Need Advice About Delaying My Application

[rstilwel]

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Hello Everyone,

First off I would just like to let everyone know how excited I am to of found this wonderful forum dedicated to medicine and thank everyone who contributes to helping us confused pre-med obtain our ultimate goal.

Unfortunately for myself I have been going by word of mouth and those far in-between advisor meetings for direction to medical school. After reading about 3 hrs of post on this forum I think I have come to a conclusion to my problem but would just like the advice of my fellow medical students and those that are really experienced with the whole process (Most of my friends are non-medical and therefore will not be able to ease my mind as much as you guys will).

So First I will start with the problem I am facing which I am sure is common among many pre-meds.

So last year I was a Junior in college doing well in all of my science and general ed. classes and was planning to take my MCAT in the summer having finished up a course at the end of spring semester. While studying on my own in the summer a family member of mine passed. Because of grieving, traveling and other circumstances I was not able to fully prepare for the MCAT then and decided to push it to my Senior year.

I knew that pushing the exam to my senior year was going to add an extra year to my application process and I was okay with that. I figured that I would just take some other science courses that are not required of my degree (as not to look lazy) and work part time to pay off a little bit of my first year of medical school. I have been studying for the MCAT all Spring semester while only taking a part time load and unfortunately I am no where near where I would like to be for my exam which is in 5 days.

So here is my dilemma....

Do I go a head and take the exam any way knowing that it will not be the score I want and just hope the best for my application or... Follow SN2ed 3 month plan (which I just learned about) and take the MCAT after a rigorous study plan at the end of this summer get the score I want and deserve and push back my acceptance into medical school another year back?

I am a big meditation thinker and have come up with the following plan and just need some advice.

What I feel that I should do is push the exam to the end of summer follow the game plan and get the score that I want. With that done I will not have to worry about anything besides classes and working part time. Class wise I already have a minor in Public Health and USF is now offer a Bachelors in Public Health so I am thinking of just getting a second major while I wait for my acceptance letters when I apply next May. And by the time I get my responses I will be finishing my Public Health Major graduating with two degrees.

Some questions I had about my plan was...

Will applying 2 years after "average students" hurt my application in any way?

Will getting a second major improve my application at all or is it really just a time delay application?

Sorry for the drawn out story but I wanted to make sure that I did not leave anything out that way everyone willing to give me advice knew my full story. Besides my MCAT I feel that my application is good (not amazing) with a 3.56 cGPA, President of Golf Club, 300+ volunteer hours at my local hospital, plus many other sporadic hours with the cycling team and other organizations that I am just a member of. And I have shadowed two doctors; one a general physician that runs a mobile clinic and another that is a general surgeon. I only have one semester of research and most likely be working on building that up with my extra time whether it is a year or now possibly two.

Thanks again!
Ryan

 

[Astarael]

Generally speaking, you should not take the MCAT until you feel you are ready for it. That being said, most people don't feel like they've studied enough by the time they get there-it's just the nature of the test. A better measure of whether you are ready to take it or not would be your scores on practice tests. Have you taken any? If you have, let us know what your scores are and we can help you out a lot more easily. If you haven't, push your test back, take a practice test or two, and get back to us with your scores. If you were to take the MCAT any time before the end of July, you could potentially still apply this year.

I'll try and answer the rest of your questions in the order you posed them...

Applying to medical school for matriculation two years after you graduate will not affect your chances. As long as you keep busy during the intervening time, it won't matter that you took longer to get there. Some people (quite a few actually) apply to medical school after working at another career for many years. Those kinds of applicants can, and do, get accepted all the time. So no, being two years out will not hurt you.

Getting a second major probably isn't going to help or hurt your application at all. It might be a nice addition if you actually have an interest in public health, but I don't know enough about the degree to say whether it is useful at the baccalaureate level. A lot of people do a master's in public health before (or during) medical school, so you're definitely thinking in the right direction. I just don't know that the bachelor's will make you more marketable as a physician when so many MDs have the master's. As for the application to medical school, it might help a little bit, but probably won't end up being the defining aspect of your application.

