MD Applying in late july...too late? Also MCAT restudying tips?

[Mat the coolcat]

Hi there,

So this post is for a friend of mine who is in a bit of a pickle for what to do.

She was gonna take her MCAT back in May but she ended up voiding it, and is now planning on taking it on July 12th or July 24th. Does anyone have any tips for re-studying when you have burned through all your resources? The verbal section is the hardest thing, it is really hard to find extra passages to study.

As for applying this year, she is wondering if applying in late july, like the 27th, is too late.

The biggest question we have is, does applying late actually hurt your chances? Or is it just a big pain in the rear because it takes forever to get verified?

Here are her stats:

• University of Washington Grad, B.S. in biology, summa cum laude with a 3.96
• D1 athlete in cross country
• Leadership experience helping lead an alternative spring break where students shadow doctors in rural areas.
• Involved in a pre-med club
• Two years of research in a monkey ear nose throat lab
• 30-40 hours of shadowing
• Ran a camp reaching out to younger kids in inner city detroit.
• Went to africa where she got to play doctor for two weeks, literally, in Kenya.

She has some great experience and grades, but that Darn MCAT is hanging her up. Her verbal is getting worse, going from 9's to 6's. She will probably get 11's or 12's on her science sections.

That being said, any honest advice for what her chances are of getting into a mid level MD school would be greatly appreciated. My inclination is to tell her she will be fine due to her good grades, but I am also aware that rolling admission is a very real issue. She is trying to decide if she should apply this year or the next.

I'd love to hear what you all think!

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[zzxxzz]

So does this person have an MCAT score or no? Not 100% on this, but I don't think you can get verified without a prior MCAT score.

Taking the MCAT on the 24th will result in a late August score. She'll be verified after many interview invitations have been sent out.

Also depends on how solid her prep is. A 12/9/12 will get her into a medical school. An 11/6/11 probably won't. Unless she is getting 12+ on pretty much every BS/PS practice test, it's hard to say she'll be able to do it on the real thing.

I find it hard to believe this person has used every practice passage in TBR, TPR, Kaplan, and EK101. The VR is actually easier to study than you think, because the types of passages featured in it are ubiquitous outside the science world. Have her read publications in the humanities - no science publications, they're jokes - every single day, and outline the arguments within, taking as much time as necessary. Philosophy or Classical Studies are the best bets, as they are the most opaque.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

Actually she does have an MCAT score, but it was actually a fluke and yielded her getting a zero in verbal. She actually voided it but some glitch gave her a score, so I guess her verification would not be delayed, and she would list that she is taking a future MCAT.

We are Wondering if taking it July 12th or July 24th would make a difference in acceptance.

What do you folks think?

 

[Mat the coolcat]

She has done all in TPR, Kaplan, and exam krackers. I like that advice though of reading humanities stuff, I will relay that message.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

I bet she will get around an 8-9.

 

[Abstractions]

Actually she does have an MCAT score, but it was actually a fluke and yielded her getting a zero in verbal. She actually voided it but some glitch gave her a score, so I guess her verification would not be delayed, and she would list that she is taking a future MCAT.

We are Wondering if taking it July 12th or July 24th would make a difference in acceptance.

What do you folks think?

This doesn't add up. There is no such thing as a "glitch" where you void the test but it "somehow" goes through and you end up with a 0 on verbal.

 

[V5RED]

Hi there,

So this post is for a friend of mine who is in a bit of a pickle for what to do.

She was gonna take her MCAT back in May but she ended up voiding it, and is now planning on taking it on July 12th or July 24th. Does anyone have any tips for re-studying when you have burned through all your resources? The verbal section is the hardest thing, it is really hard to find extra passages to study.

As for applying this year, she is wondering if applying in late july, like the 27th, is too late.

The biggest question we have is, does applying late actually hurt your chances? Or is it just a big pain in the rear because it takes forever to get verified?

Here are her stats:

• University of Washington Grad, B.S. in biology, summa cum laude with a 3.96
• D1 athlete in cross country
• Leadership experience helping lead an alternative spring break where students shadow doctors in rural areas.
• Involved in a pre-med club
• Two years of research in a monkey ear nose throat lab
• 30-40 hours of shadowing
• Ran a camp reaching out to younger kids in inner city detroit.
• Went to africa where she got to play doctor for two weeks, literally, in Kenya.

She has some great experience and grades, but that Darn MCAT is hanging her up. Her verbal is getting worse, going from 9's to 6's. She will probably get 11's or 12's on her science sections.

That being said, any honest advice for what her chances are of getting into a mid level MD school would be greatly appreciated. My inclination is to tell her she will be fine due to her good grades, but I am also aware that rolling admission is a very real issue. She is trying to decide if she should apply this year or the next.

I'd love to hear what you all think!

If the bolded is meant to mean that she actually performed medical procedures on people, her chances will be zero if she writes about this on her application.

As to MCAT prep, if you mean she used every single practice exam from all the main prep companies as well as all of the AAMC practice exams, I am not sure what she can do about that. For the current MCAT, she will have no way to gauge her readiness. She could make faux tests if she has enough unused practice questions available, but if she also burned through all of those, she is in trouble. This is why I always tell people not to burn through exams haphazardly in prep for the MCAT.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

If the bolded is meant to mean that she actually performed medical procedures on people, her chances will be zero if she writes about this on her application.

As to MCAT prep, if you mean she used every single practice exam from all the main prep companies as well as all of the AAMC practice exams, I am not sure what she can do about that. For the current MCAT, she will have no way to gauge her readiness. She could make faux tests if she has enough unused practice questions available, but if she also burned through all of those, she is in trouble. This is why I always tell people not to burn through exams haphazardly in prep for the MCAT.

OBVIOUSLY she would not say that. I never said she would say that. Why say anything if you have no solutions to give? This is exactly why people should avoid this forum becuase all you people do is bring people down and not actually help. good grief.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

This doesn't add up. There is no such thing as a "glitch" where you void the test but it "somehow" goes through and you end up with a 0 on verbal.

Well guess what dude, it happened. She voided it, and instead it didn't. She didn't answer any of the questions on the verbal because she knew she was gonna void it.

What was even the point of that post? This post was to see if anyone has any actual advice or studying tips. Looks like zzxzz is the only one who was smart enough to actually read what I posted and respond to it instead of nitpicking my post. Come on people, let's be helpful here.

 

[V5RED]

OBVIOUSLY she would not say that. I never said she would say that. Why say anything if you have no solutions to give? This is exactly why people should avoid this forum becuase all you people do is bring people down and not actually help. good grief.

You listed your "friend" as having done something potentially illegal as if it was a boon to your "friend's" application. The natural inference is that you believe that this is something worth mentioning on an application since you mentioned it here when asking for advice with respect to your "friend's" application. Since that experience would tank your "friend's" application, I advised you to leave it off your "friend's" application.

I also suggested a method to gauge your "friend's" readiness for the MCAT if your "friend" has already burned through all practice exams. I wrote that your "friend" is an example of why I tell people not to burn through practice exams because it is true and if some pre med reads this thread, I am hoping that helps hammer that point home so that person doesn't make the same mistake your "friend" made.

That is called being helpful. Your response is immature and uncalled for.

 

[el_duderino]

Let's not BS each other. Your friend clearly didn't void her test if she has a recorded score. What were her PS and BS on the 'voided' exam?

She should be submitting her app immediately so she can get verified.