Somebody help...

[going2breakdown]

Hey guys. I know I'm not supposed to be posting anything here yet but I need help and nobody in premed will be able to answer my question.
Here's my dilemma,

When I was about 16 I had developed epilepsy. I dealt with it through about half of my college years and finally decided to get neurosurgery. The seizures ended entirely and I am essentially cured. The problem is my year of general chem and bio were taken while I was maxed out on 3 different antiepileptic drugs.
Anyway, I took the rest of my pre-med classes at another university and they really improved after they had tapered me off of some. My gpa is around 3.8 now (after 2 years of study). Anyway, I took the MCAT after taking all of the AAMC practice tests, and my scores averaged around 30 (first time taking them).
I did not do so well on the test day; 21 L. I just had a really bad day.
I somehow managed to get an interview. Is it a bad idea to bring up my medical history? Is there no chance I can get in with my MCAT score?

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[link2swim06]

Hey guys. I know I'm not supposed to be posting anything here yet but I need help and nobody in premed will be able to answer my question.
Here's my dilemma,

When I was about 16 I had developed epilepsy. I dealt with it through about half of my college years and finally decided to get neurosurgery. The seizures ended entirely and I am essentially cured. The problem is my year of general chem and bio were taken while I was maxed out on 3 different antiepileptic drugs.
Anyway, I took the rest of my pre-med classes at another university and they really improved after they had tapered me off of some. My gpa is around 3.8 now (after 2 years of study). Anyway, I took the MCAT after taking all of the AAMC practice tests, and my scores averaged around 30 (first time taking them).
I did not do so well on the test day; 21 L. I just had a really bad day.
I somehow managed to get an interview. Is it a bad idea to bring up my medical history? Is there no chance I can get in with my MCAT score?

Not to be harsh....but a 21 isn't going to get you in anywhere. You can bring it up, but its highly unlikely you will get in.

I'll avoid turning this into medical advice, but as you and your interviewer probably already know, AEDs (anti-epileptic drugs) can hinder cognitive abilities. However, if thats your baseline, you will still be expected to function at the level of everyone else.

The whole purpose of the MCAT is to show both school and yourself that you are able to handle med school and have the ability to prepare for board exams. If you can't score high on the MCAT you might have issues passing your licensing exams.

Going from a 30 to a 21 shows you knew the material but likely had test anxiety the day of the test. I'd suggest preparing more, maybe take a practice test at prometric and re-take it.

Also talk to your neurologist, there are different AEDs which have few cognitive side effects. He/she would be the best person to discuss that with.

 

[ArcGurren]

Retake your MCAT now that you're off the AEDs and are s/p neurosurgical intervention (what exactly did they do? a corpus callotomy (i don't know if that's what it's actually called but it's where they slice your corpus callosum in half)?).

My deepest sympathies for your predicament but honestly if you can show that you improved significantly after taking the MCAT again then it will look very good. A 21 is a hard sell for any medical school to be honest, but if you get at least a 30 on your retake you'll be solid as long as you apply broadly to medical school.

You should definitely bring this up if asked in interviews though - it's a good story to tell.

 

[going2breakdown]

Retake your MCAT now that you're off the AEDs and are s/p neurosurgical intervention (what exactly did they do? a corpus callotomy (i don't know if that's what it's actually called but it's where they slice your corpus callosum in half)?).

My deepest sympathies for your predicament but honestly if you can show that you improved significantly after taking the MCAT again then it will look very good. A 21 is a hard sell for any medical school to be honest, but if you get at least a 30 on your retake you'll be solid as long as you apply broadly to medical school.

You should definitely bring this up if asked in interviews though - it's a good story to tell.

Thanks guys. I had an anterior temporal lobectomy on my non-dominant hemisphere. I also had febrile seizures when I was a few months old (my fever reached 106 F), and they discovered that I had hippocampal sclerosis. It has been a really tough road, but I am determined to do better on the MCAT ( how is it that after 3 practice tests it could drop so much?). I'm about 4 years behind my cohorts now, but there wasn't much more I could do. I'm surprised I made it as far as I have considering what I've seen happen to other people. The luckiest of the unlucky I guess. I'm still on some of the medications as a safeguard by the way. I'm just not on as much as I was before.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Hey guys. I know I'm not supposed to be posting anything here yet but I need help and nobody in premed will be able to answer my question.
Here's my dilemma,

When I was about 16 I had developed epilepsy. I dealt with it through about half of my college years and finally decided to get neurosurgery. The seizures ended entirely and I am essentially cured. The problem is my year of general chem and bio were taken while I was maxed out on 3 different antiepileptic drugs.
Anyway, I took the rest of my pre-med classes at another university and they really improved after they had tapered me off of some. My gpa is around 3.8 now (after 2 years of study). Anyway, I took the MCAT after taking all of the AAMC practice tests, and my scores averaged around 30 (first time taking them).
I did not do so well on the test day; 21 L. I just had a really bad day.
I somehow managed to get an interview. Is it a bad idea to bring up my medical history? Is there no chance I can get in with my MCAT score?

