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A little about my background,
In 1998, I transferred to the University of Utah sociology
program from Brigham Young University because of personal concerns about the quality of education there. In my second year at BYU, there was a well known report by the American Association of University Professors, AAUP, on the "distressingly poor" levels of academic freedom. This report brought a cloud of uncertainty to the campus.
Sadly, rather than addressing concerns, some of my own professors took attitudes that teaching ideology had more worth than academic scholarship. I made a difficult decision to withdraw from BYU giving up my scholarship and chances of early graduation. Education is important to me, and I'd rather spend more time learning than receive a worthless diploma.
I took a job, paid for the costs of education, and graduated from the U of U in 2001. Since then, I have been running a successful business. As my parents are approaching retirement age, their health is faltering. My father suffered a major heart attack last year. My mother is suffering from osteoporosis and a kidney infection. Not only is the "Baby-Boomer" population aging, but many doctors will also be retiring. I believe caring for our parents will be
the challenge of my own generation. This and the path I feel I have been on my whole life has prompted me to head in this direction.
In the past year, I have pursued with vigor the medical school application process. I spent the summer studying for the MCAT, including 2 required subjects I had not yet taken, Organic Chemistry and Physics. I scored in the 90th percentile on the MCAT. My score demonstrates that I learn quickly, and on my own if necessary. I am now enrolled in these courses, and will have them completed before matriculation in the 2005 school year.
I am a few years older than the traditional students, but to my benefit. I have a good grasp on what the world is like, and what awaits me in and beyond medical school. I know the road ahead is a challenging one. I know from experience that with determination and a goal worth fighting for, anything is
possible.
Basically, I started in April of last year, and I can't begin to think of how many hours I spent studying for the MCAT. I didn't watch TV, go to movies. It became the focus when I was off work.
I got a KAPLAN MCAT study review guide, which runs through the topics that are on the test. They are Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. There are roughly 15 chapters of each. In biology, you really only need to know the Human and animal systems, but from the cell to evolution and genetics.
I found my old Chemistry and Biology books. I outlined the Biology, and I worked through end of chapter problems in Chemistry. I went to the library and got other college level text books and read through them. I read them cover to cover outlining and making flash cards. I rarely used the flash cards, but making them made some of the info stick.
Physics, the best thing that helped me learn this material from scratch was Exam Krackers. They have really neat ways of thinking of Physics in commom sense terms. Same with Organic Chemistry. They are great to break the ice. But I strongly believe the review courses are not enough, they don't give you the depth you need for the actual MCAT. So go back to the library, get more text books and work through the problems.
Basically, grab anything and everything. That is what I did. If you took the courses in the past, then the info will come back to you. If you haven't taken them, get started on familiarizing yourself with them now.
Finally, practice taking the test. Every Saturday for 2 months before the MCAT, I went to the library and took a full length practice test. I started at 8:00 just as the test would, and spent 6 hours, including a lunch break taking the test. This is also a big commitment, but like jogging, it helps keep your energy strong for the marathon that is the MCAT.
I got discouraged really easily at some times. Get a cheerleader or someone close to you to always give you good thoughts and encouragement. If you get any negativity in your head, there's no way to do well. So make up your mind now, and don't look back, and You will succeed.
When I took the MCAT itself, I wasn't really sure how I did. I was nervous, I skipped a passage on the verbal, and recorded 15 answers before I realized I was off. I nearly said screw this and rip up my test. I"m really glad I didn't.. and this just goes to show that sometimes you know more than you thought you did. At any rate, when you take the test, tell yourself, this is what you want, and even if you don't do well, you can always take it again, and if you find you didn't do as well as you wanted, follow through, and continue studying. You'll have a better grasp on what you're up against.
The MCAT is meant to weed out the undecideds and the unsure. If this really is what you want to do, there is nothing that can stop you. Good luck.
In 1998, I transferred to the University of Utah sociology
program from Brigham Young University because of personal concerns about the quality of education there. In my second year at BYU, there was a well known report by the American Association of University Professors, AAUP, on the "distressingly poor" levels of academic freedom. This report brought a cloud of uncertainty to the campus.
Sadly, rather than addressing concerns, some of my own professors took attitudes that teaching ideology had more worth than academic scholarship. I made a difficult decision to withdraw from BYU giving up my scholarship and chances of early graduation. Education is important to me, and I'd rather spend more time learning than receive a worthless diploma.
I took a job, paid for the costs of education, and graduated from the U of U in 2001. Since then, I have been running a successful business. As my parents are approaching retirement age, their health is faltering. My father suffered a major heart attack last year. My mother is suffering from osteoporosis and a kidney infection. Not only is the "Baby-Boomer" population aging, but many doctors will also be retiring. I believe caring for our parents will be
the challenge of my own generation. This and the path I feel I have been on my whole life has prompted me to head in this direction.
In the past year, I have pursued with vigor the medical school application process. I spent the summer studying for the MCAT, including 2 required subjects I had not yet taken, Organic Chemistry and Physics. I scored in the 90th percentile on the MCAT. My score demonstrates that I learn quickly, and on my own if necessary. I am now enrolled in these courses, and will have them completed before matriculation in the 2005 school year.
I am a few years older than the traditional students, but to my benefit. I have a good grasp on what the world is like, and what awaits me in and beyond medical school. I know the road ahead is a challenging one. I know from experience that with determination and a goal worth fighting for, anything is
possible.
Basically, I started in April of last year, and I can't begin to think of how many hours I spent studying for the MCAT. I didn't watch TV, go to movies. It became the focus when I was off work.
I got a KAPLAN MCAT study review guide, which runs through the topics that are on the test. They are Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. There are roughly 15 chapters of each. In biology, you really only need to know the Human and animal systems, but from the cell to evolution and genetics.
I found my old Chemistry and Biology books. I outlined the Biology, and I worked through end of chapter problems in Chemistry. I went to the library and got other college level text books and read through them. I read them cover to cover outlining and making flash cards. I rarely used the flash cards, but making them made some of the info stick.
Physics, the best thing that helped me learn this material from scratch was Exam Krackers. They have really neat ways of thinking of Physics in commom sense terms. Same with Organic Chemistry. They are great to break the ice. But I strongly believe the review courses are not enough, they don't give you the depth you need for the actual MCAT. So go back to the library, get more text books and work through the problems.
Basically, grab anything and everything. That is what I did. If you took the courses in the past, then the info will come back to you. If you haven't taken them, get started on familiarizing yourself with them now.
Finally, practice taking the test. Every Saturday for 2 months before the MCAT, I went to the library and took a full length practice test. I started at 8:00 just as the test would, and spent 6 hours, including a lunch break taking the test. This is also a big commitment, but like jogging, it helps keep your energy strong for the marathon that is the MCAT.
I got discouraged really easily at some times. Get a cheerleader or someone close to you to always give you good thoughts and encouragement. If you get any negativity in your head, there's no way to do well. So make up your mind now, and don't look back, and You will succeed.
When I took the MCAT itself, I wasn't really sure how I did. I was nervous, I skipped a passage on the verbal, and recorded 15 answers before I realized I was off. I nearly said screw this and rip up my test. I"m really glad I didn't.. and this just goes to show that sometimes you know more than you thought you did. At any rate, when you take the test, tell yourself, this is what you want, and even if you don't do well, you can always take it again, and if you find you didn't do as well as you wanted, follow through, and continue studying. You'll have a better grasp on what you're up against.
The MCAT is meant to weed out the undecideds and the unsure. If this really is what you want to do, there is nothing that can stop you. Good luck.
