Graduate Program In Medical Sciences (due to low MCAT) or Apply

[orthocaster]

Hi All,

I was hoping that some of you could offer me some advice. I received a degree in athletic training from Ithaca College. My GPA was 3.95.

My greatest obstacle in getting into medical school is that I scored a 25 on the MCAT (7P 10V 8B). Although this score was lower than the scores I had gotten on all of my practice tests, I'm very nervous to take the MCAT again.

I've been advised by my mentor to consider applying to a medical science graduate school program, such as the one offered at Boston University.

Can anyone share their opinion as to whether this is my best option.

I have a breadth of clinical experience, volunteer experience, and believe the MCAT score is the only thing that could keep me out of medical school. Would it be crazy to just apply to a large number of less competitive programs?

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[Mobius1985]

Would it be crazy to just apply to a large number of less competitive programs?

Unless you have a very forgiving in-state public med school, or a special circumstance that makes you more competitive than you appear to be, like being from an under-represented population group, it would be crazy to spend thousands of dollars on a highly-likely-to-be-fruitless application cycle to get into an MD (allopathic) medical school. I don't think an SMP (special masters program) will help you either. They are meant for low GPA people. As your flaw is a low MCAT score, do what it takes to get a better score. Maybe that just means paying $1600 to take a Kaplan or Princeton Review course. Maybe it means auditing Physics, Bio, or Orgo until you truly understand it. Maybe you need to hire a coach. Any of these options will be many thousands of dollars cheaper than doing an SMP.

Now, all that said, your application, as it stands, would be extremely competitive at DO (osteopathic) med schools if you don't want to spend more time improving your application.

 

[235009]

the only remedy for a really low MCAT score is a higher MCAT score...doing any graduate program with the hopes that it'll somehow make adcoms forget about a 25 on the MCAT is a very bad idea.

 

[Proctodoc]

It's like having perfectly good siding on a house and a ceiling that's about to fall apart and you keep fixing the siding hoping that'll make the ceiling problem go away. Your GPA is great and your MCAT is not so great. I had a low MCAT first time round and I also did not need to work on my GPA so this time last year I invested in Princeton Review and retook the MCAT in May. It's so much cheaper, faster, and most importantly, a better MCAT score is your solution! Get on it!