Trouble with mcat low score

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You have a horrific way of extrapolating the worst from my situation. Firstly, my undergrad is NOT inflated. I studied for countless hours and spent actual quality time with my teachers and peers both in helping me to find a good concrete grasp on the material and helping my peers do the same. All while working full time; I might add. You appear to lack the quality of empathy; which is really quite sad for you. From what you said, it seems like you read what you wanted and inferred the worst and degrading scenario possible. I thought this forum existed to support one another. Not to be a cynical and heartless *censored*. Furthermore, two people actually liked your post; agreeing with your demeaning viewpoints. The fact that you are most readily able to make such harsh assumptions about someone you know nothing of shows that you take external factors and automatically apply them to the internal qualities of an individual. This further supports your inability to take the perspective of another; making you extremely egocentric. A quality that no physician should have. I definitely should've voided the second mcat I took. However, until you can put yourself in an other person's shoes during those brief moments when one is deciding if they should void all the hard work they have done, even when they feel decent about the exam; you should keep your belittling comments to yourself.
Many people here lack empathy.
 
I think this lack of empathy statement is the wrong use of the word. Although many people can understand and feel for you and your situation, they are being realistic when it comes to your situation. Most of these people that are backing the side of a retake and try are optimistic premeds. After going through OMS1 and currently studying for boards I can say that the MCAT pales in comparison to the step 1/level 1. Having such a low MCAT x3 shows a deficiency in critical thinking. This leads to a higher than average chance of failure.

I'm not saying that OP WILL fail boards. I am saying that they have a higher than average chance of failing boards, and that's all that ADCOMs need to reject someone. There are way too many qualified applicants that make schools want to take chances.

I am not doubting the merit of your undergrad degree where it's memorize facts with little to no critical thinking. I know my only courses that required extrapolation were organic, physics 2, and Biochem.

I would apply but I would have a backup. A 4th time MCAT could be a killer, but someone said that Some schools have taken students with the same or more tries.

As for taking the MCAT again. Learn critical thinking doing passages. You know the hard facts now apply them. For cars section grab an LSAT review book and read their passages (I was struggling with VR until I got that tip. Their passages are harder because really everything is philosophy).
 
I agree with you. You can understand the science behind what is tested and still come up short on the mcat because it's just that difficult of a test. Like I said, I've been there too.

However, I strongly disagree with you not having a backup plan. The people telling you to look into plan B are not malicious in their intent, the genuinely want to help. Do not let your 4.0 GPA ego get in the way of clouding your judgement.

With that said, I disagree with the majority on here. I think you should take the mcat again and score higher and go to med school.
Thank you! And just to clear some things up, I do have a backup plan. After I take the mcat in January, I am going to study for the gre, take it a couple months later, and apply to graduate programs in the field of psychology.

It is hard enough for a person to realize he/she might not be able to fulfill his/her dreams. The last thing ANY person needs is a stranger telling them they are not good enough and should give up.
 
Thank you! And just to clear some things up, I do have a backup plan. After I take the mcat in January, I am going to study for the gre, take it a couple months later, and apply to graduate programs in the field of psychology.

It is hard enough for a person to realize he/she might not be able to fulfill his/her dreams. The last thing ANY person needs is a stranger telling them they are not good enough and should give up.

Podiatry is another way for you to consider. You still get to be foot and ankle surgeon.
My podiatrist have 36 MCAT but 2.7 GPA and he graduated from UC Berkeley. He wanted to be a doctor, but he has to explore other options if he still wanted to involved in "medicine".
There are many options out there, you don't have to completely give up on your dream of being a doctor.

It's not like we don't have empathy. We just being honest with you.
I still suggest u should take the last MCAT and see how it goes. If it's another low score, it's time for plan B.
 
Thank you! And just to clear some things up, I do have a backup plan. After I take the mcat in January, I am going to study for the gre, take it a couple months later, and apply to graduate programs in the field of psychology.

It is hard enough for a person to realize he/she might not be able to fulfill his/her dreams. The last thing ANY person needs is a stranger telling them they are not good enough and should give up.

People here aren't lacking in empathy at all. You asked for some input and the majority of those people that have responded gave you honest input and advice. If you're going to post on an anonymous thread you need to have thick skin or else your feelings are going to get hurt as they appear to have been. I really hope you crush your MCAT and get a 510 and prove people wrong, but the reality is with 3 sub 500 scores the likelihood of that are very slim. Best of luck to you OP!


