I need important advice for a friend

[redclover]

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A good friend of mine was going to apply to medical school but she didn't do too good on the MCAT (she just checked the scores) and shes at a loss as to what to do next.

Here are her stats:
6P, 6B and 3 V O
10P, 10B and 2V M
cum GPA is 3.2
BPCM is 3.4
Tons of research & clinical experience

I think part of the problem with VR is that she isn't a native speaker so its really hard for her. She really needs some advice and I have no idea what to tell her so she asked me to post on this forum. Our pre-med advisor is way too busy and I was hoping some of you guys could offer some advice. Should she do Carribean? DO? Post-Bacc? I don't think she is willing to retake for a third time and go through that emotional rollercoaster. Please offer realistic advice.

 

[ClearDay]

Hi there,
A post-bac is not going to help for US med school unless she can bring that VR score up. I'd say Carribean although I'm not sure what their cut-off is for VR. She can start browsing Carib. school websites and emailing them with questions. Also, does she have problems carrying a conversation in English? If she does, she'll probably need to work on that before interviews. If money isn't an issue, there are some freelance advisors out there who can help. (i.e. Judy Levine w/ EK).
BTW, it's not impossible to bring that VR up, even though her first language is not English (speaking from first-hand experience). However, it'll take time.

Good luck to your friend.

 

[riceman04]

A good friend of mine was going to apply to medical school but she didn't do too good on the MCAT (she just checked the scores) and shes at a loss as to what to do next.

Here are her stats:
6P, 6B and 3 V O
10P, 10B and 2V M
cum GPA is 3.2
BPCM is 3.4
Tons of research & clinical experience

I think part of the problem with VR is that she isn't a native speaker so its really hard for her. She really needs some advice and I have no idea what to tell her so she asked me to post on this forum. Our pre-med advisor is way too busy and I was hoping some of you guys could offer some advice. Should she do Carribean? DO? Post-Bacc? I don't think she is willing to retake for a third time and go through that emotional rollercoaster. Please offer realistic advice.

I think the best way for her to improve in verbal over all is to take alot of english classes in between now and the april (or august) exam. Practice makes perfect!

 

[CoverMe]

A good friend of mine was going to apply to medical school but she didn't do too good on the MCAT (she just checked the scores) and shes at a loss as to what to do next.

Here are her stats:
6P, 6B and 3 V O
10P, 10B and 2V M
cum GPA is 3.2
BPCM is 3.4
Tons of research & clinical experience

Tell her... AWESOME JOB on bringing up her other scores!!!! Pat her on the back and see if she can do a ton of practice VR's. I canNOT imagine the difficulty she has had, taking science classes in English, which is not her native language. I can only imagine how awesome her GPA and MCAT's would be if they were offered in her first language.

I absolutely LOVE people who try that hard... keep encouraging her, and best of luck.

 

[redgrover]

I'd say Caribbean with those verbal scores.

Where is she from? Would it be an option to go to school there so that she could come back and practice in the US? That might be another option, though perhaps less desirealbe. It would give her a leg-up on others trying to come to the US, as I'm sure, despite her verbal scores, that her English is better than many an IMGs.

 

[ahumdinger]

I can't imagine that the reason for her low verbal score is due to non-native english skills. I mean, the physical science and the bio sections also require a lot of reading, and if she was able to get 10s, she can clearly read, and read fast enough (speed is often the hurdle for non-native speakers) Also, her writing score is not embarassingly low.

I think getting a 2 on the verbal while scoring relatively high on the other sections is highly unusual. If she can afford it, I'd recommend getting a verbal tutor to try to diagnose the problem. You can go through a test-prep service, or even just ask around in the english department and see if you can't find a poor english major who needs some extra bucks. If your school has a writing tutoring program (usually for 1st years), maybe one of those people can help too for a lesser fee than Kaplan or TPR. Or even do it yourself. Sit down with her and have her work through a verbal passage aloud, so you can see how she's reasoning through it. Try to figure out the problem that way. Don't forget to ask HER for feedback, if she's getting a 2-3 on verbal, she must have something to say about it-- is she's not reading fast enough or is she's just not understanding what she's reading?

Good luck.

Oh, and incidentally, if she happens to be Chinese, I know there are many Chinese medical programs that are taught in english, and they are really cheap. I have a friend who is there now. So if the Carribeans don't work out, try China. (best if she's chinese-- otherwise it'd probably be harder)

 

[Rendar5]

In addition to english classes, she needs to just start reading stuff all the time for fun. doesn't matter if it's trashy romance novels, war and peace, Mad magazine, or Wall Street Journal. Just keep reading stuff every week for the hell of it.

 

[redclover]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.