Enough Time For Enough Classes/Prep

[premedicine]

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[armybound]

I don't know a single person who would recommend going into the MCAT a year early with the goal of improving it over a year. Your MCAT history is important, so you SHOULD NOT take it until you're ready to ace it.

Honestly, that's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard from a pre-med. Do not do it.

 

[brooklynblunder]

I don't know a single person who would recommend going into the MCAT a year early with the goal of improving it over a year. Your MCAT history is important, so you SHOULD NOT take it until you're ready to ace it.

Honestly, that's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard from a pre-med. Do not do it .

/closed


this isnt the SAT

 

[aggie08]

Two science classes per semester is not that heavy of a load, especially if you are a microbiology major. In fact, I suspect that your school would recommend at least two science classes per semester for someone who is a science major, but I could be wrong. I was in two science classes some semesters as a Psyc major.

I also took the MCAT twice, once before and once after taking Physics II. I did better on the Physics section the first time (w/o Phys II). Stupid test.

I think whatever you decide to do will be fine, but there's really no reason to rush into taking to MCAT before your'e a junior unless you're just really planning to take it twice. I think most would suggest early Spring of Junior year unless you can't balance the studying.

If you don't think you can get A's taking 2 sciences per semester then I would suggest cutting it back. I don't know how you'll finish in 4 years as a Micro major like that, though. Don't do anything that can risk your GPA assuming that you'll rock the MCAT....you just really don't know. That test is way too variable. You need to start school planning to graduate with a 4.0 and take it from there. Most people don't leave with a 4.0, but if you start planning on it then you're likely to leave with a higher GPA than if you go into it planning to graduate with a 3.5 and make a 35 on the MCAT. You have so much more direct control over your GPA - take care of it like your child. Do your best. If you end up with a high GPA, you're likely to do well on the MCAT as a direct result of learning the material in your classes.

Main Point: Don't rush into things. Give yourself at least one semester to see how you handle college and science classes before you decide you're taking the MCAT early. Like I said, there's not really any reason to take it that early unless you're really just convinced you can't do good otherwise.

 

[brooklynblunder]

i suggest all high schoolers to stop planning their college education on an internet forum. almost ruins some aspects of college

[YOUTUBE]vdGHxCHJQn4[/YOUTUBE]

 

[He2]

thats not true at all. It can be a big advantage to take it after your soph year cuz everything is still fresh in your mind.

http://illumination.library.wisc.edu/ojs/index.php/home/article/viewFile/2109/36

 

[aggie08]

nevermind. not worth it.

 

[armybound]

thats not true at all. It can be a big advantage to take it after your soph year cuz everything is still fresh in your mind.

http://illumination.library.wisc.edu/ojs/index.php/home/article/viewFile/2109/36

man, thousands and thousands of pre-meds have been doing it wrong for decades. why didn't those smart kids ever figure this out?

 

[aggie08]

man, thousands and thousands of pre-meds have been doing it wrong for decades. why didn't those smart kids ever figure this out?

seriously armybound
how the heck did we even get into medical school??

 

[He2]

seriously armybound
how the heck did we even get into medical school??

that is exactly why we won't have any newspapers in 5 years.

 

[He2]

🙂

ok im done here

 

[aggie08]

that is exactly why we won't have any newspapers in 5 years.

What in the heck does that even mean?

 

[DrYoda]

thats not true at all. It can be a big advantage to take it after your soph year cuz everything is still fresh in your mind.

http://illumination.library.wisc.edu/ojs/index.php/home/article/viewFile/2109/36

Lol. Is this written by one of the infamous pre-med advisors I always hear about?😆

 

[He2]

When the internet started becoming bit in the late 90's, the newspapers decided that they didn't need to do anything about it, since people had been reading news from newspapers for 100's of years.

then they realized they were screwed, b/c ppl could get their news online rather than paying exhorbant amounts for a physical paper.... but then started to make blogs like everyone else, which ended up being a huge mistake+they were years behind

now they're going bankrupt left and right. I love having a newspaper in the mornings. its a friggin tragedy.

 

[aggie08]

When the internet started becoming bit in the late 90's, the newspapers decided that they didn't need to do anything about it, since people had been reading news from newspapers for 100's of years.

then they realized they were screwed, b/c ppl could get their news online rather than paying exhorbant amounts for a physical paper.... but then started to make blogs like everyone else, which ended up being a huge mistake+they were years behind

now they're going bankrupt left and right. I love having a newspaper in the mornings. its a friggin tragedy.

good joke.

