<p>My S1 was in a 7 yr BS/MD program but failed to meet the min MCAT score after 3 tries. He wants to pursue allopathic medical path & enrol in a post-bac program in his gap year and retake the MCAT for the fourth time. His premed advisors are advising against post-bac as he has above 3.5 GPA. What would be his best course of action beside studying & improving his MCAT score.</p>
<p>What is his score in each section?
What is his state of residence?
What is the lengyh of time between tests and how much did they change?</p>
<p>Any reason why he missed the mark after two retakes? Did he prepare? How?
What’s the score he needed to stay eligible?
What’s his opinion on DO schools?</p>
<p>The minimum score was 29 with no less than 9 on any section. He took it in Sept 2011 with minimal preparation and then again in Jan 2012 & April 2012 after signing up for online Kaplan prep course. He best score is 25 which is good enough to apply to some special masters program and post bac programs.
He prefers to go to MD schools and is open to applying to DO schools after his 4th try in Mar/Apr/May.</p>
<p>OP, I feel for your S, even though I could not offer good advices.</p>
<p>I did notice at one time that a student in one of the more prestigious BS/MD programs became not that enthusiastic in academics (at the level of typical science prereq classes) because she had been in such a program. Instead, she spent more time on hands-on activities like volunteering at a hospital extensively because of its relevancy to her career, rather than curled up in the library laboring on academics as a typical premed must do. I could imagine she might be at the disadvantage if she took the MCAT. But luckily, there is no minimum MCAT requirement for her combined program.</p>
<p>IMHO, a combined program with a requirement like “with no less than 9 on any section” is really not worth it. When you look at the requirement of 29, it appears you have a break. But when you look at the requirement “with no less than 9 on any section”, the break is really not that significant anymore, especially when this program could dilute your focus on rigorous academic work needed for getting a good score on MCAT.</p>
<p>I do not know of any stories of average applicants with 25s in MD school. I am sure if you look up the stats you will see some 25s got in, but who knows what their stories were</p>
<p>How high is the GPA? 3.6? 4.0? I am not sure a post-bac is worth the time and money, usually those are for bringing up a mediocre GPA.</p>
<p>Any ideas why the 25? How much of an overall improvement did he see from test 1 to test 3? I can see a large improvement from no prep to prep. Maybe an in person prep course might help, but other than disregarding the unprepped test, I would wonder what could be done to do better than the 25 with prep? Did he feel sufficiently prepared in January? What did he do differently for April? Even if he does it all again and gets a 29, say, well that is a score that allows admissions in some states more easily than others, but is still on the low end of ideal, BUT that is usually not a high score of 4 testings, no MD school will be thrilled with 4 testing dates and still being somewhat low.</p>
<p>The schools want to anticipate him being able to pass Step I & II the first time with a strong score, the residencies want to anticipate him passing boards strongly, there will need to be some strong personal factors showing up to make him an attractive applicant. I would definitely investigate DOs now.</p>
<p>It sounds like insufficient preparation. Preparation should last for several weeks (sometime several months, when student has very busy scheduleand cannot devote several hours every day) for several hours every single day. There is no reason to retake over and over after insufficient preparation. All scores are counted.</p>
<p>I disagree that “a combined program with a requirement like “with no less than 9 on any section” is really not worth it.” My D’s combined program had a bit lower requirement of 27. It really has helped her to sit thru MCAT. She would be much more nervious otherwise and would not get as decent score as she did. She told me that, I do not know anything about it, never took it. She prepared for several months and the last few weeks (6 or maybe more) she would spend several hours every single day. That was the reason for her taking lighter schedule in junior year, no more than 17 hrs as far as I remember.</p>
<p>^ We could agree to disagree. let’s just leave it like that.</p>
<p>With this said, when I posted #5, I assume that the applicant is not from a state where it is extremely difficult to get into any med school in his state. If it is a difficult state, it could have some merit to go that route.</p>
<p>Some kid from DS’s high school did go that route. With her caliber of academic capability (likely top 2-3 kids in the class of 600), she could get in by going to any college and then getting into a med school here. (It is often the case that the top 20 kids or so from his competitive high school could manage to get into one med school if they choose to go this path in our state. In-state interview is sometimes like a high school mini-reunion.) I really think she sold herself short at that time, or did not have to do that, esp. when she is from Texas!</p>
<p>A combined program that requires you to get 9 in each section just isnt worth it. At least not as bad as Washu’s you need to get a 38 or something like that</p>
