Overwhelmed! Need advice.

[Docta Kitty Kitty]

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Hi all! First time posting in sdn (& in any type of forum), so apologies if I do anything wrong (Just let me know how to improve for next time!).

So I’ve been overwhelmed since yesterday. I’m sitting here trying to study for my mcat retake and am having a very hard time concentrating. Any advice would be appreciated. Here’s my story:

Qgpa 3.48/sgpa 3.23 MCAT 25; planning retake in early May

ECs:
Strong service ecs; ~300 hours volunteering with underserved populations (Non-medical) (I enjoy volunteering in any capacity! 🙂). Few years volunteering at hospitals. Worked with physicians in non-profit (preventive medicine/ public health), Got lots of patient/professional contact. Medical mission trips (leadership). Shadowing- ~50-70 hrs for MDs, DOs, Trauma center & ambulance (as part of emt class), etc. Also, 3 yrs job experience. No clinical research but have 1 semester public health research mentorship & 1 semester psych research experience.

I studied my butt off for the mcat (over 5-6 months) and still ended up doing poorly. I read a lot of mcat advice threads and followed the advice and really felt like I knew my content (took ~20 FLs). The dense passages on the real exam surprised me though; my reading comprehension and critical thinking skills are not the best =/. Anyways, I’m signed up for private tutoring right now but I’m stressed and feeling unmotivated (staring at the book and not absorbing anything). I’m also taking a biochem class this semester and am enjoying that. Will also be taking 2 science classes first summer session to pull up my gpa & will be applying by July 15 (that's early enough, right?). I’m so tired of the mcat though!!

Any advice would be appreciated. I will be applying to all DO schools (mid & low tiers.. maybe a few high tier). What are my chances of the mcat? How can I bring myself to keep mcat studying? Should I just quit mcat, focus on biochem & shadowing, and apply? And then keep carribean as a backup… (though I don’t really want to resort to that)? Pleeeease help! Thank you in advance!

 

[stlrams22]

Avoid schools outside the US.

 

[DoctorKrieger]

I would say take a week or two off from any MCAT studying to refresh your mind, but you have less than four weeks until your retake. If you've already been studying a while for this retake, maybe that could work. If you just started, maybe take a few days off instead. I'd be more concerned that you don't have great reading comprehension and critical thinking skills--you need those for medicine. You might be underestimating yourself though, your GPA is isn't bad for DO schools and if you applied to every DO school like you say, a 25 MCAT would likely get you in somewhere. Your ECs seem solid enough.

July 15th is plenty early to apply, but start filling out the app before then...it takes time. And just to save you money, you might want to think about not applying to the state schools unless you're a resident of one of them as well as some older schools like CCOM and PCOM. If money is no object, then by all means apply to those too! You might be one of the lucky ones that sneak in.

There is no reason for you to even consider the Caribbean. Maybe if you had taken the MCAT three times and didn't break 20, but you are actually in fairly decent shape as is. If you apply broadly and don't care what part of the country you may end up.

Take a small break from even thinking about the MCAT. Breathe. Go outside. See a movie. Then hit the books and tackle the MCAT knowing it will be over soon and this time next year, there's a good chance you'll be hanging onto an acceptance.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Don't retake. 25 is good enough for plenty of colleges. With your GPA, I think chances are on your favor.

 

[bionerd89]

Hi all! First time posting in sdn (& in any type of forum), so apologies if I do anything wrong (Just let me know how to improve for next time!).

So I’ve been overwhelmed since yesterday. I’m sitting here trying to study for my mcat retake and am having a very hard time concentrating. Any advice would be appreciated. Here’s my story:

Qgpa 3.48/sgpa 3.23 MCAT 25; planning retake in early May

ECs:
Strong service ecs; ~300 hours volunteering with underserved populations (Non-medical) (I enjoy volunteering in any capacity! 🙂). Few years volunteering at hospitals. Worked with physicians in non-profit (preventive medicine/ public health), Got lots of patient/professional contact. Medical mission trips (leadership). Shadowing- ~50-70 hrs for MDs, DOs, Trauma center & ambulance (as part of emt class), etc. Also, 3 yrs job experience. No clinical research but have 1 semester public health research mentorship & 1 semester psych research experience.

I studied my butt off for the mcat (over 5-6 months) and still ended up doing poorly. I read a lot of mcat advice threads and followed the advice and really felt like I knew my content (took ~20 FLs). The dense passages on the real exam surprised me though; my reading comprehension and critical thinking skills are not the best =/. Anyways, I’m signed up for private tutoring right now but I’m stressed and feeling unmotivated (staring at the book and not absorbing anything). I’m also taking a biochem class this semester and am enjoying that. Will also be taking 2 science classes first summer session to pull up my gpa & will be applying by July 15 (that's early enough, right?). I’m so tired of the mcat though!!

Any advice would be appreciated. I will be applying to all DO schools (mid & low tiers.. maybe a few high tier). What are my chances of the mcat? How can I bring myself to keep mcat studying? Should I just quit mcat, focus on biochem & shadowing, and apply? And then keep carribean as a backup… (though I don’t really want to resort to that)? Pleeeease help! Thank you in advance!

Is there a specific school you want to attend? Do you have an IS DO school?

 

[Mx300]

I don't know your whole situation but from what you just said I wouldn't retake. If you studied for 5-6 months then what's different this time? What evidence do you have that you would improve? You might end up scoring lower and shooting yourself in the foot. I would apply to all of the new schools and a couple reach schools. If no success then next cycle you could think about retaking. I think a 25 is solid for new DO schools. Hopefully you get some attention.