 

[premedicine]

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[armybound]

I'll stick with my plan for now, thanks for the input guys. I really don't see how taking the MCAT at the END of my 2nd year is considered to be "early."

great idea

 

[chicubsfan]

Talk to your adviser. See what most pre-meds do at your school. Then do that.

 

[premedicine]

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[premedicine]

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[armybound]

Why? Because the workload seems to be too tough for you? You need to learn the fundamentals of the basic disciplines of chem/physics/bio, otherwise without your fundamental knowledge, you cannot pursue any further disciplines of study. I truly think that with my current knowledge, I can pull it off. If you couldn't, well, that's just you.

Hold on here, you're an undergrad freshman telling a medical student about what can be "pulled off"? You're lecturing a medical student on what it takes to be successful as a pre-med?

You honestly think I have no idea what the MCAT is like? Do you think you know more than medical students about what pre-med courses are like?

Have you even stepped foot in a college classroom yet?

 

[premedicine]

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[brooklynblunder]

no. the idea of taking a mcat early to have enough time for a re-take is b*tchmade. take your time to do things right the first time.

ive been a mcat instructor of 2 years i have seen 90% of his students push back the mcat at least twice to score under a 30. you would be surprised at what people get. it has nothing to do with your courseload and such. to be honest, i didn't apply anything i learned from my undergrad courses to my mcat and i did fine

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'll stick with my plan for now, thanks for the input guys. I really don't see how taking the MCAT at the END of my 2nd year is considered to be "early." With everything else to do, such as extra-curriculars/shadowing/volunteering/research/etc...it would be hard to take the MCAT only for the first time in your Junior Year.

Why do you keep talking about taking the MCAT "only for the first time?" It would be really dumb to plan to take the MCAT more than once; don't take it until you're ready. If you feel the need to practice, there are a ton of practice MCATs available out there for you. Most pre-meds take the MCAT at the end of their third year because it allows them to take their time when it comes to learning all of the science stuff and still get good grades in the class; taking it after your second year is VERY early and I don't recommend that to anyone because there's just no advantage to taking it then. All you wind up doing is burning out on all the rigorous science stuff and probably hurting your grades and/or social life.

 

[brooklynblunder]

if you have a solid foundation already, take the MCAT now. courses won't make a difference if you actually do

 

[Jolie South]

I'll stick with my plan for now, thanks for the input guys. I really don't see how taking the MCAT at the END of my 2nd year is considered to be "early." With everything else to do, such as extra-curriculars/shadowing/volunteering/research/etc...it would be hard to take the MCAT only for the first time in your Junior Year.

Why? Because the workload seems to be too tough for you? You need to learn the fundamentals of the basic disciplines of chem/physics/bio, otherwise without your fundamental knowledge, you cannot pursue any further disciplines of study. I truly think that with my current knowledge, I can pull it off. If you couldn't, well, that's just you.

Hold on here, you're an undergrad freshman telling a medical student about what can be "pulled off"? You're lecturing a medical student on what it takes to be successful as a pre-med?

You honestly think I have no idea what the MCAT is like? Do you think you know more than medical students about what pre-med courses are like?

Have you even stepped foot in a college classroom yet?

Dude, I'm with army on this one.

The MCAT is not something that you want to take just to see what it's like and then improve. You want to take it when you're ready to do well, not at the earliest possible time.

It makes zero sense to take it before junior year. ZERO. There is no need to take it that early.

 

[premedicine]

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[aggie08]

Why the **** do people come on here, ask questions, then get all defensive when they don't get the answer they want??

I gave you GOOD advice in my first post. Take it with a grain of salt, talk to your advisor and then figure it out. There is a reason people don't typically do it like you're planning. If you want to plan on taking the MCAT twice, fine. I bet you change your tune after seeing what goes into taking that test.




Please don't treat Army or anyone else like they don't know what they are talking about. Remember: YOU have no idea what it's like to be a pre-med, MCAT-taker or Med student. We have all done all of these things.

Don't ask questions unless you want advice. People here are going to be straight-up with you and you're going to get great advice. Take it or leave, but don't ask a question and then tell us we're wrong.

 

[DrYoda]

I have, 47 units worth, but I just don't see how your "worst idea" argument is valid. What would you recommend I do then?