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You have a horrific way of extrapolating the worst from my situation. Firstly, my undergrad is NOT inflated. I studied for countless hours and spent actual quality time with my teachers and peers both in helping me to find a good concrete grasp on the material and helping my peers do the same. All while working full time; I might add. You appear to lack the quality of empathy; which is really quite sad for you. From what you said, it seems like you read what you wanted and inferred the worst and degrading scenario possible. I thought this forum existed to support one another. Not to be a cynical and heartless *censored*. Furthermore, two people actually liked your post; agreeing with your demeaning viewpoints. The fact that you are most readily able to make such harsh assumptions about someone you know nothing of shows that you take external factors and automatically apply them to the internal qualities of an individual. This further supports your inability to take the perspective of another; making you extremely egocentric. A quality that no physician should have. I definitely should've voided the second mcat I took. However, until you can put yourself in an other person's shoes during those brief moments when one is deciding if they should void all the hard work they have done, even when they feel decent about the exam; you should keep your belittling comments to yourself.

Ah yes Burnett's Law has now been invoked. Just because you don't like my advice or statements doesn't mean they aren't true or not based in reality. Honestly I hope it all works out for you but I think your pride will cause you to fail again. Sometimes the worst thing for an applicant (or anyone in general actually) is a lack of self awareness. Not everyone can play D1 basketball, sometimes you just aren't a good enough athlete; accepting that doesn't make you a worse person. It just is the reality. Make sure you keep us all updated with how it turns out
 
Thank you! And just to clear some things up, I do have a backup plan. After I take the mcat in January, I am going to study for the gre, take it a couple months later, and apply to graduate programs in the field of psychology.

It is hard enough for a person to realize he/she might not be able to fulfill his/her dreams. The last thing ANY person needs is a stranger telling them they are not good enough and should give up.

Awesome! Obviously, it would be better for you to just get the med school acceptance, but it is a good thing to have a plan B. Life doesn't follow a linear pathway, for better or for worse.

And yeah, I agree. Nobody wants to be told that they are not good enough. The process is hard enough going through, and time is always tick tock ticking away. Medicine is not an education you can bang out in 2 years, start a family, live in a nice house, etc. until you are sitting in your mid thirties. Thats why I suggested Optometry or Dentistry, as the schooling is only 4 years, but if you know you don't wanna do that, that is cool too. Better to at least tolerate your job instead of loathing it.
 
Podiatry is another way for you to consider. You still get to be foot and ankle surgeon.
My podiatrist have 36 MCAT but 2.7 GPA and he graduated from UC Berkeley. He wanted to be a doctor, but he has to explore other options if he still wanted to involved in "medicine".
There are many options out there, you don't have to completely give up on your dream of being a doctor.

It's not like we don't have empathy. We just being honest with you.
I still suggest u should take the last MCAT and see how it goes. If it's another low score, it's time for plan B.

My buddy had something like a 2.9 GPA and a 15 MCAT and got into pod school. He had trouble with the boards, but he ended up passing all the stuff and is making something like 130K/year now as a newly minted pod. Not too bad for someone who got mostly Bs and the occasional C.

Podiatry is about as close as some people are gonna get to medicine. I mean, it still technically is medicine.
 
You have a horrific way of extrapolating the worst from my situation. Firstly, my undergrad is NOT inflated. I studied for countless hours and spent actual quality time with my teachers and peers both in helping me to find a good concrete grasp on the material and helping my peers do the same. All while working full time; I might add. You appear to lack the quality of empathy; which is really quite sad for you. From what you said, it seems like you read what you wanted and inferred the worst and degrading scenario possible. I thought this forum existed to support one another. Not to be a cynical and heartless *censored*. Furthermore, two people actually liked your post; agreeing with your demeaning viewpoints. The fact that you are most readily able to make such harsh assumptions about someone you know nothing of shows that you take external factors and automatically apply them to the internal qualities of an individual. This further supports your inability to take the perspective of another; making you extremely egocentric. A quality that no physician should have. I definitely should've voided the second mcat I took. However, until you can put yourself in an other person's shoes during those brief moments when one is deciding if they should void all the hard work they have done, even when they feel decent about the exam; you should keep your belittling comments to yourself.
im sorry op, but hes right. empathy has no role here.

you asked for advice and he gave you direct advice although speculating about your undergrad GPA. Im sorry, but I think it is. A 4.0 should atleast give you an average MCAT. After being through it all, 3.67, 95th percentile MCAT back down to average step 1,2 and above average 3 and speciality boards... This MCAT is just the tip of the iceberg of difficult tests that you would take.