<p>Honestly, I think the MCAT is the least of the “med school admissions” worries. If “all” the kids in his program have to do is take the MCAT and get close to the average score of all applicants, I think that’s pretty reasonable. Still saves them from having to jump through all the other hoops, stress, and cost of applying. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, that’s pretty irrelevant for OP’s son. I don’t know what the answer is; I know a few classmates who applied 3 times, but I don’t personally know anyone who has taken the MCAT more than 2 times and I personally try to avoid guessing when it comes to something like this. Maybe a meeting with his program’s med school’s admissions director would be a good idea? S/he might be able to shed some light on how applicants with 4 MCAT scores look. Your son might already know this person if they’re involved with the combined program students.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. My son took for granted and perhaps was not mature enough to appreciate the opportunity he had. He is working very hard this year, volunteering, researching at the medical school and preparing for the MCAT. I know that 4 MCAT scores don’t look good but he has the potential to do well. Maybe he needed this challenge to learn and grow. Time will tell. Thank you for your insights and advise.</p>
<p>^There are 2 different estimations of real exam score, both were absolutely correct for my D. It does not mean that it works for everybody 100%.<br>
The first, assuming that reasonable preparation is done in both cases, MCAT score should be within 2 points of ACT score. As far as I know combined programs requirements (I have wider background as my D. was in bs/md), you got to have high ACT or SAT (there are conversions SAT to ACT scores if ACT wa never taken). Mt assumption is that OP S had a high ACT / SAT because he was accepted into the program
The second, real MCAT score is usually (again, not always) 2 points lower than timed practice MCAT. If one is getting 27 in practice, do not take real exam. Wait until your test MCAT score is at least close to 35 or higher consistantly. There is a huge melt down effect during real exam that I would say affects girls more than boys. If somebody is saying that genders are eaual, I strongly disagree after raising one of each, both adults now. Anyway, melt down condition is affecting bs/md participants much less because they require lower score.
Anyway, these are 2 points that were very helpful for my D. and I have only one in Med. School, so I cannot speak for everybody else. But she work her ------ off preparing for test.
One additional point is to think that everybody else is in about the same situation doing many different things and taking classes is also helpful. The less excuses you have for yourself, the better for you, zero excuses is the best.<br>
I do not think I said anything new here, though, sorry for all cliche.</p>
<p>If it is a state of mind problem, I would seriously consider hypnotherapy in addition to further MCAT preparation. It works with professional athletes, cigarette smoking , weight loss etc.</p>
<p>^What is a success rate? Cannot possibly be 100%, everybody would use it if it is 100%.</p>
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<p>HIs premed advisor is correct. The latter would both be a waste of time and money. </p>
<p>While a 25 maybe good enuf to apply to SMP’s it will be worthless even if he gets in. (SMP’s are for folks with a low gpa but solid mcat score.) Even A’s in the SMP will be discounted by that 25. It is just too low for an unhooked candidate applying to an allopathic med school.</p>
<p>Graduate. Plan on a gap year(s). Spend 3-6 months studying for the mcat. And nothing but studying for mcat. Then get involved in research, and/or other medically-related ECs.</p>
<p>Prosper.</p>
<p>I’m still stuck trying to understand his situation.
If he is already in a BS/MD program, why does he even need to take the MCAT? Why is applying to medical school? Too bad he didn’t cancel some of those scores unless he thought he did really, really well.</p>
<p>To me, here are his options:
- keep trying, but with decent prep & different schedule, books
- post-doc
- consider DO schools</p>
<p>Thoughts on those choices:</p>
<h1>1 may be more frustration. He doesn’t sound like a good test taker, and the likelihood of getting accepted having taken 4 tests decrease each test.</h1>
<h1>2 isn’t recommended, since a post-doc is for someone who has a low gpa.</h1>
<h1>3: this is where he should head. Speak to a DO doctor. Become familiar with how they differ. He might find this is a better option anyway.</h1>
<p>If your son meets the minimum score of 29, will he be allowed to continue with the program? Or will he have to apply to other medical schools? Is there a high rate of attrition in this particular BS/MD program? I wish him the best of luck!</p>
<p>Lima, often admittance to those joint programs requires a minimum MCAT score to continue on to the MD portion.</p>
<p>You have to be pretty talented to get into those 7 year BS/MD programs. </p>
<p>Considering the level of competition there is to get into those 7 year programs, your kid must be pretty smart. I think he just needs some extra time to prepare.</p>
<p>I think he needs a classroom Kaplan prep class…not the online one. </p>
<p>How did he do on his SAT or ACT exams? I’m guessing that he must have done well if he got accepted into a BS/MD program. Usually those programs expect kids to have at least a ACT 32 or M+CR SAT of about 1420+. </p>
<p>What is the breakdown of his MCAT? Is he really low in one section? did he have a 9, 9, 6 or similar? If he’s just really low in one section, it would seem like that would be easier to fix.</p>
<p>What is his GPA? If it’s “just above” a 3.5, then maybe taking a class or two to bump that up would be good. If he already has a 3.8, then forget taking more classes.</p>