Advice Needed - Recieving no love this cycle

[Special_K]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello - Need some serious advice
MCAT - 21; Overall GPA - 3.44, Science GPA - 3.30

I took the Aug MCAT 2005, and already had applied.. not realizing I would do this poorly on the MCAT.. Not hearing any good news besides 1 On Hold.

I graduated June 2005. So already taking this year off. Working part time as a server at a restaurant and volunteering at a local hospital. Now looks like I need to study again for the MCAT.. but what is the most productive thing I can do during the next year off? Post-bac? Research? Work as a lab tech? but I will still need drastically improve the MCAT.

I believe everything else is good besides the MCAT... EC's, letters of rec, my personality and motivation for becoming a doctor etc...

In alll honesty, I basically waisted my $$ by applying this year?

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Hello - Need some serious advice
MCAT - 21; Overall GPA - 3.44, Science GPA - 3.30

I took the Aug MCAT 2005, and already had applied.. not realizing I would do this poorly on the MCAT.. Not hearing any good news besides 1 On Hold.

I graduated June 2005. So already taking this year off. Working part time as a server at a restaurant and volunteering at a local hospital. Now looks like I need to study again for the MCAT.. but what is the most productive thing I can do during the next year off? Post-bac? Research? Work as a lab tech? but I will still need drastically improve the MCAT.

I believe everything else is good besides the MCAT... EC's, letters of rec, my personality and motivation for becoming a doctor etc...

In alll honesty, I basically waisted my $$ by applying this year?

Yes. Retake the MCAT and study hard for it. Take prep classes or tutoring if you have to. Unless you've got major hardships (to the extent that you might read about yourself in the newspaper as an example of overcoming adversity), the 21 is extremely low. Work solely on improving it 8-10 points. It's really not as hard as it may sound, 3 points in each section. Figure out where you're going wrong and fix it. Your GPA is a little low, so you might want to consider taking a few upper division science classes and getting A's to bump it up. I wouldn't do research [the schools you'd be going for are probably not hugely research-oriented] and lab tech is sort of a waste of time. Volunteer a litlte more intensely, perhaps? Find a great volunteer experience that's unique/different and can give you a new angle on an essay. Above all, focus on the MCAT.

 

[silas2642]

Study your butt off for the APRIL mcat, and apply as early as humanly possible. Like anonymouse said, you really need to get your mcat up in the 30's range, especially since your gpa is so-so. Make sure that everything is in place-- get your transcripts in asap, write a killer letter of intent, etc. Apply broadly and to lower tier schools, and hit the DO schools hard, since they tend to be more willing to look past numbers. Good luck!!

 

[jebus]

I would wait until the August MCAT. Take your time to study for the MCAT and do it right. I would hold off on your apps: don't apply for matriculation in 2007. Give yourself some time to make some substantive improvements to your GPA. During the upcoming academic year I would, as a-mous suggested, fix your GPA. If you can't get a unique volunteer position then try to get a clinical job. Work in an old-folks home or as an in-house aid or something.
Come June 2007 you will be a much better position to apply to medical school.

 

[Flopotomist]

I would wait until the August MCAT. Take your time to study for the MCAT and do it right. I would hold off on your apps: don't apply for matriculation in 2007. Give yourself some time to make some substantive improvements to your GPA. During the upcoming academic year I would, as a-mous suggested, fix your GPA. If you can't get a unique volunteer position then try to get a clinical job. Work in an old-folks home or as an in-house aid or something.
Come June 2007 you will be a much better position to apply to medical school.

I have to strongly disagree with this advice. If you start studying HARD now - you should be fine by April - those extra few months won't help all that much, and you lose any advantage you get from applying early.

 

[Law2Doc]

I would wait until the August MCAT. Take your time to study for the MCAT and do it right. I would hold off on your apps: don't apply for matriculation in 2007. Give yourself some time to make some substantive improvements to your GPA. During the upcoming academic year I would, as a-mous suggested, fix your GPA. If you can't get a unique volunteer position then try to get a clinical job. Work in an old-folks home or as an in-house aid or something.
Come June 2007 you will be a much better position to apply to medical school.

This is certainly an option, and probably depends on whether you can line up something interesting to do during the off year. However, I personally suggest studying for the April test, but let practice full length scores tell you in March whether you are actually ready to sit for it. If you aren't scoring 30 on multiple full lengths by late march, withdraw from the sitting and plan on giving yourself a bigger head start for August.

 

[jebus]

I have to strongly disagree with this advice. If you start studying HARD now - you should be fine by April - those extra few months won't help all that much, and you lose any advantage you get from applying early.

Oh, but flop, that's my point. The OP wouldn't apply early during the upcoming cycle, he would apply early during the following cycle. I have reservations that he would go from a 21 to upper 20's/lower 30's with just 2 months to study (it's 6 months until August) and substantively improve his app (GPA and ECs) before June when the next application cycle begins. I think it's better to spend some real time improving his MCAT and his GPA - and get some great ECs. Then he can apply early in June 2007 with substantially improved qualifications.
I think he should spend some time and get it done right rather than try to hurriedly get another application together for the 2007 entering class.
I guess law2doc hit it on the head when he said it depended on the off-year activities... Oh well, SDN has spoken and I guess I'm wrong. It's not the first time I've been wrong and it won't be the last.

