Don't take the MCAT

[Edge]

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I had taken the MCAT this past August in case my brother lured me into choosing med school over dental school. I was tempted so I decided to take the MCAT. However, after a few months of working as a lab technician, I have a new view and appreciation of how tedious and specific a dentists job can be. This is one of the reasons I am choosing dentistry over medicine. To the topic at hand, I recommend all of you who plan to make dentistry a career choice to not take the MCAT. It looks bad on your transcript because it shows that you are not decisive about becoming a dentist. DO NOT FOLLOW the "I am just keeping my options open category." It reflects poorly with the admission staffs at various schools. Also, I studied for the test for two months and got results which really shocked me

Verbal:9
PS: 13
BS: 12
W:O

A 34O is not bad but with the amount of study time I put into, it is a risky test to take at best. I was expecting something closer to 40🙁

 

[Comet208]

Originally posted by Edge
I have a new view and appreciation of how tedious and specific a dentists job can be. This is one of the reasons I am choosing dentistry

you actually like this?? this is one of the down falls of any profession.

and, Why is that taking MCAT is to your disadvantage? you dont have to report it on your AADSAS application and to me, it is another way of evaluating myself.

Comet

 

[Bickle]

Theres many other cheaper options out there to evaluate yourself! 😉

 

[Edge]

Originally posted by Comet208
you actually like this?? this is one of the down falls of any profession.

and, Why is that taking MCAT is to your disadvantage? you dont have to report it on your AADSAS application and to me, it is another way of evaluating myself.

Comet

Yes, I love it because i love working things down to the last detail whether it be painting or dentistry. If you dont "like" working in details and are choosing dentistry for the money, I would take a hard look in the mirror, because you might end up being miserable for the rest of your life. Just imagine spending half your life doing something you do not enjoy. To answer the second part of your question imagine that I apply to both medical school and dental school for 2004. Do you know what the chances are of not being accepted? Let me tell you that it is quite high. All I am saying is that if you apply to both med and dental school in the same year, you can consider yourself out of the loop. From a personal experience, my brother took the same approach many people have taken in applying to both kinds of schools and he was rejected the first time around. He was a 4.0 student with a 38 MCAT and a 24 DAT AA.

 

[Comet208]

Edge,

I believe that the "D" in Dentistry stands for detail and agree with you all the way about detail and how you really have to love what you are doing. i know that i have an eye for paying attention to fine detailes. what i was more refering to was the tedious aspect of dentistry which is a reason (but not all) of why many dentists retire sooner than many other professionals. tedious work is O.K. after you have done something 100 times, you are only more confident doing it. but who really enjoys tedious work??? i hope and know that my cases would be a bit different from each other.. thanks to the advent of thecnology and availability of various options.

Now the second thing: just taking the MCAT is VERY different than aplying to med school. if you are applying to both med and dent. school, for sure one is your backup and schools will want to know which one you are more passionate about and that will reflect the admission. but i dont see anything worng with just taking the MCAT and keeping your scores to yourself (whatever your reason might be). i only studied for DAT, but i took couple MCATs while at Kaplan just to compare my performance in relation of the two exams and it cost me nothing extra!

Comet

 

[Edge]

You are probably right on your first point, but I do not see how someone could study two months to take the MCAT and not apply for med school.

 

[mcataz]

First of all a 34 MCAT is an excellent score. The MCAT is a lot harder than the DAT. Asking for a 40 MCAT is like asking for a 28 on the DAT.

 

[le fort guy]

Great score! That is a very rough test!

A 34 MCAT is competitive with Harvard so I don't know what nonsense your trying to pull. I know many who have studied 4-5 months and got less than 30. I also would wager that the PhD's who wrote the test couldn't get a 40. I would have been more concerned with the O on the writing sample. If you are truely concerned about a 34 MCAT then your probably also worried about missing Brady Bunch re-runs or the sun burning out in 4.5 billion years.

If you really got a 34 MCAT and are applying to Dental School then that shows loyalty towards the Dental Profession and any Dental Admissions Director should see so. This is because a 34 MCAT is a Pre-Med students wet dream when they go in to take the test. This is what they have been studying for the last 5 months for 7-8 hours a day.

I have heard that taking the MCAT can hurt your chances on getting into Dental School however, I know of a few people who had no trouble. I think that as long as one doesn't submit an AMCAS application theres nothing to worry about.

