First time mom needing advice on how to prep for MCAT while working full-time & parenting an infant

[jdobl]

Hello,

I am a 31-year-old first time mother to a 9-month-old boy. My passion is medicine and couldn’t imagine myself in a different profession other than becoming a doctor in the future. I’ve planned for a perfect (traditional, as they call it) journey to fulfilling my dream but of course, real life happens and as it turned out, I am now in my 30s with a kid and work 30 mins away from home. I have taken MCAT twice before 2015 and would like to get back to really getting serious in going to medical school. Any advice on how to get the ball rolling for MCAT? I work 12-8pm for 5 days. I get home around 9pm, eat dinner and then put my son to bed by 10-11pm. By that time, I am exhausted. My son wakes up at 8am everyday and I get our day going until I leave him to my dad at 11am. I’m thinking I could study from 4am-8am everyday.

I should also add that I already have Kaplan books that I got from a work friend who had previously taken their prep course. Should I buy their Self-Paced course or self-study and device a self study plan? Usually going to class is better for me since I stay motivated that way but 24 hours in a day is already not enough for me to even include that to my everyday schedule. I am leaning towards in buying the self-paced since that’s already a more structured plan rather than spending time devising my own plan. What do you all think??

Thanks in advance

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[Ad2b]

Studying on 4 hours of sleep is NOT going to benefit you. You're exhausted going to bed, you're exhausted when you get home from work. When do you recover?

I am a single mom (his father was never really around and passed away some years ago; S-IV melanoma). When my son was an infant, I thought it'd be great to get my MBA while working full time at the school where I went. It was "just" a pithy MBA. I was about your age then. It was dumb on my part.

If you have the prior exams scored and therefore, in the system, I would not retake it again until you can do very well. As you don't really give any other information (GPA, volunteering, etc) it's really hard to provide any advice on path...

As for paying for Kaplan? I loved the MCAT Channel and the live interaction with the instructors as you could ask questions right there and then but it seems to me, you don't get the MCAT channel with the self-paced.

 

[jdobl]

Studying on 4 hours of sleep is NOT going to benefit you. You're exhausted going to bed, you're exhausted when you get home from work. When do you recover?

I am a single mom (his father was never really around and passed away some years ago; S-IV melanoma). When my son was an infant, I thought it'd be great to get my MBA while working full time at the school where I went. It was "just" a pithy MBA. I was about your age then. It was dumb on my part.

If you have the prior exams scored and therefore, in the system, I would not retake it again until you can do very well. As you don't really give any other information (GPA, volunteering, etc) it's really hard to provide any advice on path...

As for paying for Kaplan? I loved the MCAT Channel and the live interaction with the instructors as you could ask questions right there and then but it seems to me, you don't get the MCAT channel with the self-paced.

I graduated in 2012 with a GPA of 3.65. Took 2 MCATs and scored low on both so I won’t take the test until I score as high as I want it to be on full-lenghts. My volunteer experiences were: (1) United way alternative-spring break building a house for low-income families in El paso, TX (2) EMT volunteer (3) short stint in hospital volunteer running errands (4) shadowed an Infectious Disease doctor (5) big sister for big brother big sisters program (6) medical/publich health mission to nicaragua. My work experiences: (1) Bank teller for 8 years (2) Assistant Scientist in a biotech company for 1 year (3) Clinical Laboratory Assistant in a Pathology department at a top NJ hospital system working closely with Pathologists for almost 3 years now (current job)

 

[Ad2b]

Thank you for the extra info.

What was your first degree in? how many of the pre-reqs were completed during that degree cycle? (gen chem, orgo, biochem, physics, biology)

With that GPA, have you taken anything post-bacc? U-grad grades are on one line, post-bacc courses are a separate line item. At the end, anything BCPM gets calculated into whether or not it was u-grad or postbacc but the differentiating factor is that post-bacc line item.

Are you URM by chance?

Related to that GPA, if you not done any post-bacc school work (upper division science courses or primary pre-reqs), your MCAT score must be atmospheric - like above 515...

The volunteering is inconclusive as you don't list hours.

My rationale for asking all the question is this:

with that low GPA (and it is), you MUST have something that stands you out from the crowd... that you're working full time as a presumably single mother is great but that singular thing isn't enough; 3.29 with a 510 plus little/no volunteering/no shadowing = donation to AAMC and med schools.

I know you asked about MCAT only but that's not the only thing that could/might/would hold you back from acceptance. It's only one piece of the puzzle.

Because you're time restricted right now, I would start volunteering consistently once a month for anything - pet shelter, homeless shelter, meals on wheels, etc. and do that until your son is a little older (and by the way, introduce him to volunteering at a young age too)...

I would also get in shadowing and clinical time...

When he's a little older, like 4, look at where you are in life and if you can dedicate at least a solid 20 hours of solid study per week to the MCAT because by that time you'd have a crap ton of volunteering, and be in a better place to study.