 

[tacrum43]

I have to strongly disagree with this advice. If you start studying HARD now - you should be fine by April - those extra few months won't help all that much, and you lose any advantage you get from applying early.

I agree with Flop. Late MCAT with average numbers = bad news for you.

OP, make the next 2.5 months of your life about the MCAT. And don't forget to register soon.

 

[yellowpersuazio]

I would look into post-bac programs. Your GPA is lower than average for most schools, and some post-bac/masters programs will actually help you to study for the August MCAT.

 

[relentless11]

Oh, but flop, that's my point. The OP wouldn't apply early during the upcoming cycle, he would apply early during the following cycle. I have reservations that he would go from a 21 to upper 20's/lower 30's with just 2 months to study (it's 6 months until August) and substantively improve his app (GPA and ECs) before June when the next application cycle begins. I think it's better to spend some real time improving his MCAT and his GPA - and get some great ECs. Then he can apply early in June 2007 with substantially improved qualifications.
I think he should spend some time and get it done right rather than try to hurriedly get another application together for the 2007 entering class.
I guess law2doc hit it on the head when he said it depended on the off-year activities... Oh well, SDN has spoken and I guess I'm wrong. It's not the first time I've been wrong and it won't be the last.

I would have to agree with this. Unless the OP was ill or didn't have enough time to study for last August's MCAT, then the potential to yield an MCAT score around the national mean would be quite difficult. I don't know if these stats are realistic but each year we get an email from our pre-med advisors saying "on average" how many points one can improve when taking the MCAT again. Its usually 1-3 points. Of course there are people that have amazing increases (and amazing decreases 🙁 ), not to mention a disproprtional score between sections. Even if one gets a 30, but the VR is like 7, thats not good either 🙁 . I would personally take the year off, do post-bacc and take classes that would make me stronger in areas covered by the MCAT, so I can take the MCAT later (April, or even August). Applying a year later...not this cycle....is probably the best, and would provide adcoms with a lot of new (and hopefully) good stuff.

A 21 is quite painful, but I have known people who pushed through, so good luck to you!

 

[QuikClot]

The MCAT needs to be improved, but I disagree with the idea that it should be your sole focus.

I would start with a question: what is special about you, not necessarily unique, but rare enough to be valuable and desirable, that makes you a valuable addition to the med school of your choice? Why do you, in short, kick ass? And then I would take the year, and polish that asset to a fine sheen:

* Write a great personal statement around it. A great personal statement may not clinch as many interviews as a great MCAT, but it clinches just as many acceptances.

* Get great LORs, some of them from the people who know that part of your life.

* Make it bigger and better. If you’re an EMT-B and a volunteer firefighter, you might become a medic. If you’re a natural scientist, find a way to get your name in print. If you really have an ethic of public service, don’t just volunteer -- start your own program. And so on.

An application is a story. Your statistics are not striking, so your story must be. As I got to know the people at my interviews, I was struck by how few whiz kids there appeared to be. Instead, lots of good stories. A biologist for the CDC who works on EDP (extremely dangerous pathogens -- “like Ebola” she said). A Fullbright scholar working in Japan. A women working on long-term HIV education among IV drug users, etc.

I would say, better your MCAT. I’d add: do post-bac and improve your GPA. But just as important is to have a story -- teach English in Egypt, write journalism on the healthcare crisis, design a new medical supply; in the immortal words of Jim Rome: “Have a take, and do not suck.”

 

[ambaduchi]

1. you've gotta get the mcat up. to echo some others, study your butt off and DO NOT sit for april unless you really feel sure about getting 30++. if you sit for it and it didn't feel like it went well, cancel them at the end of the day. the last thing you want on your record is another mediocre score.

2. your science GPA is not a complete disaster but classes would be a really good idea. probably don't need a whole year of them if that's hard for you to pull off financially, maybe just 2-4 classes but with A's across the board and must get letters of rec from those profs. it's all about the upward trend in grades and showing that you're able *now* to handle the mcat and rigorous science work, regardless of what happened before.

3. i wholeheartedly agree w quikclot. that is absolutely excellent advice. figure out what the biggest strength of your story is, where your passion is, and GUN IT there. absolutely gun it. show that whether or not you became a doctor, you're on a mission to do something with your life. and get it into your PS and onto your apps.

4. whether you apply this year or next depends on how you can schedule all this and what your personal capacity is. if you can take the mcat in april (and do well), get a well-written app done for june 1st, take summer science classes (and get As) so that you've got new grades and science letters by august or september, finish secondaries during the time that you're taking classes and can line up some good health-related work for the year so that you can put it on your apps, then apply this year. but, really, to get this done, we're talking pushing yourself flat-out from now through about october this year. like 7 days a week with no room for error. so if that's unrealistic, aim for june 2007 with the same agenda. it would be probably be a better plan.

i'm a reapp. it's like being kicked in the teeth. my situation was very different from yours but i basically adoped a take-no-prisoners approach to my app this time, and i'm in and interviewing at 2 top 5 schools among others. don't let the bastards get you down. at least you know what you have to do and can make a plan. now just stay focused, make it work w your personal life and finances, and execute the **** out of it. 🙂