 

[tripl3s3v3n]

What is the breakdown of your MCAT? If it is fairly well balanced I would check the underdog threads to see which schools have granted interviews previously for a 25 and start there and apply broadly.

 

[Docta Kitty Kitty]

Is there a specific school you want to attend? Do you have an IS DO school?

What does "IS DO" mean? I'm assuming you're asking if I have a school that I'm highly interested in? In which case, I'm interested in DMU but that might be a reach school for me now. Otherwise, I'm interested in schools that emphasize working with service and working with underserved populations.. basically, that's a lot of the DO schools. I'm slowly making a list right now.

 

[Docta Kitty Kitty]

What is the breakdown of your MCAT? If it is fairly well balanced I would check the underdog threads to see which schools have granted interviews previously for a 25 and start there and apply broadly.

25Q: 7PS:8V:10BS
And thanks, will do!

 

[Docta Kitty Kitty]

Update: I went for a long drive, sang in the car, gave myself a pep talk (I have to do this every few days so I'm basically a pro at this by now) and then came back and did a whole bunch of passages. Thankfully, am able to concentrate now.

Thanks for all your help (esp, DoctorKrieger)! I'll keep my hopes up and plan smartly. And please keep the suggestions coming.. greatly appreciated!

 

[bionerd89]

What does "IS DO" mean? I'm assuming you're asking if I have a school that I'm highly interested in? In which case, I'm interested in DMU but that might be a reach school for me now. Otherwise, I'm interested in schools that emphasize working with service and working with underserved populations.. basically, that's a lot of the DO schools. I'm slowly making a list right now.

IS means In State. Some DO schools like MSU and PCOM have high in-state preference which means they will accept in state students who have lower stats.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Update: I went for a long drive, sang in the car, gave myself a pep talk (I have to do this every few days so I'm basically a pro at this by now) and then came back and did a whole bunch of passages. Thankfully, am able to concentrate now.

Thanks for all your help (esp, DoctorKrieger)! I'll keep my hopes up and plan smartly. And please keep the suggestions coming.. greatly appreciated!

With your GPAs, you gotta kill the MCAT (34+) to get into MD. However, your current stats are good for a lot DO schools. Given that you studied for 5-6 months and you only scored 25, it is unlikely (albeit not impossible) that you will see a significant increase (5+) on your retake... I would echo what 'AlbinoHawk DO' said: Do NOT retake unless you want to get into a specific school that your 25 is not competitive for. Just imagine for a moment that you score <25 on your retake and what that would do to your chances.

 

[Goro]

You can do better than Carib diploma mills. If you're still in UG, seek out your school's learning/education center for help with standardized test taking. It's a skill, just like throwing a curve ball.

As of right now, you're fine for most (especially the newest), but not all DO programs.

Hi all! First time posting in sdn (& in any type of forum), so apologies if I do anything wrong (Just let me know how to improve for next time!).

So I’ve been overwhelmed since yesterday. I’m sitting here trying to study for my mcat retake and am having a very hard time concentrating. Any advice would be appreciated. Here’s my story:

Qgpa 3.48/sgpa 3.23 MCAT 25; planning retake in early May

ECs:
Strong service ecs; ~300 hours volunteering with underserved populations (Non-medical) (I enjoy volunteering in any capacity! 🙂). Few years volunteering at hospitals. Worked with physicians in non-profit (preventive medicine/ public health), Got lots of patient/professional contact. Medical mission trips (leadership). Shadowing- ~50-70 hrs for MDs, DOs, Trauma center & ambulance (as part of emt class), etc. Also, 3 yrs job experience. No clinical research but have 1 semester public health research mentorship & 1 semester psych research experience.

I studied my butt off for the mcat (over 5-6 months) and still ended up doing poorly. I read a lot of mcat advice threads and followed the advice and really felt like I knew my content (took ~20 FLs). The dense passages on the real exam surprised me though; my reading comprehension and critical thinking skills are not the best =/. Anyways, I’m signed up for private tutoring right now but I’m stressed and feeling unmotivated (staring at the book and not absorbing anything). I’m also taking a biochem class this semester and am enjoying that. Will also be taking 2 science classes first summer session to pull up my gpa & will be applying by July 15 (that's early enough, right?). I’m so tired of the mcat though!!

Any advice would be appreciated. I will be applying to all DO schools (mid & low tiers.. maybe a few high tier). What are my chances of the mcat? How can I bring myself to keep mcat studying? Should I just quit mcat, focus on biochem & shadowing, and apply? And then keep carribean as a backup… (though I don’t really want to resort to that)? Pleeeease help! Thank you in advance!

 

[AkGrown84]

IS means In State. Some DO schools like MSU and PCOM have high in-state preference which means they will accept in state students who have lower stats.

PCOM doesn't have a strong in state bias. MSU most definitely does, as does OU-HCOM (I believe....never looked into this one, so correct me if I'm wrong). TCOM (Texas) takes almost nobody out of state as well.

25Q: 7PS:8V:10BS
And thanks, will do!

If you can write a very good PS and great secondary essays, I'd say skip the retake. I applied broadly with a 25 MCAT (6PS/10V/9B, so not much different than you!), and ended up with 4 DO interviews and 3 MD interviews. I'm heading to PCOM this fall 🙂

 

[Docta Kitty Kitty]

Congrats AKGrown84!! Gives me hope 🙂

 

[polylux]

PCOM doesn't have a strong in state bias. MSU most definitely does, as does OU-HCOM (I believe....never looked into this one, so correct me if I'm wrong). TCOM (Texas) takes almost nobody out of state as well.

PCOM accepts 50% of their class from PA residents. I don't know if that's strong, but it is a bias. Source: I emailed PCOM admissions a couple weeks ago to ask.