General: 1 or 2 Years?

[mtulli]

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This has been discussed at length in the UPenn thread [and elsewhere I am sure] but I thought it was a dialogue that could be shared amongst all post-baccers--current or alumni in one place.

As a student what track did you complete and if you had the option to go back in time would you repeat or change your mind?

The idea is that the 2 year program prepares you all the same while increasing volunteer and research exposure.

Does the applicant who took the time for more research and volunteering beat out the applicant who condensed the workload into a single year? Or is it vice versa?

 

[NewmansOwn]

If you need the volunteer (research requirement is dubious) experience, I'm sure having an extra year to establish credibility is good. The thing is, most competitive 1-year programs basically require you to have a good amount of medically-related volunteer experience before coming in. Everyone in my class at BM had enough experience to satisfy most med schools before coming in, so the condensed 1-year format didn't hurt anyone.

If you've already got some volunteer experience under your belt, the 1-year allows you to complete the prereqs in half the time (see how good I am at math?) and fast-tracks you towards your ultimate goal of med school. Added advantage? No one questions your work ethic or ability to handle a medical school curriculum if you do all the prereqs, plus their labs, and the MCAT, all in one calendar year.

This has been discussed at length in the UPenn thread [and elsewhere I am sure] but I thought it was a dialogue that could be shared amongst all post-baccers--current or alumni in one place.

As a student what track did you complete and if you had the option to go back in time would you repeat or change your mind?

The idea is that the 2 year program prepares you all the same while increasing volunteer and research exposure.

Does the applicant who took the time for more research and volunteering beat out the applicant who condensed the workload into a single year? Or is it vice versa?

 

[emtdan]

Continuing with that thought, if you do the 1 year plan one would take the MCATs in June sometime? Classes end in May - a couple weeks to study - is this correct?

 

[mtulli]

Continuing with that thought, if you do the 1 year plan one would take the MCATs in June sometime? Classes end in May - a couple weeks to study - is this correct?

At Penn for linkage they expect you to take the MCAT in May. I am not sure about other schools.

 

[NewmansOwn]

Child's play! I had to take the MCAT in April to keep my linkage acceptance to medical school.

 

[deleted248403]

I mentioned this in the UPenn thread but I think it warrants mentioning here - to me I would only try and do the 1-yr linkage if I were at a very good post-bac that didnt have a history of shadiness with their linkages.
As Newman mentioned, the top post-bacs require you to be a decent candidate for med school before even applying. The same cannot be said of all places with linkage agreements and thus failing to link in the 1-yr puts them at a disadvantage if they don't have the volunteer work or any of the other ECs needed

 

[mtulli]

Child's play! I had to take the MCAT in April to keep my linkage acceptance to medical school.

That's totally insane, well done on that one. 👍

Was the recent coverage of all of the material helpful? April doesn't leave much time for freetime study, even if May is only one month later it's a lot of hours that can be used for MCAT work.

I mentioned this in the UPenn thread but I think it warrants mentioning here - to me I would only try and do the 1-yr linkage if I were at a very good post-bac that didnt have a history of shadiness with their linkages.
As Newman mentioned, the top post-bacs require you to be a decent candidate for med school before even applying. The same cannot be said of all places with linkage agreements and thus failing to link in the 1-yr puts them at a disadvantage if they don't have the volunteer work or any of the other ECs needed

This is true and I don't recall it being phrased like this. Regular pool application success at the big three probably does rely heavily on the fact that most students admitted to begin with are well on their way to successful medical school applications.

Maybe I should take my rejections from the top as a sign to take my time at Penn.

 

[drizzt3117]

I did two years at Scripps. I took prereqs the first year and upper divs the 2nd year... I think 2 years @ 4.0 and ~40 mcat helped me with the top tiers, I think if I'd rushed into it I wouldn't have done as well <shrug>

 

[dzhoshua]

I did two years at Scripps. I took prereqs the first year and upper divs the 2nd year... I think 2 years @ 4.0 and ~40 mcat helped me with the top tiers, I think if I'd rushed into it I wouldn't have done as well <shrug>

Well, the question in this thread seems to be about doing the prereqs over one or two years. So, it seems like you actually followed the one year plan, then did some more work afterwards to supplement your application.

