Chances? Also, What should I aim for on the MCAT?

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unicornshadow888

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Hi, everyone! I'm a senior pre-med student, and I'm planning on taking 1-2 years off either for graduate school or public health work.
What do y'all think are my chances for med school admission based on GPA and extracurriculars alone? I also need an idea of what I should aim for (and avoid) on the MCAT.
Pre-med courses:
2 semesters of Intro Bio: both A's
Intro Chem: A
Inorganic Chem: A
Organic Chem 1 and 2: both A's
Medical Biochemistry: A
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: A-
Statistics: A
Calculus: A

Social Science Courses:
Sociology: A
Psychology (Development and Social Behavior): A
Philosophy (Contemporary Moral Problems): B+

Other relevant courses:
Biology Senior Seminar Course in Molecular Biology: A
Public Health courses (there are a ton including Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Medical Anthropology, and many electives): all of them are A's

Overall GPA: 3.922

Relevant Extracurriculars:
Public Health Club (held offices as Treasurer, Co-President, and President over the past 3 years) (we were also published in The Nation's Health for National Public Health Week)
Lab Internship at the CDC (summer)
Internship at the IRC in public health (summer): created a health program proposal
Writing Center tutor at my college (10 hours/week)
Volunteer at local children's hospital (3 hours/week for 3 years) (also had the opportunity to shadow doctors)
Participated in Washington University in St. Louis' Genomic Education Partnership Program as a TA for a Bioinformatics class that I'm taking/tutoring this semester

Courses that I'm taking now:
Health Policy, Bioinformatics, an Africana Studies Class, Global Health, and two music classes (for my interest)

I'd appreciate any feedback. 🙂
 
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Why are you planning on taking a year off, if I may ask? Your application looks stellar and I would say if you can pull off even a ~508 you'd be in pretty good shape for admission in general with your stats. If you were able to pull off a ~516+ honestly you're looking pretty competitive for most schools.
 
aprilfools said:
Why are you planning on taking a year off, if I may ask? Your application looks stellar and I would say if you can pull off even a ~508 you'd be in pretty good shape for admission in general with your stats. If you were able to pull off a ~516+ honestly you're looking pretty competitive for most schools.
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There are two main reasons: 1) I want to gain more public health experience because I want to do both medicine and public health work in my future professional career, and 2) I want to make sure that I actually do well on the MCAT without burning myself out. I tried doing that last year, and I didn't end up applying this cycle because I couldn't put in the work that I needed to in order to make a semi-decent score. Now, I actually have a chance to do that.
But, I appreciate the compliment! Hard work really does pay off. Let's hope that it pays off with this MCAT score.
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Hi, everyone! I'm a senior pre-med student, and I'm planning on taking 1-2 years off either for graduate school or public health work.
What do y'all think are my chances for med school admission based on GPA and extracurriculars alone? I also need an idea of what I should aim for (and avoid) on the MCAT.
Pre-med courses:
2 semesters of Intro Bio: both A's
Intro Chem: A
Inorganic Chem: A
Organic Chem 1 and 2: both A's
Medical Biochemistry: A
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: A-
Statistics: A
Calculus: A

Social Science Courses:
Sociology: A
Psychology (Development and Social Behavior): A
Philosophy (Contemporary Moral Problems): B+

Other relevant courses:
Biology Senior Seminar Course in Molecular Biology: A
Public Health courses (there are a ton including Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Medical Anthropology, and many electives): all of them are A's

Overall GPA: 3.922

Relevant Extracurriculars:
Public Health Club (held offices as Treasurer, Co-President, and President over the past 3 years) (we were also published in The Nation's Health for National Public Health Week)
Lab Internship at the CDC (summer)
Internship at the IRC in public health (summer): created a health program proposal
Writing Center tutor at my college (10 hours/week)
Volunteer at local children's hospital (3 hours/week for 3 years) (also had the opportunity to shadow doctors)
Participated in Washington University in St. Louis' Genomic Education Partnership Program as a TA for a Bioinformatics class that I'm taking/tutoring this semester

Courses that I'm taking now:
Health Policy, Bioinformatics, an Africana Studies Class, Global Health, and two music classes (for my interest)

I'd appreciate any feedback. 🙂
Click to expand...
Aim as high as you possibly can.
 
