Desperate for Advice

[noquacksallowed]

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This is sort of a vent, so it's going to be a long post, but I would really appreciate if you took your time to read it. I have been studying for my MCAT for a while now and am about to take it soon (4/30), but based on the scores of my previous FLs, I already know that I won't be scoring well, probably won't even break 500. I have already taken the MCAT once (about 1 year ago), and scored 489. A bit of background info, I graduated in 12/2020 with a 3.12 GPA. Although I had an upward trend in the last ~1.5 years of my undergrad, its still a pretty crap GPA.

My poor GPA and MCAT can be attributed to a number of different causes. During my undergrad I spent a lot of my time working/volunteering in a leadership position that I have been involved with since I was a child, and I didn't have the best study skills until my last two years. After I graduated, I have since continued to work in this position but I also picked up a job as a medical scribe for paid clinical experience. I had a few months of patient care experience working as a medical assistant volunteer, and probably racked up ~100+ hours before I quit to start studying for my MCAT again in January of this year.

It was hard to manage my time working 2 jobs and studying for my MCAT, which is very apparent in my inability to break 500 on my practice tests despite the test coming up in 2 days. I know a 489 is a terrible score and scoring below 500 on a retake is basically shooting yourself in the foot regarding medical school applications. I recently got a 495 on my last FL that I took two days ago and I don't know if I should go super hard studying for the next ~36 hours in hopes of breaking 500, or void my test. If I do void my test, I heard that a lot of people apply to DO schools in late Fall and still get accepted , so I was planning on dropping one of my jobs and studying for an additional 3 months to increase my chances of acceptance. does anyone know if this is a good idea?

I know my low GPA leads me to a post-bacc/masters, but I have already been out of school for almost 2 years. If I go to school for an additional 2 years before applying, I would be graduating medical school at 30 years old and I feel like that's so much time that could be spent working towards something else. That being said, I have looked around at other career fields that I could go into (biostatician, getting a MPH/MBA and becoming a health care consultant, some type of research etc.) but they don't interest me as much as becoming a physician. My original plan was to score super high on my MCAT retake to trump my GPA and apply to DO schools, but even if I do score well above the average for most osteopathic schools on my MCAT, I dread the time it will take me to get in If I would still have to complete a masters/post-bacc.

I guess my main two questions are:

-Should I void my test, or try to use the next day and a half before my test to try to break 500?

-If I do void, should I retake in August and apply DO, or start applying to masters programs?



At this moment I feel stuck, and I'm ready to give up. Although I would like to become a physician, I'm not sure what I want to do now. I'm 23 years old now and a few of my friends have already been accepted to medical school, or are starting to get paid in their respective careers, while I'm here unsure about what my next steps are going to be. I feel like for a majority of my 20s, i'm going to be racing towards something that was achieved by my peers a while ago due to stupid decision/time management skills during my undergrad and the few years after. Anybody got a word of advice?

 

[gyngyn]

If you feel compelled to take the test, void it!
A string of low scores is so much more damning than a single unfortunate score.
It speaks to lack of judgement as well as lack of content mastery.

 

[noquacksallowed]

If you feel compelled to take the test, void it!
A string of low scores is so much more damning than a single unfortunate score.
It speaks to lack of judgement as well as lack of content mastery.

I think this is probably what I might end up doing. I'll take the test the entire way through given the off chance that I know most of the topics, but If not then I'll void it. Do you think I still have a shot at DO given my stats If I postpone my application?

 

[gyngyn]

I'll take the test the entire way through given the off chance that I know most of the topics, but If not then I'll void it. Do you think I still have a shot at DO given my stats If I postpone my application?

Don't rely on your immediate sense of how well you think you know the topics if you have evidence before the test that your content mastery is weak.
I am no expert in DO applications, but it is my understanding that their cycle can lag a couple of months behind the MD cycle.

 

[LizzyM]

Stop looking at your "peers". You are on your journey and your path is not the same and not worse than any other path, but it is your path.

