Sooner or Later?

[postbacinit]

I wanted everyone's opinion on whether I should take the MCAT in Aug of 2002 and apply or wait til the following Spring to take the MCAT and apply a year later. I had an appointment with the Associate Dean of Admissions and he recommended I take the summer MCAT. In order to do this though, I would have to take Organic I and II and Physics II over summer. I have an undergrad degree in nursing and an overall GPA of 3.89. Also if anybody has an idea of the acceptance of out-of-state applicants to the University of Colorado, please share. Any advice would be helpful.

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[Weeble]

Physics II with lab, both semesters of Organic with lab and studying for the MCAT all in the same summer sounds like too much.
I tried to take both semesters of Organic with lab during the summer while studying for the MCAT, but found that the class was just too time-consuming. I dropped the lab, and only took one semester of Organic lecture before taking the MCAT and did fine, but it's not an ideal situation.

I'd wait if I were you, but I'm sure you'll get lots of advice from lots of other people too.
Good luck!

 

[Mystique]

If I were in your shoes, I'd wait to take the MCAT the following spring.

1. As Weeble mentioned, those classes will be a hard load and leave you little time for studying for the MCAT, although, it's a nice review of the test material. You may burn yourself out...

2. As an Aug. MCAT taker, you will be at a disadvantage in the application process. The April MCAT takers will be ahead of you in the app process and will have their files complete before you. Also, most schools will not look at your file until mid/late October. In addition, you will be at a great disadvantage if applying to schools w/ rolling admissions.

3. If you do well on the April MCAT, you can relax the following summer and get your AMCAS application in early.

I say wait until April 2003.

Best of luck to you!

3.

 

[jdub]

first of all, what is the rush? what is a year or two in the whole scheme of things?
doing well on the mcat is worth taking the extra time to prepare for it.

second off, out of state applicants pay 50k a year just for tuition at university of colorado and it isn't even in boulder, it is in denver. if you really want to go there, you should try and gain residency in colorado first.

best of luck to ya.

 

[FSUMED]

If you absolutely feel like you are in a rush, and you are strong in science(which I feel you are considering the GPA and stuff) I woudl recommend only doing physics 2 and organic 1 over the summer, and taking MCAT in the summer without organic 2. I know a few folks who took the MCAT without organic 2 and did fine...you just have to have a realyl good grasp of organic 1, and it will require you to learn some of hte biggies in organic 2 on your own(i.e. that stuff about carohydrates, and fat, and the little biochem). I am taking 2 right now and feel confident that I wont know all these reactions in April when I take the MCAT.

 

[postbacinit]

The Admissions guy said I needed to prove that I could handle a heavy coarse load, eg. 15-16 credit hours. So, he suggested in Spring I take Chem II, Physics I, a math and another science class. Then in summer take Org I and II and Physics II and then the Aug MCAT. I think it would be a good prep for the MCAT but I don't want to drown myself either. Is this a logical plan or not? I've tried to contact other schools for their opinion but I've been unsuccessful so far.

 

[SMW]

No, it's too much. Don't risk doing poorly on the MCAT. And I'd say you've already proved yourself with that GPA as long as you keep it up for all the requirements.

 

[postbacinit]

So there is nobody out there that thinks this is doable?

 

[none]

Of course it's doable. Will you get through it with your GPA as high as it is and with an MCAT that reflects your level of knowledge? Probably not and GPA matters more than courseload. Imagine yourself to be on an adcom. They're going to see 6 items immediately that will be burned into their minds through the entire review process: Verbal, Physical Science, Biological Science, Writing, BCPM GPA, and Overall GPA. Everything else...could easily get lost in the shuffle and that includes courseload.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by none:
• GPA matters more than courseload. •••

And MCAT matters even more.

 

[deleted7807]

The 50,000 a year for U. Colorado is only for the first year. Then it goes down to 12,000 for the last three years. I think they interview about 10-12% of out-of state applicants (at least that is what it looks like from the MSAR). I don't know how many they actually accept though.

I don't think that you have to prove that you can do a heavy courseload, but that is just my opinion. I agree that taking two org. chem classes is too hard to do in the summer...you will hate life and the summer is supposed to be fun! Go for the April MCAT and spread your classes out - it will make the application a little less stressful (not having to wait for MCAT scores) and life just a little bit happier.

 

[Dancing Nancie]

Don't take on too much otherwise everything will suffer. My advice is to take the spring MCAT and take a year off and get some experience built up. Trying to do all of it will probably make your GPA suffer and your MCAT score as well (trust - I learned that the hard way). University of Colorado DOES NOT take out of state residents unless your state has a deal with the school (Wyoming and I thonk one other state is included, but they are states that don't have medical schools). If you're not a Colorado resident or a resident of one of those states, don't even bother with it. Good luck.

 

[postbacinit]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I'm new at this forum. I'll take a heavy course load in Spring and just take Org I (OChem, right?)in Summer and wait for the MCAT.