MD/DO is likely over. For people who havent taken the mcat or only once, please dont take the MCAT until your practice scores are where you need them to be.

good luck in grad school, im sure youll do well. sorry that md/do didnt work out.

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what was your CARS score? If your problem is reading comprehension, the only thing to do is practice. read widely, and practice cars everyday. Poor reading comprehension will drag you down on the all the sections.
The odd thing is CARs was consistently my best; besides psych, but I scored low on the real test
 
The odd thing is CARs was consistently my best; besides psych, but I scored low on the real test
hmmm, that would indicate that reading comp isn't the problem...

it seems like you are scoring much lower than your practice tests would predict.
 
Three low MCATs is tough. I had a horrendous first MCAT and it was all due to hubris. I had a great grip of the material, but often with standardized tests you're fighting the test format, not the material. I took an online review course through one of the major companies and improved my score by an amount where I was definitely a candidate. That might be your last hail mary to pull up your score. You'll have to buffer that with a lot of volunteer and extracurricular work too. If you get it up there apply BROADLY and focus on DOs. Otherwise, echoing what the thread said: Podiatry/PA.

Many people here lack empathy.

This can also be true. If you have an advisor at your school go to them for help. This place gave me some serious anxiety during my own MCAT prep. It gets a lot more kind once you're in full application mode.
 
Listen I created an account solely to help someone who was probably in similar shoes to mine. Here are my stats: 495 MCAT (taken 3 times)/2.84 sgpa/3.00 cgpa - Accepted, class of 2021, DO

Now before the 'you will flunk your boards people' come at me, I have an extraordinary personal story that went with my app and suffer from severe test anxiety, just like OP. With that said, you can get into DO school with that score.

You need to find maybe three schools that share a mission which you also agree with. Reach out to those schools - let admin know you. Share your personal stories with them - share your passion for medicine. Dazzle them with your positives so that the 495 fizzles out. I showed them I was studying for my masters degree (fulltime), employment of 3 jobs (1 full time and 2 part time) while also studying for the MCAT. I showed them summer research, volunteering and shadowing experience. If you really can't get past that 495, then build everything else up. But you can do it. Do not get discouraged.

In regards to test taking, since i am done with that masters and basically waiting to start this coming July, I have started doing practice mcat (again) and other standardized tests to see what's flunking me out. It came down to STRESS. i scored way better when I was calm and not anxious. Try ways to calm yourself down even while taking the test and dont jump right at the most obvious answer. Take a breath and look at it again. Practice breathing exercises. You know the content - you've seen it - watched a Khan video - memorized it - whatever. So dont listen to people saying you don't know your material - testing anxiety is real and can be overcome with practice. Good luck my friend.
 
Listen I created an account solely to help someone who was probably in similar shoes to mine. Here are my stats: 495 MCAT (taken 3 times)/2.84 sgpa/3.00 cgpa - Accepted, class of 2021, DO

Now before the 'you will flunk your boards people' come at me, I have an extraordinary personal story that went with my app and suffer from severe test anxiety, just like OP. With that said, you can get into DO school with that score.

You need to find maybe three schools that share a mission which you also agree with. Reach out to those schools - let admin know you. Share your personal stories with them - share your passion for medicine. Dazzle them with your positives so that the 495 fizzles out. I showed them I was studying for my masters degree (fulltime), employment of 3 jobs (1 full time and 2 part time) while also studying for the MCAT. I showed them summer research, volunteering and shadowing experience. If you really can't get past that 495, then build everything else up. But you can do it. Do not get discouraged.

In regards to test taking, since i am done with that masters and basically waiting to start this coming July, I have started doing practice mcat (again) and other standardized tests to see what's flunking me out. It came down to STRESS. i scored way better when I was calm and not anxious. Try ways to calm yourself down even while taking the test and dont jump right at the most obvious answer. Take a breath and look at it again. Practice breathing exercises. You know the content - you've seen it - watched a Khan video - memorized it - whatever. So dont listen to people saying you don't know your material - testing anxiety is real and can be overcome with practice. Good luck my friend.

