Well I took my first practice MCAT this past Saturday, in honor of all the folks who were taking the real thing.
I tried to do this at a Starbucks–big mistake. Loud music playing, and lots of people brought kids and baby carriages to hang out (this is a suburb after all). I went outside but it was even worse–huge SUVs and vans would pull up in the handicapped space, leave their motors running and go inside for what seemed like twenty minutes.
Anyway I got a 5 on Physical Science, 8 verbal, and 9 life science. I have not yet done physics and my general chemistry is a bit rusty, so that’s understandable, and I didn’t review my biology; only my orgo is really fresh.
What scares me is the 8 in VR. How the heck can I raise that score? I thought I was a pretty verbal person already!!! Those questions are so picky. I can see places where I used poor judgement so maybe there’s room for improvement, but yikes nonetheless.
Anyway I think I’m going to have to really do well in order to balance off a crappy GPA that’s currently hovering at around 3.00.
I’m wondering if anyone has experience with these one year masters degree programs that help prepare students for medical school or similar graduate programs. I’m going to have to do something beyond the four basic courses since my grades are not so great. Boston Univ. has one that’s actually medical classes, similar to the Georgetown program, and Northeastern Univ. has a one year biology master’s program. I was thinking that would help bolster my record and credentials, assuming I have learned enough about how to take tests. I hate taking tests, hate it hate it. Advice???
Thanks!
LOL
great post!
Seems to me if you can do a 22 at starbucks your doing well!
Just wondering … is a 3.0 really “crappy”? Mine is hovering around there too – and I doubt that even straight A’s for my remaining four courses will elevate it much. I just did too poorly my first time at UCF (with tons of hours) to improve my GPA. Hopefully someone will see that all my re-takes of sciences are 4.0 and give me a chance rather than punt …
Anyway - your scores on trial MCAT sound wunderful to me.
Terry,
I’m not sure what to tell you about verbal…it’s definitelly my strongest part. And I know why? Learning English as a second language for years + teaching ESL later in life and getting all the methodological training in reading (+ being tested thousands of times on reading understaing and failing half of these tests) made a really good reader! I just guess the more tests like this you take, the more properly you think (where ‘properly’ means ’ the way they want you to think). Maybe it will sound funny, but try to do reading passages from any TOEFL book and see how you do…
And again - I agree with others - 22 in Starbucks is not a bed score! You’ve never took physics + you didn’t really review other stuff. And think that you’ll really work hard before the real thing!!!
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Just wondering … is a 3.0 really “crappy”? Mine is hovering around there too – and I doubt that even straight A’s for my remaining four courses will elevate it much. I just did too poorly my first time at UCF (with tons of hours) to improve my GPA. Hopefully someone will see that all my re-takes of sciences are 4.0 and give me a chance rather than punt …
Anyway - your scores on trial MCAT sound wunderful to me.
Thanks to all for your kind remarks. Funkill, maybe my language is a bit strong. In the past I have always believed that A = excellent, B = good, and C = acceptable, so to have a 3.00 average should be nothing to be ashamed of.
But for getting into medicine, it seems as though one needs more like 3.3 or higher. I just don’t know. I’ve seen some statistics that suggest you can get in with a lower GPA/MCAT if you have other redeeming features, but don’t some med schools use a “formula” approach to weed out the initial batch of applicants? If GPA and MCAT don’t add up to some number they just toss your app, even if you’re potentially the best, most compassionate doctor they’ll ever get.
Yes, in most cases medical schools would like to see a GPA above 3.0 “but” this is highly dependant on the dates of those grades…meaning if you took courses a long time ago and did poorly or did average and now you are back getting A’s, the adcoms will take this into account. So a soso GPA can be sugar coated with excellent “recent” grades. What is not so good is to go back to school as a non-trad and get soso scores, the adcoms will be expecting nothing but the best from a returning to school mature individual. Sure, one bad grade is not the kiss of death even for those returning to academic endeavors but a string full of bad grades is not a good predictor for performance in medical school. So for those of you attempting classes now after a long hiatus it is advisable to start SLOW although you might think the clock is ticking…start slow and get A’s and then when you are more used to the pace then start adding on classes always trying to maintain A’s…this will speak volumes to adcoms.
