MCAT Review for an Old Guy

[Sretlaw]

I'm a 47 year old father of two considering going to medical school and taking the MCAT. I haven't taken a biology, chemistry, physics or math class in 25 years.

But...I worked as an engineer and programmer/developer for the last 25 years, and have started and run two businesses for over 15 years, and am currently launching another. (I like to stay busy).

The math doesn't bother me, and the physics seemed fairly intuitive to me as I reviewed a few sample questions from a MCAT review book.

The biology and organic chemistry will be my achilles heel. I took the A Levels in biology and chemistry in high school (in England) and did well, and I was taking pre-med courses at Vanderbilt U. my Freshman year (because I had always planned on a career in medicine), so I have some familiarity with the subjects.

So, here I am 25 years later thinking about Medical School again, and wondering how do I prepare for the task. What books are the best? Should I enroll in a professional review course (Kaplan, etc.)? Should I visit with some Medical Schools admissions oficers to see if I have a chance?

I have an Bachelors in Engineering from Vanderbilt and an MBA from the University of Kansas.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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[TexasPrincess]

Hi!
Here is my advice:

Go to the MCAT website. Print out the list of topics covered on the MCAT. Get modern textbooks (not review books) that cover these topics and read them. Study to books with the goal of mastering every single one of those topics.

It might be easy for you to get a good review by retaking the prereq classes at a local community college. Cheap, too.

I highly suggest taking Anatomy and Physiology. Most of the biology topics are included in A and P.

Orgo, I just studied my class notes.

Take AAMC practice tests. Get the MCAT official guide, which offers a discounted AAMC practice test. The list of topics covered on the mcat is also in this book.

Check out all the different prep books. When it comes time near to the test, I suggest going through your prep books.

You also might want to volunteer in a hospital from now till you apply to help build your resume. or take EMT courses. or shadow doctors.

Good luck!

 

[FuSoYa]

For the MCAT, whether or not to take a professional course depends upon your study habits and needs. The courses will help organize the material and provide a classroom setting to ask questions, but whether or not this will be helpful depends highly upon your location and your teachers (Kaplan in Oregon may be quite different from Kaplan in Florida). Also, these courses usually have access to lots of practice material.

As a non-trad applicant I found that it was much easier to just study on my own. I'm organized and self-motivated enough to not need a syllabus to follow. I used all the EK books, plus Nova to supplement physics, and that was enough review. For practice, I just used the EK questions books, and AAMC and Gold Standard online CBT's for FL practices. As for asking questions, EK has a forum on their website and the mods are great at fully explaining the math and logic behind their practice questions.

Everyone is different in their study needs, but I was about 10 years removed from college physics and chemistry, and therefore needed about 6 months to fully study and prepare for the MCAT.

Good luck.

 

[OrangeOrangutan]

i talked to a kaplan guy before, and he told me in lectures theres not that much content review at all. so i dont know useful it is for you to help you learn the stuff.