Non-Traditional Working and MCAT Crossroads……experiences, advice

[JOLA46]

Hi All,

So, I graduated in 2006 and have since worked in healthcare as an Orthopedic Tech. While working full time, I have gone back to school to finish my pre-reqs. It was hard and required sacrifice, hardwork, etc etc, but it was do-able.

Now, I'm in the midst of studying for the MCAT. I took it back in June of last year and got a 21. I was pretty upset, but planned on regrouping. I got a lot of good info on here as to how to change my approach to get a better score. Well, my little brother died unexpectedly and I never could muster up the energy, to re-group and take the 2014 version again.

My current dilemma is that I feel like working full time (in a stressful job/environment) and studying for the MCAT is just not do-able. I know what hard work, persistence, etc. are , but I'm at the point where I'm making little progress on my practice tests and passages despite doing the best I possibly can. It seems like the people who do best on the MCAT are the ones who devote 2-3 months of studying (8 hours/day) to it. I just read this SN'ed guys approach that is so hyped on here and the first thing he says is "you might want to quit your job to study for this". Quitting my job would be A HUGE HUGE thing and I just want to see if anyone on here has been in a similar situation.

Thanks in advance for reading my post. I hope it's not too lengthy.

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[Cawolf]

I am sorry to hear about your brother, that really sucks.

I am an older student who quit my job (though still had part-time school) to take the MCAT. I had a couple peers who continued working full-time during their studying and took the same exam as me. I am in no way smarter than these people (they had Ivy league backgrounds and I had community college/state college education) but I scored much higher than them. I think that being able to devote all my energy to exam preparation over a few months was really the key to my success.

So I do think that if possible, a LOA to prepare for the test is your best bet. If that is not possible, you may be limiting your success. I know not everyone can stop working, but I think that is the best way to set yourself up for success. Full immersion and devotion to the materials will make the studying less stressful and I think, easier to really learn.

So if you were asking, "Do I quit?", then I say yes - if you are really committing to this path. That is with the caveat that you may not be able to, then I would at least go to part-time hours.

 

[ghostman]

I quit my job to start the prereqs. I figured if I was serious about going to medical school, I had to commit to the following this through. It was very, VERY difficult for me to quit. I had a career, not just a job. My folks were very disappointed when I told them I was quitting to pursue this uncertain path.

When I was studying for my MCATs, I was still in the second semester of Bio and Orgo. The MCATs were like another course of its own. I'm certain I couldn't have done well on the MCATs if I had still been working. I used the Kaplan course. I'm not a huge fan of it, but they offer a ton of practice exams. As you know, these practice exams take a good amount of the day. And reviewing all your questions (and knowing WHY you got questions both right and wrong) took 3 times as long.

As other have said, if you're serious about it and willing to commit the time/money and have the luxury of not working for a few months, then it's probably your best bet in doing well.

 

[JOLA46]

thank you guys so much.

@canadianinusa, what did you do when you woke up in the morning before work? practice passages, practice tests? what would you do on weekends?

@Cawolf i'm leaning towards quiting. i need to have a serious talk with my family before doing so. i'm 31 right now and want to give this thing my all.

 

[JOLA46]

@canadianinusa last time around i did EK 10 weeks in around 12. i spent most of my time doing the things you mentioned; however, never did any FLs because i didn't get through with the conent review. i wanted to apply in time for 2015 and took it in june. with that being said, i did take FL verbals and started averaging in the 9s and 10s.

my score breakdown was PS 7 , VR 6, BS 8. i didn't even apply. after my PS section, the test center's computer broke so they spent 8 minutes out of my 10 minute break trying to take my fingerprint to let me out. By the time I got some water, my break was over and it was time to start VR. During VR someone directly outside the test center starting blowing leaves and completly threw off my concentration. All that being said, I know I can do better on VR and was looking foward to doing so the 2nd go round.

In terms of time frame, I'm in no rush anymore. I just want to give it my all and do as well as I can. I want to aim high 30+ and truly believe I can do so.

 

[JOLA46]

*high , 30 + .......not in the high 30's lol

 

[MD89]

Just wanted to chime in since I took my MCAT this past January while working full-time at a stressful job (unrelated to anything healthcare). I scored >35 with only having taken the most basic prereqs and no review course (and I am definitely not a genius) so it's definitely possible to do well while working. That being said, here are my thoughts on your situation: (I apologize if this repeats anything anyone else has said, I didn't have time to read all the comments)

-Do you think you are at a place in your life where you can mentally focus on conquering this exam? Having a close family member pass away is a huge, huge deal and I personally would not have been able to focus. If you can truthfully say that you're at a point where this focus is possible, then by all means continue. Otherwise, the MCAT and med school will always be there...take some time for yourself and put the test on hold for now.

-The "trick" to doing well on the exam when working crazy hours is literally forcing yourself to study consistently even when you don't want to. (Believe me, I know what it's like to come home from an exhausting full day at work and not want to pick up a book). In order to do this, I set very specific goals on what I wanted to accomplish each week/month/etc. I knew I wanted to take all the AAMC tests so I worked backwards from my test date to figure out when to take those and from that, figured out how to pace myself in covering all the content.