LAST: I'm 53 and when I was your age, some doofus from my top, dunno 25, med school told me at my Rotary Club meeting that I would never get "into the box to get looked at for med school matriculation and therefore, I'd be a waste of my time" he also went on to say that me being a single parent was suspect of making poor life choices (lolol - yeah, he's the dean of a top 10 med school now, well, top 5)

You won't be too old by waiting but you will be in a better place to nail the test and get additional soft requirements fulfilled.

 

[DokterMom]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I've got to agree with @Ad2b that now simply doesn't appear to be the right time for you unless you have significantly more supporting resources than you mentioned here.

- You've got two sub-par MCATs. While there are some schools that take the best score, most average them all, and all will see the two lows plus the one better(?) and factor that in. You also need to be able to explain the two low scores as well as show a very competitive new score.

- Your GPA is very low for MD and low for DO. Is it a bunch of Bs or a few Ds and Fs that brought it down? A few Ds and Fs from "when you were young and stupid" is more easily discounted than a whole bunch of Bs. And were you working full time while in undergrad?

With a compelling story and lots of volunteering, it's still possible. But the simplest (lazy) explanation is that your GPA and first two MCATs do accurately represent your abilities, and that being a single (presumably?) mother throws in an additional obstacle to your success. Right now, you're in a bit of a hole - be very careful where and how much you dig.

 

[jdobl]

Thank you both for your honest feedbacks. It’s got me thinking to set up a different strategy now. My degree was in Molecular Biology and I enjoy doing research to the point that it could be my second choice in case being a doctor doesn’t pan out. I worked in a biotechnology company for a year as an Assistant Scientist working on multiple projects and was really hands on with all of them.But since I wanted to be a doctor, I switched to a Clinical Lab Asst position working in a Pathology department. I was exposed to the different parts of this department from morgue, cytology, histology, and doing frozen sections for the OR. I also accession specimens coming from the OR and also other departments so that greatly widened my anatomy knowledge. I was working in the morgue as well as a part of this job before I got pregnant so I do have a little bit of knowledge and experience in that. I’ve been working as a CLA for almost 3 years now so that’s basically not only shadowing Pathologists but also doing hands on work consistently for those years.

Since this post, I have been researching for a post bacc program and I have seen one that would work out for me. I’m going to look into it deeper.

 

[jdobl]

I also want to add that I am not a single mother. I have a very supportive and dependable husband. My father looks after our son when we go to work. I must say I have a really good support system.

 

[philthyj]

Hello,

I am a 31-year-old first time mother to a 9-month-old boy. My passion is medicine and couldn’t imagine myself in a different profession other than becoming a doctor in the future. I’ve planned for a perfect (traditional, as they call it) journey to fulfilling my dream but of course, real life happens and as it turned out, I am now in my 30s with a kid and work 30 mins away from home. I have taken MCAT twice before 2015 and would like to get back to really getting serious in going to medical school. Any advice on how to get the ball rolling for MCAT? I work 12-8pm for 5 days. I get home around 9pm, eat dinner and then put my son to bed by 10-11pm. By that time, I am exhausted. My son wakes up at 8am everyday and I get our day going until I leave him to my dad at 11am. I’m thinking I could study from 4am-8am everyday.

I should also add that I already have Kaplan books that I got from a work friend who had previously taken their prep course. Should I buy their Self-Paced course or self-study and device a self study plan? Usually going to class is better for me since I stay motivated that way but 24 hours in a day is already not enough for me to even include that to my everyday schedule. I am leaning towards in buying the self-paced since that’s already a more structured plan rather than spending time devising my own plan. What do you all think??

Thanks in advance

I'm echoing much of what's been said. That sounds like a brutal prep strategy. But if you seriously feel you're the type of person who could do it, then go for it! I've heard Kaplan's material is great. My recommendation is to study it and make good flashcards (Anki is an app that is super helpful in this regard). Flashcards were super helpful to me, because I studied for a long time and I found myself forgetting much of the material I studied earlier on. I had friends use the Examkrackers book and self study, but he was dedicated. Again, it's more than possible, you just need to set good goals and stick to it! I haven't heard about Kaplan's self-paced course, but it sounds like it would be good? I took the Altius program and I know they have access to online tutors if that's more your thing. But another thing I'd recommend is once you finish the material, I think taking practice exams was super helpful. I took some Next Step tests, and those were good. I thought my scores here were slightly inflated. I also took some Altius tests, and these were also good. I thought my scores here were slightly deflated. But either way, it was good practice in simulating the real test! I hope some of this helps!

 

[Lawfairy]

There’s some solid advice here. Taking your time and planning out your next steps are key. If you really want it, you’ll find a way. Make sure to communicate your needs to your support system and explore the viability of babysitters or day care to give your family childcare team a break and to try to expand your study time. I worked as a trial lawyer with a toddler, an absent spouse (due to work demands and travel), and no family in a 2500 mile radius. How did I do it? Meticulous planning, going outside my comfort zone to ask friends and my employer for help, and using almost every minute of downtime for studying. You get creative when you’re desperate and driven.