Thanks for the inspiring story, care to share in private what school you got accepted to? I have similar figures as yours and wanting to go DO but seems most schools asking for 500+ mcat
 
Okay I read the first page and kind of skimmed the rest, with that being said here are my thoughts:

There was one kid at my undergrad institution (keep in mind everyone thinks they can be the n=1) that took the MCAT 4 or 5 times and he got into medical school. I don't know what his scores were, or what the rest of his app looked like, but it isn't 100% impossible... although it is highly improbable.

That being said, even if you got interviews after a solid retake, the first question they are going to ask you is what happened the first three times. Probably the second question they will ask you is something about whether or not you have a backup plan. If you say no, they will not look kindly upon you. It's called being realistic and smart. Heck, I was asked about my backup plan three times this cycle and I only took the MCAT/applied to med school once.

The realist in me says I think you need to seriously consider a backup plan. Whether you retake the MCAT or not, you need to be doing this.

The optimist in me says, if this is your dream, and you have the drive/determination to do everything in your power to re-assess your testing strategy and attack this beast.. maybe try one more time. (...I love a good underdog story.) Keep in mind, this is while simultaneously getting the wheels of a backup plan turning a bit.

P.S. PA school is not out of the question, OP. The only way they would know you are using them as a backup plan is if you tell them... Don't do that. The GRE is a glorified ACT/SAT.. All you'd have to do is take that and do well on it because your gpa is awesome. After battling the MCAT for so long, the GRE would probably feel like a cakewalk to you.
 
You have a horrific way of extrapolating the worst from my situation. Firstly, my undergrad is NOT inflated. I studied for countless hours and spent actual quality time with my teachers and peers both in helping me to find a good concrete grasp on the material and helping my peers do the same. All while working full time; I might add. You appear to lack the quality of empathy; which is really quite sad for you. From what you said, it seems like you read what you wanted and inferred the worst and degrading scenario possible. I thought this forum existed to support one another. Not to be a cynical and heartless *censored*. Furthermore, two people actually liked your post; agreeing with your demeaning viewpoints. The fact that you are most readily able to make such harsh assumptions about someone you know nothing of shows that you take external factors and automatically apply them to the internal qualities of an individual. This further supports your inability to take the perspective of another; making you extremely egocentric. A quality that no physician should have. I definitely should've voided the second mcat I took. However, until you can put yourself in an other person's shoes during those brief moments when one is deciding if they should void all the hard work they have done, even when they feel decent about the exam; you should keep your belittling comments to yourself.
Dude you really need to look up the proper use of semicolons; they connect two complete sentences that share the same subject. Sick to your commas and perhaps you will score better on the CARS section.

I really hope you considered podiatry more seriously and/or have formulated a good plan B. Best of luck.
 
If medicine is something you really want to pursue, I'd say study harder for your MCAT and take it again. A fourth time but significantly higher score is fine; it shows commitment and persistence. NS full-lengths aren't the best predictor for the actual MCAT. I suggest using Kaplan or PR. Take as many of those as you can/have energy for. Do the AAMC full-lengths two weeks prior to test day (those are money because they're the best predictor for your MCAT score with +/- 3 pts). Don't give up! Best of luck!
 
Let me chime in with a perhaps useless response.

First, if you still want to be a physician in 5 or 10 years, you can retake the MCAT then and try to get into medical school. That time will allow you to evolve and you never know how you'll do. Perhaps after going through a Ph.D. program and reading tons of dense papers day in day out your ability to read these complex articles will change. Being a doctor is a life-long commitment and it doesn't really matter I think if you get 50, 40, or 30 years of practice out of your career, so honestly, as crazy as it may seem, 10 years here or there doesn't actually matter, as long as you enjoy school and healthcare work.

That being said, this one test is something that many people (like myself) will study for as a full-time job for months. Is this fair that some can do this and others can't? Probably not, but the fact is that we all have to take advantage of the resources we have in life and plan accordingly.

