NEED HELP, getting desperate

[acates]

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Hi all,
Got rejected straight out from 4 out of 6 MD, waiting to hear from 4 DO after last semester's grades.

Took the MCAT 3x, highest is a 24P. Graduated from GWU in 2010, BS in Biology/minor in English Lit, sGPA 3.0, cGPA 3.2, graduate GPA 3.7 (steep upward trend in undergraduate grades, terrible first year)


I've talked to many admissions advisors at the schools but they say that my MCAT is really holding me back. I am doing well in my current special Masters program, which is pulling up my clearly terrible uGPA, and have tried to improve MCAT score (took TPR class, studied all summer for an August MCAT then studied all of the next summer for a July MCAT).


Not getting anywhere this cycle, clearly, so any opinions on taking the MCAT a 4th time for 2011-2012 cycle?

 

[Pons Asinorum]

If you want to get in somewhere, yes, you need to take the MCAT again. Full stop.

A 3.0/24P won't cut it. You need to rehab the uGPA (keep rocking your SMP) and get your MCAT score up. These aren't secrets. You have no choice but to retake the MCAT, or you need to, by yourself, fund, construct and operate a medical clinic in Africa where the cure for AIDS is developed. I personally recommend the "retake the MCAT" route.

Hi all,
Got rejected straight out from 4 out of 6 MD, waiting to hear from 4 DO after last semester's grades.

Took the MCAT 3x, highest is a 24P. Graduated from GWU in 2010, BS in Biology/minor in English Lit, sGPA 3.0, cGPA 3.2, graduate GPA 3.7 (steep upward trend in undergraduate grades, terrible first year)


I've talked to many admissions advisors at the schools but they say that my MCAT is really holding me back. I am doing well in my current special Masters program, which is pulling up my clearly terrible uGPA, and have tried to improve MCAT score (took TPR class, studied all summer for an August MCAT then studied all of the next summer for a July MCAT).


Not getting anywhere this cycle, clearly, so any opinions on taking the MCAT a 4th time for 2011-2012 cycle?

 

[Catalystik]

For MD schools, I'd agree that a higher MCAT score is imperative, unless there are significant modifying factors to your application that you haven't mentioned. We've seen folks get in after a 4th MCAT score with improvement.

Have you spoken to DO med school admissions staff, too? If you are doing a stellar job in your SMP, I don't think it's impossible for you to get an acceptance to a DO program if you applied broadly and not just to the most-selective programs. Of course, they may want see that you to have equally great grades in the second semester of the SMP to be reassured that you're capable of consistent performance. This may mean another application cycle.

 

[acates]

For MD schools, I'd agree that a higher MCAT score is imperative. We've seen folks get in after a 4th MCAT score with improvement.

Have you spoken to DO med school admissions staff, too? If you are doing a stellar job in your SMP, I don't think it's impossible for you to get an acceptance to a DO program if you applied broadly and not just to the most-selective programs. Of course, they may want see that you to have equally great grades in the second semester of the SMP to be reassured that you're capable of consistent performance. This may mean another application cycle.

Well, I spoke to an advisor at an MD school, too and he advised me to apply this cycle with great grades in the Masters because the MCAT would be just " a portion of my application," otherwise, I wouldn't have applied with this score. It's just that it's been consistently low, and I've tried 3 different strategies (never went in without studying for several months)

I have spoken to one DO admissions advisor this year and one last year when I was applying to Grad school. They've seemed optimistic, especially since they all offered to hold my review for Fall 2010 grades, and pointed out the obviously low MCAT.

I am scared to take it a 4th time, because what if I stay consistent? That will just hurt even more that I have taken it 4 times, right? Why do they keep telling me to apply without a good MCAT score if they are just going to keep rejecting me?

 

[Catalystik]

Why not just sit tight for now and see how things play out? If DO admissions advisors were "optimistic" all may yet end well.

 

[acates]

You're right. Just got a little flustered today with the two rejections so I feel like I should be preparing for the 4th MCAT (even though this rigorous Masters program does not really allow the time for such).

Thanks!

 

[V5RED]

Do you have a plan in case you never get into a medical school?

I mean if you really have tried your best 3 times on the MCAT and the best you could do is a 24, I would be surprised if you ever got it much higher than that. It would be different if you had not put in much effort and gotten that score since there would be an obvious way to improve.

