Fall 2008 Timeline Question

[mistatwo]

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I'm a post bacc student right now, and I have a couple of options in terms of when to finish my program. I could use some guidance.

I'm taking Chem I and Bio I right now and will have these courses done by this December. This is where it gets tricky. I want to have my timing right for applications (fall 08) and the MCAT, so I need to figure out when I'm going to take the rest of the required classes. I have 2 senarios, please respond and let me know which you think I should do and why. I'm weighing out the costs /risks of trying to apply earlier vs later AND if I'll have the knowledge necessary to do well on the MCAT.

1) Take: Bio II, Chem II, Ochem I, Physics I next spring (jan-may)
Take: Physics II and Ochem II in the summer (june-july)
and take the MCAT either at the end of May/beginning of June, and/or the end of july/beginning of august, and have my application in by either beginning of June (w/o the summer classes and grades finished) or beginning of Sept (w/ all grades and classes completed)

2) Take: Bio II, Chem II, Physics I next spring (jan-may)
Take: Ochem I and Physics II in the summer (june-july)
take the MCAT at the end of july or beg of august, and have my applications in by the beginning of sep
Take: Ochem II in fall 07

Thanks in advance =)

 

[relentless11]

There is also a 3rd option and waiting another year to apply.

Option 1 is doable, but I would not recommend taking Chem II and OChem I at the same time. For one its a lot of work, OChem tends to be work intensive. Regardless you want to take the MCAT when you have COMPLETED ALL PRE-REQS. The MCAT is not something you want to go into unprepared, or something you want to take more than once. Even if you get your application in by June/July, your application will be dependent on your MCAT scores being completed. Since you will not complete all your pre-reqs until the end of the summer, it would imply that you should take the MCAT after summer session. You take the MCAT when you ARE READY. In this case you may apply late (after July) which is very bad too. See below...

Option 2 will have you too late in the application cycle. As stated by MANY threads, you want to have applications COMPLETED (e.g., transcripts, and MCAT scores received by AMCAS) no later than July. Most schools are on a rolling admission, therefore by the time you get your MCAT scores back it will be August or October. By this time, people who sent their applications in early would have secondaries, and quite possibly interview invites. These slots are limited, therefore you will be competing with FAR less slots.

Ultimately it is your call. The MCAT is not something to joke around with. Many people study for 2-3 months. If you take the MCAT before June, you will be doing it without Physics II and OChem II. In addition to that, while taking OChem I, Bio II, GChem II, and Physics I, you will be studying for the MCAT. True that it is the same subject, but the style of questions, time management of the science sections are somewhat different from what you would encounter in normal classroom exams. Of course there is also the god forsaken Verbal Section which you probably know by now as a very challenging section. As I stated in a previous through, people can get 10's on their science sections but end up with a 5 on ther verbal. You don't want that to happen either. So I really encourage you to think this through before rushing through this process.

The take home message is take the MCAT and APPLY when you are READY. You may also realize that there may be OTHER classes that are not pre-reqs but may be HELPFUL for the MCAT, such as biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, and genetics. As a biochemistry major, I found many of our pre-reqs quite useful. At least in terms of reinforcing concepts from the other premed classes. Good luck!

 

[Lshapley]

I generally concur.

Anything is indeed possible, but I really can't imagine taking Chem102 and OChem at the same time. Also, prepping for the MCAT is like taking another class from what I hear, and I have heard that taking OChem over the summer makes that course extra challenging. I would think that if you take either of these accelelated scenarios you are running the risk of having either your grades or your MCAT scores suffer.

You want you bcpm grades to be above a 3.5 and you want the MCATs to be above a 30 to be a competitive candidate (even higher for top 20 schools), and we are not even talking about volunteer experience and other intangibles which are valued by adcoms that might be taking up some of your time.

A bad grade could result in you having to take extra courses to bring up your cumulative gpa and one take of the MCAT looks better on your application than multiple attempts. Don't rush it and do it right.

lee