It sounds like it's moot, but if you are still interested, I think you should go for broke. If you haven't done this, you should re-evaluate your strategy in terms of time management (try going MUCH slower but trying to be accurate, then guess on the rest). Every day from today do a little bit of MCAT studying, but then at some point in the future set aside a 3-5 month period where virtually ALL you do is study for the MCAT. Do nothing else that takes energy or involves stress; every day, all day, study for the MCAT, take a practice test weekly or more often, review EVERYTHING (every question, every question answer given, why it's right, why it's wrong, and be able to clearly articulate why). Here is a major key: you have to have a DAILY record of every question you got wrong, guessed, or didn't know what one of the options meant. You should review that material every day (all of it) until it becomes impossible to review it all in one day, then cycle through the material. Make a database of every question you've ever got wrong; use the snipping tool in the computer and take the images and put them into a word document or a paint document, and then have a copy of the right answer and explanation next to it. Take images from Google images that somehow strike you as interesting or somehow relevant; come up with mnemonics, and make goofy associations, and again, review ALL of these, every day. Every day you study make a new folder with the date and then the mix of images/questions/explanations files. As you review the material, read the question then ACTIVELY RECALL the answer to yourself, THEN check to see if you were right. As your database of questions grows, it will get to the point where half your day will be spent reviewing, and half will be spent doing new material, except test days, when you do new material. Read the passages multiple times and answer the question; you need to develop a flow for speed, and you need to "feel" what it's like to read passages and understand them enough. Your brain will adjust if you redo passages over and over, despite many who think this is a waste of time. You must CEMENT the lessons you learned subconsciously, and this CANNOT be done without THOROUGH, DAILY, LONG-TERM review of SPECIFIC questions and contexts that you've seen EXACTLY before. Doing CARS passages multiple times is not bad either as long as you space them out a bit. Get ALL The AAMC material, get some of the Princeton Review stuff for content, then also get the Next Step CARS books for passages.

Many people do not find this necessary to do, but many benefit from such scorched-Earth approaches. This is the only way you would ever know if you were truly able to make it or not.
 
OP, do not, do NOT go to the Caribbean. I know it sounds tempting, especially after taking this stupid test for a third time. I know you wanna get on with your life. As someone who utterly failed the MCAT, I know all too well the temptation of wanting to go Caribbean. You have to resist that.

You MCAT is really bad. My belief is, you either take it again (ACOM told me last week they had someone take the MCAT 7 times and got in), or you cut your losses and find something else.

As someone who also struggles with reading, I have some recommendations for you. There are a couple ways to move foreword with your life if medicine is still what you want, and you see yourself being a "doctor".

1) The best option, as others have mentioned, is podiatry school. If you still want that shot at being a surgeon, operating in the OR, wearing the white coat, and being called doctor, being a podiatrist seems like a good way to go. I have family who couldn't get into medical school who are now pods and they seem to have a pretty sweet work schedule. she is more conservative in treatment approach and doesn't do a whole lot of surgery, but as a pod, you can be as busy as you want, or have a much more relaxed schedule than many other surgeons in healthcare.

Podiatry is a legitimate aspiration. Don't feel like a lesser person for choosing to go that route. People really underestimate their feet until its too late, you can make a difference in the lives of others as a pod. No, you probably won't save a life (although ankle trauma is a thing), no you probably won't be preforming surgery on famous actors, and no, you will never be that prestigious brain surgeon that everyone at the next family wedding talks about, but you will make a good living (130k+) and you still get to be a "doctor"

2) Dentistry, Optometry, or Pharmacy. These are all doctorate programs that have much easier entrance exams, with a lot less reading and critical thinking. There are many pharm schools (good ones too) that don't even require the PCAT. Beware with these however, as saturation is starting to encroach these specialties.

3) Midlevel PA or NP.
this is the first time i have ever seen someone suggest dentistry and i have no idea why nobody does. to me this would be a much better alternative than pod, np, or pa
 
this is the first time i have ever seen someone suggest dentistry and i have no idea why nobody does. to me this would be a much better alternative than pod, np, or pa

Because a lot of the time DO and dentistry have similar numbers. Although the DAT is supposedly easier (dunno didn’t take it), if the applicant isn’t competitive for DO school then they won’t be competitive for dentistry. At least gpa wise
 
Most of the time it’s because Dental is more competitive to get into than DO school. The DAT is much easier than the MCAT. the DAT is like two undergraduate finals staples togetherbwoth a bonus games at the end. The MCAT. Destroyed my life.
 