This is not meant as a downer and I don't even know if a 24 is too low for a US medical school with the rest of your information, just the odds of you improving the MCAT and what your plan is if that fails.

I mean I have a backup plan of becoming a chemistry professor in case I wound up in that situation.(which is hardly a backup since I highly enjoy Chemistry and it is still pretty neck and neck whether I would rather do medicine or Chemistry)

 

[acates]

Do you have a plan in case you never get into a medical school?

I mean if you really have tried your best 3 times on the MCAT and the best you could do is a 24, I would be surprised if you ever got it much higher than that. It would be different if you had not put in much effort and gotten that score since there would be an obvious way to improve.

This is not meant as a downer and I don't even know if a 24 is too low for a US medical school with the rest of your information, just the odds of you improving the MCAT and what your plan is if that fails.

I mean I have a backup plan of becoming a chemistry professor in case I wound up in that situation.(which is hardly a backup since I highly enjoy Chemistry and it is still pretty neck and neck whether I would rather do medicine or Chemistry)

I guess I am thinking the same way you are about it, too. It really, truly sucks. I have tried. I wouldn't have taken it 3 times if I didn't try as best as I could, especially the 3rd time. It's been quite the demoralizing experience. I mean, if I apply again for round 3 in 2011-2012 and I STILL don't get in, I guess I will pay my $220,000 loans for my BS and MS by continuing to be a medic.......

I guess my main question remains: Will it be detrimental to take it a 4th time and stay consistent (but show that I tried again)?

I want to reapply until I get in, but I can't keep retaking the MCAT.... Plus until I finish my Masters in June I will not have any time to study for a MCAT test appropriately. And I'm not getting any younger.

 

[JustMeditate]

It's true. Taking the MCAT multiple times does reflect poorly on an applicant. From what I've been told---although I am certainly no expert---medical schools don't like to see more than 2 MCAT scores on an application.

But at this point, if medical school really is your goal, I'd say that a 24P is probably more detrimental to you than a re-taking the MCAT, and having that 4th score on your application. From what I've been told, a lot schools won't even bother looking at secondaries if your highest MCAT score is below a
22---and a 24P is just barely past that cut-off point.

If you are going to give this another shot, you need to really think through possible reasons for your poor scores. You may be trying your hardest to get good scores, but no amount of effort will lead to improvement if your don't invest that effort in the right places. How are you studying for the MCAT? Are you focusing primarily on the basic concepts tested or on how to take the actual test itself? Are you weak in any particular section, that's just totally dragging your score down? Are you taking practice exams, in a timed setting, every weekend for the two-three months leading up to the exam? Do you have test anxiety? What are your practice scores like? Are they also around a 24P, or is there something about the actual test environment that is lowering your score? You need to spend several hours really thinking this through, develop a study plan based on your conclusions, and spend the rest of the next however many months until the MCAT studying. Even if it means no social life for a while, excluding maybe a two-hour outing every weekend. That might be what it takes.

 

[acates]

It's crazy, I do ask those questions each time I have taken a test. I got 29-32 on practice exams that i took every saturday for 2 months before the last one in July 2010.

If it comes to that point, guess I'm going to be re-asking those questions yet again and finding a private tutor.

 

[acates]

For MD schools, I'd agree that a higher MCAT score is imperative, unless there are significant modifying factors to your application that you haven't mentioned. We've seen folks get in after a 4th MCAT score with improvement.

Have you spoken to DO med school admissions staff, too? If you are doing a stellar job in your SMP, I don't think it's impossible for you to get an acceptance to a DO program if you applied broadly and not just to the most-selective programs. Of course, they may want see that you to have equally great grades in the second semester of the SMP to be reassured that you're capable of consistent performance. This may mean another application cycle.

modifying factors?? I have some special circumstances involving why my freshman year grades are terrible... I started college in 2006, about a year after Hurricane Katrina and it was extremely hard to leave home (but when I was applying to school, it made sense to leave the area)... That has a lot to do with my poor performance, and I typically mention that as an explanation (certainly not an excuse).
As for MCAT performance, I was ill-prepared the first time (though I had taken a class) but personal circumstances stood in the way. This led to the second at the end of summer 09. 3 point increase.

Other than that, I suppose I'm a fairly typical applicant with 3 years clinical experience as an EMT.

Like you said, I'm sticking it out to see what the rest of the schools say, including my state schools. Just nervous about taking the MCAT a 4th time.