RogueBanana said:
Really curious as to your reasoning why anyone should not aim for the best score possible on a test whose score they will be married to for the rest of their pre-med days.....
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i think they were trolling

maybe i shouldve aimed at the lowest useable score possible (510) and avoided 3 weeks of extra studying for a 519....because logic?
 
kb1900 said:
i think they were trolling

maybe i shouldve aimed at the lowest useable score possible (510) and avoided 3 weeks of extra studying for a 519....because logic?
Click to expand...

Everyone knows it's diminishing returns after 515 points, you wasted your precious time! :laugh:
 
RogueBanana said:
Really curious as to your reasoning why anyone should not aim for the best score possible on a test whose score they will be married to for the rest of their pre-med days.....
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Such dramatically unrealistic expectations (i.e. 528) guarantee failure and often lead to discouragement. Setting and pursuing optimistic yet realistic goals is an important skill.
kb1900 said:
i think they were trolling

maybe i shouldve aimed at the lowest useable score possible (510) and avoided 3 weeks of extra studying for a 519....because logic?
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I'm not trolling, and there's nothing illogical about emphasizing the importance of setting realistic goals. 521+ was probably a realistic goal for you, but it's not for most people, and 528 is unrealistic for all but a handful of people in the world.
 
walloobi said:
Such dramatically unrealistic expectations (i.e. 528) guarantee failure and often lead to discouragement. Setting and pursuing optimistic yet realistic goals is an important skill.

I'm not trolling, and there's nothing illogical about emphasizing the importance of setting realistic goals. 521+ was probably a realistic goal for you, but it's not for most people, and 528 is unrealistic for all but a handful of people in the world.
Click to expand...

Aiming too high guarantees failure? I think a lot of intelligent people tend to underestimate their own capabilities. Setting a high goal for the MCAT will motivate the student to study more/harder. Which will lead to a higher score.

I tried to "shoot for a 528" and I didn't cry my eyes out when I got a 512.

I was happy because had I aimed for a 512 I would have stopped studying when I started pulling 507s on my practice tests and I probably would've done significantly worse on the real deal...

After the fact, it doesn't matter if the applicant is discouraged by their results in terms of it not being a 528 since they probably performed much better than they would have if they aimed lower.

The only time your view on this would be correct is if the student vastly overestimated their abilities, had super unrealistic expectations and was completely idealistic, then took a practice test and decided they were too dumb and quit. If that's the case then they probably don't belong in medicine anyway
 
RogueBanana said:
Aiming too high guarantees failure? I think a lot of intelligent people tend to underestimate their own capabilities. Setting a high goal for the MCAT will motivate the student to study more/harder. Which will lead to a higher score.

I tried to "shoot for a 528" and I didn't cry my eyes out when I got a 512.

I was happy because had I aimed for a 512 I would have stopped studying when I started pulling 507s on my practice tests and I probably would've done significantly worse on the real deal...

After the fact, it doesn't matter if the applicant is discouraged by their results in terms of it not being a 528 since they probably performed much better than they would have if they aimed lower.

The only time your view on this would be correct is if the student vastly overestimated their abilities, had super unrealistic expectations and was completely idealistic, then took a practice test and decided they were too dumb and quit. If that's the case then they probably don't belong in medicine anyway
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Yes, aiming for a 528 literally guarantees failure for all but a few people in the world. And I really doubt you actually shot for a 528 after your first practice test, I bet you adjusted your target whether you'd like to admit it or not.

OP already said s/he delayed her/his application by a year because her/his MCAT preparation wasn't working well enough to even get a "semi-decent score." If I had to guess, and I say this will all due respect to OP, s/he probably isn't cut out for a 528, and will only be discouraged by aiming for that.

I suppose you also think every pre-med should aim for 10 first author publications and 10,000 volunteer hours. Unrealistic, pointless, and counterproductive.

If someone goes to the gym for the first time and asks experienced lifters how much weight s/he should aim to bench by the end of the month, an answer like "350 lbs" is plain ridiculous and not helpful at all.
 
walloobi said:
Yes, aiming for a 528 literally guarantees failure for all but a few people in the world. And I really doubt you actually shot for a 528 after your first practice test, I bet you adjusted your target whether you'd like to admit it or not.

OP already said s/he delayed her/his application by a year because her/his MCAT preparation wasn't working well enough to even get a "semi-decent score." If I had to guess, and I say this will all due respect to OP, s/he probably isn't cut out for a 528, and will only be discouraged by aiming for that.

