Why do MCAT tutors thatcan score 520+ not go to medical school?

[Robin-jay]

i have always wondered this. I see many MCAT tutors out there with 520+ whose primary job is teaching people how to take the MCAT, but don't go to medical school. Blows my mind. What's the reasoning behind this?

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[MedicalSchool4567]

Because they can make wayyy more money—and much faster—tutoring people for the Mcat than going to med school. That’s the truth.


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[BadSanta]

i have always wondered this. I see many MCAT tutors out there with 520+ whose primary job is teaching people how to take the MCAT, but don't go to medical school. Blows my mind. What's the reasoning behind this?

Not everyone has a penchant for crushing debt and delayed gratification...

 

[Tim_Hortons_Cafe]

I worked for a fairly mainstream prep company. Sometimes they divide the tutors by subject. The CARS and Psych/Soc tutors weren't even pre-med half the time. A lot were in grad school just looking for extra money.

 

[Tchotchke]

bc they dont want to become doctors. Or initially did, saw they killed the test and could make money.

 

[Robin-jay]

Not everyone has a penchant for crushing debt and delayed gratification...

I suppose so, but someone able to kill the MCAT with 520+ would be looking at competitive specialties in med school.

I worked for a fairly mainstream prep company. Sometimes they divide the tutors by subject. The CARS and Psych/Soc tutors weren't even pre-med half the time. A lot were in grad school just looking for extra money.

How much extra money?

bc they dont want to become doctors. Or initially did, saw they killed the test and could make money.

Do tutors really make that much though?

 

[smukke]

I suppose so, but someone able to kill the MCAT with 520+ would be looking at competitive specialties in med school.

Maybe med school isn't their goal? Or they are biding their time until they submit their apps? Or they are geographically limited for some reason (spouse/house/kids/life/etc) and can't make it in right now?

I knew a couple of grad/MD-PhD students that taught MCAT, plus the usual gaggle of pre-med/gap years, and a couple I figured were just doing it for the extra income since they didn't seem to have long term plans for med school (like moms, college instructors, etc).

Do tutors really make that much though?

The big places were paying around $20/hr when I was in that position, a bit more after teaching for 6months/1 year which is when a lot people quit. Pay was location dependent but not necessarily cost of living dependent. If you do one-on-one, especially private tutoring, it can be very lucrative; I was paid $75/hr at one point with nothing other than a BS and good word of mouth. Usually not nearly consistent enough to make a full-time career but the hours and schedules are more flexible than you can find with most part time employment. If they can make it their primary employment, more power to them but I'd worry about the future advancement.

In places like South Korea effective/popular hagwon instructors can make million + in $USD.

 

[Robin-jay]

Maybe med school isn't their goal? Or they are biding their time until they submit their apps? Or they are geographically limited for some reason (spouse/house/kids/life/etc) and can't make it in right now?

I knew a couple of grad/MD-PhD students that taught MCAT, plus the usual gaggle of pre-med/gap years, and a couple I figured were just doing it for the extra income since they didn't seem to have long term plans for med school (like moms, college instructors, etc).

I would feel so awkward knowing I can score a 520 on the MCAT (that is just a ridiculous amount of knowledge for any one person) and not utilize more than tutoring it form time to time.

The big places were paying around $20/hr when I was in that position, a bit more after teaching for 6months/1 year which is when a lot people quit. Pay was location dependent but not necessarily cost of living dependent. If you do one-on-one, especially private tutoring, it can be very lucrative; I was paid $75/hr at one point. Usually not nearly consistent enough to make a full-time career but the hours and schedules are more flexible than you can find with most part time employment.

20/hr. is not enough for 520+ MCAT knowledge.

75/hr. is pretty close though. Would it be possible for the to be full time? 40 hours a week for 75/hr. would be massive. Then I could understand why one would forego medical school to tutor the MCAT.

 

[Zenabi90]

i have always wondered this. I see many MCAT tutors out there with 520+ whose primary job is teaching people how to take the MCAT, but don't go to medical school. Blows my mind. What's the reasoning behind this?

MCAT doesn't completely define the applicant. <3.0 GPA can kill an applicant, as can certain personality traits and losing passion for medicine (or it never existed in the first place)

 

[MedicineN'Jazz]

Many medical schools (*ahem* Albany) have this insane notion that it’s possible to “master” the MCAT. According to these deans, MCAT tutors know the ins and outs of the MCAT, therefore it is expected that they score a 90 percentile or higher. Sadly enough, this isn’t all horse****. My own MCAT tutor echoed this, and has been trying to get into medical school for 5 years. According to him, once schools see “MCAT tutor” on his profile, immediately his GPA/MCAT are disregarded. In order to compete against his peers and win, it will be up to his EC’s, research experiences, and volunteering profile to earn him a seat within a medical school.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m glad I wasn’t smart enough to become a MCAT tutor

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

What an interesting topic to bring up. The teachers we have had that are in the 520+ range (or 38+ range as it used to be) have almost always been "one-and-done" teachers working during their gap year. Nearly all went on to attend some great medical schools (with all of them going to some medical school) and were teachers for only a short time. On a couple occasions we had a teacher who was taking a couple years so they could save up money while they dabbled in some passion they had before going off to medical school, but they too went on to medical school. I don't think there are very many 520+ tutors that do not eventually go to medical school.

I have no idea how much our teachers made private tutoring, as that was between them and the tutee. For office hours for our students they got between $25 to $40 per hour. I can't speak to any other companies, but our company does not offer private tutoring. For students actually in the class, they don't need it, given the number of office hours. For people who inquire about private tutoring (that don't take the class), we redirect them directly to one of our teachers and let them work out the details without a middleman. It seems rather unfair for a company to charge a student over $100/hour for private tutoring.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Many medical schools (*ahem* Albany) have this insane notion that it’s possible to “master” the MCAT. According to these deans, MCAT tutors know the ins and outs of the MCAT, therefore it is expected that they score a 90 percentile or higher. Sadly enough, this isn’t all horse****. My own MCAT tutor echoed this, and has been trying to get into medical school for 5 years. According to him, once schools see “MCAT tutor” on his profile, immediately his GPA/MCAT are disregarded. In order to compete against his peers and win, it will be up to his EC’s, research experiences, and volunteering profile to earn him a seat within a medical school.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m glad I wasn’t smart enough to become a MCAT tutor

I am sorry to disagree with your comment. I feel the need to counter what you are saying here, because it is just plain not true as a general rule. I am basing my opinion on over 100 cases where the fact that they were an MCAT teacher was never part of their standards while it sounds like you are basing yours on one comment from someone for whom you have not actually seen their application.

I have never, ever heard that anyone, MCAT tutor included, was expected to have a higher MCAT score because of their profession. I'm sure someone with a PhD in psychology would look questionable if their P/S score was lower than 129. I think a 128 or lower in CARS for a lit grad student would be eye-catching. But just because someone lists MCAT tutor on their medical school application does not put them into a different category where MCAT scores and GPA are disregarded. If this were the case, I'm sure I would have heard about it form one of our teachers over the last decade or from admissions people we know.