How Bad of Shape am I in Really? Questions for You Have Been Chosen

[LabMonster]

Obviously there is no single benchmark for a med-school applicant - you just want to be as good as you can to get in where you can. My advisor has told me I'm competetive for the schools I am considering, but that doesn't contain my anxiety much.

This is where I am now. I took the MCAT "cold" in 2000 - got a 30Q. I'm retaking it in April (I'm studying for this one.)

I graduated with a 3.5 in Clinical Laboratory Science and have worked in the field for 4 years. I have about 500 hours of patient contact involving: drawing blood, lab consult, emergency blood administration.

All of the ER docs at one of my hospitals know me by name and I will be shadowing them all in the next few months.

The 2 pathologists I work under always show me cases they are working on, gross dissections etc.

I've got 3 LOR from one Lab manager, a physics prof, and an advisor/professor in clinical microbiology (undergrad). I will get another professor LOR, and a few MD's (ER and path) and another Mangers LOR.

Finishing Physics and O-Chem this spring (2nd sem) 1st semester had a 3.87 GPA - damn B+ in O chem. I was working 2 jobs and I got married during that semester as well.

At your mercy.........

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LizH]

It sounds to me like you've got a great chance of getting in just about anywhere. With a good MCAT score, you'll be a shoe-in. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

 

[javert]

My advisor has told me I'm competetive for the schools I am considering, but that doesn't contain my anxiety much.

...

At your mercy.........

And what part of your application are you worried about, exactly?

I agree with LizH, given a good performance on the MCAT, you should be in great shape.

 

[NotShorty]

Obviously there is no single benchmark for a med-school applicant - you just want to be as good as you can to get in where you can. My advisor has told me I'm competetive for the schools I am considering, but that doesn't contain my anxiety much...

Unless you take a dump on your interviewer's desk, you're gonna get in (based on your stats anyway).

Quit making the other pre-meds feel insecure.

NS

 

[LabMonster]

And what part of your application are you worried about, exactly?

Worried about EC's and research, ie have none.

 

[LVDoc]

Sorry dude, there's just no chance.

C'mon. Get with it...you'll be fine.

I do have a question for you though - why did you let a perfectly good MCAT score go to waste? Should've applied earlier - would've saved you the trouble of having to retake it all over again.

 

[javert]

Worried about EC's and research, ie have none.

OK, first that's just hillarious considering your screenname and avatar. Not sure whether to laugh or think you're a troll.

Anyway, you don't need research and your ECs kick ass. Nothing to worry about.

 

[LabMonster]

I do have a question for you though - why did you let a perfectly good MCAT score go to waste? Should've applied earlier - would've saved you the trouble of having to retake it all over again.

I didn't know it was good. I had one advisor tell me not to waste my time.

She was a bee-ahhtch, fo' shizzle.

 

[Revolution #9]

I took my first MCAT practice test (3r), "cold", and scored a 28. I studied for about 2 months before the real thing last April and scored a 37R. I know it's not a direct comparison, but I think that practice does really help. I think you can do big things if you started with a 30.

 

[NRAI2001]

I didn't know it was good. I had one advisor tell me not to waste my time.

She was a bee-ahhtch, fo' shizzle.

TROLL

 

[LabMonster]

TROLL

Hmm, what is a troll? No really, the mythical under the bridge variety, or am I not up on my lingo?

 

[LabMonster]

Troll, got it - no the thread isn't "troll". Just an honest question after viewing some of the great resumes I see... Thanks for the reassurance all.

 

[MadameLULU]

It sounds to me like you've got a great chance of getting in just about anywhere. With a good MCAT score, you'll be a shoe-in. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Um, wrong. Nobody is a shoe-in. This process is so unpredictable and capricious that even the highest scores do not guarantee an acceptance.

 

[45408]

have worked in the field for 4 years. I have about 500 hours of patient contact

Um, that's like two and a half hours a week. How do you not have more? I have somewhere over 200 hours of patient contact as an EMT this year alone. Not that what you have is bad, but I'm not seeing why it's not a whole lot more, unless you dropped a zero.

