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[Bulliedinschool2doc]

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[Ms Procrastinator]

How many hours of volunteering do you have? What is your shadowing like? You definitely need to increase your MCAT score and considering that you have two scores that are below 500... you're going to have to get a good score. You've done the exam twice and haven't managed to get above a 500 so you need to figure out what the problem is before you do that SMP or it's going to be useless.

 

[Faha]

You do not need to do a SMP. Your only weakness is your MCAT scores. You will need to retake the MCAT before you reapply but do not retake until your practice scores are consistently over 500.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

Total volunteering is 400 total shadowing is around 120.
I believe the SMP is going to help solidify my studying and test taking abilities as well as raise my science gpa+competency. It will also put me in a position to have a shot at an American medical school because right now my chances are 0.

How's your volunteering broken down in terms of clinical/non clinical?

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

Clinical 300
nonclinical 100

Okay. I second faha's advice. The SMP doesn't guarantee an acceptance. Work on your MCAT score.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

okay noted
is my science GPA too low for MD and DO? should I only focus on DO ?

Depends on the MCAT score you get back

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

You can do a DIY postbac if you're not okay with your grades, but the MCAT's what you should focus on. Your gpa seems to have an upward trend and a lot of schools like that.

 

[Mkif586]

Honestly, 2 very low MCAT scores (borderline even for DPM!) is a huge red flag. If you score significantly better maybe you will get some chances. But I wouldn’t be optimistic. 2 bad scores are not just evidence that you don’t know the material good enough. It is a pure sign (2 signs actually) of extremely poor judgment, it literally tells “I wasn’t able to prepare good enough yet decided to take the exam, bombed it and without any negative feedback loop rushed into second attempt and performed even worse”. That is the main problem here which is way worse then the just a bad score. No need for an SMP (it will only show another evidence of poor judgment).

 

[openstage]

It may be time to spend some money on an MCAT tutor or service. I’ve never used one so I’m not sure where you begin. There is an SDN forum devoted to that.

 

[Faha]

My reason for the SMP is to at least give me a shot at a medical school acceptance. It will help polish me up for higher level of education as well. So under no circumstance is the SMP a good idea?

If your MCAT score is still 494 an SMP will not result in a MD acceptance. Check out the SDN posts on taking and studying for the MCAT.

 

[Proudfather94]

There are many stories of people getting in with worse circumstances than I am in (misdemeanors, sick family members leading to time off, academic challenges). Two MCATs are not the end of the world and I am changing my strategy this go around. Good luck to you- You're going to be okay just as well as I am.

Look at UWorld. The first time I took the mcat I paid like 3k on an online Kaplan course and got a 502. I got uworld for like 299 and got a 512. They're really good

 

[Proudfather94]

Thank you. Did you use the answers for content review through Anki? how do I maximize the question banks and the content for studying

Tbh I wasn't on sdn when I studied it so I didn't use anki. I made my own flashcards and notes. I would pretty much write every answer to each question down and study it because the wrong answers were the right answers to questions that were similar to the one asked. I would also make flash cards of formulas and did my best to memorize those.

 

[Mkif586]

There are many stories of people getting in with worse circumstances than I am in (misdemeanors, sick family members leading to time off, academic challenges). Everyone has challenges in their journey-Two MCATs are not the end of the world and I am changing my strategy this go around. Good luck to you- You're going to be okay just as well as I am.

And there are dozens of times more stories of people who didn't get in despite being in a way better situation than yours. Each school rejects 80% of applicants prior to interview. You already:
-have 2 terrible MCAT scores;
-applied and was rejected (which means you are now a reapplicant);
I don't want to say that your chances are ruined, but your situation is really, really bad. Unless you score really well next time, it is very unlikely you will get in given the competitiveness of the process. And a third poor MCAT (less than 500) will be lethal. Keep in mind that many schools average all your MCAT attempts and automatically screen out those who don't break 500 average.
You need to be realistic about your situation and plan each move accordingly, all you do now is trying to convince yourself that everything is fine and you are just as good to go as others which is far from truth.

 

[Proudfather94]

And there are dozens of times more stories of people who didn't get in despite being in a way better situation than yours. Each school rejects 80% of applicants prior to interview. You already:
-have 2 terrible MCAT scores;
-applied and was rejected (which means you are now a reapplicant);
I don't want to say that your chances are ruined, but your situation is really, really bad. Unless you score really well next time, it is very unlikely you will get in given the competitiveness of the process. And a third poor MCAT (less than 500) will be lethal. Keep in mind that many schools average all your MCAT attempts and automatically screen out those who don't break 500 average.
You need to be realistic about your situation and plan each move accordingly, all you do now is trying to convince yourself that everything is fine and you are just as good to go as others which is far from truth.

He will have to look at schools that take the latest or the best scores if he does well

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Please properly fill out a WAMC for your activites. The original description is just too vague for me to make a call on why you aren't doing well.

You received advice: "My advisor and an admissions office at a med school said to improve my MCAT score and more nonclinical volunteering ( I have) and they believe I am someone who is meant to be in this field." Why are you thinking about SMP or other areas where you don't need improvement? As much as I can understand the challenges of last year's MCAT situation, people still managed to perform well... and I don't think there has been much of a performance difference compared to previous years (as far as I am aware).