What are my chances?

[Atlantis24]

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I am a non-traditional applicant - wondering if my stats are good enough to get me for the 2010 cylce. I am 2 years out of undergrad, graduated with a degree in Neurobiology. I had a decent GPA throughout college (3.5) and I was hired right out of school to work in the Healthcare Division of a company. During college I volunteered at the local hospital and I also did a lot of community service with an organization I was involved with. I later took on a leadership position in that organization as well as holding other part-time jobs. I have some good recommendations from my professors, as well as the Director of the Volunteer Program at the hopsital I volunteered at.

With the job I was hired at out of college I did a lot of work with doctors and other healthcare professionals and learned a lot about the industry itself- although this was mostly from a business standpoint and not a clinical one. In March I was laid off from the company after working there for nearly 2 years, and decided to focus on studying for the MCAT instead of looking for another job right away.

I had previously taken the MCAT in January 2009 and scored a 26 (9V, 8P, 9B) and wasn't happy with my score so I decided to take it again May 22. I just got my scores today and was really dissapointed that my score didn't improve (still a 26 -10V, 8P, 8B) after all of my hard work. I figured my score was low the first time because I was working full-time + overtime and trying to do the Princeton Review classes at the same time... I don't know what happened the 2nd time.

When I was taking the PR classes, they said there was this magic formula to figure out what score you need to even have schools look at your application: GPA x 10 + MCAT + Zscore (athlete, extenuating circumstances, etc) > or = 68. According to this formula I have a 61, and am questioning whether I should go through with the application because I am concerned that it won't even get a glance. For those of you out there who are knowledgeable on these things, is there any accuracy to this formula and do I have a prayer of getting in?

Money is tight right now since I got laid off. I plan on taking medical assisting certification and pursuing a job as a medical assistant as a fall back, and I am wondering if it would be wiser to wait until next year when I would have more medical experience under my belt. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful or adive from anyone who was in a similar situation.

 

[urrugby]

You don't have a chance at a US-based MD program with a 26, and no amount of extracurriculars will help that. You have a solid GPA, so look at either Carribean MD or US DO programs. I'm not familiar with their average scores, but I think you'd be pretty competitive.

 

[ZanshinTamashii]

I will post a story i found on here. Did you really study hard enough? Some people think that taking a review course will help and not do the real grunt work of studying hard. But i know that many have to study. 8 - 10 hours a day ...do thousands of practice questions.



Just my .02 as a non-trad who had pre-reqs 10yrs ago ('93-94), and as someone who did not do a prep course (13,10,10 R).
Your MCAT score should never be a surprise (though I am sure there are lots of exceptions). If you take lots of timed practise exams (4+) you should get a pretty darn good idea of where you will stand on test day give or take a few points. So take practise exams and review the results thoroughly.
The MCAT is an endurance test. You need to concentrate HARD for 6 hours or so, reading each question for detail to be certain you know what they are asking before you mark an oval. The practise tests are the way train yourself to increase your endurance.
While biology as a field has changed A LOT, the biology that is covered on the MCAT has not changed that much. You need to update for some genetics and biochemistry but the vast majority is the same.
I worked full time (and a had daughter) during my prep so I recorded my readings on tape and played them during my commute to work. Again and again and again. I have approximately 12 90 minute tapes at home. I will probably do this again in Med school.
And I would second the suggestion that you take some classes, to show you can still hack it and to demonstrate your desire/interest in Med school/human biology.
Best of luck to you.

 

[just one]

You don't have a chance at a US-based MD program with a 26, and no amount of extracurriculars will help that. You have a solid GPA, so look at either Carribean MD or US DO programs. I'm not familiar with their average scores, but I think you'd be pretty competitive.

I see this type of statement posted all the time, while it is simply untrue. There are some MD schools that have an average MCAT around 27. Last cycle a student in my organic class was accepted in November (2nd round interview) with a 26 MCAT and 3.6 GPA. Check into the average MCAT and GPA for your state school. While a lower MCAT will keep you out of most schools, your state school gets paid to accept their in state students.

 

[Krisss17]

I see this type of statement posted all the time, while it is simply untrue. There are some MD schools that have an average MCAT around 27. Last cycle a student in my organic class was accepted in November (2nd round interview) with a 26 MCAT and 3.6 GPA. Check into the average MCAT and GPA for your state school. While a lower MCAT will keep you out of most schools, your state school gets paid to accept their in state students.

While I don't totally agree with the poster that you are addressing that there is absolutely no chance, I do think that it will not be easy and school choice (as you mention) is very important.

OP, you don't want to apply blindly, so you really need to look through the MSAR to see which schools you might have a reasonable expectation that you won't be screened out for the MCAT score. No use wasting money applying to schools that may have a set pt at either 28 or a subdivision of no lower than a 9. I do think that you have some interesting work experiences that would definitely show that you do have an idea of working in the medical field.

Otherwise I would suggest, taking some upper division courses, take the MCAT again but wait until next Spring to take it, and really study for it like the poster with the anecdote mentioned above.

Best of luck

 

[Law2Doc]

Ignore "magic formulas". US Allo med schools (I can't comment on DO) get as many as 10,000 applications in each cycle, and so they are able to find people with high GPAs, high MCAT, and solid essays, LORs, ECs, etc. So to give yourself a good shot, you need to maximize everything. A formula is a useful guide to give you a ballpark, but never tells you if you will get in or not. The truth of the matter is that the average MCAT of matriculants at US med schools is in the 30-31 range, and it is a very tight grouping. Meaning you will meet a ton of people with 30 and above in US allo med school, still a good handful with 28-29, a huge drop off at 27 (but still a few), and almost nobody less than that. So I'd rate your chances with a 26 at pretty lousy. Moreso because you got it twice, which makes it hard for adcoms to give you the benefit of the doubt that it isn't reflective of your capacity. You need to figure out what you are doing wrong and retake. (Truth of the matter is that you never should have taken the prior couple of times until you had full length practice tests where the score was in the competitive time -- you don't wing these things). I would also suggest that you need to figure out what you need to do to master standardized tests like this, not so much because the MCAT science info is important once in med school, but because you will be taking standardized tests throughout med school (the shelf exams, the step exams, etc), and while correlation between having done well on the MCAT and subsequent boards is low, it is not zero, and folks who have trouble with standardized tests probably play a big part of the existing correlation. Fix this problem, retake (once you are scoring competitively on multiple full length practice exams) and proceed. I see no value in applying to US allo med school before fixing your MCAT score, the odds of getting in with a 26 in two tries is pretty low and the goal should be to get your ducks in a row first before pulling the trigger.

 

[gman33]

Your GPA is below average, MCAT well below average, I'd only apply to your state MD school (if you have one) and DO schools. Not sure you'll get into either, but it might be worth a shot, unless money is a real issue.

You need to boost the MCAT.
Review courses can be good, but only if you put in the effort.
They don't magically help you get a better score. I think the real key is the way you prepare and the amount of total hours you put in.
I had a pretty weak science background, so I felt I needed a lot of time to get ready. I took 10 weeks and made it my full-time job. I spent about 50-60 hours a week just plugging away at sample problems, full-length tests and going over review books. I would break down every question and make sure I knew why each answer was correct and why each answer was incorrect. For any incorrect answer, also try to figure out how it could be correct. Doing this over a couple of thousand questions will give you a real sense of how the test is written and the types of things they ask. You also need to become good at guessing. Practice will help this as well. For any questions you don't know, make sure you review the sections in review books until the weak area is solidified.

I think just about anyone who did ok in the prereqs can get a good MCAT score if they put in the effort.

 

[NTF]

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