Taking the mcat with no science pre-req courses

[Natty]

Hi all!

I am a psyc major and I want to apply to medical school in Canada. There are a few schools here that do not require university science prerequisites and since I have barely any background in university level sciences (I took chem, physics, bio in highschool and have university level bio prerequisites) I will be applying to these schools. I am planning on studying for the MCATs this summer.

I was wondering if any of you have been or are in a similar position and what advice or words of caution you might have about how I should proceed?

Do you think it is unrealistic to expect to get through the MCAT without having taken university course in the physical sciences? Or do you think it can be done with a lot of hard work?

Thanks for your input! 🙂

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[QofQuimica]

Hi all!

I am a psyc major and I want to apply to medical school in Canada. There are a few schools here that do not require university science prerequisites and since I have barely any background in university level sciences (I took chem, physics, bio in highschool and have university level bio prerequisites) I will be applying to these schools. I am planning on studying for the MCATs this summer.

I was wondering if any of you have been or are in a similar position and what advice or words of caution you might have about how I should proceed?

Do you think it is unrealistic to expect to get through the MCAT without having taken university course in the physical sciences? Or do you think it can be done with a lot of hard work?

Thanks for your input! 🙂

Yes, it is foolish to take the MCAT without taking the four pre-reqs first. We've all heard anecdotes about someone's brilliant cousin's friend's brother-in-law who was able to do it, but chances are good that you that you are in the need-to-study majority with the rest of us. If you haven't already, you should check out the MCAT Study Questions Subforum and the main MCAT forum. There is lots of advice on preparing for the MCAT there. This thread in particular might be useful to you.

 

[efex101]

This has to be a joke right? sure take the MCAT w/o any undergrad level classes...this will be beneficial for those that did take classes for it...also tell ALL your friends to also take the MCAT w/o any classes...nice curve.

BTW being totally sarcastic but could not help myself.

 

[blee]

Probably no need to pile it on here, but I concur. You will not do well on the MCAT if you have not taken the pre-reqs and use only one summer (with professional instruction or not) to prepare for it.

If you really think you can do it, then take a practice test within the next couple of days. Look at your score and decide whether you can get it up to an acceptable level by the end of the summer. FWIW, I had finished gen chem and was slightly more than halfway through the pre-reqs when I got a 31 on a full-length practice test. Ten weeks later, with my pre-reqs just finished and with a lot of test prep thrown in, I got a 37 on the real thing. I'm happy with that score but I'm pretty sure I could've scored even higher had I spent the summer concentrating on MCAT prep.

 

[Natty]

Wow. Snarky post Efex101. Are you bitter much? I AM actually JUST asking a question and no it's not a joke.

Thanks for your helpful reply blee. You're not piling it on because your post was constructive, whereas the previous post was nothing but condescending and a little bit rude.

 

[MyNameIsAlex]

I personally think it is more than possible.... get the course textbook from your uni.... and the outline and go chapter by chapter and cover it by urself...
im sure with 5-6hrs of studyin a day u can cover general chem in about 3 weeks (for example)

 

[QofQuimica]

Don't take efex's post personally, Natty. She is a non-trad long-time SDNer who was very successful with her apps, and she gets frustrated when she sees other non-trads doing things like what you suggested that will almost certainly cause them problems later on. You are new here and you didn't know, but your question gets asked over and over with alarming regularity. efex really does have your best interests at heart.

 

[efex101]

Thanks Q, also if you read further down it says that I WAS being sarcastic....

 

[njbmd]

Hi all!

I am a psyc major and I want to apply to medical school in Canada. There are a few schools here that do not require university science prerequisites and since I have barely any background in university level sciences (I took chem, physics, bio in highschool and have university level bio prerequisites) I will be applying to these schools. I am planning on studying for the MCATs this summer.

I was wondering if any of you have been or are in a similar position and what advice or words of caution you might have about how I should proceed?

Do you think it is unrealistic to expect to get through the MCAT without having taken university course in the physical sciences? Or do you think it can be done with a lot of hard work?