 

[speter33]

i think he's pulling your leg. I know many great students killing themselves to get anything above 30 on the MCAT. A score of 34 puts you with the best of them and nobody in their right mind would be disappointed. Only a handful of people can get a 40 on the mcat. sounds like a lot of bull crap to me.

 

[Edge]

Actually if you look at some of the discussions in the MCAT forums you will see many people who did much better than I did. I am disappointed mainly in the verbal score I recieved because I though I made atleast a 12 on it. A lot of red flags come up when you do not break the double digit marks on any of the sections of the mcat.

 

[Edge]

And also I am not BSing anyone. A 34O in my opinion is very disappointing.

 

[speter33]

Did taking your MCAT hurt your chances of getting into any school? I'm sure with your grades you can even get into Harvard. So why would you post this message?
Seems to me like a lot of people are using this site to recruit by praising dentistry over medical schools. Too misinformation is on this site these days.

 

[Rezdawg]

34 is disappointing??

Holy smokes...this board is gonna make me go crazy.

 

[Comet208]

Originally posted by speter33
Seems to me like a lot of people are using this site to recruit by praising dentistry over medical schools.

The time has come .... people are praising dentistry over medicine!

Comet

 

[speter33]

I never said dentistry was inferior

 

[NDBeast]

You have your sources are incorrect, Edge. A 3.5 and a 30 can get you into MOST medical schools. You would at LEAST get into one. Your brother must have a had another major screw-up somewhere to have a 4.0 and 38 mcat to not get into med school. And no, it was NOT because he took both the MCAT and the DAT.

 

[Edge]

If you read my posts a bit more carefully beast, you would realize that I did not say that my brother was not accepted because he took the DAT, but he rather applied to both medical and dental school in the same year.

 

[Balki]

Originally posted by Edge
And also I am not BSing anyone. A 34O in my opinion is very disappointing.

I trully despise people like you. Not personlly you, but with an attitude like your. LOOK at the data and statistics concerning MCAT
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/table0403.pdf
only about 2 percent get a score of 34! that's out of almost 25000 takers. You do the math how many people actually do get that score! I have no idea why you took the test. Whether it was to yourself you wanted to prove or to someone else. But please don't go around saying 34 is dissapointing. Many of my friends studied for almost 7 month and never got even close to those numbers. I am happy that you did good, i think you certainly did good.

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by Balki
I trully despise people like you. Not personlly you, but with an attitude like your. LOOK at the data and statistics concerning MCAT
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/table0403.pdf
only about 2 percent get a score of 34! that's out of almost 25000 takers. You do the math how many people actually do get that score! I have no idea why you took the test. Whether it was to yourself you wanted to prove or to someone else. But please don't go around saying 34 is dissapointing. Many of my friends studied for almost 7 month and never got even close to those numbers. I am happy that you did good, i think you certainly did good.

That tantalizing aroma wafting through this whole thread is <em>eau de gunner</em>.

 

[Edge]

Originally posted by Balki
I trully despise people like you. Not personlly you, but with an attitude like your. LOOK at the data and statistics concerning MCAT
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/examineedata/table0403.pdf
only about 2 percent get a score of 34! that's out of almost 25000 takers. You do the math how many people actually do get that score! I have no idea why you took the test. Whether it was to yourself you wanted to prove or to someone else. But please don't go around saying 34 is dissapointing. Many of my friends studied for almost 7 month and never got even close to those numbers. I am happy that you did good, i think you certainly did good.

If your friend studied for "7" months and could not break a 34 on their score, they do not deserve to be in medical school

 

[Radioheadblue]

Everything is bigger in Texas!!! know what I mean? You know you did well. Disappointed?, you've got to be kidding me, yourself and 99% of all the aspiring medical students on SDN.

 

[Rezdawg]

Originally posted by Edge
If your friend studied for "7" months and could not break a 34 on their score, they do not deserve to be in medical school

Based on your score, it is quite obvious that you are incredibly intelligent. However, cutting someone down because they were unable to reach a score that very few people could achieve is absurd. In looking at my MCAT letter, 2.1 percent of all test takers achieved a 13 on PS. 3.3 percent of all test takers achieved a 12 in BS. If it were that easy to get such results, the national average for "accepted" students to medical school would not be 29.