 

[crys20]

I didn't know it was good. I had one advisor tell me not to waste my time.

You really got some awful advice.

 

[dopaminophile]

Why are there "what are my chances" threads for next year already? MCATs should come in before the neuroses come out!

 

[LabMonster]

Um, that's like two and a half hours a week. How do you not have more? I have somewhere over 200 hours of patient contact as an EMT this year alone. Not that what you have is bad, but I'm not seeing why it's not a whole lot more, unless you dropped a zero.

It may be more - but only slightly - I run the lab tests so my contact is limited. I used to draw ICU every morning, and I still draw ER patients and hard sticks that no one else can get.

Therein lies my insecurity.... Oh well. I'm giving it a shot.

BTW - Managing a critical patient is one of the most intense things I have ever seen (and played only a bit part in.) EMT's rock - except when you guys take the only usable vein!

 

[Croatalus_atrox]

Um, that's like two and a half hours a week. How do you not have more? I have somewhere over 200 hours of patient contact as an EMT this year alone. Not that what you have is bad, but I'm not seeing why it's not a whole lot more, unless you dropped a zero.

Clinical Laboratory Scientists/Medical Technologists don't really get that much patient contact on a regular basis. 2.5 hours a week is pretty much what I had when I was working as a lab tech. These days, a lot of the patient contact stuff (phlebotomy, specimen collection, etc) is handled by phlebotomists or nurses in the specific department. Most of your time as a lab tech is spent in the lab, running tests, reporting results, and doing administrative stuff (at least in my experience). I spent more time dealing with other healthcare professionals than I did with actual patients, except when I was working the night shift. During regular hours, I really only dealt with patients when the phlebotomists/lab assistants needed a lab tech to deal with a special problem.

LabMonster...Where the hell do you work that you make $60K/year as a MedTech with 4 yrs experience? Here in the St Louis area, I know MedTechs with 20 years of experience that make ~$50K/year. You're yearly salary is well above the national average for MTs. I should make my wife quit her dream of being a teacher and go back into medical technology for the big bucks.

 

[LabMonster]

Clinical Laboratory Scientists/Medical Technologists don't really get that much patient contact on a regular basis.

Don't I know it. My first job, no patient contact - I worked in a result factory. Now, I actually get quite a bit, and it solidified my intentions of becoming a physician. Went a long way to backtrack - but it's too much fun, too rewarding to pass up.

 

[Croatalus_atrox]

Don't I know it. My first job, no patient contact - I worked in a result factory. Now, I actually get quite a bit, and it solidified my intentions of becoming a physician. Went a long way to backtrack - but it's too much fun, too rewarding to pass up.

I edited my original post to ask you a question...please reread it and answer if you would be so kind.

 

[Law2Doc]

Don't I know it. My first job, no patient contact - I worked in a result factory. Now, I actually get quite a bit, and it solidified my intentions of becoming a physician. Went a long way to backtrack - but it's too much fun, too rewarding to pass up.

Bottom line is that with better than a 3.5 and a 30Q and the amount of health related experience you do have, you are already in good shape to get interviews and would probably get in someplace. Most people wouldn't retake the MCAT with a 30, but if you are absolutely certain you would score higher and you have dreams of a top ten school, I guess it makes sense.

(I do wonder from your original post how you would have already taken the MCAT years ago and are currently still finishing up Orgo and physics though...)

 

[NRAI2001]

Bottom line is that with better than a 3.5 and a 30Q and the amount of health related experience you do have, you are already in good shape to get interviews and would probably get in someplace. Most people wouldn't retake the MCAT with a 30, but if you are absolutely certain you would score higher and you have dreams of a top ten school, I guess it makes sense.

(I do wonder from your original post how you would have already taken the MCAT years ago and are currently still finishing up Orgo and physics though...)

TROLL

 

[LabMonster]

LabMonster...Where the hell do you work that you make $60K/year as a MedTech with 4 yrs experience? Here in the St Louis area, I know MedTechs with 20 years of experience that make ~$50K/year. You're yearly salary is well above the national average for MTs. I should make my wife quit her dream of being a teacher and go back into medical technology for the big bucks.

