bombed second mcat

[mauve]

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even as a canadian, i thought my first mcat of 27Q was decent enough to get looked at somewhere in the US MD schools. I wasn't planning to rewrite the following summer, but after talking to a friend who was rewriting a 31Q, scoping SDN and seeing ppl with 27-29 being told to rewrite by the 30+ crowd, I thought to rewrite it too. My parents said it was a bad idea to rewrite since I wouldn't be prepared and I thought they didn't have enough faith in me, so I pursued even farther with the intent to rewrite. My scores on the practise tests were on par with what I was getting for the first attempt (was it because I remembered the answers?!?). After I got my scores back, well, my parents had another ''see, we told you not to do this and you still thought you knew better'' scenario for me 🙁 I am not sitting in the low twenties.

I can't take the mcat again this summer because I feel unstable from the topsy turvy scenario described. I've already done a 5th year per se and don't want to take any more time off. Unless there are US allo schools that won't look at the unclotted (?) wound left by my 2nd set of scores and will consider my best attempt only (are there any such schools?) I don't see myself getting their acceptance. I would prefer to not go the caribbean route since a) I don't know how the 2nd mcat will be looked at b) my residency options would be limited and I have my mind set on diag. radiology. With DO, I have to wait another year, sigh, and I was unsuccessful in trying to secure a summer job this past summer to pay off my undergrad loans (those OSAP hounds are relentless in asking for their $$ back and I have none).

my gpa's not bad (3.6) and I think my ec's are fairly decent since I got 2 leadership awards this past year, one of them is a coveted leadership award given to selected graduating (undergrad, grad, professional) students

I've been down and dejected for too long; now I'm pissed at the turn of events I led myself into. I've been talking to myself around this and have been getting nowhere these past few weeks so maybe I'll make some progress here, hopefully.

 

[Catalystik]

(e-hug offered in lieu of parental support)

I'm sorry to hear your second MCAT didn't work out as you'd hoped. I don't see you as having any chance at a US allopathic school for this season. Even for DO applications, it is getting late to submit at this time, but I can't say that you have no chance, provided you have balanced subscores on both tests. I'm hesitant to suggest you submit to AACOMAS at this time due to the decreased consideration you'd get with a later submission and the negative impression a much lower second score will give. I must point out that if you continue having trouble getting a competitive score on the MCAT, the likelihood of not getting a sufficiently competitive COMLEX score to enable matching into a highly-sought diagnostic radiology residency should be anticipated. Ask yourself if you could be happy practicing general medicine if you had no other choices.

Since you made no comment, I don't know the circumstances of the second lower score, whether you think it's a fluke, whether you studied adequately, whether you took a formal clasroom prep course to improve your chances, or if you were sick or very nervous the day you took the test. Many of these issues can be overcome. Only you can decide if you want to continue your efforts or move on to a backup plan.

If you want to keep fighting for a future in medicine, then use the anger you're feeling productively. You might consider calling some of the DO programs you'd want to target and ask how they consider multiple MCAT scores. Some of them will give you good news. Get a job and earn some money. Take a formal prep course and plan to spend three months of dedicated MCAT study time. Read the study plan posted in the MCAT Discussions Forum. Plan for a January through April third retake, with the intention of appplying to DO schools as soon as the 2011 season starts.

 

[Reaction]

Sad to hear you didn't do as well as you had hoped=/ I know it will be hard but try to retake it one more time and this time dedicate even more time to the sections you want to improve the most=[ I know it's easy to say and hard to do

 

[StupidCal]

sorry to hear that mate. but not all hope is lost. follow the advice of the knowledgeable ppl here.

and for future reference, during test prep, never retake practice tests u've taken already. you should definitely look them over to see what u've got wrong and figure out the right answers, but tests u've taken before even long ago are not a reliable indicator because of memory. (you mentioned that maybe you remembered the answers). Seek out more practice tests to take and study what u r weak in. definitely at least take a couple of aamc's real mcat practice tests online to get a realistic approximation of how u'll do for real.

I would recommend taking the test again, but never ever retake tests without studying a lot more for them and being very sure of a significant improvement.

good luck!