Good advice?




While soaking in the wonders of life, moments after our OB invited me to deliver our daughter… he started talking med school. Actually he was the on-call for our OB so we had not met before but this all makes him even better in our eyes.


He was a non-trad allopathic student with low-mid GPA and a good MCAT. He sat on the Georgetown adcom… and offered to help me with anything to get in, including a LOR. That’s no doubt a great opportunity to explore further especially since obstetrics is of great interest to me at this point.


The point of my post is actually a question which is coming… He suggested taking the Kaplan course early in undergrad, as in before the Freshman year if possible. His opinion was that by taking it early, you know what to study and why you are studying it for the next few years. That was his approach and it earned him the highest MCAT score in his state.


Anyone else try that approach? Have any thoughts on it?


Thanks


medicnick

I wouldn’t take it that early because the material wouldn’t make any sense at that point and that’s a lot of money to spend to be confused and frustrated. It might be useful to get an MCAT study guide and look at it while studying your courses to see how the MCAT wants you to approach the material. However, in the end, I still think it’s helpful to take the course when you are actually preparing for the MCAT and treat it like a college course with that level of devotion.


Just my 2 cents.


Tara

I second what Tara’s saying, and I would add: using the MCAT materials as a study guide for what you need to learn in the prerequisites is, in my opinion, a short-sighted and unnecessarily narrow view of the process.


Yes, the MCAT is important. But that is NOT the only reason you take those prerequisites. You do actually need to learn this stuff, and you also need to learn how to learn this tough technical material. If I had never gotten into med school I still would’ve thought it was cool that I learned what a TATA box was, or an alkene. (OK, I admit that I don’t remember any more, but still… )


It is possible to get to and through med school with a tradesman like attitude that you just need to learn stuff in order to get to the next level, but I think you’re cheating yourself if you don’t enjoy learning for learning’s sake.


I am glad that technique worked for that particular person, but I wonder what his background was that he was able to do that.


My .02 and then some!


Mary

Thank you for the replies. I do want to add that his suggestion was based on the suggestion that the early prep course would help ‘me’ to understand how the various prereq’s relate to the MCAT and medical school - not to skip topics or to concentrate on specific chapters in the textbooks.


As I have only spent 20 minutes with him this is not based on personal knowledge of me or vice versa. I do think he was sincere and well intentioned. Perhaps it was a strategy that worked for him but would not work for everyone.


Thanks again


nick

  • medicnick Said:


While soaking in the wonders of life, moments after our OB invited me to deliver our daughter... he started talking med school. Actually he was the on-call for our OB so we had not met before but this all makes him even better in our eyes.

He was a non-trad allopathic student with low-mid GPA and a good MCAT. He sat on the Georgetown adcom... and offered to help me with anything to get in, including a LOR. That's no doubt a great opportunity to explore further especially since obstetrics is of great interest to me at this point.

The point of my post is actually a question which is coming... He suggested taking the Kaplan course early in undergrad, as in before the Freshman year if possible. His opinion was that by taking it early, you know what to study and why you are studying it for the next few years. That was his approach and it earned him the highest MCAT score in his state.

Anyone else try that approach? Have any thoughts on it?

Thanks

medicnick



Dude, don't take offense, but so much of this post is so bizarre. Your OB, who you had never even conversed with prior to the birth of your child, suddenly offered to write a LOR for you and help you get into G-town? Whaaaaa???? Whacky, to say the least.

And he got the highest score in his state? What's that, around 43? maybe 44? We'll come back to that. And he suggests you take Kaplan *before* your freshman year? No one (except maybe a foreign physician who has been practicing medicine in his home country for a decade before embarking on an undergrad degree in the US) would ever suggest such an approach.

None of this story makes sense. I'm sorry, but it doesn't. Can't help you with any of this.
  • medicnick Said:
Thank you for the replies. I do want to add that his suggestion was based on the suggestion that the early prep course would help 'me' to understand how the various prereq's relate to the MCAT and medical school - not to skip topics or to concentrate on specific chapters in the textbooks.

As I have only spent 20 minutes with him this is not based on personal knowledge of me or vice versa. I do think he was sincere and well intentioned. Perhaps it was a strategy that worked for him but would not work for everyone.

Thanks again

nick



Nick,

Some of the more experienced folks have already chimed in, but I still think it's an interesting idea (taking Kaplan before the prereqs). I took Kaplan after most of my prereqs (but in the middle of Physics) and I recall wishing I'd done Kaplan first, like the spring before I began gen chem, just to get some familiarity with the subject matter and possibly help boost my grades a bit, then take it again towards the end. But, ya do what ya gotta do. Good luck!

(by the way, it's cool that your doc is so encouraging.)
  • medicnick Said:


The point of my post is actually a question which is coming... He suggested taking the Kaplan course early in undergrad, as in before the Freshman year if possible. His opinion was that by taking it early, you know what to study and why you are studying it for the next few years. That was his approach and it earned him the highest MCAT score in his state.

Anyone else try that approach? Have any thoughts on it?

Thanks

medicnick



You know there are those who say "Memorize First Aid during and before Basic Sci" What? This is bad advice really, Kaplan is a review course! Look save monay and time, buy this years MCAT Kaplan book what 30 bucks? And look at it and see the things that were on this years test, that is fine but go to school and undergrad to learn not just pass a test! Too many think undergrad is unimportant and medschool is everything, really? Medschool assumes you already know the basics you should have learned before in undergrad so not so unimportant. Really think about this.

I started my review for the USLME this month after 1.5 years of Basic Sci now I have stuff to review!