How do I compare?

[hmania]

I'm a Texas resident going for Bio major with chem minor and Senior Honors Thesis,
I have about a 3.7sgpa and cgpa is roughly the same. Made a 19 on the first Mcat last year (horrible, I know), but retook and will find out my grade in one day.

I was first pre-pharm and did everything for pharmacy school, but decided to change to premed. I've been actively volunteering at church, scholarship programs, genetic lab, hospital pharmacy, tutoring centers on campus. Active member of premedical society. Was an officer for pre-pharmacy during pre-pharm years. I worked as a CVS pharm tech, Tutor/ Mentor for an program on campus, retail manager at a grocery store. As for the program that I tutor/mentor, I perform interviews for candidates of their scholarship.

As for research, I am starting this summer and will be continuing throughout the year. As for clinical hours, I have shadowed an ENT and general practitioner for two years ~ 100hr+.

My main concern is of course my MCAT, but I am worried about how balance the scores for ps-vb-bs will be. How much of a chance do I stand for med schools in Houston if I get a 27 on the MCAT. I'm applying for DO and MD. If you can, recommend me the best of DO/ MD schools that I qualify for.

Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

I'm a Texas resident going for Bio major with chem minor and Senior Honors Thesis,
I have about a 3.7sgpa and cgpa is roughly the same. Made a 19 on the first Mcat last year (horrible, I know), but retook and will find out my grade in one day.

I was first pre-pharm and did everything for pharmacy school, but decided to change to premed. I've been actively volunteering at church, scholarship programs, genetic lab, hospital pharmacy, tutoring centers on campus. Active member of premedical society. Was an officer for pre-pharmacy during pre-pharm years. I worked as a CVS pharm tech, Tutor/ Mentor for an program on campus, retail manager at a grocery store. As for the program that I tutor/mentor, I perform interviews for candidates of their scholarship.

As for research, I am starting this summer and will be continuing throughout the year. As for clinical hours, I have shadowed an ENT and general practitioner for two years ~ 100hr+.

My main concern is of course my MCAT, but I am worried about how balance the scores for ps-vb-bs will be. How much of a chance do I stand for med schools in Houston if I get a 27 on the MCAT. I'm applying for DO and MD. If you can, recommend me the best of DO/ MD schools that I qualify for.

Thanks

The raw MCAT score is one issue, but also the subscores are important, too. Why not bump up your post tomorrow when the score comes back, rather than speculate?

Instead I'll address another concern.

Shadowing, which is a passive observership, is generally considered as separate from clinical experience, where you actively engage patients in some way that is helpful. Were some of those hours spent helping rather than watching?

Pharm Tech jobs can provide some patient exposure. Did you counsel patients at the window? If so, what percent of your job required this type of interaction?

Do you have any other active clinical experience, perhaps through clinical research in the genetic lab you mentioned, or something else not yet discussed?

 

[hmania]

The raw MCAT score is one issue, but also the subscores are important, too. Why not bump up your post tomorrow when the score comes back, rather than speculate?

Instead I'll address another concern.

Shadowing, which is a passive observership, is generally considered as separate from clinical experience, where you actively engage patients in some way that is helpful. Were some of those hours spent helping rather than watching?

Pharm Tech jobs can provide some patient exposure. Did you counsel patients at the window? If so, what percent of your job required this type of interaction?

Do you have any other active clinical experience, perhaps through clinical research in the genetic lab you mentioned, or something else not yet discussed?

definitely, will update the mcat score tomorrow. Would taking the patient's blood pressure, height, weight, and escorting the patient to and from the rooms be suffice to categorize this as clinical experience?

As for the pharm tech job, techs cannot counsel patients at the window only the pharmacist. The most interactions with a patient is at the drop off station and cashier. It has helped me a lot with getting acquainted with the different drugs.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Would taking the patient's blood pressure, height, weight, and escorting the patient to and from the rooms be suffice to categorize this as clinical experience?

2) As for the pharm tech job, techs cannot counsel patients at the window only the pharmacist. The most interactions with a patient is at the drop off station and cashier. It has helped me a lot with getting acquainted with the different drugs.

1) Yes. But when you do this, you're not shadowing. Be sure to keep the two roles recorded separately, as they'll go in different places on the application.

2) Pharmaceutical familiarity is a definite plus.

 

[hmania]

thanks a lot catalystik! I didn't know there was a defined difference

 

[Catalystik]

There are a few roles where shadowing and clinical experience are one and the same, due to always being in the presence of a doc, like medical scribe or medical translator, but for the most part, applicants put them in different categories.