I studied 2 months and could only achieve a 28 (10 BS, 10 PS, 8 RC). No way I can reach a 34 with an extra 5 months of studying. Reaching those levels has nothing to do with the amount of time you put in. Reaching those levels also requires intellectual capabilities that are far greater than the norm.

Saying that one does not deserve to be in medical school because they could not reach a 34 is arrogant in the worst of ways.

 

[speter33]

Edge you did not get a 34, stop lying. I don't know what your motives are but you are an ignorant prick.

 

[Edge]

Originally posted by speter33
Edge you did not get a 34, stop lying. I don't know what your motives are but you are an ignorant prick.

I am done with this forum. Too many cocky pricks.

 

[le fort guy]

Originally posted by Edge
I am done with this forum. Too many cocky pricks.

Don't let it get you down edge. Just stop and think about what your saying. "I am dissapointed with a 34." Did you ever think that maybe others in this forum have possibly taken the MCAT and did even worse than you on it? I know its hard to conceive, but it is possible. So the entire time you were bashing your score you may have been pissing others off.

I understand that you may have been looking for a higher score but, if you can't get into Med school with a 34 then your not getting in with a 40 either. I know of an individual who got a 42 and had a 3.8 who was rejected (UCLA). I heard she went PhD.

 

[tinker bell]

There is no such thing as taking the MCAT makes you look bad on the dental application. They only ask if you are applying to other health professionals schools. They do not ask how many standardized tests you have taken. I have taken bunches of standardized tests. And no body ever ask me that question.

Another good thing: Test scores do expire.
😱 😱 😱

 

[Balki]

QUOTE] [Originally posted by Edge
If your friend studied for "7" months and could not break a 34 on their score, they do not deserve to be in medical school [/QUOTE]

Who are you decide if someone will or will not go to a Medical school? Many of these people are extremely hard working people, just like many other members on this board. When, members of this site get a score of 20, they acknoledge that it's a good score and are happy with it.
I think it is YOU who doesn't deserve to go to a medical school! Try saying "34 is not a good score" on the interview . ha🙂

QUOTE] Originally posted by Edge
I am done with this forum. Too many cocky pricks.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Without being rude, look at your previous posts. who is the arrogant cock ?

I am done commenting

 

[larryt]

Originally posted by tinker bell
There is no such thing as taking the MCAT makes you look bad on the dental application. They only ask if you are applying to other health professionals schools. They do not ask how many standardized tests you have taken. I have taken bunches of standardized tests. And no body ever ask me that question.

Yep they do ask that info if you're applying with Texas Application service. You have to list all your tests, scores,date of the test, and medical and dental schools you're applying in texas. I think only hurting your chance if you're texan.

 

[dragonfly9]

Hey Edge,

I'm glad that you are happy with your decision to enter dental school. I agree with the group that thinks 34O is quite a pleasant MCAT score. You shouldn't have trouble with the "cramming info down your throat" part of dental school 🙂

Just a little bit of advice from a perfectionist first year who hope to save future perfectionist dental students some stress next year. . .

Lab is really tough for perfectionists. There are labs where no one gets close to a perfect score. NO ONE out of 90 or so students. There are a lot of perfectionists who think they will be the exception who gets that perfect score and wows the instructor, however, we have all been broken a bit 🙁 When you start dental school, you are gonna have to realize that there is a balance to maintain.

Also, please don't be one of the guys who laments about getting one question wrong on a test. It doesn't help you if you irritate classmates. . .trust me, at some point or another you will need their help and they will be much more willing to help if they don't feel comfortable with you. . .

Good luck with the application process! Enjoy your last year of "freedom". First year is rough!

 

[Mo007]

I agree with all you guys contribution to this thread....

I wonder what my boy croco would say.... he must be getting bad news from dental schools, lets wish him all luck...

croco: I hope the RED SOX loses against the MARLINS

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by dragonfly9

Lab is really tough for perfectionists. There are labs where no one gets close to a perfect score. NO ONE out of 90 or so students.

I've said it other places, but this is so true. Lab is the most aggravating part of school for me, by far; not even PBL can stand up in comparison.

 

[larryt]

in texas, you can't apply to both public medical and dental schools at the same time. If AMCAS and AADSAS combine into one central application service in the future, none can apply to both medical and dental schools.

 

[PERFECT3434]

do you guys think i should take the GRE, SAT, ACT, and also run for the governer of CA?

i thought this was the dental forum😕