I suppose you also think every pre-med should aim for 10 first author publications and 10,000 volunteer hours. Unrealistic, pointless, and counterproductive.

If someone goes to the gym for the first time and asks experienced lifters how much weight s/he should aim to bench by the end of the month, an answer like "350 lbs" is plain ridiculous and not helpful at all.
Click to expand...
"Reach for the stars, so if you fall you'll be high enough to die instantaneously." Lol.

setting high goals on the mcat really helped me! Not necessarily a 528, but my goal was 99th percentile and I ended up at 98th!

My first practice exam was 34th percentile, and after 3 months of studying it went up to 37th lol. But I never gave up!
 
Healer@1994 said:
"Reach for the stars, so if you fall you'll be high enough to die instantaneously."

setting high goals on the mcat really helped me! Not necessarily a 528, but my goal was 99th percentile and I ended up at 98th!

My first practice exam was 34th percentile, and after 3 months of studying it went up to 37th lol. But I never gave up!
Click to expand...
Wow that's an impressive improvement, congrats! But honestly it doesn't change the fact that it's pointless to tell OP to shoot for 528. S/he already knows that a perfect score would be awesome. S/he asked what to shoot for to get into med school, so an answer like "508-510 for admission to US MD in general, and 516-518 to be competitive for top-tiers" is much more informative and helpful.
 
walloobi said:
QFT

@RogueBanana @kb1900 @libertyyne these are examples of realistic, informative, genuinely helpful responses to OP's question.
Click to expand...
863c79059325b765e7d656e0b591aa69.jpg
 
walloobi said:
Wow that's an impressive improvement, congrats! But honestly it doesn't change the fact that it's pointless to tell OP to shoot for 528. S/he already knows that a perfect score would be awesome. S/he asked what to shoot for to get into med school, so an answer like "508-510 for admission to US MD in general, and 516-518 to be competitive for top-tiers" is much more informative and helpful.
Click to expand...
I think what the others are getting at is that the principle of "trying your hardest" is the best way to go. Some people never discover their true potential because they limit their goals. Who am I to say that someone cannot get a 528? It happens.

It's a good idea to set incremental goals too though! I agree with you. However, OP is blessed with 2 years to study! OP could really rock that exam 🙂 (especially considering that stellar 3.922 GPA)
 
I think there's a difference between what you aim for and what you'd be happy/fine with. Before I take a final exam I generally calculate what grade I need to get whatever course grade I need to stay on-track, but I'm still aiming for a 100.
 
Will you guys stop giving walloobi a hard time? The OP might not have known the realistic scale of the MCAT. It goes without saying that everyone should try their best. But some people might not understand the scoring system, nor what the median score is for med school acceptees.



walloobi said:
Wow that's an impressive improvement, congrats! But honestly it doesn't change the fact that it's pointless to tell OP to shoot for 528. S/he already knows that a perfect score would be awesome. S/he asked what to shoot for to get into med school, so an answer like "508-510 for admission to US MD in general, and 516-518 to be competitive for top-tiers" is much more informative and helpful.
Click to expand...
 
the idea of setting realistic goals is on point BUT in the context of the MCAT and practice exams available it makes little sense.

Every single company deflates their scores so that it becomes impossible to gauge where you actually are outside of the AAMC material. (though that spreadsheet floats around)

How can i set a goal of a 515, then get a 501 on a Kaplan test and know where the hell I am standing with regards to my goal. Its not like lifting or something where you can push to failure and gradually see improvement and motivate yourself. So setting short term goals in terms of scores on practice tests is pointless when it comes to motivation. so you might as well aim for the highest score possible.
 
Goro said:
Will you guys stop giving walloobi a hard time? The OP might not have known the realistic scale of the MCAT. It goes without saying that everyone should try their best. But some people might not understand the scoring system, nor what the median score is for med school acceptees.
Click to expand...
I understand the scoring system perfectly fine, but I appreciate the insight.
 
Also, I have another question (preferably with answers from those who have taken the MCAT and performed well, and without answers from trolls or people with ridiculously unrealistic expectations): given that I'm finishing up my last semester, would it be possible to get around a 512-514 if I were to take it in June? Note that I also have extracurriculars that I have to do. Approximately how many hours per week would I have to study? Just FYI, I have Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT books that I've been reviewing.
I know that the amount of time spent depends on a number of factors, but I'm just curious.
I've heard that it helps to read medical journal articles in addition to regular preparation. Is this beneficial? I've already had a ton of experience reading recent research, specifically in cancer research.
 
