Advice on choosing my best option

[Pinocytosis]

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[MightBeACylon439]

No further education necessary. Concentrate and work your ass off on your MCAT. If burn out was the problem, what can you do to prevent that? Exercise, family, friends, significant other?

What was your MCAT breakdown (PS,VR,BS)? I would start reading things like the economist, the new yorker, the scientific american, etc as verbal is what the vast majority of test takers struggle with. For a more comprehensive reading list/suggested reading PM me. Note you will never see this material on the MCAT...but more just to get used to the kind of passages you'll see on the MCAT.

Keep doing volunteering and such if it makes you feel good, I think you have a good looking resume.

If you do get another 25 (or equivilant national percentile) dont fret, you'd still be good for most DO schools.

 

[MightBeACylon439]

Thank you for your advice. For my MCAT breakdown, it was 8 PS, 6 VR, 11 BS if I remember correctly. Not to make excuses, but I got "unlucky" on the PS section. I normally scored 10-12 on practice exams (TPR and AAMC). I remember sitting in my apartment 45 minutes before the test and saying to my friend, "The only thing I still feel uncomfortable with is electromagnetism". And what do you know.. Pretty much all electromagnetism...

I planned on practicing much, much harder on VR. I was never inherently successful at VR, but that's no excuse. This applies/applied to many aspiring physicians and they still succeeded. Anyway, thank you again!

I am glad you appreciate my feedback, always here to help! Being that I want to help you, I want to be straight up with you. If you felt uncomfortable with EM going into the MCAT...then you went in unprepared, there was no luck about it. Study hard on EM, if you feel weak on something don't let it go- HAMMER that S#@$ until you know with utmost certainty that if you see it you're not going to sweat it.

Again with verbal, if you want some good online resources and other recommended reading and tips...PM me I'd be glad to help.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

Only studying for the mcat will look horrible when someone ask you during an interview "What have you been up to this year?". So study for mcat but also do an activity for a year:
1. join a research lab.
2. join an organization [i.e. americorp, teaching for america, habitat for humanity]
3. continue PCA or new job [other hospital jobs, emt]

You should be volunteering in the meanwhile at last once per week doing something above.

 

[Goro]

There is no unlucky on exams. You either know the material, or you don't.

I strongly recommend applying once, with the best possible app, even if it means waiting a year. In your case, you can use that time to prepare for MCAT, and retake.

Thank you for your advice. For my MCAT breakdown, it was 8 PS, 6 VR, 11 BS if I remember correctly. Not to make excuses, but I got "unlucky" on the PS section. I normally scored 10-12 on practice exams (TPR and AAMC). I remember sitting in my apartment 45 minutes before the test and saying to my friend, "The only thing I still feel uncomfortable with is electromagnetism". And what do you know.. Pretty much all electromagnetism...

I planned on practicing much, much harder on VR. I was never inherently successful at VR, but that's no excuse. This applies/applied to many aspiring physicians and they still succeeded. Anyway, thank you again!

 

[JW2020]

Be sure to review the other material in addition to focusing harder on EM, etc and verbal passages. A common mistake is identifying a weakness in MCAT material and then not spending enough time maintaining knowledge on the rest of the content. I'd recommend rotating subjects with built in extra time for additional verbal passages and other topics you feel you don't have nailed down. There are some great resources on here for the old MCAT, but you'd have to do some research on study materials/routines for this crazy new MCAT they've gone and created.

Good luck!

 

[PlaqueBuster]

Well, I graduated from school and currently work in industry. I would receommend you browse through monster and careerbuilder sites for associate scientist/research assistant positions. Industry tends to pay better than academia. Also, browse through company human resources pages or at local university "jobs" pages. The earlier you apply for them the better you will be because it takes a while to hear back from them.

 

[JW2020]

Thank you for your advice. I will most likely try to save up for another TPR course or try out Kaplan. Depends on the feedback I get from fellow sdn-ers on these companies after studying for/taking MCAT 2015.
I studied over a span of 3 months the first time while doing research and being a full-time student. Hence, why I think I got burnt out (and noticeably different study habits and willingness to pick up my MCAT books) towards the end. Should I stick with a 3 month study plan but incorporate less things into my life? I will incorporate what others have suggested (PCA, research, etc.), but perhaps during those months I will reduce the amount I spend on other activities to focus on the MCAT. I've read some sdn-ers doing a 60 or 90 day MCAT plan, but I'm not sure if that would work for me. But hey, everyone's different. Whatever works!

This really depends on you. In general most will advise to cut back on distractions during MCAT studying and give it your all (i.e not taking any classes, etc). I'd recommend studying for at least 2 months before taking the MCAT, especially since you had trouble before with unbalanced scores. I just worry that spending less than that won't give you enough time to solidify all the concepts that are going to be tested, especially with the new components. Talk to some friends/ask some sdners what they did for study schedules, and then taper this into something that will keep you from burning out but give you enough time to learn the material.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

You have 2 months until April (depending on when you take test) which is enough time in my opinion if you put in minimum of 4 hours a day.