 

[hmania]

Hi,
I spoke to you earlier this week in the thread "How I compare?". I got my 4/5/12 MCAT score back and it was a 17O. You might be like "What the hell was she on that day?", but all I have as a lame excuse was that test taking is not my cup of tea. I studied my butt off and I am discouraged. This is my second MCAT and had 2 exams before the MCAT. I am a nervous test taker when it comes to cumulative tests; this was foreshadowed in my SAT scores. I paid a private Kaplan tutor and took a practice test every weekend since December. I really do not want to give up, but this coming semester will start my senior year. Should I consider Caribbean MD schools? or should I just take GRE for PA school?
I am really just frustrated at myself right now and feel like S*** because I see a lot of posts with 30+ scores and GPA's in the 3.7+ in the forum. And yet those who write the "High MCAT/ GPA" posts are still doubtful that they will be accepted. So what chance do have.

Advice appreciated.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi,
I spoke to you earlier this week in the thread "How I compare?". I got my 4/5/12 MCAT score back and it was a 17O. You might be like "What the hell was she on that day?", but all I have as a lame excuse was that test taking is not my cup of tea. I studied my butt off and I am discouraged. This is my second MCAT and had 2 exams before the MCAT. I am a nervous test taker when it comes to cumulative tests; this was foreshadowed in my SAT scores. I paid a private Kaplan tutor and took a practice test every weekend since December. I really do not want to give up, but this coming semester will start my senior year. Should I consider Caribbean MD schools? or should I just take GRE for PA school?
I am really just frustrated at myself right now and feel like S*** because I see a lot of posts with 30+ scores and GPA's in the 3.7+ in the forum. And yet those who write the "High MCAT/ GPA" posts are still doubtful that they will be accepted. So what chance do have.

Advice appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear things did not go well for you after all your efforts.

I suggest that the Caribbean route is not going to result in a degree if you cannot conquer a problem with taking standardized tests. To land a residency training program spot in the US, you would need higher board scores as an international graduate than coming out of a US MD or DO program.

It's for you to decide if you have the determination to conquer the beast, or if you will change your career plans to pharmacy or PA school, or whatever.

It can be done. Read this:
Noshie’s Hope for those trying to get past an MCAT score in the teens or low 20's:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=774396

 

[hmania]

I need a couple of days to think and lay on this decision. I have one final tomorrow and I cannot start studying with this looming over my head.

 

[notbobtrustme]

Give it one more shot and then apply hard for DO schools.

 

[hmania]

After much deliberation, I am going to try it against once more. This time, I am going to study on my own but more scheduled. I hope to test again in late august or early september, but only if I start making consistent high scores. I am also going to do GRE for PA school.

1)Anyone have a recommended study plan for a person who is a horrible test taker with verbal being the lowest on the mcat?
2)List of DO schools that I can try to apply to (even though chances are slim with my mcat), but I have a good gpa/ Lor/ ec?
3) How bad is the GRE?

 

[notbobtrustme]

3) How bad is the GRE?

The GRE is a joke. The following story is not hyperbole nor a joke:

I studied for the GRE while taking dumps for three weeks. So that's about 10 minutes a day for 3 weeks. I scored in the 95%+ in both quant and verbal. It's seriously a joke. I'm sure if you put in a couple weeks hard time, you will easily score in the 90th percentile.

 

[hmania]

The GRE is a joke. The following story is not hyperbole nor a joke:

I studied for the GRE while taking dumps for three weeks. So that's about 10 minutes a day for 3 weeks. I scored in the 95%+ in both quant and verbal. It's seriously a joke. I'm sure if you put in a couple weeks hard time, you will easily score in the 90th percentile.

I am not too worried about the quantitative but the verbal/reading worries me b/c of what happened on the mcat

 

[Mountaineer12]

The verbal of the GRE has some passages, but is also largely vocab and analogies. It's more like the SAT than the MCAT.

If you can get to a 22, I think you could have a shot at low tier DO schools. You can do it!

 

[notbobtrustme]

I am not too worried about the quantitative but the verbal/reading worries me b/c of what happened on the mcat

It's really simple verbal reasoning though. 90% of the answers are found in the text itself. It's nothing like the MCAT Verbal, which is a goddamn beast.

 

[hmania]

If you can get to a 22, I think you could have a shot at low tier DO schools. You can do it!

Would you please list some low tier DO schools? Im new to this area of medicine
Lp

 

[Temperature101]

Would you please list some low tier DO schools? Im new to this area of medicine
Lp

Study your butt off so you can get a 24+...Dont go for PA yet if your mind is not into it...I suggest you use TBR and EK books to study for the mcat. If you use these books for at least three months of hardcore content review and practice, you will definitely get a 24+. Also, use the mcat forum if there are concepts that you are having a hard time to understand...plenty of smart people in the forum will be glad to explain them to you. Dont give up yet if medicine is what you want to do. There are three new DO school opening this year...I am sure their average mcat will be in the 24s...so a 22+ mcat will your good GPAs will definite give you a a chance.

