Can clinical experience compensate for low MCAT?

[JasonDG86]

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Greetings!

I'm 27, 3.6 GPA and a nurse for 4 years. I plan on taking my MCAT's next month. I have yet to break a 27 on my AAMC practice test which has left me very frustrated....

I have experience as a Cardiac Nurse for a Cardiology Office, Cardiac Anesthesia Technologist and Cardiac Open Heart Surgical Technologist with over 500 open hearts under my belt. I have precepted in Oncology, rotations in Neurology, Med/Surg, Hospice, Long term care, and observations in Dialysis , ER and ICU. I have the benefit of having working relationships with many physicians and surgeons supporting me in my journey.

With that said ..... I cannot break a 27 on my MCAT prep. I'm terrified to take this test next month. The last practice test I scored a 24 as well! I'm afraid that my clinical experience, grades and recommendations wont compensate for a bad MCAT score. If I get a 27 or forbid a 24 should I not even apply??? Thank you for any advise you can offer.

 

[DrMidlife]

Short answer is no, experience doesn't compensate for a low MCAT. The MCAT is what gives med school admissions people confidence that you won't crumble under the constant unrelenting load of multiple choice exams in med school. I suggest that getting accepted should not be your greatest worry. Your greatest worry should be not being able to handle the constant unrelenting load of multiple choice exams in med school, which is a lot more likely if the MCAT is punking you. I'm reporting from midway through 2nd year, and I can say with total confidence that happiness equals the ability to remember more stuff for the sole purpose of getting more exam points. Sound familiar?

So I hope you might think a bit longer term here. You have clearly been supported by your professional colleagues in your med school ambition. But a low MCAT simply takes choices away and closes doors to future opportunities. Consider postponing your exam date. Regroup. Plan out another prep year including some upper div science coursework and a different MCAT prep strategy. I know this is not what you want to hear.

With a lower MCAT against your decent GPA, you may get some love from DO schools.

Best of luck to you.

 

[umcig]

Good comments by DrMidlife.

Of course, your clinical experience will help to strengthen your application. The question is "how much". I suspect that it may help some, but it won't help enough to mitigate a low MCAT score. The bottom is that medical schools want people (need people) who can get through the academic rigors of medical school.

With a month to go, it may be hard to change things. But a more important question is why aren't you doing well on your practice tests. As a nurse for 4 years, maybe some of your coursework is a bit stale. If that's the case, you may want to repeat some of the core courses. In addition, someone trying to prep for the MCAT after several years may need to spend 4 to 6 months of full-time studying. In my situation, my prereqs were 10+ years old. It took me 10 months of full-time work to prep for the MCATs. Here's what I did. Of course, YMMV.

July-August - reviewed gen bio, gen chem
Sept-Dec - took courses in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics
Dec-Jan semester break - reviewed gen physics and org chem
Jan-May - audited Organic Chem II
Jan-Apr - spent 40+ hours a week studying MCAT prep material

Best of luck.

 

[trippenlatin]

I got into school with a 22 mcat and no clinical experience.

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[ChE04]

You've got a whole month to prep. It's totally doable to go from a 27 to over 30 in that timeframe, that's just a few extra questions right in each section. Make yourself a study schedule, or use one of the ones on this forum, get yourself a set of solid review books, then buckle down and actually study. That means more than just reading over something and thinking "ok got it." Don't memorize facts, understand principles. When doing questions, figure out why each wrong answer choice was wrong, and why each right answer choice was right. If you do it right, studying is hard work, and not a passive process. Postpone your exam a month if you're not ready yet, you still have plenty of time to take the MCAT and apply this year if that's your goal.

 

[DrMidlife]

I got into school with a 22 mcat and no clinical experience.

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Yikes, hope that works out okay for you at your Carib school, or that the diversity affairs office has decent tutors.

 

[JasonDG86]

Thanks you very much for your responses! To clarify things slightly, in terms of being able to handle the rigor of multiple choice testing, I did work full time while going to nursing school and graduated valedictorian with a 4.0. I did my bachelors degree in music performance before nursing school and have been spending the past few years after nursing school completing my sciences courses while working full time plus taking 11-15 Open heart call shifts a month while maintaining a 3.8 GPA in my science courses. Is it possible my anxiety is getting the best of me?

 

[JasonDG86]

You've got a whole month to prep. It's totally doable to go from a 27 to over 30 in that timeframe, that's just a few extra questions right in each section. Make yourself a study schedule, or use one of the ones on this forum, get yourself a set of solid review books, then buckle down and actually study. That means more than just reading over something and thinking "ok got it." Don't memorize facts, understand principles. When doing questions, figure out why each wrong answer choice was wrong, and why each right answer choice was right. If you do it right, studying is hard work, and not a passive process. Postpone your exam a month if you're not ready yet, you still have plenty of time to take the MCAT and apply this year if that's your goal.

