bioengineering phd student preparing for mcat

[surfingphd]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

QofQuimica,

I read about your story and it seems like my experience is similar to yours. I am currently a bioengineering phd student, but I would like to go to medical school after I finish. I should finish my PhD by October of 2008 and I would ideally like to start med school in Fall of 2009.

I would like to take the mcat as soon as possible, but I am concerned as I took all of the prereqs when I was in college and I don't think I remember much. I did extremely well in all of the prereqs, often near the top of my class, but it has been such a long time. I graduated from undergrad in 2003.

How much time should I allocate for studying? Would it be too early for me to take the mcat in April/May so that I can apply to start in Fall 2009? Or would it be better for me to give myself more time and just apply to start in Fall 2010? Lastly, do you have any advice on studying?

Thanks.

 

[QofQuimica]

1) It's not necessary to both PM me and also post the message publically. In general, you should post your message publically if you want everyone in the SDN community to chime in, and you should PM a particular individual if you only want them to respond.

2) You are subject to the same laws of physics (and chemistry and bio!) that the rest of us are. As you have already mentioned, you probably need to go back and really review all of your course materials because it has been so long since you took your courses. As for whether you need to repeat them, it depends on what the med schools want. Some schools put limits on the age of your pre-reqs, so I recommend that you contact the schools where you want to apply and ask for their advice.

3) Most people study 2-3 months for the MCAT. How long each person needs varies depending on their starting level and their score goals. I suggest that you start by taking a practice test from the AAMC or one of the test prep companies and see where you're at. That will give you some idea of what you need to do to prepare. The AAMC has one free test on their site (3R), and so do Kaplan and TPR.

4) We have been collecting study tips for about five years now on SDN from people who scored 30+ on the MCAT. There is tons of excellent advice in this thread, and it is worth your while to look through it to see how people were able to accomplish their goals: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=46880

Hope this helps, and best of to you. 🙂