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walloobi said:
Yes, aiming for a 528 literally guarantees failure for all but a few people in the world. And I really doubt you actually shot for a 528 after your first practice test, I bet you adjusted your target whether you'd like to admit it or not.

OP already said s/he delayed her/his application by a year because her/his MCAT preparation wasn't working well enough to even get a "semi-decent score." If I had to guess, and I say this will all due respect to OP, s/he probably isn't cut out for a 528, and will only be discouraged by aiming for that.

I suppose you also think every pre-med should aim for 10 first author publications and 10,000 volunteer hours. Unrealistic, pointless, and counterproductive.

If someone goes to the gym for the first time and asks experienced lifters how much weight s/he should aim to bench by the end of the month, an answer like "350 lbs" is plain ridiculous and not helpful at all.
Click to expand...
Eh. I wouldn't necessarily say that I wouldn't be "cut out for a 528". You never know. It's not likely, but it could be possible. That being said, I don't believe in setting unrealistic expectations for myself. I'm not expecting to get a 528. I just want a good enough score to where I can get into a good allopathic med school. That's all.
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Also, I have another question (preferably with answers from those who have taken the MCAT and performed well, and without answers from trolls or people with ridiculously unrealistic expectations): given that I'm finishing up my last semester, would it be possible to get around a 512-514 if I were to take it in June? Note that I also have extracurriculars that I have to do. Approximately how many hours per week would I have to study? Just FYI, I have Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT books that I've been reviewing.
I know that the amount of time spent depends on a number of factors, but I'm just curious.
I've heard that it helps to read medical journal articles in addition to regular preparation. Is this beneficial? I've already had a ton of experience reading recent research, specifically in cancer research.
Click to expand...
The people that you are calling trolls are literally the people who scored 515+.
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Eh. I wouldn't necessarily say that I wouldn't be "cut out for a 528". You never know. It's not likely, but it could be possible. That being said, I don't believe in setting unrealistic expectations for myself. I'm not expecting to get a 528. I just want a good enough score to where I can get into a good allopathic med school. That's all.
Click to expand...
Basically no one is cut out for 528, maybe with the exception of @aldol16

In fact, it's usually impossible to score that high since most test administrations have at least one section capped at 131 (i.e. getting 100% of the questions correct on the whole test will give you a 527)

Also, no one in this thread is trolling
 
walloobi said:
Basically no one is cut out for 528, maybe with the exception of @aldol16

In fact, it's usually impossible to score that high since most test administrations have at least one section capped at 131 (i.e. getting 100% of the questions correct on the whole test will give you a 527)

Also, no one in this thread is trolling
Click to expand...
Wow. I didn't know that about test admins. Interesting...
 
walloobi said:
Basically no one is cut out for 528, maybe with the exception of @aldol16

In fact, it's usually impossible to score that high since most test administrations have at least one section capped at 131 (i.e. getting 100% of the questions correct on the whole test will give you a 527)

Also, no one in this thread is trolling
Click to expand...
Is that true?? Dang!!
 
walloobi said:
In fact, it's usually impossible to score that high since most test administrations have at least one section capped at 131 (i.e. getting 100% of the questions correct on the whole test will give you a 527)
Click to expand...

Source?
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Also, I have another question (preferably with answers from those who have taken the MCAT and performed well, and without answers from trolls or people with ridiculously unrealistic expectations): given that I'm finishing up my last semester, would it be possible to get around a 512-514 if I were to take it in June? Note that I also have extracurriculars that I have to do. Approximately how many hours per week would I have to study? Just FYI, I have Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT books that I've been reviewing.
I know that the amount of time spent depends on a number of factors, but I'm just curious.
I've heard that it helps to read medical journal articles in addition to regular preparation. Is this beneficial? I've already had a ton of experience reading recent research, specifically in cancer research.
Click to expand...
The average amount of time needed to study for the MCAT is between 260-300 hours. Take that and divide by how many weeks you have until your test day (make sure to account for tapering the week before) and that will tell you how much you should be studying per week. I scored a 519; PM me if you're looking for further advice or have any other questions.
 
