Behind on class schedule, when to take MCAT?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I'm a junior bio major, transfer from a cc (got my AA degree). Before I enrolled at my cc I was taking college credit chemistry class in high school. I was told that it would transfer as chem 1, so when it came time to take chem 2 in the spring I learned that it transfer as intro to chem, I was very mad and it basically put me a year behind in my science classes. I took organic chem 1 and didn't do so well (C-). I was told by my chem prof that I need a C to move on so I didn't enroll in organic chem 2 and tried to re-enroll in organic 1, but it was full. After reading the university rules it turns out that a C- is good enough to pass (once again, mad). I'm going to take physics 1 this summer, and organic sequence next year, and then physics 2 next summer. </p>

<p>If I study a lot, would it be wise for me to take the MCAT in early 2014, or should I take it in in the late summer of 2014? And assuming I would get a decent score, could I matriculate in 2015?</p>

2

<p>If you take the MCAT early in 2014, you will be taking it without having completed 2 pre-reqs (Ochem 2, phys 2) – that’s very risky and may hurt your chances of scoring well.</p>

<p>If you take the MCAT after completing physics 2, the earliest you will be able to take the MCAT will be sometime in late July. It will take at least 4 weeks to get a score back. That puts you very late into the application cycle.</p>

<p>Late application + academic blemishes (re-take of a pre-req) = low chance of acceptance.</p>

<p>You might be better served if you take the MCAT in August or Sept (gives you some time to devote to studying), but to hold your application for next cycle 2015-2016.</p>

<p>The extra time can also be devoted to improving your sGPA–which is probably not where it ought to be with that C-.</p>

<p>P.S. While C- is technically passing at your college, med schools won’t accept a C- as a passing grade for a pre-req–so your chem prof is actually right.</p>

3

<p>Thanks. I realized that earlier about the C-, I did well in my other science classes, but it just didn’t click all that much for me until it was too late. Next fall I will retake it and aim for a much higher grade.</p>

4

<p>The thing about applying to med school is the process is expensive and exhausting. You really don’t want to have to do it twice.</p>

<p>It would be best to wait and present a well put-together package to med schools rather than to rush an application through with either a subpar MCAT or late application date. </p>

<p>Start planning your glide year now so you can find a job or volunteer position that will enhance your application. It’s the smart thing to do.</p>

<p>(FYI, the average age of a MS1 is 24-25. You won’t be the ‘old guy/girl’ in your class. I promise.)</p>

5

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<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/2012factstable6.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>24-25 appears to be the 75th percentile. The median is 23 for both male and female students, while the mean is 23 for females and 24 for males. These ages have been static for recent history.</p>

6

<p>True but the overall point still stands, a large chunk of the class will have taken at least 1 year off.</p>

<p>Honestly, other than the outliers, I couldn’t tell initially how old most people were. Plenty of non trads I thought were trads and vice versa.</p>

7

<p>Do not take physics during summer.</p>

8

<p>Why should I not take physics over the summer? My school only offers one section completely in class, I don’t want to take online physics since I am going to need it for an important test.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone about the ages. I’m one of the younger ones in my grade, and if I would start in 2016 I would be right on average for my group.</p>

9

<p>Taking classes over the summer is generally a bad idea for these reasons:</p>

<p>1) Summer courses are typically condensed versions of regular semester classes, which means they probably don’t cover all the material that would be covered during the semester.</p>

<p>2) Summer courses are typically not as difficult as their fall/spring counterparts because the students who choose to take summer classes tend to not be as competitive as those who take it during the fall/spring. This makes the class easier if it’s curved (meaning your competition is not as strong, so it’s easier for you to get a good grade).</p>

<p>3) 1&2 combine to make it look like you’re “gaming the system” meaning that you are trying to take the easy way out of an important prereq class. Generally speaking, it’s best to limit the number of “red flags” on your application, and it’s pretty well shown prereqs over the summer is a red flag.</p>

<p>4) Summers are important times to complete non-academic things such as research, clinical work, volunteering, employment, etc. These things are also tremendously important to your med school application. If you spend your summers (foolishly, in my opinion) on classes, you don’t get to use that time to do other important things. Save classes for the fall/spring.</p>

<p>5) Another kind of esoteric point is that if you’re taking your prereq classes over the summer, you’re not taking them during the year with the competitive students, and you’re not forcing yourself to manage your time better to juggle all the things you want to get done during a normal semester. Med schools like to see that you can handle academic challenges, and one way for you to demonstrate that is to do well in multiple difficult classes at the same time during the fall or spring semester.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, the only classes I would advocate taking over the summer would be those that are unrelated to med school, those that are exclusively offered over the summer, or those that, by taking them in the summer, you open space to take harder classes in the fall.</p>