Why do you want to go to medical school? Whatever your response to that question, ask yourself "why?". Then ask yourself why you responded to that question, and the next and the next. Get down to the nub of what is driving you. Then think about alternatives that might be similar in terms of what you are seeking in pursuing admission to medical school. You might want to dig deep to determine if this is the right path for you, particularly given your academic struggles, or if the nub of the why might lead to other careers.

Consider that your fund of knowledge may be smaller than other students who will be in your medical school class and your performance on the MCAT is likely to be one of the weakest in the incoming class if you are chosen for admission. Do you want to start medical school from that position or would it be worthwhile to spend some time strengthening your foundational material. You could spend time before matriculating or after; you could end up repeating either M1 or M2 (or both!) if you do not do well on the tests and other assessments used to measure competency.

Do not take the exam, or if you feel you must, be sure to void the result.

 

[Neuroscifan]

Don’t worry about your age. Graduating from medical school at 30 is nothing to worry about. OHSU for example is an entire school with an average age of 27 for its first year class. If you’re truly passionate about medicine, I recommend taking the time you need to ensure you’ll be successful.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

I empathize with this. I also worked through undergrad and it reflected in my GPA and MCAT. That being said, I still cleared the bar and had reasonable scores for admittance to DO school a couple years ago.

Unfortunately when you’re in a position where you have to work, it’s going to take longer to get on track. It is of no benefit to compare your timeline to anyone else’s, especially if they don’t have the same financial obligations as you.

Edit: to answer your second bolded question (won’t beat a dead horse and answer the first one), you can submit a DO app through Thanksgiving but earlier is better, especially for lower stat applicants. Most DO schools strictly screen for GPA > 3.2 to send a secondary. But outside of that, imagine you take your MCAT in August and get the score back in October. Then your primary is verified (though I hear some people submit a throw away app early in the cycle to get the primary verified early…). What if that takes a week or two to get verified? Then you have just a couple weeks to write all your secondaries. If you apply broadly, that’s 25+ schools with 2-3+ essays each. I’m assuming you won’t have time to pre write if you’re working then studying for the MCAT in the preceding months.

Do you believe the situation I’ve described above is accurate? If so, how do you think your app will fare against to average and high stat applicants who submitted in May and had months to write their essays? If you disagree, what am I missing?

I understand you’re worried about time. But consider that an application cycle that doesn’t yield an acceptance is a massive waste of time and money that prevents you from taking steps to improve your app through GPA repair, dedicated MCAT prep and (if applicable) essential ECs.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

At this moment I feel stuck, and I'm ready to give up. Although I would like to become a physician, I'm not sure what I want to do now. I'm 23 years old now and a few of my friends have already been accepted to medical school, or are starting to get paid in their respective careers, while I'm here unsure about what my next steps are going to be. I feel like for a majority of my 20s, i'm going to be racing towards something that was achieved by my peers a while ago due to stupid decision/time management skills during my undergrad and the few years after. Anybody got a word of advice?

I decided to pursue medicine after graduating from college. Due to a variety of circumstances I knew it would take me at least 2 years to apply. That turned into 3 years, and if I am accepted this upcoming cycle, I will be 27 when I matriculate. When I look at my peers who are comfortably settled into their careers, I can honestly say that I have zero interest in what they're doing because I want to be a physician.

I do not regret my gap years for a second. I spent the past 3 years living in a great city, meeting tons of cool people, getting good work and real-world experiences, and pursuing multiple hobbies while working full time, finishing prerequisite courses, and studying for/taking the MCAT. I consider these years to be the best of my life, and I embrace them even more because I know that medical school will be brutal. My advice to the OP is to adjust your attitude. Your writing suggests that nothing in life is important besides getting into medical school, and that time not in medical school is wasted. This makes me kinda sad for you tbh. If you want to go to medical school, I suggest waiting another cycle and taking a temporary break from the MCAT. After your MCAT break, start from scratch. Make sure you leave time to do things you love while you are studying.
'
Your life right now can be so much more than a "race" towards medical school. I have spent over 3 years working towards medical school, and I prefer to think of it as methodically building a solid application while having a ton of fun whenever I can.