I took both, and the MCAT was definitely harder, but I liked it better. The DAT is mainly recall questions. You could spend a year studying for BIO and get asked a random question and miss it. However the DAT is definitely easier with a lot less subjects to study for.
I think the reason NP, PA, and Pod are always suggested as alternatives is because their job environments are most similar to physician. You work in similar specialties, locations and have a similar focus.
Dentistry is completely different.
 
take everything on here with a grain of salt OP. Do not trust what people say on here, and do your own research. I have friends/family that went to carribean (sgu and ross) and matched last year. Only one person i know that quit after first year because he could not handle the life on the island and changed profession.
You just need to work hard, yeah it will be riskier than US med schools. but you can take that risk if you believe in yourself.

as for the mcat, you need to retake again and do more practice questions.

you must try your best to get into US Med school before you look at second options. I can tell you are not trying your best if you are scoring that low. study smarter, not harder.
 
take everything on here with a grain of salt OP. Do not trust what people say on here, and do your own research. I have friends/family that went to carribean (sgu and ross) and matched last year. Only one person i know that quit after first year because he could not handle the life on the island and changed profession.
You just need to work hard, yeah it will be riskier than US med schools. but you can take that risk if you believe in yourself.

as for the mcat, you need to retake again and do more practice questions.

you must try your best to get into US Med school before you look at second options. I can tell you are not trying your best if you are scoring that low. study smarter, not harder.
Probably the worst advice anyone could give someone considering the merger that is happening
 
From the way the merger was explained to me, it should make it easier for students from those schools to match
 
Probably the worst advice anyone could give someone considering the merger that is happening


As of now, USMDs/DOs/IMGs apply for spots through the NRMP, and DOs have protected AOA spots that only they can apply for. The only real consequence of this merger is that now the AOA spots will be open to everyone. How can this possibly be a bad thing for IMGs? The number of spots they can apply for is increasing.

This merger has nothing to do with increasing the total number of AMG applicants, all it does is open up the previously DO protected residency positions to everyone else. DOs will not have to choose to go through the AOA match first and withdrawal from the NRMP, which is good for them, but that won't have any consequence to the number of IMGs matching as they will just then fill the previously DO-only spots."
 
As of now, USMDs/DOs/IMGs apply for spots through the NRMP, and DOs have protected AOA spots that only they can apply for. The only real consequence of this merger is that now the AOA spots will be open to everyone. How can this possibly be a bad thing for IMGs? The number of spots they can apply for is increasing.

This merger has nothing to do with increasing the total number of AMG applicants, all it does is open up the previously DO protected residency positions to everyone else. DOs will not have to choose to go through the AOA match first and withdrawal from the NRMP, which is good for them, but that won't have any consequence to the number of IMGs matching as they will just then fill the previously DO-only spots."

There's still a lot left to be known with how the merger will affect ANYbody in particular. You can speculate eight ways to Sunday, but it could go either way for DOs and IMGs. Honestly, AMGs are the only decisive winners in the merger so far, from what I can tell. So, say you have 500 DO protected slots right now (no idea what the real number is, and it'll slow down my anatomy studies too much to look it up). Now, say 100 of those slots will be lost to the merger (no idea how many really will, but I think 20% is a decent estimation). You'll still have programs with "osteopathic distinction" (no idea how many will have this), that will "prefer" DO students to others. Even ignoring the distinction residencies, you now have 400 DO students that would have otherwise matched to protected residencies now trying to match in the free-for-all. You're not netting any slots at this point. You're increasing competition by shutting out DOs from previously protected slots. Sure, you can still apply to these formerly DO-only residencies as an IMG. But I don't anticipate the odds of an IMG getting a slot are going to improve, especially with the huge amount of new seats available in DO and USMD schools (as noted above). Slice it however you want, I don't think things will ever be better for IMGs than they are now, and they're certainly better now than they were yesterday.
 
take everything on here with a grain of salt OP. Do not trust what people say on here, and do your own research. I have friends/family that went to carribean (sgu and ross) and matched last year. Only one person i know that quit after first year because he could not handle the life on the island and changed profession.
You just need to work hard, yeah it will be riskier than US med schools. but you can take that risk if you believe in yourself.

as for the mcat, you need to retake again and do more practice questions.

you must try your best to get into US Med school before you look at second options. I can tell you are not trying your best if you are scoring that low. study smarter, not harder.

This is terrible advice with the explosion of US medical seats.

From the way the merger was explained to me, it should make it easier for students from those schools to match
The only real consequence of this merger is that now the AOA spots will be open to everyone. How can this possibly be a bad thing for IMGs?

Because of you think these former AOA programs will consider IMGs anymore than the ACGME programs you will be sorely mistaken....

Now is the worst time ever to go offshore for multiple reasons.
 
From the way the merger was explained to me, it should make it easier for students from those schools to match
As of now, USMDs/DOs/IMGs apply for spots through the NRMP, and DOs have protected AOA spots that only they can apply for. The only real consequence of this merger is that now the AOA spots will be open to everyone. How can this possibly be a bad thing for IMGs? The number of spots they can apply for is increasing.