I have actually decided to do something very similar at the Harvard HCP - instead of doing prereqs over two years and supplementing with upper level classes throughout, I decided to do the prereqs over one intense year, then do upper level sciences plus additional volunteering, shadowing, lab work, etc. over a second year, if necessary. One of the main reasons I'm doing this is that since chem is a prereq for bio, and bio is a prereq for most upper div classes, it would be impossible to spread the prereqs over two years and still fit a good amount of upper div classes into those two years.

 

[mtulli]

I did two years at Scripps. I took prereqs the first year and upper divs the 2nd year... I think 2 years @ 4.0 and ~40 mcat helped me with the top tiers, I think if I'd rushed into it I wouldn't have done as well <shrug>

Yeah that's really quite smart, I think this is seldom followed. It both diversifies your scientific course load and illustrates your ability to cope with the workload while giving you time to volunteer over two years. 👍

 

[NewmansOwn]

To be honest, I don't consider the MCAT much of a content test so I would say the recent coverage was of limited help. Sure, the material you needed to know was fresh in your mind -- but so was a whole lot you didn't need to know. The MCAT really only tests very basic prereq concepts. It's just that the questions are layered and convoluted, so sometimes figuring out exactly what you need to do is tricky. Having the science fresh in your mind doesn't help with this -- an extra month or two to take practice tests, however, does.

A bit of advice when you do take the MCAT -- and drizz, feel free to offer a counterargument, if you disagree -- do a limited amount of content review and then spend the majority of your time doing practice questions and (especially) full-length simulated practice tests. This is how you'll really boost your score.

 

[drizzt3117]

I generally agree, I study best through practice tests, I didn't study for the test beyond taking practice tests...

That's kinda how I'm studying for boards too but am studying a bit more, prolly 2/3 of my study is questions tho.

To be honest, I don't consider the MCAT much of a content test so I would say the recent coverage was of limited help. Sure, the material you needed to know was fresh in your mind -- but so was a whole lot you didn't need to know. The MCAT really only tests very basic prereq concepts. It's just that the questions are layered and convoluted, so sometimes figuring out exactly what you need to do is tricky. Having the science fresh in your mind doesn't help with this -- an extra month or two to take practice tests, however, does.

A bit of advice when you do take the MCAT -- and drizz, feel free to offer a counterargument, if you disagree -- do a limited amount of content review and then spend the majority of your time doing practice questions and (especially) full-length simulated practice tests. This is how you'll really boost your score.

 

[MD to be 1 day]

To be honest, I don't consider the MCAT much of a content test so I would say the recent coverage was of limited help. Sure, the material you needed to know was fresh in your mind -- but so was a whole lot you didn't need to know. The MCAT really only tests very basic prereq concepts. It's just that the questions are layered and convoluted, so sometimes figuring out exactly what you need to do is tricky. Having the science fresh in your mind doesn't help with this -- an extra month or two to take practice tests, however, does.

A bit of advice when you do take the MCAT -- and drizz, feel free to offer a counterargument, if you disagree -- do a limited amount of content review and then spend the majority of your time doing practice questions and (especially) full-length simulated practice tests. This is how you'll really boost your score.

Newmansown, how did you, logistically, take 3 postbac classes in spring and study for the April MCAT? did you study on your own or take a review class? Any advice? Thank you!!

 

[Jlaw]

Doing all your pre reqs in one year is a sh*tload of work. If you think you can do it and maintain a A average then it's probably good but if your grades suffer then you are hurting yourself. Remember you will be taking labs along with those lectures.