-Be realistic- don't set yourself up for failure by setting huge goals. If I recall, I generally tried to cover about a chapter a day (maybe a little more on weekends) and 1-2 passages. This ended up being about 2 hours of studying but did vary depending on the night (yes, many times I fell asleep over my books). Also, I knew I study best at night so I didn't even try to push myself to study in the mornings since I knew it wouldn't work for me.

-Try to sneak in MCAT related stuff whenever and wherever you can. It was literally impossible for me to do anything MCAT while at work but as my test got closer, I did start listening to audio osmosis on my half hour commute home. I hated audio osmosis but at least it was something. Also, I took snapshots of things on my phone and would pull those up when waiting for appointments, etc. So, while I never actually sat down and memorized all the hormones, pulling up my hormone chart picture so many times inevitably led to me just knowing all the hormones.

-If you can, plan on taking the two weeks off right before your exam. Yes, it majorly sucked having to use basically all my vacation time but knowing that I had that chunk of time helped me get through when things seemed insurmountable. Even if you don't end up needing all that time for actual studying, being away from work will allow you to mentally be there more for your exam.

-You will not know everything. That's a fact. I don't think the test writers expect you to know everything. What they do expect is the ability to reason things through. So, try to get into their mindset. I read through every single answer explanation, regardless of whether I got the question wrong or not. Also, once I finished my content review (about a month before I took the test), I ONLY did AAMC questions. IMO, the test prep companies are good at teaching you the content but ultimately, you need to understand the AAMC style and that's it.

-in terms of time, I spent about 2.5ish months studying which was perfect (although it felt way too short at the time!). Anything longer and I would have burned out and forgotten stuff. Anything shorter and I wouldn't have been able to spend as much time as I wanted on content review and take each AAMC exam and dissect it afterward.


That's all I can think of for now! Best of luck to you. It's not going to be fun but it is doable if you equip yourself well.

 

[Traumweber]

I took the MCAT without quitting my full time job (non-medical). I was also volunteering, doing voluntary research at a local university. I had not taken GenChem 2, Anatomy/physiology and had finished the other prerequisites for the MCAT more than 10 years ago before the date of my exam. I rushed to take it because I did not want to take the 2015 MCAT. I do not have a bio background at all. I only had about 1.5 months to prepare. My situation may not apply to you.
But, my approach to the MCAT was to start taking full length tests right from the get go (2 a week). This did one of to things: Get me in test taking mode ( believe me...I was very rusty on this), and expose all the content gaps (which was a gaping hole and quite disheartening at first). I spent almost all the rest of the time learning stuff, and doing the self assessment from AAMC untimed (I don't know if they have something like this anymore). Eventually, I ended up with a 34 (I would have wished for a better score, but I am happy with it).
I feel this exam is all about strategy. The content as long as you had the prerequisites and have time to prepare are very basic. Make sure to give yourself enough time and practice to find which of the many strategies works for you.
I hope you find what works for your case, but as CaWolf said, the MCAT is very important to get an interview.

 

[Cawolf]

but as CaWolf said, the MCAT is very important to get an interview.

I don't think I said that, but I hope it's true!

 

[Traumweber]

I don't think I said that, but I hope it's true!

Oops all the words between "CaWolf said" and "the MCAT" got accidentally deleted
I meant to write as CaWolf said, it may not be a bad idea to think about going full time on study if you can afford it. The MCAT is very important for scoring an interview.

 

[NonTradJp]

Hi, I just want to chime in that I think there are two issues here.

One is that I just get the sense that your brother's death is still on your mind. Death is tragic and I am sorry for your lost. At the same time, if you and your brother had a great relationship, then I am sure he would be happy if you focus and do well on your MCAT to achieve your dreams. He will understand and cheer you on.

The other is how much time you have to study. Persistence is key as you mentioned. Life always goes on. So you gotta study when you can. Force yourself to take that 30 minutes on the bus, or that 1/2 of your lunch break to read a little. Wake up a bit earlier. Or sacrifice your personal time before bed. It's hard and maybe there is no time to do so for you. However, I believe it is possible. Imagine those non-trads who have family, work, school, while studying for the MCAT. Or the ones who are at two jobs. Or ones with special need children. Those are all difficult situations too. For some the reality is that they have no time. If that's the case will they have time in med school and beyond. If so, endure. For others it is impossible and will get harder later one. Then they have to make some hard decisions or sacrifices. And for still others, they find time, make time, or even borrow time to make it possible.

Remember what is important. Taking care of basic needs and achieving these goals all the while doing it in a way that you will feel proud when its all through.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Hi All,

So, I graduated in 2006 and have since worked in healthcare as an Orthopedic Tech. While working full time, I have gone back to school to finish my pre-reqs. It was hard and required sacrifice, hardwork, etc etc, but it was do-able.