 

[LaughingMan]

The GRE is a joke. The following story is not hyperbole nor a joke:

I studied for the GRE while taking dumps for three weeks. So that's about 10 minutes a day for 3 weeks. I scored in the 95%+ in both quant and verbal. It's seriously a joke. I'm sure if you put in a couple weeks hard time, you will easily score in the 90th percentile.

I must concur with this statement.

I studied for about a week on the GRE and did quite well.

but I don't think you should give up on MD! You have a good GPA.

What study methods are you using? Have you looked into the SN2 method thats posted her on the MCAT subforum?

 

[hmania]

Study your butt off so you can get a 24+...Dont go for PA yet if your mind is not into it...I suggest you use TBR and EK books to study for the mcat. If you use these books for at least three months of hardcore content review and practice, you will definitely get a 24+. Also, use the mcat forum if there are concepts that you are having a hard time to understand...plenty of smart people in the forum will be glad to explain them to you. Dont give up yet if medicine is what you want to do. There are three new DO school opening this year...I am sure their average mcat will be in the 24s...so a 22+ mcat will your good GPAs will definite give you a a chance.

I am going to take it again and I am taking the GRE as a back up.For the 4/5/12 MCAT, I studied with a private tutor since December. What we did was go through a lesson book page by page and emphasized in the subjects that I was uncomfortable with. Verbal, however, was an uphill battle. We worked on numerous amounts of passages and he helped me understand why I was wrong. However, I believe that I never really understand the methods/ reasoning behind verbal. What I was definitely shocked on was my ps/ bs scores. With ps/bs, I know for sure that I have improved many practice tests before the real one. I have to say that the 4/5/12 mcat was beyond difficult. I took all of the practice aamc exams before the exam and scored the highest a 24.

I have looked at the Sn2's post about the study breakdown, but I feel that I need to gear my studies towards verbal. I have EK 101 verbal passages, EK pack of 5 books, pdf files of tbr,, princeton review verbal book, kaplan study books. Literally about $ 500+ worth of stuff. Anyone with advice on how to start?

Please keep in mind that for summer, I have committed to part time research and my father is in the hospital, so I will have about 4-5 hours a day to concentrate on this. Also, I was thinking to take my mcat in august, what is your advice on or against that?

ty

 

[meix]

Are you in a hurry to start applying? If not, you should definitely take as much time as you need until you're comfortable with the test, consistently finishing practice sections a few minutes before the timer is up. I found that even when I did this, I always ended up taking more time on the actual test than I did on practice tests... I don't know about you, but that's probably the main reason why my verbal score is the lowest of the three sections, even though I'm really not bad at it when given more time. Time pressure kinda killed me.

As for studying, just make sure you pace yourself and write down a "goal" schedule. Start working with verbal with NO time constraints, then when you're more comfortable and getting more answers correct (consistently!), start timing yourself - but don't stop when time is up. After that, gradually try to work through passages within the time limit; then try to finish them a little early. Other than that, I don't know what to advise because I don't really know what the problem is. If you don't understand the reasoning taught by your tutor, try other methods.

Did he go over the Kaplan strategy? The one where you jot down a 1-3 word summary of each paragraph, then, at the end of the passage, jot down 1-3 words for the Topic, Scope, and Purpose of the passage? If not, you should look into that (it should be outlined in your Kaplan verbal books).. I know it helped me. Just make sure you dont take too much time taking notes, or try to write too much detail into your notes. The main purpose of it is to keep your focus on the passage as well as provide a reference for you.. so you know exactly which paragraph to go to, to find the detail you are looking for.

For PS and BS, I'd just do practice questions until I drop. While doing that, time yourself for each passage and make sure you're consistently under time limit.

Oh, and never, ever second-guess yourself unless you are absolutely 150% sure the new answer is the correct one.

Once that's all done and you still have time to do practice tests, do them. Just make sure you give yourself a day or two of rest before the real thing.

 

[hmania]

he taught me the kaplan method, but never could adapt to it because I was worried that I would miss the simple detail. So we started to speed read the first time, then review the structure of the passage, and try to visualize which passage the answer was in. the hardest questions would be about why the author thought this was important and the questions that have outside applications to it (i.e. if the some author questioned this author's idea, what would he disagree with?) such and such.

I am going to start structuring out my study plans today, to start on monday. Once again another 3-5 months devoted to stupid mcat