Stressed

[Blue39*]

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I plan on taking my MCAT on may 31st and I have been slowly studying while being studying for classes, but am gonna ramp it up a lot for april, and then in may I have no obligations so I can devote almost all of my day. However, I also have to finish writing my personal statement which I am only halfway through my draft. I personally was not stressed because based on my study habits I thought 2 months would be enough for the mcat and is what I can do, but everyone around me who has been accepted to a medical school said they took 6 months to prepare and 3 months for their personal statement. Granted they took their mcat during the school year. It makes me feel like i'm already so behind and since I didn't prepare far in advance I will not get in this cycle. To give an idea of where I stand right now my gpa is 3.76 , 150 hours hospital volunteering, ~ 90 hours of shadowing in rheumatology, anethesiology, and pathology, ~100 hours of non clinical volunteering. I TA for O chem and tutor multiple subjects (3 semesters). Have 300 hours of research experience related to my major, and ~ 50 hours of volunteering with a lot of patient contact. Does anyone have words of encouragement/ advice or even success stories of following what they think is right for them?

 

[kb1900]

you are not other people! only you can decide what you need to do for the MCAT. After spring semester was over junior year, i took 2.5 weeks/10 practice tests with 8-14 hours a day of work with 1 afternoon off per week. my test date was june 14 and i got my PS and AMCAS app together (3+ drafts of each) in the ~1-2 weeks after the MCAT with my gf and parents proofreading everything. submitted secondaries relatively late with the last few going in around mid-august. had a very succesful cycle with >10 interviews out of 22 applications

6 months to prepare for the MCAT is ridiculous unless you're only spending a little bit of time per day or have been out of school for a very long time. Same thing with the PS - pretty sure i could write a few chapters of my memoir in 3 months. the most efficient thing you can do for the MCAT is take as many practice tests and qbanks as you can, hammer weaknesses with thorough review of questions you arent 100% on and rinse and repeat. don't bother sitting for the exam until you are scoring where you want to score on practice tests!


having said all that, applying to med school is really a do-it-once, do-it-well kind of thing. you should take the time you need and trust your practice exam scores, qbank %s etc. same thing with the quality of your application essays and ECs.

 

[907914]

You are doing just fine. 6 months is way too much, 3 months is even too much if it is excessive. You should be good with the above advice. Do a quick week or two of content review as refresher, then knock the Qbanks/practice tests out of the park.

Turn that 'stressed' in to '#blessed'

 

[Pre-med path]

I plan on taking my MCAT on may 31st and I have been slowly studying while being studying for classes, but am gonna ramp it up a lot for april, and then in may I have no obligations so I can devote almost all of my day. However, I also have to finish writing my personal statement which I am only halfway through my draft. I personally was not stressed because based on my study habits I thought 2 months would be enough for the mcat and is what I can do, but everyone around me who has been accepted to a medical school said they took 6 months to prepare and 3 months for their personal statement. Granted they took their mcat during the school year. It makes me feel like i'm already so behind and since I didn't prepare far in advance I will not get in this cycle. To give an idea of where I stand right now my gpa is 3.76 , 150 hours hospital volunteering, ~ 90 hours of shadowing in rheumatology, anethesiology, and pathology, ~100 hours of non clinical volunteering. I TA for O chem and tutor multiple subjects (3 semesters). Have 300 hours of research experience related to my major, and ~ 50 hours of volunteering with a lot of patient contact. Does anyone have words of encouragement/ advice or even success stories of following what they think is right for them?

I wanted to echo the above responses by advising you to take it one step at a time! Every individual is different, and you don’t need to follow the path set by others!

If you’d like, feel free to message me for help with your Personal Statement (free no strings attached.)

 

[Dr. Basketball]

I agree with the posts from above. Run your own race. My personal statement took me about a week and I felt like that was plenty of time in my case. Others may say that I completely rushed it. Maybe I did, but I had a good idea of the ideas I wanted to communicate so I didn't need 3 months. There's no set time limit to these things. Just do you OP. Best of luck!

 

[Nurse2MD2018]

It should not talk you three months to write your personal statement.. First of all your only focus at this point should be your MCAT. Your concerns should be how prepared do you feel, how many full lengths have you taken, what are your problem areas, do you have a realistic schedule, etc.. Do not make the mistake of putting off all of the bulk of your studying in May.
Anywho I took my exam in late May, began writing my personal statement in June and was able to complete my primary app by June 25.