 

[FluffyCat1212]

As a fellow nontrad (age kept secret bc it would 100% identify me within my school), I can attest that literally nobody cares. If anything, having diverse experiences and experience working with people can be a huge plus when you start getting into the clinical realm. My gap year experiences have equipped me with confidence when working with patients- something that I'm deeply thankful for.

If you want to be a doctor, don't let your age be a deterrent. I'll be older than you when I graduate.

 

[Faster Horses]

Take your MCAT, do not void it. 495 was your last FL score. Apply to podiatry school. You would be a lock at most of them. Have a long, successful, and lucrative career amputating diabetic feet. No mid-level encroachment, your only competition in practice would be the MD/DO ortho pods who were crazy enough to do a foot and ankle fellowship. Nothing in the world is wrong with being a DPM. I think some podiatry schools may start in January? You could start your career in less than 8 months from today if you really wanted to. Food for thought

 

[Proudfather94]

This is sort of a vent, so it's going to be a long post, but I would really appreciate if you took your time to read it. I have been studying for my MCAT for a while now and am about to take it soon (4/30), but based on the scores of my previous FLs, I already know that I won't be scoring well, probably won't even break 500. I have already taken the MCAT once (about 1 year ago), and scored 489. A bit of background info, I graduated in 12/2020 with a 3.12 GPA. Although I had an upward trend in the last ~1.5 years of my undergrad, its still a pretty crap GPA.

My poor GPA and MCAT can be attributed to a number of different causes. During my undergrad I spent a lot of my time working/volunteering in a leadership position that I have been involved with since I was a child, and I didn't have the best study skills until my last two years. After I graduated, I have since continued to work in this position but I also picked up a job as a medical scribe for paid clinical experience. I had a few months of patient care experience working as a medical assistant volunteer, and probably racked up ~100+ hours before I quit to start studying for my MCAT again in January of this year.

It was hard to manage my time working 2 jobs and studying for my MCAT, which is very apparent in my inability to break 500 on my practice tests despite the test coming up in 2 days. I know a 489 is a terrible score and scoring below 500 on a retake is basically shooting yourself in the foot regarding medical school applications. I recently got a 495 on my last FL that I took two days ago and I don't know if I should go super hard studying for the next ~36 hours in hopes of breaking 500, or void my test. If I do void my test, I heard that a lot of people apply to DO schools in late Fall and still get accepted , so I was planning on dropping one of my jobs and studying for an additional 3 months to increase my chances of acceptance. does anyone know if this is a good idea?

I know my low GPA leads me to a post-bacc/masters, but I have already been out of school for almost 2 years. If I go to school for an additional 2 years before applying, I would be graduating medical school at 30 years old and I feel like that's so much time that could be spent working towards something else. That being said, I have looked around at other career fields that I could go into (biostatician, getting a MPH/MBA and becoming a health care consultant, some type of research etc.) but they don't interest me as much as becoming a physician. My original plan was to score super high on my MCAT retake to trump my GPA and apply to DO schools, but even if I do score well above the average for most osteopathic schools on my MCAT, I dread the time it will take me to get in If I would still have to complete a masters/post-bacc.

I guess my main two questions are:

-Should I void my test, or try to use the next day and a half before my test to try to break 500?

-If I do void, should I retake in August and apply DO, or start applying to masters programs?



At this moment I feel stuck, and I'm ready to give up. Although I would like to become a physician, I'm not sure what I want to do now. I'm 23 years old now and a few of my friends have already been accepted to medical school, or are starting to get paid in their respective careers, while I'm here unsure about what my next steps are going to be. I feel like for a majority of my 20s, i'm going to be racing towards something that was achieved by my peers a while ago due to stupid decision/time management skills during my undergrad and the few years after. Anybody got a word of advice?

Honestly if you would rather do something else than graduate med school at 30 go into the other thing you want to do. You're in a spot to where you are going to have to make significant changes in your life to be competitive for medical school. SMP with a 3.7+ GPA and rescheduling and making more time to study for the MCAT.