Now, I'm in the midst of studying for the MCAT. I took it back in June of last year and got a 21. I was pretty upset, but planned on regrouping. I got a lot of good info on here as to how to change my approach to get a better score. Well, my little brother died unexpectedly and I never could muster up the energy, to re-group and take the 2014 version again.

My current dilemma is that I feel like working full time (in a stressful job/environment) and studying for the MCAT is just not do-able. I know what hard work, persistence, etc. are , but I'm at the point where I'm making little progress on my practice tests and passages despite doing the best I possibly can. It seems like the people who do best on the MCAT are the ones who devote 2-3 months of studying (8 hours/day) to it. I just read this SN'ed guys approach that is so hyped on here and the first thing he says is "you might want to quit your job to study for this". Quitting my job would be A HUGE HUGE thing and I just want to see if anyone on here has been in a similar situation.

Thanks in advance for reading my post. I hope it's not too lengthy.

I quit a job, and then ended up getting another one while studying for the MCAT in an On-demand Kaplan course. I think you can work and study, it just takes much longer, and requires more dedication. Obviously there are those out there who didn't work at all and did better than I did, but it isn't necessary to be the tippy top if the goal is simply to get into medical school. And having the job counts for a lot during interviews. They like to know that you aren't just doing medicine cause you can't succeed at your current profession or just secretly hate it. Plus medical school apps are expensive. Like I spent probably close to 10k between deposits, MCAT Course, MCAT's, extra prereqs, Apps, secondary, interviews, deposit, etc. A job can be real helpful for all of that. Plus as a actual working adult, you won't be getting fee waivers most likely (they still want parents income, and then they add it to yours, lol what a joke).

One thing I will say tho, when you get examkrackers/TPR/Kaplan, memorize/learn everything in those prep books. Especially if it has been a few years since classes. IMO I focused on big picture too much when I needed to just memorize more formulas/get used to more types of problems. You don't need everything in your old textbooks, but you do need to know everything in those prep books. Its not 'low yield' when its on your exam. This is the part where not having a job is too your benefit. And yes I know that the MCAT is not about straight recital, but after you figure out what the question is asking you, you need to be able to solve it. But I think especially for someone who graduated awhile ago, memorization/practice problems are gonna be a much larger part of your study than a fresh undergrad who took his prereqs in the last 2 years.

 

[Gfliptastic]

Hi!

I agree w/ everything mentioned here. I also worked a demanding job while studying for the MCAT. And what happens is whatever isn't occupied by your job/career has to be filled w/ MCAT study. One thing I didn't see (as I skimmed the responses) was audio stuff. I listened to things when I could. If you can imagine, driving in your car w/ an .mp3 about Sn1 reactions (ROCK OUT! lol), or running on a treadmill at the gym listening to redox. Eating dinner while listening to electrostatics. You get it.

Find that stuff. If you can't, PM me. I might have all those old mp3's on my computer somewhere (doubtful, but I might cuz I think I have an old MCAT folder somewhere on this thing).

Condolences for your brother. I've experienced many tragic losses along my own path. And like some have pointed out, what has helped me through it is feeling like their spirits are guiding me along, pushing me to achieve my goal. One of the last things my dad said in the hospital before he died, was remind anyone who entered the room, "Have you met my son? He's going to be a doctor!" There's a boost in that, even when you think you have nothing left in the tank!!

Edit: I can't find the .mp3's but I know they exist. Good luck!

 

[Pedsmdplease]

Depending on how much you'd like to continue working full time, it is doable. It does suck though.

I woke up before work (generally about 5) and tried to do about ten passages every other morning - sometimes more sometimes less. For me, it was easier to chug coffee and think critically before I went to work (vs trying to do it after a long day at work). I'd correct the passages that night after work and make flash cards on the concepts I missed. I'd review the flash cards the next morning and do FSQ the next night in areas when I still felt weak. I made sure to do flash cards on public transit and take a day off a week. Saturdays were for in depth context review in areas where I was lacking with practice tests or lots of passages on Sundays.

Do not underestimate the power of squeezing in a workout after work before studying again. I'd literally run 2 or 3 miles - that's it. Helped me wake back up, take a break, and avoid drinking coffee so I could sleep at night.


Best of luck!

Edit: If you can swing it, hire a tutor to review your practice tests with you (only after you've reviewed it yourself). Sucks to pay the money but worth it in my opinion.

 

[JOLA46]

Thank you all so much for responses and advice. This thread is helping me big time.

 

[packersfans]

Working and studying for the MCAT is definitely difficult. When I first started I was working 8am to 8pm M-F and making little progress on improving my score. I was mostly studying weekends only. I got lucky and caught a break where I started working 8 hours a days and getting in 3 hours of studying after work. This extra time helped me improve my score roughly 6-7 point iirc. Another big help was using harder study material. I started with EK and switched to TPR and TBR and that was when i started seeing larger increases on my practice tests. Ultimately, I wanted to do better but decided to apply with my score and succeeded. Like you said I felt like I needed to quit my job to make a further increase and had my application cycle not been successful I think I would have. If you need to quit to get your score to where you would like it, I would say go for it.