This merger has nothing to do with increasing the total number of AMG applicants, all it does is open up the previously DO protected residency positions to everyone else. DOs will not have to choose to go through the AOA match first and withdrawal from the NRMP, which is good for them, but that won't have any consequence to the number of IMGs matching as they will just then fill the previously DO-only spots."
Two considerations:

1. Prior biases will likely continue to exist. Just because AOA spots open up to everyone doesn't mean non-DOs have an equal shot. On the flip-side, a DO with a 270 Step 1 still has near-zero shot of matching ACGME (that wasn't AOA before) ortho, ENT, etc.

2. Keep in mind that strong DO applicants who want to play it safe with the AOA match will no longer be pulled out of the ACGME, and instead there will be a bigger pool of DOs going for traditionally ACGME spots in the NRMP match.
 
2017 ncbi article result: "Despite the increasing number of medical school graduates, our model suggests the rate of growth of residency positions continues to be higher than the rate of growth of U.S. medical school graduates. While there is no apparent shortage of categorical positions overall, highly competitive subspecialties like orthopedics may develop a shortage within the next ten years."
Ten Year Projections for US Residency Positions: Will There be Enough Positions to Accommodate the Growing Number of U.S. Medical School Graduates? - PubMed - NCBI

like i said before, take everything on here with a grain of salt and do your own research. 95% of people on here are selfish, and they only care about their own business, success, etc. They don't want Carribean school students taking their residency positions because they worked hard to get into US medical school. Which is understandable. The fact is many Carribean students from SGU and Ross get residency positions in US every year. SGU and Ross has a 96% step 1 pass rate. Majority of the people who get to taking the step 1 test and pass it at these two schools land residency positions. Now biased people would say, "so many people drop out or fail in the first two years, blah blah blah."
yeah these people were not meant to be physicans in the first place if they could not even pass their medical courses.

I got a 509 MCAT score and will not be attending a carribean medical school. But I will not discourage others from doing whatever possible to succeed. Especially since the ncbi data shows the growth of residency positions is higher than the rate of US medical school graduates. Furthermore the highest percentage of international students got accepted into US residency position last year since 2004
 
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2017 ncbi article result: "Despite the increasing number of medical school graduates, our model suggests the rate of growth of residency positions continues to be higher than the rate of growth of U.S. medical school graduates. While there is no apparent shortage of categorical positions overall, highly competitive subspecialties like orthopedics may develop a shortage within the next ten years."
Ten Year Projections for US Residency Positions: Will There be Enough Positions to Accommodate the Growing Number of U.S. Medical School Graduates? - PubMed - NCBI

like i said before, take everything on here with a grain of salt and do your own research. 95% of people on here are selfish, and they only care about their own business, success, etc. They don't want Carribean school students taking their residency positions because they worked hard to get into US medical school. Which is understandable. The fact is many Carribean students from SGU and Ross get residency positions in US every year. SGU and Ross has a 96% step 1 pass rate. Majority of the people who get to taking the step 1 test and pass it at these two schools land residency positions. Now biased people would say, "so many people drop out or fail in the first two years, blah blah blah."
yeah these people were not meant to be physicans in the first place if they could not even pass their medical courses.

I got a 509 MCAT score and will not be attending a carribean medical school. But I will not discourage others from doing whatever possible to succeed. Especially since the ncbi data shows the growth of residency positions is higher than the rate of US medical school graduates. Furthermore the highest percentage of international students got accepted into US residency position last year since 2004


Man I hope you are right because the debt is real. Applicants are adults and they need to make the decision if the risk is worth it. I thank you for posting the article. I didn’t see numbers of Caribs matching. Were those raw numbers On the Carib matching you saw last year? Like you said, there are increasing number of spots but if the percentage of the Carib applicant pool matching is decreasing then that’s still a sign of a risky bet. Until the data says Carib applicants are finding placement at a >90% then I can’t recommend attending the Carib. This isn’t some selfish endever because in my book anyone that makes it off the island should have a fair shake at a residency spot, but the data just doesn’t support heading offshore... unless someone has rich parents that will fund their Hail Mary pass.
 
Now biased people would say, "so many people drop out or fail in the first two years, blah blah blah."
yeah these people were not meant to be physicans in the first place if they could not even pass their medical courses.