Well I hope I hit all of your questions, but if you need more specific advice, feel free to post more questions or PM me.

Oh, and welcome to SDN!

 

[rstilwel]

Thank you for the response. My MCAT after three practice exams are embarrassingly low right now (20) with physical sciences doing me the most harm. I thought for some reason that I shouldn't burn through all my practice test before I went through the material and now I am struggling to find my rhythm in the exam as well as go back and figure out my physical sciences. So I defiantly feel that it should be pushed back (I am not one of those genius guys that is getting a 30 and just freaking out... this time).

If I take the exam before the end of July (there is a date for the 16th) wouldn't I be applying pretty late? I have heard that doing that is like knocking .5 off your GPA and really hurts your chances.

I am glad to hear that delaying for 2 years will not hurt me. I guess I am just so use to doing everything on time and when I missed my mark Junior year I was bummed and now that I am right on the edge of missing it my Senior year I am freaking out a little lol. But if I am one of those guys that just had to do it after my Senior year then so be it. I know that medicine is what I want to do so I am going to prove it using SN2ed's guide this summer.

Thanks again

 

[IlDestriero]

Just take another year off. Your current score is application suicide, and retaking the test for a bad score will haunt your application forever.
Develop a plan, study HARD, and don't take the test until you score high enough to get in. If you have problems with the test structure, etc, you may benefit from a class. They are shunned here, because most don't need them. However depending on what you are used to, it may be a good choice for you, especially if you have not achieved success with other methods. Your GPA is fine, take a light load and enjoy yourself. No one is going to ask why you only took 1 advanced science class vs 3. It is irrelevant.
I don't know what your major is, but I hope you've got a job lined up! If you can't secure a medically related job, really consider what you can do on the side to continue your development. You will be asked what you did during your years off and how it lead to your decision to pursue a career as a physician. Pick one volunteer activity, perhaps one you are doing now, and stick with it. One of my friends started out as a food bank volunteer a couple years ago, and now is in charge of distribution for a large city. Sadly it's like a 2nd job, but she loves it and can do most of it from home. Use your skills and motivation to stand out and advance. These programs often lack any real leadership and practical skills, that's a good opportunity for you.

 

[waterpolo480586]

I would suggest looking at the ExamKrackers study material. I thought it was extremely helpful and the general consensus is that they are the best. I spent two months in the summer studying from their books (3-4 hours a day) and took 4 full length practice tests every other weekend. My score went from a 26 on the first practice MCATa 33 on the real MCAT. It is possible if you have already started studying to be prepared for an end of June MCAT, allowing you to still be competitive for this application cycle.

 

[Astarael]

Your general applicant could apply successfully with an MCAT taken in July so long as they are very proactive about their application. In this case though, I agree with you; if you're getting 20s on your practice tests pushing it back is a good idea. It's better to just wait and do well on it once than have to take it multiple times.

 

[rstilwel]

Thank you for settling my mind everyone. So I am going to take the exam anyway since I can not get a refund and just void it so that way I have experience being in a government tight security testing facility.

Last night I read all of SN2ed's 3 month guide and have adapted it toward the TPR books that I have purchased along with the EK books he suggested (I was using Kaplan before and noticed that nobody seemed to mention them on here). I will be taking the exam for real toward the end of this summer finally not feeling so rushed to do so and with a solid game plan in my pocket View attachment M93X.xlsx. And anyone with the TPR books and hyper learning problem book is more than welcome to use this modified SN2ed guide that I made.

With the extra two years I will get my Public Health degree on top of the BioMedical Science degree that I have just finished this year. On top of that I will be trying to get into labs next semester that way I can be a little more involved than just one semester. And as IlDestriero mentioned I will keep volunteering (good idea about coming into an semi unorganized organization and straightening it out by the way) and work part time to pay the extra 2 years of college I will be attending.

Thank you so much again guys!