I never said how much I work

Worked about 60 hours a week last year - in addition, 2nd and 3rd shift with premiums. If I had one job I'd only being making 42k. That is (I Think) around the national average.

MT's will get paid their true value within the next decade - the shortage is almost scary.

 

[LabMonster]

(I do wonder from your original post how you would have already taken the MCAT years ago and are currently still finishing up Orgo and physics though...)

Love your logic. I never took physics in college. I dropped the calc-based class my sophomore year because I took 24 credits and liked to party, a lot.

Continuing with the party thing, I got a C my first semester of O-chem and a D+ my second semester. It was a different time - I was like Tommy boy.

 

[Law2Doc]

Love your logic. I never took physics in college. I dropped the calc-based class my sophomore year because I took 24 credits and liked to party, a lot.

Continuing with the party thing, I got a C my first semester of O-chem and a D+ my second semester. It was a different time - I was like Tommy boy.

Yes, but those subjects are on the MCAT --????
Now I'm really skeptical... It seems unlikely that someone who was struggling with Ochem and never took physics and liked to party could wing it and get a 30, or maintain a 3.5... Very contrived...

 

[LabMonster]

Yes, but those subjects are on the MCAT --????
Now I'm really skeptical... It seems unlikely that someone who was struggling with Ochem and never took physics and liked to party could wing it and get a 30, or maintain a 3.5... Very contrived...

Which is why I got a 9 on Physical Science. 10 Bio, 11 VR. I didn't do well in the lecture portion of OChem, but my Ochem Lab prof wrote me a letter of recommendation for getting into my MT program. I enjoy O-Chem - but I never studied for exams - I did understand the basic principles.

In that same vein, all chemical principles are based in physics - since I had a minor in chemistry at the time, most of the physical principles carried over.

Basic kinematics weren't that hard to remember - and that's all that edition of the MCAT had (except for the force question that killed me.)

Getting a 30 on my worst day confirmed what I hoped, I can think fairly well under pressure, and that sent me on my way.

 

[LVDoc]

I don't believe a word of this...

Besides, why would you even care to start up a thread like this? If you don't know that a 3.8+ and a 30+ MCAT are good enough to get you in, you have some problems.

 

[LabMonster]

I don't believe a word of this...

Besides, why would you even care to start up a thread like this? If you don't know that a 3.8+ and a 30+ MCAT are good enough to get you in, you have some problems.

I have a 3.5 and a 30. The MCAT is too old at this point - so I have to take it again.

 

[LVDoc]

I've heard of a few high school kids that got 40+ on the MCAT. It's crazy, but I guess if they can pull that off, they can do anything.

There's something to be said for your case though...

I don't understand how you could've got a 30 when you weren't doing that well in o-chem to begin with, and you hadn't taken physics either.

If your story is true, more power to you...but honestly, I don't know about this one.

 

[dopaminophile]

You had a minor in chemistry at the time with a C and D in o-chem? Law2Doc's right.

 

[Skaterbabe74]

What's the problem? I have a major in chemistry and haven't done well in ochem. I've had to take the first semester twice and the second semester will be a third time is the charm. Some people just aren't that good at ochem tests whether they get the overall concepts or not (btw I was an ochem researcher for a year so the concepts are fine...the recall for synthesis sucks).

To the OP - don't let the few people on here discourage you. If they don't want to believe you that's their problem, not yours. You certainly don't have to justify anything to them.

 

[LabMonster]

You had a minor in chemistry at the time with a C and D in o-chem? Law2Doc's right.

For some perspective, this was in 1996 before getting a divorce and transferring schools. But I'm done defending my life - lets move on.

 

[Keberson]

dude, I got a 25 on mcat and I got in somewhere, hahah.

its not (all) about your grades, but your EC's and motivation (in the Personal statement make this clear)

 

[Crake]

There is no rhyme or reason to medschool acceptances. YOu have just as much chance with a 3.5 and a 30 as with a 3.6 and a 30. It's 90% luck, imo. Good luck.