You can't claim to be the unbiased truth and "blah, blah, blah" the most important point. That's what these schools do to keep luring students in. All of those people who fail or drop out go home with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and nothing to show for it but failure. Nobody goes there planning to be in the group that doesn't make it. Your lack of empathy for those people is shocking.
 
Everyone thinks they are going to be the top 50%. Even those in the bottom 50%.

You gotta think, the people at the carribean include super smart people from Canada, which it’s impossible to get into a Med school there, and high achieving US students who didn’t want to go DO.

The people who actually didn’t have the grades to go DO should not go to the Caribbean. They are going to be a statistic.

If you can get into MD/DO after 3 cycles, it’s time to consider dentistry or podiatry.

You can't claim to be the unbiased truth and "blah, blah, blah" the most important point. That's what these schools do to keep luring students in. All of those people who fail or drop out go home with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and nothing to show for it but failure. Nobody goes there planning to be in the group that doesn't make it. Your lack of empathy for those people is shocking.
 
2017 ncbi article result: "Despite the increasing number of medical school graduates, our model suggests the rate of growth of residency positions continues to be higher than the rate of growth of U.S. medical school graduates. While there is no apparent shortage of categorical positions overall, highly competitive subspecialties like orthopedics may develop a shortage within the next ten years."
Ten Year Projections for US Residency Positions: Will There be Enough Positions to Accommodate the Growing Number of U.S. Medical School Graduates? - PubMed - NCBI

like i said before, take everything on here with a grain of salt and do your own research. 95% of people on here are selfish, and they only care about their own business, success, etc. They don't want Carribean school students taking their residency positions because they worked hard to get into US medical school. Which is understandable. The fact is many Carribean students from SGU and Ross get residency positions in US every year. SGU and Ross has a 96% step 1 pass rate. Majority of the people who get to taking the step 1 test and pass it at these two schools land residency positions. Now biased people would say, "so many people drop out or fail in the first two years, blah blah blah."
yeah these people were not meant to be physicans in the first place if they could not even pass their medical courses.

I got a 509 MCAT score and will not be attending a carribean medical school. But I will not discourage others from doing whatever possible to succeed. Especially since the ncbi data shows the growth of residency positions is higher than the rate of US medical school graduates. Furthermore the highest percentage of international students got accepted into US residency position last year since 2004
The high step 1 pass rate is because the curriculum is set up as basically step 1 preparation. And they make sure the people who wont pass dont take it. The attrition rate is very high.
 
2017 ncbi article result: "Despite the increasing number of medical school graduates, our model suggests the rate of growth of residency positions continues to be higher than the rate of growth of U.S. medical school graduates. While there is no apparent shortage of categorical positions overall, highly competitive subspecialties like orthopedics may develop a shortage within the next ten years."
Ten Year Projections for US Residency Positions: Will There be Enough Positions to Accommodate the Growing Number of U.S. Medical School Graduates? - PubMed - NCBI

Lol wrong. The growth of medical school graduates far outstrips residency growth. Go read the actual article you just quoted, it doesn’t include DO students which is a massive oversight seeing as every DO will be applying for ACGME spots now...

Going Carib is about as close to a career death sentence as one can get.
 
Firstly, thanks for all the fantastic replies. That was sarcasm (save for those that were actually considerate of my current position). I know I am not competitive and I am very aware of my chances once I get into medical school. I do have an issue with taking standardized exams (yes I know they are part of medicine, but they are also part of many professions as well) I have a 4.0 in math and sciences. I believe I would have failed a long time ago if couldn't grasp these concepts. PA is out bc they do not like med school applicants that use them as a back up. Honestly, no offense to all the wonderful professions in medicine. But if I can't be a doctor, I will probably be unhappy perusing any other aspect of medicine. I DO NOT want to give up. Especially after all this time and effort. I have sacrificed so much and worked too hard to have my dreams crushed by this one darn exam. If no one has any helpful ideas for getting a better score, please do not respond.
I met a girl at one of my interviews who *reportedly* had taken the MCAT 5 times... not sure if she got accepted to that school or not but at least she had the interview. Do not take the test again until you are absolutely positive that you will ace it (510 or higher at least), then apply to a wide range of schools using MSAR and select ones that you have a realistic shot at. Write about how you've overcome adversity and prove to the adcoms that you indeed have the capacity to learn and improve. If you're going to get into medical school, you are going to have to drastically improve your standardized test performance.
 
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