when to take MCAT

[ron_johnson]

Hey guys. I am a college senior (comp sci + music major) who decided to go premed late. This spring I will be taking Bio 2 and Biochem (the last of my prereq classes) and then graduating. I have a couple other classes as well, but I won't have a very heavy academic load overall. Shortly after graduating I'll be starting a job scribing full time for around a year; after this year of scribing I plan to submit my application. I'm thinking it would make the most sense to start studying for the MCAT now over winter break and then take the test right around when biochem and bio 2 are finishing up, around the beginning of May (option A). If I were to go this route, I'd probably end up self studying a good bit of the bio 2 and biochem material so that I could be set to start doing practice tests before my classes were done. I realize this plan is somewhat unorthodox, but I think it beats option B, which would be to wait until I graduate and then do a longer term (9 months?), 2 hr/day-type study plan while I'm scribing. Any thoughts?

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[deleted1076141]

Hey Ron. I’ve been working in the MCAT tutoring field for about 8 years now, and while every student is different, my general advice is that, if you have to pick one, it’s usually better to study for the MCAT while a student than while working a full time job. There’s a natural overlap between your class work and your MCAT studying, especially if you’re taking prerequisites like bio and biochem. How long of a break do you have between your final exams and starting your scribe position? If you had a month off or something, a good schedule could be to maintain a roughly 15-20 hour a week MCAT schedule during the spring, and then ramp up to studying full time in the gap between graduation and work.

Whatever you decide though, consistency is key: make sure that you commit to a reasonable, achievable weekly study schedule, rather than trying to fit in studying where you can. Good luck!

 

[FrameshiftAndrew]

It sounds like it might make more sense to jump in sooner rather than later. Depending on your school's curriculum, Bio 2 may not overlap too heavily with the MCAT (for better or worse), and studying ahead in biochem can definitely be doable. (Much better to do it that way than to take the MCAT before taking biochem at all, for example).

Another thing to consider: not all full-time jobs (or even scribing jobs) are created equal. I've personally done some scribing in a pretty chill, routine, 9-to-5, family medicine kind of environment that could be combined reasonably easily w/ other obligations, but I've also seen people try to combine MCAT studying with working unpredictable shifts as an ED scribe (including night shifts, etc.) and that is WAY harder to do. The commute, work environment, etc. also play a role. All in all...trying to do that kind of 9-month, slowly-but-surely approach to MCAT prep doesn't tend to work out well for people because (a) it's easy for one or two bad weeks to knock you off track completely, and (b) even if you stick with it, 9 months + is honestly at the level where you're going to be forgetting stuff you studied before because it's just too long to be very coherent.

Plus, if you jump into it now and plan to test in May, you can assess how things are going in late March/early April and to decide whether you're ready to make the final push. All in all, I'd say go for it. The disadvantage of combining MCAT prep w/ a demanding full-time job almost certainly outweighs the disadvantage of having to self-study some biochem .

 

[JimKimSlim]

You will be juggling your classes and MCAT prep in the same semester, which I don't recommend. Also, I'm certain there will be MCAT contents that your BIO2 and BIOCHEM lecture won't cover, like urea cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, protein degradation pathway, etc.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking your time and making money with that extra year. Med school won't go anywhere during that gap year, but your bad first MCAT score will stay... In fact, during my academic interviews (looks at your academic stats and inconsistencies on your GPA), one of the first questions I'm always asked is "was this MCAT score a retake?" An MCAT retake can be frowned upon in some schools, so take it only when you're ready.

 

[FutureOrtho2024]

Bear in mind that the average time to study for the MCAT is 300-500 hours. Most MCAT study schedules are based on full time study for 12 weeks or more, with around 10 full length MCAT practice tests as part of that 300-500 hours. Given your academic program, you should plan on the 500 hour end of the preparation spectrum. You would probably do better keeping your GPA as high as possible and really learning all you can because medical school is at least twice the load of undergrad school.

 

[FutureOrtho2024]

You will be juggling your classes and MCAT prep in the same semester, which I don't recommend. Also, I'm certain there will be MCAT contents that your BIO2 and BIOCHEM lecture won't cover, like urea cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, protein degradation pathway, etc.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking your time and making money with that extra year. Med school won't go anywhere during that gap year, but your bad first MCAT score will stay... In fact, during my academic interviews (looks at your academic stats and inconsistencies on your GPA), one of the first questions I'm always asked is "was this MCAT score a retake?" An MCAT retake can be frowned upon in some schools, so take it only when you're ready.

All pearls of wisdom in everything stated!