Thank you very much for that advise!!!!! I'm going to do a big study push and if I have to I will postpone a month.

 

[DrMidlife]

Thanks you very much for your responses! To clarify things slightly, in terms of being able to handle the rigor of multiple choice testing, I did work full time while going to nursing school and graduated valedictorian with a 4.0. I did my bachelors degree in music performance before nursing school and have been spending the past few years after nursing school completing my sciences courses while working full time plus taking 11-15 Open heart call shifts a month while maintaining a 3.8 GPA in my science courses. Is it possible my anxiety is getting the best of me?

Your GPA shows commitment and endurance, which nobody is questioning. The MCAT shows something different: the ability to retain 2+ years of material and perform in an hours-long sitting. In good med school admissions (including good DO schools), both GPA and MCAT are taken into consideration because both measures are relevant to success. When you go into your app year, if you have a shortcoming like a low MCAT score, this compounds the misery and emotional rollercoastering and coulda woulda shoulda.

AAMC practice tests are the only metric we have, really, for predicting MCAT scores, and they're a really crappy predictor. The general health of your content mastery, which is difficult to gauge, is the real predictor. The practice exams don't generally have any of the content you'll see on test day, so it's a good idea to keep working to fill any content mastery holes. For me, it came down to working a bazillion problems and doing as many practice questions as possible.

To some extent it's a crap shoot, and all you can do is the best prep you can do. So that's the real question, have you done the best prep you can do? No regrets?

 

[umcig]

Is it possible my anxiety is getting the best of me?

Thanks for the update. You're obviously an accomplished person.

Sure. Anxiety could be an issue. Or maybe more practice taking tests.

You've got the right attitude. Study like crazy for the next month, and if necessary, postpone the test for another month.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Agree with the above.MCAT shows schools something a bit different than GPA. You've done well and have a lot going for you in your app if you can do well on the MCAT.

I also agree with the tips above. The people who post on here who have done well used lots of different study strategies, but all have a few things in common. They all worked tons of practice problems after content mastery. The after part of that is important. They almost always talk about doing post game analysis of practice problems and practice exams. Why did you get each question wrong, some also look at why did they get the right ones right as well just to make sure they had the concept right and didn't just have a lucky guess. Lastly, don't take it until you're really ready. It's easier to delay than reapply because you didn't put your best foot forward the first time. Good luck.

 

[trippenlatin]

It must really suck for you who knows all, drmidlife, to know that one day those carib drs and yourself all have the same title and work as peers. Or heaven forbid you go to ross univ and end up the president of tcom. But for the op. You do your best and apply broadly if your mcat is low. There is so much more to an application than just that score.

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[DrMidlife]

I will continue to object to anybody claiming the following:
1. "I got into med school with a low MCAT so people shouldn't worry about the MCAT."
2. "I don't need a good MCAT score."

And I'm sure that those who don't like this will continue to attack me personally instead of discussing best practices for med school preparation and admissions.

 

[wholeheartedly]

It must really suck for you who knows all, drmidlife, to know that one day those carib drs and yourself all have the same title and work as peers. Or heaven forbid you go to ross univ and end up the president of tcom. But for the op. You do your best and apply broadly if your mcat is low. There is so much more to an application than just that score.

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The idea here is to give the poster solid advice for the best possible odds, not to have the rely on long shots that will dramatically increase the difficulty of their journey.

In 2016 there will be more US med school grads than residency spots. Going to a Carib school is an expensive gamble most people, especially nontrads who may have families to support etc, are not going to want to take.

 

[DrMidlife]

Sure, I may be a smug hater old fart who clings to USMD prestige as the basis for my delicate and inflated self worth.

Or maybe I have way too many former classmates who have been through depression, divorce and dismissal. Med school is, um, hard.

A quick summary on why getting in is not necessarily a good thing:

• The basic problem with the Caribbean, other than residency: a HUGE percentage of students fail out...with six figures of student loans
• The basic problem with brand new schools, other than residency: you are a guinea pig
  
• The basic problem with going to a school that lets you in with low stats: the school will have a more draconian dismissal policy to protect its accreditation
• The basic problem with taking an low stats URM spot: you don't get any extra time to take advantage of extra help, unless you remediate
• The basic problem with going to a med school that has a Creation Studies major and hosts creationism events: no comment.

 

[Elizabethx89]

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[Goro]

For MD programs, no. For DO programs, you'll be fine if you're >24-25.

I'm 27, 3.6 GPA and a nurse for 4 years. I plan on taking my MCAT's next month. I have yet to break a 27 on my AAMC practice test which has left me very frustrated....

My young collage is referring to LUCOM.

This is a thing