Ohhh
now see i learned it as
A = Act of God
B = Bought off the Prof
C = Calculated grade wrong
D = Done!
heheh
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Sure, one bad grade is not the kiss of death even for those returning to academic endeavors but a string full of bad grades is not a good predictor for performance in medical school.
Then I’m done for.
I meant a string full of “recent” bad grades since you started post-bacc/or self-bacc/or whatever…not bad grades from eons ago…
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I meant a string full of “recent” bad grades since you started post-bacc/or self-bacc/or whatever…not bad grades from eons ago…
Yup, recent Bs. I have yet to get an A. I guess I’m probably not headed for medical school at this rate, though I am planning to try anyway because I’m a stubborn you-know-what.
I’m pondering switching schools to a place that’s less nationally known and less hypercompetitive, but it’s going to take a long time to pull it up to a 3.5+ GPA. I’m also pondering the idea of a master’s degree but I have yet to learn whether it makes any difference.
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Terry,
I’m not sure what to tell you about verbal…it’s definitelly my strongest part. And I know why? Learning English as a second language for years + teaching ESL later in life and getting all the methodological training in reading (+ being tested thousands of times on reading understaing and failing half of these tests) made a really good reader! I just guess the more tests like this you take, the more properly you think (where ‘properly’ means ’ the way they want you to think). Maybe it will sound funny, but try to do reading passages from any TOEFL book and see how you do…
And again - I agree with others - 22 in Starbucks is not a bed score! You’ve never took physics + you didn’t really review other stuff. And think that you’ll really work hard before the real thing!!!
Thanks, Mad Kasia! Your language proficiency is quite impressive. But then your country has a history of turning out great English linguists, e.g. Jósef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski (a.k.a. Joseph Conrad, though his birthplace is probably part of Ukraine now…?)
-Terry
I would think about switching schools or whatever you have to do to get A’s from here on out–create a small, fast-moving upward trend. If you don’t pull the whole thing up to a 3.5, that’s not the end of the world. Just go from a bunch of B’s to a bunch of A’s and put the old stuff behind you.
You can do this. Just figure out what the best chance for success is for you NOW and then focus on getting that chance for yourself. You’ll feel much better, too, taking active steps to improve your lot in life instead of accepting that you won’t get the grades you want where you are, continuing to get grades you don’t like, and worrying about whether the MCAT will save your ass. That’s a depressing state of mind to be in. Save yourself! Find a nice school! I promise you’ll feel a lot better right away.
D.
Well, I would not count B’s as bad grades although yes you do need to start pulling yourself up from your bootstraps so to say and try for A’s…have you talked to your professors about this? have you objectively assesed why you may not be getting A’s? is it due to lack of time to study or not studying correctly? if it is a super competitive school that “could” be it but not necessarily…it could be to lack of study skills or you are not “getting” the material well enough to excel. I do not think that you necessarily need to obsess about a certain GPA for medical school but you do need to from now on just do extremely well regardless of what GPA you end up with. The material that you learn now if for the future not only MCAT but some of it will come in handy for medical school. If you are studying, do problems ad nauseum (chemistry/physics), attend lecture, read notes, read book, study for many hours and are still doing poorly then there is really nothing else you can do. Some folks are like this and that is okay, do your best if you ARE doing your 200% then that is all that you can do. Let the chips fall were they may…meaning apply anyways, you may be one of those individuals that regardless of GPA have other things that are very attractive to adcoms.
Hey Terry. Congrats on finishing up the summer coursework!
Regarding the verbal, HAVE NO FEAR! 
I also scored an 8 the first time I took a practice test. The next practice test I took after that was an 11 and I stayed in that general area for the remainder of my practice tests.
After the first test, I did several passages from my Princeton Review course and realized that I was reading too much into the questions, thinking that they were trying to “trick” me and not trusting my instincts. This got me to relax when I read the passages, which helped IMMENSELY. I also read the passages in a more active way, trying to use an active voice in my head, as though I were presenting the information to a group of people rather than reading it for myself. This seemed to help a lot.