Take it when you are ready. You win nothing by taking it early. Take it only once and do well. Don't talk big until you take it, and after still don't talk big.

Most people aim for the winter or spring of their junior year.

 

[aggie08]

Take it when you are ready. You win nothing by taking it early. Take it only once and do well. Don't talk big until you take it, and after still don't talk big.

Most people aim for the winter or spring of their junior year.

👍👍👍👍

 

[GoSpursGo]

So, should I just take regular g-e's along with some science courses to balance out my workload, and stop worrying about taking the mcat at the end of my sophomore year?

Yes. I never took more than two science classes simultaneously in college, and I imagine I would have been needlessly much more stressed if I had and/or gotten worse grades.

 

[Jolie South]

So, should I just take regular g-e's along with some science courses to balance out my workload, and stop worrying about taking the mcat at the end of my sophomore year?

I'd take classes that you want to take and get involved in extracurriculars that you like. Aim to have your pre-reqs done by the end of second year. Hold off on prepping for the MCAT until then.

This is a bit unrelated, but I'll say it anyway. Not everything is about "gaming the system" to get into med school. Obviously, do the required things like getting good grades, shadowing, and the MCAT, but other than that have fun and get involved in activities that you enjoy.

 

[armybound]

So, should I just take regular g-e's along with some science courses to balance out my workload, and stop worrying about taking the mcat at the end of my sophomore year?

That's right.

There's a reason why 99% of the pre-med community does it that way. It works.

You very well may be intelligent and that's great. Believe it or not, a lot of pre-meds are intelligent. You are not special. Undergrad is not like AP courses in high school and it's not like community college. I made the mistake you're making now, assuming things are going to be easy in college because AP/community college was easy. It's not.

The MCAT is definitely not the SAT. It's something you have to be VERY well prepared for, and that doesn't just mean you've crammed courses in. You have to prepare for the test because it's like no test you've ever taken. It isn't testing your science knowledge, it's testing your ability to think critically, and you have never taken an exam like that. You won't learn how to take that exam from cramming in science courses. You will more than likely need a 3-4 month prep course. You can't fit that in when you're cramming in science courses.

Don't set yourself up to fail by overwhelming yourself because you THINK you can handle it based on high school. Your GPA and MCAT score will both suffer.

 

[brooklynblunder]

i would also recommend doing your ECs like volunteering, etc alongside your course load and prep to make sure medicine is right for you 🙂

you never know you might like something else and you don't wont to pass up a well-rounded experience

 

[premedicine]

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[armybound]

what classes are you planning on taking over the summers that are "necessary"?

I did it like this:
Freshman year: chemistry, english, calculus, other general classes
Sophomore year: biology (with lab), english, statistics, other general classes
Summer after sophomore year: organic chemistry
Junior year: Physics (with lab), chem lab, genetics, physiology, etc and an MCAT prep class
Summer after junior year: MCAT
Senior year: finished off courses from my major, biochem, etc

that's a pretty basic course plan that almost everyone will follow, other than usually taking organic chem during their junior year instead of the summer before. most people probably take biology as freshmen and chemistry as sophomores, which I did backwards.

 

[premedicine]

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[armybound]

forgot to mention, I took organic chem lab during junior year, or maybe senior year. I can't remember.

at my school there were 2 summer semesters. you could take the lab at the same time if you wanted to. there are only 2 semesters of organic chem (plus the lab)

 

[premedicine]

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[loveoforganic]

My schedule was

Fall Freshman: Gen chem 1 + lab, Gen bio 1 + lab, English
Spring Freshman: Gen chem 2 + lab, Gen bio 2 + lab
Summer Freshman: Nothing

Fall sophomore: Organic 1, Physics 1 + Lab
Spring sophomore: Organic 2 + lab, Physics 2 + lab
Summer Sophomore: MCAT prep then MCAT ~5 days before class started

I personally feel like this is the best set up in that you take the MCAT with the sciences fresh in your mind. It also gives you 3 solid months of uninterrupted study for the MCAT - an ideal amount of time in my opinion, and with no classes to get in the way. This is not anywhere near an overwhelming schedule. Granted, I did do poorly freshman year - it was an effort and knowing how to study thing, not an intelligence thing. I partied hard on weekdays, crammed the night before pulling all-nighters, etc. If you're confident you're ready to work freshman year and do what you need to do, this is the schedule I would recommend.