I'm spreading mine out over two years though in the second year I am also going to be taking some upper level sciences (I will have everything but physics complete during the 1st year) and maybe retaking a class or two from undergrad so it's a bit less intense but I should come out of it with a bit of upperlevel work. I'm also volunteering ~500hrs a year so hopefully that will be a bonus.

 

[NewmansOwn]

Newmansown, how did you, logistically, take 3 postbac classes in spring and study for the April MCAT? did you study on your own or take a review class? Any advice? Thank you!!

I did the Bryn Mawr postbac program, the structure of which is Gen Chem I & II in the summer, then both semesters of Physics, Biology and Organic Chemistry in the fall and spring, respectively. Since it's a formal and centralized program, the dean made sure all associated labs were on different days of the week so as to avoid any scheduling conflicts.

As for the MCAT, yes, I studied on my own. Bryn Mawr and some other formal postbac programs offer an in-house review course. I attended the first session, but I found it was more efficient to review on my own so as to focus on my own personal weaknesses. I had to get the most (to use a cliche) "high-yield" stuff out of the few hours I could dedicate to the MCAT, since there was always an upcoming test in one of the 3 courses or a lab report that needed to be finished. Many of my classmates who took the MCAT later than I chose to enroll in a Kaplan review course, but I felt this was too expensive and time-consuming for my particular situation.

My advice for studying for the MCAT is in one of my previous posts in this thread. Minimal content review, lots of practice tests, lots of dissection of questions you get wrong. I kept a document where I would explain to myself, in writing, every question I got wrong on a practice test. The MCAT tests a finite number of concepts, so invariably the things I originally did poorly on would come up again. I would remember my own explanation of how to approach the problem correctly, and I'd usually get the question right.

 

[PetitAllegro]

My advice for studying for the MCAT is in one of my previous posts in this thread. Minimal content review, lots of practice tests, lots of dissection of questions you get wrong. I kept a document where I would explain to myself, in writing, every question I got wrong on a practice test. The MCAT tests a finite number of concepts, so invariably the things I originally did poorly on would come up again. I would remember my own explanation of how to approach the problem correctly, and I'd usually get the question right.

That sounds like an awesome strategy, but I'm wondering - how many practice tests total did you complete? At what point during the year did you begin taking them?

 

[NewmansOwn]

That sounds like an awesome strategy, but I'm wondering - how many practice tests total did you complete? At what point during the year did you begin taking them?

Well, I had planned on starting right after winter break, at the beginning of January (as mentioned above, I had to take an April 24th MCAT). Of course, I goofed off and didn't really get myself in gear until late February. So I'd guess I had close to 2 full months of solid studying.

I took all 10 AAMC practice tests. I was only able to do this, however, because a very good friend of mine allowed me to sign on to her Kaplan website and use all her practice tests since she wasn't going to start taking them until later. Otherwise, this would have cost upwards of $300. Test administration and prep is a money-sucking racket bordering on felonious, in my opinion, but you've got to pay the cost to be the boss, you know?

Another good idea that many enterprising students employ every year is to get a large group of people, pool money and buy every single test under a single login and password. Then, just circulate the login info and everyone who paid can take the tests, since once you've bought the test you can take it as many times as you'd like. You can see the scores of whoever took the tests before you, but who cares? It's just practice. If you have a large enough group, everyone pays only a few bucks and you have 10 of the most accurate practice tests.

That's right, AAMC. We cheated the **** out of you. I hope you're reading this. Suck it.

 

[drizzt3117]

I took the paper/pencil mcat (last one) but I like practicing on a mix of books and computer for these types of tests, I'm using the same strategy for boards. I ended up buying ~20 aamc, kaplan, tpr full length practice tests from eBay for $50 and mostly used those along with the tbr mats as practice tests, which seemed to work pretty well.

One thing to keep in mind with the linkage ppl taking April mcats is that depending on what school you're trying to link to, the scores you need range from the mid 20s to low 30s, which should be doable even if you haven't finished all the prereqs.