MCAT DATE Please Read.

[vnicolas]

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I dont know what to do. I was planning to take the Jan 28 2012 Mcat. My study plan was to read 1 lecture from my EK books and EK 1001's and EK Verbal 101 then during winter break to reread the books and in Jan until test day to do AAMC 3-11 and the pratice problems in the official guide of the MCAT made by AAMC but now I am wondering how am I going to balance this out with school. I am wondering if I should just take the mcat in August that way I have the whole summer to study. But if I take the MCAT in August I wouldn't be able to have everything in my application completed until OCtober and I know that late applicantions have less of a chance of being accepted.

My stats.
3.64 overall gpa
shadowed 3 different MD's
tutor and babysit
caretaker to my grandma
Mentor for Palm Beach County for 2 years.
Have 70 hours volunteering for a local free health clinic.

 

[int3l]

What classes are you taking this semester?

 

[vnicolas]

Summer Ecology
Fall- Pre health profession(easy class basically shadowing), 4 genetics and 6 credits-2 psychology classes.
I was wondering if I should take the test in Summer because in Spring I will take a Compartive Animal Physiology.

Since you go to FAU as well, I remember from that last post, lol do you think I should get a BS instead of a BA which means I will take Human Morph 1 and 2, and Mole and Cell. I was planning to get a BA and have two minors sociology and psychology so my gpa could be high, but I know those three classes will bring down my gpa but then I will be better prepared for med school, it would be nice if we could meet up.

 

[int3l]

Preprofession class is mad easy like you said, you basically sit in class listen to doctors and shadow on your own time. The shadowing part might be time consuming though... I forgot how many hours you have to complete to get credit for the class

Are you taking genetics with Binniger (in the Boca campus) or in Davie? Genetics will definitely help you for the MCAT, Binniger tries tricking you on his tests, but if you put the effort into it you'll do fine. I took genetics over the summer with Baldwin and he was good at Davie.

The psych classes will be cake also...
Your Fall schedule seems pretty light, you will have plenty of time to study for the MCAT

You are right in terms of the BS, if you take Human Morph 1 and 2 with Dr. Lyons those classes are pretty tough, they are called GPA killers lol. If you decide to take Human Morph 1 you will spend a lot of time devoted studying for that class. Molec and cell is EXTREMELY boring with the professor (Dr. Theisen) that teaches it at Davie. Human morph and molec and cell will help you prepare for the MCAT (if you do decide to take it in the Summer rather than January), but you are risking your GPA. That's a call you have to make.
If you take the lighter load and go the BA route you should have an adequate amount of time to prepare for the MCAT come january. Applying EARLY is the best thing you can do when applying for med school. Like you want to have your transcripts sent to AMCAS by May 6th or whenever the last day in the Fall semester is.

Side note- Did you already take Calculus? That's a requirement for the BS in Biology at FAU.

 

[vnicolas]

Yes I took Cal 1 with Analytic Geo and I will be taking Intro to Stats to meet FIU COM requirements methods of calc does not count nor does exp design

 

[vnicolas]

Genetics with balwin in the fall.
I decided to take June MCAT cause com animal physiology will help me on mcat's... I am not going to risk my GPA for the bs.
June MCAT isnt late it takes school a month to verify your primary application which from my knowledge is just your transcript and basic information you arent able to apply before June 1 anyway, by then my MCAT score will arrive to them. Before I take my MCAT I will get my LORs from 2 science professor, a sociology professor, 1 MD, the place I mentor at and have my mentee. So my mid July when I get my MCAT score I will have my mock interview with the pre health profession comittee and by early august my secondary app will be sent to them.

I am hoping the since I am a black female making me a minority, that my late app will not hurt me being that there are so few black females applying to med school and that my MCAT comes to be a 30 with nothing lower than an 8 plus my GPA and EC's are on point.

 

[int3l]

Aightttttttt lol,
Do you have a preference on what school/state you want to get into?
That drive to davie is going to be far for Baldwin lol, but that genetics class will be sooo helpful. If I can remember we went over transcription, translation, and all that stuff so its good review.

I want to give you one REALLY good websites that will help you review.
http://www.khanacademy.org/
The above website has biology, chemistry, physics, and orgo lol. Sal Khan is a BEAST, his reviews really helped me conceptually.

Another decent website for some review is
http://www.mymcat.com/wiki/Main_Page

This website below will show you the averages of mcat scores and gpas for schools,
http://mdapplicants.com/

Since you are a minority, you might want to check out Mercer, Merharry, and Morehouse. There should be some other schools were a mid to upper 20's is somewhat competitive.

