT (at least 505,) and you should be golden. Make sure you have enough clinical hours and a letter from DO.

 

[holdthemayo]

It sounds like retaking your prereqs significantly raise your GPA. You want to Apply with the best app possible- retake them.

 

[Seth Joo]

Hello Everyone,
First time poster long time lurker. I'm currently in my 4th year of Undergrad and my GPA is just a little over 3.1 (I'm shooting for a 3.3 by the end of the year). I have been working on raising it since my 2.3 GPA freshmen year (Increasing GPA trend through the years.) I didn't do too well on my lower level science courses (intro Bio/Chem), but I did manage to pull A's in my upper courses like Biochemistry and Genetics and I'm continuing to get more. So for my question. What should I do after my graduation?

-I was planning on delaying graduation by one semester to retake those lower pre-req courses to boost my GPA, as well as taking more higher science electives as well as partaking in research.
-My other option was to just graduate this year and then study and finally take the MCAT (been pushing it back). Then apply the following cycle, which collegues of mine have been recommending me to do.

I've had unhelpful meetings with my pre-med adviser my freshmen year and have been making an effort to avoid going back to them for advising (been seeing my biology adviser) to avoid the "You should greatly consider other fields" speech. I was never introduced to DO as an option until further researched it on my own Junior year, and I'm not working towards it.

Sorry for the long post, but any advice is appreciated,
Thank you all!

I think if your GPA is above a 3.0, you need to do really well on the MCAT, some schools I noticed have stronger emphasis on MCAT score than on GPA and vice versa. Your GPA would become an issue if you do not do well on the MCAT.

 

[SiakTiDoc]

Thanks everyone!
I have some some hours, but they were with an MD. I've been making a bunch of calls in hopes of shadowing a DO, but no luck in my home town so now that I'm back at college I'm trying around here.

I was planning on graduating late to get my gpa as high as I could (with the least minimal cost). If I finish next fall, I would then devote about 3/4 months for MCAT studying and take it April/May and then apply the following cycle.

Not sure if I should just save the time and go right into MCAT prepping in the summer?

 

[SiakTiDoc]

Also Seth, do you know which schools pay more attention to MCAT vs gpa?
ideally, I would like to apply around the west coast preferably.
But beggars can't be choosers so I'd be thankful to get anywhere haha.

 

[Seth Joo]

Also Seth, do you know which schools pay more attention to MCAT vs gpa?
ideally, I would like to apply around the west coast preferably.
But beggars can't be choosers so I'd be thankful to get anywhere haha.

DO schools in general will consider someone with a high MCAT score in lieu of a weaker GPA. I cannot name any specific school but if I were you I would invest in an MCAT prep course and make sure that you do very well on the MCAT.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

DO schools in general will consider someone with a high MCAT score in lieu of a weaker GPA. I cannot name any specific school but if I were you I would invest in an MCAT prep course and make sure that you do very well on the MCAT.

I would strongly advise against an MCAT Prep course. I spent nearly $2,000 on a prep course only to find out that Khan Academy was much more helpful. This seemed to be a pretty unanimous opinion among my peers, both on here and at my university. The prep companies have nothing to go off of and the only valuable materials they have are practice exams that really only help significantly with timing. Do Khan Academy and forget investing in prep courses.

 

[Seth Joo]

I would strongly advise against an MCAT Prep course. I spent nearly $2,000 on a prep course only to find out that Khan Academy was much more helpful. This seemed to be a pretty unanimous opinion among my peers, both on here and at my university. The prep companies have nothing to go off of and the only valuable materials they have are practice exams that really only help significantly with timing. Do Khan Academy and forget investing in prep courses.

It all depends, I think prep courses are useful, I used one and it raised my score 6 points so it was well worth it, that was under the old MCAT.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

It all depends, I think prep courses are useful, I used one and it raised my score 6 points so it was well worth it, that was under the old MCAT.

I agree that the old MCAT was well worth the prep course, but not so much for the new MCAT. Test prep companies has years of experience and data to go off of for the old test, including 10+ Official tests from the AAMC to look at. This new test has them stumped. The scores are WAY off on the practice tests (people scored a HIGH of 505 on Kaplan practice only to find out they scored ~520 on the real deal). There is much more to it than that, but I thought I would save you all some money and tell you that Khan Academy is the ONLY partnered test-prep source of the AAMC and they are legit.

 

[Seth Joo]

I agree that the old MCAT was well worth the prep course, but not so much for the new MCAT. Test prep companies has years of experience and data to go off of for the old test, including 10+ Official tests from the AAMC to look at. This new test has them stumped. The scores are WAY off on the practice tests (people scored a HIGH of 505 on Kaplan practice only to find out they scored ~520 on the real deal). There is much more to it than that, but I thought I would save you all some money and tell you that Khan Academy is the ONLY partnered test-prep source of the AAMC and they are legit.