 

[armybound]

I took it when everyone else takes it -- late junior year, sometime between late spring and mid-summer.

 

[premedicine]

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[armybound]

This is so confusing. So then I SHOULD take the MCAT the summer of my sophomore year? I know that everyone has their own preferences, but I am trying to pick the ideal schedule.

you CAN. this guy is the exception to the rule that you usually take it your junior year.

seriously dude, take it whenever you want. but if you go into it thinking you're just going to retake it, you're doing it wrong. prepare for the exam as well as you can prepare, then go in when you feel you're ready to take it. don't set a specific deadline for when you're going to take it and rush yourself to fit that deadline.

the key to what loveoforganic did was the months of MCAT prep. that's what you have to do. it doesn't make a difference if the science is "fresh" in your mind or not -- you need to review it for a few months before the exam. it will come back to you.

like I said, the MCAT is NOT a test of scientific knowledge. it doesn't matter how recently you've had the courses.

 

[premedicine]

you CAN. this guy is the exception to the rule that you usually take it your junior year.

seriously dude, take it whenever you want. but if you go into it thinking you're just going to retake it, you're doing it wrong. prepare for the exam as well as you can prepare, then go in when you feel you're ready to take it. don't set a specific deadline for when you're going to take it and rush yourself to fit that deadline.

the key to what loveoforganic did was the months of MCAT prep. that's what you have to do. it doesn't make a difference if the science is "fresh" in your mind or not -- you need to review it for a few months before the exam. it will come back to you.

like I said, it is not a test of scientific knowledge. it doesn't matter how recently you've had the courses.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I speak with my adviser.

 

[loveoforganic]

you CAN. this guy is the exception to the rule that you usually take it your junior year.

seriously dude, take it whenever you want. but if you go into it thinking you're just going to retake it, you're doing it wrong. prepare for the exam as well as you can prepare, then go in when you feel you're ready to take it. don't set a specific deadline for when you're going to take it and rush yourself to fit that deadline.

the key to what loveoforganic did was the months of MCAT prep. that's what you have to do. it doesn't make a difference if the science is "fresh" in your mind or not -- you need to review it for a few months before the exam. it will come back to you.

like I said, the MCAT is NOT a test of scientific knowledge. it doesn't matter how recently you've had the courses.

It does make the studying go a little easier, but generally agree with the above. Your prep books or course or whatever will cover the content you need to know and working thousands of problems from hundreds of passages is how you learn to apply that knowledge. The courses are just a solid background. The key thing, like armybound said, is don't rush it. Whatever you do. It's true that taking it early gives the benefit of being able to retake as conflict-free as possible, but retaking at all is something you really want to avoid. Don't go in with the mindset "oh, well I can just do this again if I need to."

Oh, and screwing up freshman year has been the biggest thorn in my side. Straight A's will only get my BCPM up to like a 3.5, since A+'s count for nada. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[snorlax]

???

I don't see what's wrong with taking the MCAT after sophomore year-it seems like the least stressful way.

In 2 years you finish your prereqs. Then you have the entire summer to study for the MCAT and take it in September.

Having the whole summer to prepare, you should be able to reach your potential by then.

 

[armybound]

???

I don't see what's wrong with taking the MCAT after sophomore year-it seems like the least stressful way.

In 2 years you finish your prereqs. Then you have the entire summer to study for the MCAT and take it in September.

Having the whole summer to prepare, you should be able to reach your potential by then.

it's less stressful to compress 3 years of classes into 2?

 

[loveoforganic]

My personal opinion is it's a good tradeoff, assuming you can handle the courseload (something I suppose you won't really know until you start taking classes). Honestly, it's a personal preference thing, and this thread has gotten a whole lot more attention than it needed 😛

 

[GoSpursGo]

Does this schedule appear to be okay?

I will finish my chemistry series my freshman year.

During the summer, I will take the necessary classes.

I will finish by biology series/inorganic series my sophomore year.

During the summer, I will take the necessary classes.

I will finish the physics series my junior year, take the MCAT/APPLY to medical schools @ the end.
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I'm just worried that if I don't do well on the MCAT the first time in SPRING of my Junior year, I won't have enough time to improve by the SUMMER of my junior year.