Having repeatedly been told how difficult the verbal section is and how so many people do poorly put a negative feel on it, which I needed to correct. I truly believe the key for me was just to trust that I could succeed on the verbal.
Don’t worry about the GPA right now. Keep doing well and always doing your best. I think a lot of us begin to take ourselves out of the race before we even apply–we are not the medical school admissions personnel so how can we know where they put their focus (assuming we don’t have a 0.75 GPA and MCAT score of 3 ). Stay positive, stay focused. It’s good to have a plan B, but it’s no longer a plan B if you give up of plan A.
Enjoy the remainder of summer if you’ve got any left!
Larry
I have only physics left. I wonder if I should simply retake them all at U-Mass, where it is a lot easier or so I hear. But it seems like such a transparent attempt at grade-mongering–switching from Harvard Extension to U-Mass. Won’t admissions committees see right through such a ploy? Will they say, "Oh he couldn’t hack it at a competitive school but he did OK at an easier school."
I’ve also heard it’s better to take upper level courses such as biochemistry and neurobiology and I have no idea what else, rather than repeat lower level courses like general biology and chemistry. I’ve searched on sdn for info on the BU masters in biomedical science and came across a lot of what sounded like uninformed opinions. I wish I had an advisor who could give me some useful advice (no such thing at my current school unfortunately).
Thanks for your comments!
-Terry
Terry,
I would strongly suggest molecular biology, before the MCAT if you can.
Larry
You could also take genetics. It reviews in more depth a lot of the sort of general biology that’s covered on the MCAT. Don’t worry so much about how things look. Take what you need to pull up the grades and master some sciences. Find a school where you feel at home and welcome.
I wouldn’t retake anything you unless you didn’t understand it the first time (as opposed to falling prey to the stiffness of the curve at HE). Genetics, biochem, physiology, molecular or cell bio, all can help your science GPA and serve you well when you get to med school. And you can take them without the expense of a special master’s.
Have you thought about a professional advisor like Judy? It might be worth it for the peace of mind.
I agree, do not retake the ones you did okay in at a “easier” school (although you never know which school will really be easier until you try it btw) because adcoms will see thru the BS haze…go for some other upper level classes that will be helpful for the MCAT and beyond such as biochemistry, physiology, genetics, molecular biology, etc. Also, you really need to asses why you are not getting A’s before you embark on more classes…try figure out and be completely HONEST and OBJECTIVE about the time you spend hitting the books. You “may” think that you are studying enough when indeed you are not, the rule of thumb hailed by all professors is for every ONE hour spent in lecture you will more than likely need a minimum of THREE hours spent at home studying and this can increase by a lot during exam prep time. So for some class that meets three times a week for one hour each session you are looking at a minimum of nine hours per week spent on such a class this of course is before exams, just reading and reviewing. I tutored during my whole undergrad and it was amazing how many folks thought they studied enough but they really were not…also some folks were quite unproductive when studying…just either re-writing notes furiously or just reading too much and not making notes either one can bite you in the arse. Also, what works for some folks may not work for you and what works for some classes does not work for others. Science classes for the most part are a different breed than your run of the mill college classes. They take more time to master and some of them are all consuming (orgo). I would also highly suggest getting a professional pre-med advisor to guide you if you are really going to pursue this goal and Judy Colwell is excellent. Good luck.
I dont know which classes you have already taked but if you are able to retake any of them then you have an easy route to going to DO school as they will substitute your old grades with new ones on retaken classes. So if you had a C and got an A in the second attempt, you only have an A for GPA calc. MD schools will average both making it a much harder process.
Its a consideration.
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I dont know which classes you have already taked but if you are able to retake any of them then you have an easy route to going to DO school as they will substitute your old grades with new ones on retaken classes. So if you had a C and got an A in the second attempt, you only have an A for GPA calc. MD schools will average both making it a much harder process.
Its a consideration.
I sure don’t know about “easy route” but Mike is right, DO schools only consider the last grade. There’s much more to the application than just “A” grades.