any non trads who retook mcat , got accepted?

[suckermc]

like to hear your story.

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[thegenius]

This might be a tad presumptious because I'm not accepted as of this time, but I'll give you my story. I took the MCAT twice in 1996 and 1998 and scored a 27 and 26 respectively, getting socked in the face on the verbal section (7 and 6). I applied to med school and did not get in.

After that, I earned a master degree in 1998 in biomedical engineering then went to Silicon Valley and worked at start up companies and the such for 6 years. I'm a reapplicant now and have a much better chance at getting in.

I took the MCAT again in 2004 and scored much better 10,11,10. Nice even numbers. I now have 6 interviews and am on the prestigious "deferred decision" list at Michigan, which I think is better than the waitlist but obviously not an acceptance. I also have interviews at a wide range of schools.

What did I do differently this time re: the MCAT? I'm not really sure. I'm several years older now and have been through situations and had experiences that were more stressful than the MCAT. I used to think that the MCAT was this barrier erected by the medical school community to discourage applicants and to separate out the weak from the strong, and accordingly it stressed me to no end. I was worried that if I didn't do well on the MCAT, my life would end. Boy was I wrong. Life does go on. And I've been happy since.

Last year I had a different attitude regarding the MCAT. In reality, it is just a test to help admissions committees evaluate the thousands of candidates that apply. It's nothing more. There are easy, moderate, and hard questions on the exam. All you have to do is prepare for it. I wasn't that nervous before the exam, was not sweating or anxious during it, and was relaxed afterwords. I'm quite happy with my score and in reality, probably could not have done better. Maybe on a good day I could have scored 1 point higher on the physics and bio sections, but I've never been good at verbal and scoring a 10 is wonderful.

Good luck to you, I hope this helps.

 

[USAFdoc2be]

I took the MCATs back as an undergrad and got a 27 (studying helps ) I decided to take a few years off and I took them again this April which was 5 years later. I studied my butt off from Jan-April and took the Kaplan course which helped a ton and ended up with a 31 (10 PS, 10 BS, 11 VB) and got into USUHS last week! So it can be done!

 

[kickbutt]

hello, i'm new to this site. i'm also a non-trad. I reside in Asia... worked for 8 years in the IT industry before getting into med school in Asia. I had originally wanted to enter an Australian med school. i tried MCAT twice but flunk VB very badly, till now i don't know how to handle this part of MCAT. Then i took the GAMSAT but failed the VB by just 1 mark! I had no choice but to enroll a med school that offers twinning program, which takes slightly longer duration to complete the course. Till now i'm still having hangovers with my MCAT failures... i studied so hard but just couldn't make it.

 

[QofQuimica]

I wrote this post for another thread like this in the reapplicant's forum. Here's the link if you want to read through the entire thread.

***********

This is actually my FOURTH time applying to med school, although the first three times I didn't put enough effort and thought into it, so it wasn't surprising that I met with less than desirable results. The last time I applied was in 1997, so I had to re-take the MCAT b/c my scores had expired, and I did much MUCH better on it. I also finished my MS, and I'm now finishing my PhD, both in organic chem. These two things made a big difference for me, because my undergrad program did not offer grades, and all of my pre-reqs were therefore taken P/F. I still don't have an undergrad GPA, but now I have a solid grad school record, and that with my MCAT, new ECs, and new LORs was enough to ameliorate a lot of the problems I had previously. I submitted my AMCAS on June 1, and my first interview was at the end of August. I was just accepted for next fall.

One other thing I wanted to mention: someone here said that s/he called several schools before applying, and I did the exact same thing. If you have any unusual circumstances in your app, I think that it is wise to do this, as well as to consult with an admissions director at one of your state schools, again BEFORE you apply. (I did this as well.) I had three concerns: my pre-reqs are all 10+ years old, I'm 30, and I took all the pre-reqs P/F. There were a few schools that basically advised me not to apply. Some others said that they'd look at my graduate grades instead. Several said that I'd need an excellent MCAT score to make up for my lack of grades and old pre-reqs. A few schools told me that I could write a letter and request that they waive some of their pre-req requirements (i.e., age of the pre-reqs or that the pre-reqs had to be graded). Even with all of this legwork, there were still some schools that decided not to bother with me, but there were plenty of others that were willing to give me a chance. Like ShyRem said, not every school will be right for every candidate. It's important to go into this process with an open mind. I was quickly rejected pre-secondary from the school that I initially thought would be my top choice. While it was disappointing, it also forced me to really start looking at the possibilities at my other schools, some of which I now know would be a better fit for me.

 

[ckdoc]

I wrote this post for another thread like this in the reapplicant's forum. Here's the link if you want to read through the entire thread.

***********

This is actually my FOURTH time applying to med school, although the first three times I didn't put enough effort and thought into it, so it wasn't surprising that I met with less than desirable results. The last time I applied was in 1997, so I had to re-take the MCAT b/c my scores had expired, and I did much MUCH better on it. I also finished my MS, and I'm now finishing my PhD, both in organic chem. These two things made a big difference for me, because my undergrad program did not offer grades, and all of my pre-reqs were therefore taken P/F. I still don't have an undergrad GPA, but now I have a solid grad school record, and that with my MCAT, new ECs, and new LORs was enough to ameliorate a lot of the problems I had previously. I submitted my AMCAS on June 1, and my first interview was at the end of August. I was just accepted for next fall.

One other thing I wanted to mention: someone here said that s/he called several schools before applying, and I did the exact same thing. If you have any unusual circumstances in your app, I think that it is wise to do this, as well as to consult with an admissions director at one of your state schools, again BEFORE you apply. (I did this as well.) I had three concerns: my pre-reqs are all 10+ years old, I'm 30, and I took all the pre-reqs P/F. There were a few schools that basically advised me not to apply. Some others said that they'd look at my graduate grades instead. Several said that I'd need an excellent MCAT score to make up for my lack of grades and old pre-reqs. A few schools told me that I could write a letter and request that they waive some of their pre-req requirements (i.e., age of the pre-reqs or that the pre-reqs had to be graded). Even with all of this legwork, there were still some schools that decided not to bother with me, but there were plenty of others that were willing to give me a chance. Like ShyRem said, not every school will be right for every candidate. It's important to go into this process with an open mind. I was quickly rejected pre-secondary from the school that I initially thought would be my top choice. While it was disappointing, it also forced me to really start looking at the possibilities at my other schools, some of which I now know would be a better fit for me.

QofQuimica, thank you soooooo much for sharing your story! It gives me much hope. This is my third time applying...and I hope it is my last. I am not exactly getting any younger...hahaha...but if I have to go through this application process again next year (but I really really really hope I don't), I'll remember you

 

[QofQuimica]

QofQuimica, thank you soooooo much for sharing your story! It gives me much hope. This is my third time applying...and I hope it is my last. I am not exactly getting any younger...hahaha...but if I have to go through this application process again next year (but I really really really hope I don't), I'll remember you

You're welcome. And best of luck to you.

 

[dr_keki]

Keep these stories coming! I think it's difficult to study for MCAT while working but you guys pulled it off with 30+ scores!! That's very admirable.