Kaplan makes their tests ridiculously hard, part of it is to scare students into studying hard, and part of it is to make the real exam a breeze. That is why they get away with charging so much for their courses. My 6 point improvement was between my two attempts on the MCAT.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Kaplan makes their tests ridiculously hard, part of it is to scare students into studying hard, and part of it is to make the real exam a breeze. That is why they get away with charging so much for their courses. My 6 point improvement was between my two attempts on the MCAT.

I don't agree with this. Not only are there tests "hard", but they are not in any way representative of the actual test. Like you said, you took the old test with the old test prep--I have taken the new Kaplan test prep with the MCAT 2015 and I along with MANY other people agree that the prep company was a waste of time, ESPECIALLY since the new Khan Academy prep. Khan Academy is the golden site, it is free and much better at content review. They also have hundreds of free practice problems that were co-written with the AAMC.

 

[SiakTiDoc]

Thank you both for the help!
I'm unsure if I want to shell out for a Prep course. For one thing the distance for the classes sites for me is rather far, so I would only be able to take an online version, and I figured that's comparable to just reading through all my books and watching supplemental youtube videos (been doing this as a an O-chem refresher). While shadowing last summer I was reading through the TBR books for Gen chem and physics and they seemed to be great in re-learning the info as well as providing test taking tips.
Are the prep courses really a necessity to get higher scores?

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Thank you both for the help!
I'm unsure if I want to shell out for a Prep course. For one thing the distance for the classes sites for me is rather far, so I would only be able to take an online version, and I figured that's comparable to just reading through all my books and watching supplemental youtube videos (been doing this as a an O-chem refresher). While shadowing last summer I was reading through the TBR books for Gen chem and physics and they seemed to be great in re-learning the info as well as providing test taking tips.
Are the prep courses really a necessity to get higher scores?

I guess I should clarify what I meant. The test prep courses DO provide all the material you need to do well on the MCAT, but you aren't paying for the books, you are paying for the COURSE. I don't think that the course is worth it. I think if you buy the books and watch the Khan Academy videos and do numerous practice problems, then you will be fine. It is mostly a mental war between you and the MCAT. The test is pretty basic comprehension of a wide variety of concepts. The only thing the courses will do for you is maybe teach you strategy. It will not be that useful for informational purposes. Not comparatively speaking, that is. Khan Academy 😉

 

[SiakTiDoc]

It is mostly a mental war between you and the MCAT. The test is pretty basic comprehension of a wide variety of concepts. The only thing the courses will do for you is maybe teach you strategy. It will not be that useful for informational purposes. Not comparatively speaking, that is. Khan Academy 😉

Great way of summing up the exam haha.
I was for sure planning on doing just as you stated, but I have meet previous individuals who also recommended the prep course to me stating that the "strategies" greatly helped them do much better, but like you said this was pre-2015 exam. I am curious to know what these score defying strategies are though!

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Great way of summing up the exam haha.
I was for sure planning on doing just as you stated, but I have meet previous individuals who also recommended the prep course to me stating that the "strategies" greatly helped them do much better, but like you said this was pre-2015 exam. I am curious to know what these score defying strategies are though!

Honestly, I don't want to get into too much detail with regards to the strategy, because that is how they make their money..but, let's just say I have read the same recommendations all over the web by doing a simple google search. The strategies are all about time management and learning how to weed out the useless information. It teaches you to recognize key details and also shows you various types of questions and how to approach them. You can buy these strategy books for pennies on the dollar compared to the 2 grand you will wast on the whole course.

 

[SiakTiDoc]

Honestly, I don't want to get into too much detail with regards to the strategy, because that is how they make their money..but, let's just say I have read the same recommendations all over the web by doing a simple google search. The strategies are all about time management and learning how to weed out the useless information. It teaches you to recognize key details and also shows you various types of questions and how to approach them. You can buy these strategy books for pennies on the dollar compared to the 2 grand you will wast on the whole course.

I understand, and thank you for the tip! I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I start prepping for the MCAT.
Do you think it would be more beneficial to go right into studying for the MCAT or continue on grade recovery? It seems like your MCAT can speak greater volumes than a slightly increased GPA?

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I understand, and thank you for the tip! I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I start prepping for the MCAT.
Do you think it would be more beneficial to go right into studying for the MCAT or continue on grade recovery? It seems like your MCAT can speak greater volumes than a slightly increased GPA?

I don't see why you can't do both. Just don't over due it. The MCAT only requires 2-3 months of dedicated studying, therefore it allows for classwork to fit in. I worked full-time, attended classes full time, and studied for the MCAT. It can be done, it just takes dedication.

 

[SiakTiDoc]

I don't see why you can't do both. Just don't over due it. The MCAT only requires 2-3 months of dedicated studying, therefore it allows for classwork to fit in. I worked full-time, attended classes full time, and studied for the MCAT. It can be done, it just takes dedication.

I kinda know my limit, and wouldn't want to juggle studying for class, the MCAT, while also continuing in volunteering, I admire your time management skills, but I'd be DOA my plan haha.
Thanks though for the advice, I'm leaning towards my first option and making sure I put my best foot forward before applying 🙂