Thanks for your input! 🙂

Hi there,
I foresee only one problem. What happens if you do not do well on the MCAT? What is your back-up plan? Will you re-take the MCAT? If so, what happens if you do not do well a second time? You will be sitting there with two mediocre MCAT scores (red flag to any admissions committee) after not having taken the coursework for that exam. What do you do then?

If you wish to proceed with the course of action, I would strongly recommend that you take plenty of practice exams under the same conditions as the actual test, look at your scores and proceed from there. If you are acing the practice exams, you might have a good shot at aceing the actual exam. The MCAT is nothing more than application of the knowledge from the pre-med courses to problem-solving. If you have a strong knowledge base (as you state that you have), and you are able to apply that knowledge to the types of problems that the MCAT presents, you should do fine.

If not, you might want to re-think your plans and take that exam after you have taken a good MCAT prep course that will review the pre-med course knowledge for you. The bottom line is that you should only plan on taking the MCAT once, after you are thoroughly prepared and practiced. If you have solidly prepared and something (like illness) prevents you from getting a solid score in April, then you should take the exam in August and make sure you are ready and illness-free.

Also, you are limiting yourself in terms of the number of schools that you can apply to. This greatly decreases your chances of acceptance. If this does not bother you, then go for it and go with a plan to change anything that you need to maximize your chances of acceptances if you should not do well on the MCAT.

Good luck!
njbmd 🙂

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hi all!

I am a psyc major and I want to apply to medical school in Canada. There are a few schools here that do not require university science prerequisites and since I have barely any background in university level sciences (I took chem, physics, bio in highschool and have university level bio prerequisites) I will be applying to these schools. I am planning on studying for the MCATs this summer.

I was wondering if any of you have been or are in a similar position and what advice or words of caution you might have about how I should proceed?

Do you think it is unrealistic to expect to get through the MCAT without having taken university course in the physical sciences? Or do you think it can be done with a lot of hard work?

Thanks for your input! 🙂

Don't do it. I'll go as far to say I feel it's impossible--even with a prep. course (I teach Kaplan MCAT)--to do well on the MCAT without an excellent college-level background in the sciences. The majority of the MCAT is based on distinguishing between answer choices with only subtle differences; it would be impossible to do well without a good working knowledge of that subject. Have you looked into McMaster? This school does not require the MCAT. Also....when you get to medical school, it will only hurt you if you have little background knowledge of chemistry/biology. For example, a good working knowledge of chemistry is absolutely essential for you to understand blood acid-base balance, electrolytes etc.

 

[stillapplying]

Which schools were you thinking of Natty?

 

[Natty]

Which schools were you thinking of Natty?

Hey,

As far as I know there are 6 schools in Canada...maybe 7 (still looking into the 7th) that do not require science prerequisites. They are: McMaster, Dalhousie, Calgary, Toronto (they require non-specific "life sciences" like bio, neurobio, which I have), Memorial in Newfoundland, Northern Ontario. I am still not sure about the University of Alberta.

 

[Natty]

Thanks for the info everyone! I think I will go the middle road and take a bit of advice from, all of you. First I will sit in on the prereq classes at my school and check out the textboooks to see what it is I am missing. I'll study the material by myself and then see how I do on the practice tests.
If I don't do well I guess I will study more and maybe get some help from a tutor.
NJBMD thanks for the good advice to make sure I get it right the 1st time...good to know!
I'm surprised that so many of you think it's impossible to do well without taking the prereq classes at university...what about studying the material alone? Also, I found that my university prereq biology classes were almost a complete review of grade 12 high school biology...which is the reason why I wondered if I should even bother with the university level chemistry prerequisites in the first place...
If anyone else has any more opinions on the matter I'd love to hear them.

 

[Natty]

Thanks for the info everyone! I think I will go the middle road and take a bit of advice from, all of you. First I will sit in on the prereq classes at my school and check out the textboooks to see what it is I am missing. I'll study the material by myself and then see how I do on the practice tests.
If I don't do well I guess I will study more and maybe get some help from a tutor.
NJBMD thanks for the good advice to make sure I get it right the 1st time...good to know! I will make sure I do well on practice tests before doing the real thing.
I'm surprised that so many of you think it's impossible to do well without taking the prereq classes at university...what about studying the material alone? Also, I found that my university prereq biology classes were almost a complete review of grade 12 high school biology...which is the reason why I wondered if I should even bother with the university level chemistry prerequisites in the first place...
If anyone else has any more opinions on the matter I'd love to hear them.

