Post-Bac with Linkages

[alan06]

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[drizzt3117]

Postbac wont help you, what you need is a MCAT class. Try TBR.

 

[drizzt3117]

The OP mentioned they were a CA resident, which isnt much help. My point is all the OP needs is better MCAT prep.

 

[drizzt3117]

My point is that a SMP is excessively risky and unneccessary.

The OPs only weakness is MCAT. Doing poorly in a SMP would likely preclude them from ever getting into med school. A MCAT course would be much cheaper and less risky. If they did well, they'd be competitive at most med schools, and if not they would be no worse off.

 

[Lokhtar]

You don't need a post-bac or an SMP. Get a MCAT course and you'll be competitive. If you can just bring that Verbal from a five to an eight, you'll be good to go at lots of places with no further work.

 

[notdeadyet]

The OP is obviously a bright cookie who just has problems with the verbal section of the MCAT. Doing an SMP severely limits the guy to the handful of random schools that happen to offer one. With an 8 on the verbal, he'd stand a good shot at California schools, especially if he's a non-native speaker.

Instead of spending a year and $45,000 on an SMP that will possibly get him into one school, I'd use a year and a buttload of money to do nothing but get solid instruction on acing the verbal section of the MCAT and possibly get into many schools. The money he'd spend on an SMP he doesn't need would buy a hell of a lot of tutoring. And it wouldn't take a year or $45K, either.

 

[Perrotfish]

The OP is obviously a bright cookie who just has problems with the verbal section of the MCAT. Doing an SMP severely limits the guy to the handful of random schools that happen to offer one. With an 8 on the verbal, he'd stand a good shot at California schools, especially if he's a non-native speaker.

Instead of spending a year and $45,000 on an SMP that will possibly get him into one school, I'd use a year and a buttload of money to do nothing but get solid instruction on acing the verbal section of the MCAT and possibly get into many schools. The money he'd spend on an SMP he doesn't need would buy a hell of a lot of tutoring. And it wouldn't take a year or $45K, either.

1) a 31 with an 8V is not that great of a shot for CA schools. He'd have a chance, no question, but with the high linkage SMP he'd have much greater certainty of starting in fall 09.

2) You talk about the SMP program getting you into 'one medical school' as though that were a major disadvantage. Is there any particular reason you would need or want to hold more than one acceptance? You describe him as limited to a 'handful of random schools'. Do you think if he gets an 8V that he's going to get into dozens of schools, and be able to choose the one that best suits his personality? I think, at best, he'd end up choosing from a different handful of random schools.

3) Everyone seems to assume the OPs score can only go up. I assume has had significant turoring between each MCAT retake. He seems pretty convinced his score isn't going up at this point, and with the next retake he seriously risks his score going DOWN (it doesn't take much of a bad day to drop down from a 12 in the sciences sections). What do you think it would do to his chances if the ADCOMs saw he got a 22 on his 4th MCAT? Is that really a 'no risk' situation?

4) My SMP costs 15K and takes one semester, not 45K and a year.

 

[notdeadyet]

1) a 31 with an 8V is not that great of a shot for CA schools.

I had 30 with an 8 on Bio (a much bigger sin than an 8 on Verbal) and was interviewed at UCSF and accepted to Davis. And the rest of my app wasn't as impressive as the OP's seems. It's very possible.

And this is why I said, "especially if he's a non-native speaker". You need to get a passable score, but you will get the fact that English is not your first tongue taken into account when they're looking at your whole app.

2) You talk about the SMP program getting you into 'one medical school' as though that were a major disadvantage. Is there any particular reason you would need or want to hold more than one acceptance?

Instead of funneling efforts to getting into one medical school that happens to have a linkage program, I think it's better to improve your app to get into many medical schools. Anymedical school is a good one, but I personally haven't seen llinkage programs to any of the schools I applied to (and I applied broadly to 36 schools).

And the OP's a Californian. Aside from the benefits of going to medical school where you hope to practice, if he were able to do the UC thing, he could be saving $100K by staying in state.

You describe him as limited to a 'handful of random schools'. Do you think if he gets an 8V that he's going to get into dozens of schools, and be able to choose the one that best suits his personality? I think, at best, he'd end up choosing from a different handful of random schools.

The difference is he'd be choosing from a handful of schools he'd self-selected when applying. That's a big boost from narrowing yourself down to the, what, 10 or 15 medical schools that have linked SMPs? Are any in California? Or the west coast? You see what I mean?

3) Everyone seems to assume the OPs score can only go up. I assume has had significant turoring between each MCAT retake. ... My SMP costs 15K and takes one semester, not 45K and a year.

Wow. I honestly had no idea that there were Master's degrees out there to be had in one semester. My bad. I thought they were all one year minimum.

So, change what I said to 5 months and $23,000. That still pays for a whole lot of specialized instruction.

I see your point, though, Perrotfish. I just get a little uncomfortable telling folks to so severely limit their options before all other options are completely explored. The guy has fantastic stats aside from that Verbal. If he's literally done everything he can, an SMP is a good idea. I'm just not sure he has yet.

 

[drizzt3117]

Perrotfish,

The SMP that you're in also requires the applicant to be waitlisted somewhere and is also the least expensive one that you can do.

I understand the OP is tired of taking the MCAT but honestly that's the best bet. A good prep course, like Berkeley Review, can likely raise their scores even if they've taken it a few times.

 

[notdeadyet]

The SMP that you're in also requires the applicant to be waitlisted somewhere and is also the least expensive one that you can do.

They have SMP's designed for folks sitting on waitlists? What's the logic there? Intriguing...

 

[drizzt3117]

They have SMP's designed for folks sitting on waitlists? What's the logic there? Intriguing...

I dunno, I guess they figure if you receive an interview, you're more likely to be accepted the next cycle after a SMP.

 

[caseofthemndays]

Hey Alan 06,
Putting your AMCAS application out there can't hurt. Explain that english isnt your first language, and I think you will impress with your PS and BS scores. Finch in Chicago listed on their website that their average student has an MCAT score of 29. You may have a shot there, just as an example...

 

[alan06]

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