Hey Dr. Inviz, for some reason I've been on this forum more than usual the last week or so and I can't help but to notice the many sarcastic and sometimes crude remarks that you've made recently. As someone who communicates with people often for work it does irritate me somewhat to know that a person in a pre-professional forum talks to others like that and quite often from what I've seen. Regardless, if you seriously need advice and believe that the right advice will help you move forward in life then I will offer what I have from personal experience, but don't expect any sugarcoating from me.
First of all, be grateful for what you have already. And in particular the interviews that you have received and been on. I don't have the exact stats but the rate of acceptance after interviewing is many times higher than before getting an interview invite. If you are already 75% to 90% done with the application process at any school, why would you even consider quitting at this crucial point? All you have to do is sit back and wait to hear, there are no forms to fill out at that point if I'm not mistaken. Let's see, if you go on interviews you have the opportunity to sell yourself (in a wholesome way hopefully) and maybe check out the school and see if the students, faculty, and campus is right for you. While on the otherhand if you don't go then the chances of you getting another invite from the same school for the next year is pretty low and they will likely assume that what is on your bad pre-med letter is true. You've already invested time and money into this cycle, see it to the end and don't even consider quitting until it is late Feb or March when you know the schools are not interviewing anymore and you can get started on a new Personal statement and studying for the MCAT. Who knows, you may even get in an not have to worry about reapplying at all.
Second, the MCAT. Contrary to popular belief, aceing bio, chem, orgo and physics will not guarantee a 30+ on the test. It is its own thing with its own type of questions and the more familiar you are with the testing format the better you will do on the test. I HIGHLY recommend buying a set of the ExamKrackers Study books, ALL of them. And if you have time, buy the extra 1001 questions for each section and do as much as you can. I personally recommend BUYING the 1001 VERBAL questions book and doing EVERY passage in it (As it is the MOST IMPORTANT section on the test). I took the MCAT once in college after a Kaplan course and got a very good score (30 R), unfortunately it expired before I was able to use it. 3 years later I had to retake and using only the books as a study guide and spending a considerable amount of time studying I did just slightly better than my first time. From what I know there are much more dates you can take the test and the test will be shorter in the future so hopefully you can use that flexibility to your advantage. As for turning down any type of acceptance from any MD or DO school if you later get a 30+ or 40+ on the MCAT , if you do that you should withdraw from SDN (😉 ).
As for family issues, take this with a grain of salt because my family has been supportive for the most part. Plus they are also not native English speakers so they don't have the best grasp of what applying to med-school consists of so I tend to leave them in the dark if I think it'll be easier for me. It sounds like you family is having issues due to illness and probably just frustration due to that and as well as you applying to schools and possibly moving away. From an outsider's point of view it seems like you are conflicted because your father wants you to get into school, not matter where (though MD preferably), while you mother wants you to stay close to home to help take care of your father. Now this is about you, do you feel that you would better serve yourself (first) and your family by remaning close geographically no matter what the situation is, whether you are in school or not, or do you think that you would be better off getting into a med program and becoming a doctor even though you may be away for a few years, though after being established you may be able to help your parents with medical advice and money? It is a tough call but one that you must make for yourself. If you stay at home but can't get into school ever, that may build resentment for the rest of your life. Keep in mind that med-school is very intense so whether you are in the same city and state as your parents or whether you are across the country, you will have to study several hours each school night and during the weekends as well. Free time for family and friends as a med-student is a luxury not everyone can easily afford. The hardest part, and the one you should concentrate on still, is just getting in.
The last subject I will touch on is your pre-med letter that seems like a death sentence for your application. If you have gotten 3 interview invites then it may not be as bad as you think it is. With the way you described your relationship with your pre-med advisor, it would seem like she would either not write a letter for you at all or have ONLY negative things to say about you. I highly doubt that you would be getting any interview invites if this was the case. More likely, the letter has some good and some bad and she left it up to the schools to decide whether you are worth interviewing. I can tell you right now that speaking ill of anyone at an interview is pretty much the same as shooting yourself in the foot in terms of getting an acceptance. You definitely need to defend yourself but there are ways around that that does not involve putting down any specific person or institute. You wrote a bunch of conflicting instances between you and the pre-med advisor, and after reading it, it sounds like just a bunch of misunderstandings but you also come across as a whiner. Seriously. If she claimed you were "unprofessional" in the letter and at your interview you quickly disregard that and ACT "professional" then the letter will go away on its own. Nitpicking every detail of every instance on the otherhand... well it sort of proves her point no matter how exaggerating she may have been. (there is always the option of using an outside service to gather and send your letters so that the one from the pre-med advisor will not be included, this is risky but I am sure some SDN'ers have had success with it, perhaps they can tell you more about it)
Anyways, I don't think my post can be any longer. Do with this info what you will. It is mainly from personal experience (25 yrs. old, applied 3X, took MCAT twice, it's been 4 years since getting my BS) and from the advice of people much older and wiser than me. You are still young which is an advantage in some ways but it seems like you have some tough choices to make. Mature a little, stop spending too much time on SDN and focus on the issues you need to fix in your life. We rather hear your success stories as well as the helpful advice that you can give rather than a bunch of remarks that may be just stemming from personal frustration.
regards,
TerpDO
I am having computer problems so I wasn't online last night. I will IM you later.
Of course, no offense taken. It is always good to get others's opinions.