 

[Natty]

Thanks for the info everyone! I think I will go the middle road and take a bit of advice from, all of you. First I will sit in on the prereq classes at my school and check out the textboooks to see what it is I am missing. I'll study the material by myself and then see how I do on the practice tests.
If I don't do well I guess I will study more and maybe get some help from a tutor.
NJBMD thanks for the good advice to make sure I get it right the 1st time...good to know! I will make sure I do well on practice tests before doing the real thing.
I'm surprised that so many of you think it's impossible to do well without taking the prereq classes at university...what about studying the material alone? Also, I found that my university prereq biology classes were almost a complete review of grade 12 high school biology...which is the reason why I wondered if I should even bother with the university level chemistry prerequisites in the first place...
If anyone else has any more opinions on the matter I'd love to hear them.

 

[MoosePilot]

I think it could be disastrous, but you could take a full prep course, study your rear off, and see how you do on the final diagnostic. You probably won't live up to anywhere near your full potential, but if you're a naturally good test taker, you may not need to.

Canada has really high MCAT averages, if I remember right, doesn't it? The MCAT is a truly, truly difficult test. I love taking tests and doing well on that one almost gave me an ulcer.

 

[MoosePilot]

Thanks for the info everyone! I think I will go the middle road and take a bit of advice from, all of you. First I will sit in on the prereq classes at my school and check out the textboooks to see what it is I am missing. I'll study the material by myself and then see how I do on the practice tests.
If I don't do well I guess I will study more and maybe get some help from a tutor.
NJBMD thanks for the good advice to make sure I get it right the 1st time...good to know! I will make sure I do well on practice tests before doing the real thing.
I'm surprised that so many of you think it's impossible to do well without taking the prereq classes at university...what about studying the material alone? Also, I found that my university prereq biology classes were almost a complete review of grade 12 high school biology...which is the reason why I wondered if I should even bother with the university level chemistry prerequisites in the first place...
If anyone else has any more opinions on the matter I'd love to hear them.

Basic biology is pretty easy. Organic, biochem, and genetics are much more difficult.

For students who take the pre-reqs, that consumes about two years of their life. Do you think self study will be so much more efficient that you can do the same thing in a matter of months?

 

[scpod]

Also, I found that my university prereq biology classes were almost a complete review of grade 12 high school biology...which is the reason why I wondered if I should even bother with the university level chemistry prerequisites in the first place...
If anyone else has any more opinions on the matter I'd love to hear them.

Biology is probably the thing you need to worry about least on the MCAT. It's all the other subjects that make it hard. I base my opinion on the fact that Biology majors perform worse than every other major on the MCAT except for Health Sciences majors. Why? My opinion is that so much of Biology is just simple memorization...I should know since that was my major. The MCAT is so much more than that, though. It requires a lot of thought and reasoning, possibly the basis behind Math & Statistics and Physical Sciences majors performing better than anyone. While there are a few questions based on knowledge, most of them are conceptual in nature.

Take that first practice test tomorrow. If not then, do it very soon. Make your decisions after that.

 

[PurpleHaze]

All I can say is that it takes a lot of guts to tackle the MCAT without taking the pre-reqs. More power to you if you can pull out a good score by studying on your own. I know I couldn't do it.

 

[MeowMix]

You can probably teach yourself all that prereq stuff, but what kind of foundation is that going to give you for med school courses, which are extremely heavy on science? Med school is hard enough already; goodness knows it gets a lot harder with inadequate preparation.

Mac SAYS that you don't need the science prereqs...the same way that they SAY they will look at students with a 3.0 GPA, but 95% of their accepted students have a 3.8 GPA or higher. In the last few years they haven't let in anyone with less than about a 3.4.

These universities' stated openness to students without the prereqs is, I believe, intended for the very special student with extraordinary life experiences. If you are one of those people, then good luck. If you are like the rest of us ordinary folks, then your application needs to look as solid as anyone else's, including adequate preparation in the sciences.