Again I reallyyyy want to tell you applying early is your best option 🙂
You will have so much time to study for the January MCAT if you start studying now
I really think you can do well if you spend about 3 hours a night reading and doing practice problems, then come November and December just do a ton of MCAT tests

Yea if you send your transcripts and LORs in the second week of May, AMCAS will have your application verified, so come June 1st everything will be submitted. This will be your most ideal situation

Did you decide on sticking with Exam Krakers to review the material? Since you have an ample amount of time you should really get some books that are more in depth.

 

[vnicolas]

I want to a MD school in FL, I want to be an ENT doctor, and there is a better chance of this if I am a MD rather than DO.
I will be applying to Minority MD schools, and you should as well it doesn't matter if you are white.
I want to take my MCAT in June for I have a detailed study plan, descride below and Yes I know if I take in in June my primary app will not be finish by August. Since the people writing my LORs want to see my transcript and my MCAT score.
I prefer EK books than the in depth material, I just want to know what to study for the MCAT and nothing more, if I get confuse I probably will with physics, because I took Willie for physics and when I do get confuse I will use online resources.
When are you taking your MCAT and applying?

Study plan
I have already started so now until winter break I am read 1-3 lectures a week and doing all 1001's. I am also completing one topics book before I go to the next. First Bio, Next Orgo, Then Gen Chem Final Physics and Verbal inbetween. I will not run out of verbal because I only do 1-2 passages a week. I do each within 10 mins ( I want to reduce to 8 mins) At the begining of X-mas break I will take my ExamKracker MCAT.
The whole X mas break I will reread all books without doing any practice problems except for verbal. And then take my first AAMC.
Then during spring I will reread all the books again 1-2 lectures a week without doing any practice problems except for verbal. May-June I will do AAMC pratice problems in the Official Guide and do AAMC test 3 per week I have 3-11, While doing the pratice test I will listen to my Osmosis tapes.

 

[vnicolas]

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[vnicolas]

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[int3l]

Yea the princeton verbal is really good. The passages in the princeton verbal are a lot harder than the AAMC verbal passages and EK 101 verbal book. If I remember correctly, there weren't that many arts/humanity passages in the EK 101 book.

Yea you ideally want to get around the 8 minute mark, people say reading may help you with the verbal. I read Time magazine but it really didn't help my verbal score, it helped me with the writing portion however lol. I felt like I did better just doing a bunch of practice passages, it'll "click" one day and you should see significant improvements in your score. You'll learn to pickup on important details.

Yea I really have no preference on the MD/DO route, it's just what you want to do later in life. I believe DOs are mainly Family/Primary physicians, while some do specialize in other areas. If you want to do international medicine MDs are more recognized. It terms of curriculum they both have the same exact classes except DOs have OMM. Nova is a pretty good DO school, but its mad expensive. I think it's like 40k+ a year. LEECOM I really haven't researched.

I wouldn't really recommend listening to the osmosis tapes while doing the practice tests, you want to be in an environment that will simulate where you will take your actual MCAT test, like libraries are prime examples, because you'll be surrounded by a lot of people typing. It might help you concentrate better, are you able to listen to the osmosis tapes while driving?

 

[vnicolas]

K. So if I finish EK I will buy A Princeton Hyperlearning Verbal, and reread my post above I edited them.

 

[int3l]

Yep I did already, good luck on your endeavors, I'll check back every now an then to see if you have any questions.

Don't let this forum discourage you, there are a lot of trolls here :]
You'll only find someone helpful every now and then

 

[vnicolas]

I sent you a friend request as well. I hope you get accepted. I meant that during the month that I doing AAMC I will not reread the book, I will just listen to the CD's, of course I wouldn't listen to the CD's while taking the actual practice MCATs.

 

[vnicolas]

You can not send your primary application before June 1 to AMCAS and it takes about a month for it to be verify.So July they will start looking at app, and my MCAT score from June should be back to them by then. Also alot of school g\have special request on what type of LOR they want, which some school put onlin but nost do not tell u until u get ur secondary application, so sending letters with the primary is a waste.
I plan on submitting on June 1 , I will write my personal statement in May or so.

 

[vnicolas]

Study plan
I have already started so now until winter break I am read 1-3 lectures a week and doing all 1001's. I am also completing one topics book before I go to the next. First Bio, Next Orgo, Then Gen Chem Final Physics and Verbal inbetween. I will not run out of verbal because I only do 1-2 passages a week. I do each within 10 mins ( I want to reduce to 8 mins) At the begining of X-mas break I will take my ExamKracker MCAT.
The whole X mas break I will reread all books without doing any practice problems except for verbal. And then take my first AAMC.
Then during spring I will reread all the books again 1-2 lectures a week without doing any practice problems except for verbal. May-June I will do AAMC pratice problems in the Official Guide and do AAMC test 3 per week I have 3-11, While doing the AAMC pratice problems and test I will listen to my Osmosis tapes.

Someone tell me ur opinion about this study plan what should i add or remove.