Also, how did you guys manage to take bio/organic chem within the same year if you followed something like the schedule I have mentioned

It really is a personal preference. You CAN take it at the end of your sophomore year if you really want to, but doing that so that you'll have time to improve isn't a good reason to do so; again, there are SO many ways for you to take practice MCATs that there is no need to actually take a real one to figure out how you're doing. You definitely don't want to take it when you're not ready and do badly and have that bad score on your record forever. Maybe if you wanted to just block out that entire summer for your MCAT studying and then take the exam in August, I could understand that being a good reason. This might particularly be a good idea if you're a non-science major and don't have to worry about squeezing in any additional non-MCAT science classes on the side to complete your degree But regardless, simply having had the classes recently isn't going to really help you enough; you're still going to have to put in some intense studying outside of class to get you ready for it.

Here was my schedule:

Fall 1-Bio 1+lab, Gen Chem+lab
Spring 1-Bio 2+lab, Organic 1+lab (my school is weird and compresses Gen Chem into one semester; it winds up not mattering because I have to take another chem class later to satisfy the 2 years of chem requirement)
Summer-Research

Fall 2-Genetics (for my major), Organic 2+lab
Spring 2-Immunobiology (for major), Inorganic Chem+lab
Summer-Research

Fall 3-P Chem (for major), Physics 1+lab, start an MCAT class
Spring 3-Biochem 1 (for major), Physics 2+lab, finish MCAT, take MCAT in April.

I took a 6 month class with Kaplan where we met once a week, so that we were able to review the material at a good, slow, non-hectic pace. The first thing they do is give you a diagnostic exam to give you a general baseline idea of where you stand; from there on out, you have access to a ton of online practice exams that you can take whenever you like to give you an idea of how you're progressing. By the time I actually took the MCAT in April, I had taken around 10 practice exams, so I had an excellent idea of what kinds of things to expect on the real thing, and my real score wound up being right around where my practice scores were. Again, there's no need to go take a real MCAT and potentially get a bad score on your record just to find out how you're doing; I didn't give myself time to retake the exam because I wanted to take it only once and made sure I was ready before I took it.

In summary, yes, if you want, you can take the MCAT at the end of your sophomore year; my roommate did just that, and he's in med school now. However, I really didn't want to be carrying 3 science classes (again, assuming that you're a science major) all at the same time in my sophomore year and probably hurt my GPA, which is just as important as your MCAT score; with all due respect, notice that the only person really advocating that plan has a sub 3.5 GPA. Probably hurting your GPA to give yourself a fallback plan on an exam that you shouldn't plan to retake seems like a bad idea to me. If you're doing it so that you can study all summer to get your best grade possible that August, that at least would be defensible, though I still would be wary about the potential hit my GPA could take. That's why I recommend the spring of the junior year as being the best time to take the exam.

 

[He2]

i think one of the false assumptions here is that if you take the MCAT after your Junior year, you have more time to study for it. That is absolutely not true. All you are doing is ensuring that you either sacrifice your grades or study for the MCAT.

All medical schools tell you to apply early. Lets assume that you put in your primary app June 6/7th, when everything comes out. That means that if you take the MCAT after your Junior year, you are taking the MCAT with about a month, max, of uninterrupted studying (assuming you get out of school early may, alot of schools, however, get out in mid to late may). If you want 2-3 months, then you have to study during finals or in place of your other courses or sacrificing having a social life. either way, you lose.

however, if you take it AT THE VERY BEGINNING of your junior year (sept 7th), you have 3-4 months of uninterrupted studying, with time for a social life. no classes involved. your grades, and your mcat do well.

also, the whole "all people do it" argument is dumb. If we're gonna go with what everyone does, you're gonna end up with the average. average = 24, which will get you into nowhere. you have to be able to do things at least at about the ability of the 80th percentile (~30 MCAT) to have a competitive app. Being in med school means being an outlier through hard work and humility.

doing what 1% of people do is a good thing, if you take it seriously, work hard, and figure out a way to do well AND balance your life. That is possible,and its definitely not a dichotomy. Having a challenging schedule will make you a more efficient, better student. You will then take those abilities and be able to have a great 2 later years that are incredibly easy. Your first 2 years will essentially be an investment in your abilities to be a student.

Taking the MCAT at the beginning of your junior year SHOULD NOT be seen as a way to retake the exam, however. As other posters have noted, there are tons of practice exams that let you know how well you are doing.