Also, don't take this at face value because I consider myself a very good test taker, but I started studying in January of my senior year (I was underloading with 12 credits, though holding a very part-time job and on the e-board for a student run ambulance company) and took the test April 1, so June is certainly a very manageable test date.
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Also, I have another question (preferably with answers from those who have taken the MCAT and performed well, and without answers from trolls or people with ridiculously unrealistic expectations): given that I'm finishing up my last semester, would it be possible to get around a 512-514 if I were to take it in June? Note that I also have extracurriculars that I have to do. Approximately how many hours per week would I have to study? Just FYI, I have Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT books that I've been reviewing.
I know that the amount of time spent depends on a number of factors, but I'm just curious.
I've heard that it helps to read medical journal articles in addition to regular preparation. Is this beneficial? I've already had a ton of experience reading recent research, specifically in cancer research.
Click to expand...

Honestly it's just so hard to say in terms of hours put in...I put in similar amounts of time both times I took it with drastically different results... Definitely a quality over quantity thing...I studied while working full time and keeping up ECs but I think during school is harder because it's more involved than a 9-5 job. I figure put in all the time you can and if your AAMC scored isn't in the range you'd like it to be then you need more time!
Since you asked for high scorers: I scored 98th percentile.
 
ScreenName23 said:
Honestly it's just so hard to say in terms of hours put in...I put in similar amounts of time both times I took it with drastically different results... Definitely a quality over quantity thing...I studied while working full time and keeping up ECs but I think during school is harder because it's more involved than a 9-5 job. I figure put in all the time you can and if your AAMC scored isn't in the range you'd like it to be then you need more time!
Since you asked for high scorers: I scored 98th percentile.
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Thanks! That was really helpful. Do you have any tips on maximizing quality studying over quantity?
 
I aimed for a 516 for the first couple of months of content review.. ended up scoring consistently around 511-513 on practice tests. Got a 512. Deal with it.
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Thanks! That was really helpful. Do you have any tips on maximizing quality studying over quantity?
Click to expand...
https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/520-on-mcat.1236574/#post-18478778
-minimal pure content review
-practice tests every 3 days with content review on the entire test in the days in between.
-targeted content review for every question where i didn't understand it 1000%
-only ever studied under testing conditions (studied for 1.5 hour blocks with 10 minute breaks)
-simulated exam day (waking up at 5) for 2 weeks before test day. even ate the same snacks at the same interval throughout the day
-did as many FLs as possible (with thorouhg review) + section banks + qbanks
-did 3-5 CARS passages daily for 2 months
 
unicornshadow888 said:
Thanks! That was really helpful. Do you have any tips on maximizing quality studying over quantity?
Click to expand...

I'm glad you found that helpful!

There's so many MCAT tips and tricks out there...I would say two main things:

1) Active learning: When I read content books I actively highlighted the sections I thought I should really know/memorize then I made Anki flash cards on that material. Anki does spaced repetition so I kept seeing that important material throughout my studying which kept things fresh.

2) Focus on the areas where you struggle! The first time I took it I mostly studied verbal because I was best at it...I did great on verbal but tanked the other sections. This time I barely touched verbal. The physics content I hated the most I spent the most time on. Maybe that's obvious but I think it's hard to keep reviewing the hardest parts in an often times discouraging exam.

Also practice practice practice! I'm not as into practice tests as some people are. I just did the two AAMC ones and the three free TPR exams. And of course all of the AAMC material is a must.

Good luck!! Feel free to pm me if you have other questions.
 
Healer@1994 said:
Not true! Lol
Click to expand...

It is true that there is a point of diminishing returns, although that point appears to be closer to 518 than 515.

unicornshadow888 said:
Also, I have another question (preferably with answers from those who have taken the MCAT and performed well, and without answers from trolls or people with ridiculously unrealistic expectations): given that I'm finishing up my last semester, would it be possible to get around a 512-514 if I were to take it in June? Note that I also have extracurriculars that I have to do. Approximately how many hours per week would I have to study? Just FYI, I have Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT books that I've been reviewing.
Click to expand...

It is entirely possible but it is also entirely up to you. Some people study for two weeks and get a 520. Others study for 6 months and still can't break 510. It depends on your abilities and how you study. Nobody on here can tell you anything else other than it's possible.
 
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