Bro. Im smart. I did well on steps. Im going to be honest with you.

I had a 3.3 and a 30 from an Ivy. I tried and didnt get accepted twice. Third times a charm, I guess. SEVEN YEARS AGO. (I retook MCAT and got 35)

3.8; thats good.

21; thats like an autoreject.

Unless you are a ******ed kid who is 1/16th cherokee and 95% black, with a crippled leg and raised himself from the streets, met Sandra Bullock, was a football player, died, was resurrected, and has epilsepsy, Medical school is a reach.

Honestly, dude, just retake the MCAT. Thats it. They dont do "averages." They don't care you got a 21 on your first go. They care about what your SCORE IS. As in, when they report, they are going to pick your highest. That's all they care about.

Also, unless you are the above story, don't bring it up. Or... seize in front of them and make them feel guilty.

In all honesty (and I hope you realize I was jesting), a 21 is a crap score that means you'll have to try again. No big deal. Buy some Kaplan books, read them hardcore, and try again. Beyond that, general recommendations, DONT go to a caribean school, but DO go to a DO school (thats do and "dee oh")

 

[notbobtrustme]

going to put this out there, but not everyone can be a doctor and not everyone should be a doctor.

 

[airplanes]

OP states he got an interview...so he does have some kind of shot. Schools don't interview someone unless they actually would consider accepting them. Not sure how much it would help to bring it up at your interview....excuses (even valid ones) are still excuses.

But yeah, if it doesn't work out this round, would definitely retake the MCAT.

 

[ArcGurren]

going to put this out there, but not everyone can be a doctor and not everyone should be a doctor.

And since when was epilepsy a contraindication? He's clearly a smart kid with his GPA and had a rough time on his MCAT. Always some judgmental douche who has to say something like this...

OP best of luck to you, again if you don't succeed this time around try try again with better MCAT scores!

 

[SpecterGT260]

Bro. Im smart. I did well on steps. Im going to be honest with you.

I had a 3.3 and a 30 from an Ivy. I tried and didnt get accepted twice. Third times a charm, I guess. SEVEN YEARS AGO. (I retook MCAT and got 35)

3.8; thats good.

21; thats like an autoreject.

Unless you are a ******ed kid who is 1/16th cherokee and 95% black, with a crippled leg and raised himself from the streets, met Sandra Bullock, was a football player, died, was resurrected, and has epilsepsy, Medical school is a reach.

Honestly, dude, just retake the MCAT. Thats it. They dont do "averages." They don't care you got a 21 on your first go. They care about what your SCORE IS. As in, when they report, they are going to pick your highest. That's all they care about.

Also, unless you are the above story, don't bring it up. Or... seize in front of them and make them feel guilty.

In all honesty (and I hope you realize I was jesting), a 21 is a crap score that means you'll have to try again. No big deal. Buy some Kaplan books, read them hardcore, and try again. Beyond that, general recommendations, DONT go to a caribean school, but DO go to a DO school (thats do and "dee oh")

He got an interview.... unless this is a school that interviews all in state people he has passed auto reject

 

[evilbooyaa]

going to put this out there, but not everyone can be a doctor and not everyone should be a doctor.

He did well in school, just f-ed up his MCAT.

OP good luck on your interview. You're past auto-reject but unless other interviewers slip up or you interview extremely well, they'll likely reject you. If they do, just study hard for the MCAT and take it again. I think test day anxiety had to have affected you because going from 30 to 21 is unreasonable.

Re-take MCAT if you don't get accepted. That's your best shot because your GPA is fine.

 

[going2breakdown]

Thanks to everyone with a positive/helpful message. A special thanks to all those people who stood up for me in this thread. Thank you. I guess some other people just haven't lived yet. Some people manage to slip through the cracks without somebody stopping them to say, "grow up".