<p>I dare the OP to ask this question on SDN. People will call you a gunner and use sarcasm because it is so rampant on there. If you want to get into medical school and are a high school senior right now, what you should be worrying about at the moment is not the MCAT but getting into the right college. I wouldn’t take the MCAT if I were aiming for HMS like you are unless I was confident that my score before college is going to be something I would want to have before applying to med school. As in, if you think you eventually want a 40 and you’re getting something close to that in practice right now. And even then, having something like this on an MCAT score report looks weird. It would look like you don’t have the right priorities in place. Showing a preoccupation with testing doesn’t look good.</p>
<p>WUSTL certainly does not have a 50% fail rate in organic chemistry. I’d be stunned if it’s 1% or higher. For what it’s worth, I managed a very high MCAT score while getting a C in Organic Chemistry at Duke – and that was back in the days when Organic was a large portion of the MCAT.</p>
<p>Studying for the two doesn’t overlap hardly at all.</p>
<p>Darchseraph, I’d just echo what everybody here has said (largely because they are more knowledgeable than I am).</p>
<p>But your post strikes me as a sign of a larger problem. You seem like the type that will not have much fun and burn out very quickly. You absolutely should not even be thinking about the MCAT right now, let alone worrying about it. Live a little!</p>
<p>I’m going to bang my head against this wall just one more time. Any more and I’m likely to need the services of a therapist and a surgeon.</p>
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<p>Again, you lose time to do something else to differentiate your supposed 40 MCAT score and 4.0 GPA from the many other students with similar numbers. What ECs, activities, and awards are you going to list on your application? What are you going to talk about on your personal statement? This summer could be spent bulking up the other parts of your application.</p>
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<p>You presume wrongly. The MCAT covers only a part of the material taught in Gen Chem, Orgo, Gen Bio, and Gen Physics. Your MCAT prep is absolutely insufficient studying and learning for those classes.</p>
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<p>There’s no medical student on this board who got a 4.0 in all those classes in college. If you can do it, great, but even if I were a pre-med all over again, I wouldn’t be as cocky as you.</p>
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<p>How is an organic chem course going to useful for the USNCO? The USNCO covers the most simple concepts of orgo. That’d be like taking a calculus class to prep for an exam on multiplication and division. Spend your time on what’s taught in AP or IB chemistry - that’s much more relevant.</p>
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<p>A C will not wreck your app. BDM had a C in Orgo and did very well for himself during the application process.</p>
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<p>Like BDM said, you believe wrongly.</p>
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<p>Well, that’s not the most important point here. The more important point is that I also did very well on the MCAT, including not missing a single organic chemistry question–despite only having the knowledge base to get a C.</p>
<p>Studying for the MCAT is woefully insufficient to help with coursework. I managed to go perfect on the MCAT’s organic while getting destroyed by the class.</p>
<p>I’d also add that the review notes tend to assume that you have taken the class, so the review books alone might make it difficult to learn the stuff without having seen alot of the underlying theory that isn’t tested. Rather than a mesh of knowlege you might end up memorizing just a bunch of facts.</p>
<p>I also would say that I’m sure that some of us on this board got a 4.0 in all of those classes, so I wouldn’t get that extreme. Just leave it that it is certainly not guarunteed.</p>
<p>Well, thank you all for your time and responses. I think I’ll pass on the MCAT this summer then.</p>
<p>A few questions/notes though:</p>
<p>Is it that hard to get As in O.Chem/Gen Chem/Physics/Physiology? </p>
<p>Medical schools don’t look down upon a C in a core requirement class? (My parents have always lead me to believe that I shouldn’t every get one, but then again, they are typical asian parents).</p>
<p>“How is an organic chem course going to useful for the USNCO? The USNCO covers the most simple concepts of orgo. That’d be like taking a calculus class to prep for an exam on multiplication and division. Spend your time on what’s taught in AP or IB chemistry - that’s much more relevant.”</p>
<p>I took the UNSCO last year, yes, the national level test only had ~10 MC questions on orgo and a free response. But those 10 can be significant. The graders don’t even look at your free response/lab portions if you don’t get a 53/60 or higher. Also, the study camp is largely Org. I probably won’t score that highly, but it’s something to aim for.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s that hard. Yes, of course they look down on it. But it’s not an automatic rejection, even at very selective medical schools.</p>
<p>Norcalguy, eadad, curmudge, mmm: I just popped over here to learn a thing or two about the MCATs. It’s been very informative. My HS son was talking to about interning for a doctor next spring, and I thought i overheard him say he had to take the MCATs to see if “he qualified”. Geez, i knew this test is “THE BIG ONE”, but I didn’t realize it’s just taken once. That’s it. Why do you think my son needed to take this test? Would there be a better way to determine a HS’s qualifications? Thanks!</p>
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<p>Sounds like there was miscommunication about something somewhere along the line.</p>
<p>To see how he did, SAT style. People don’t want to go down pre-med unless they feel like they can hack it.</p>
<p>Tell him to take a practice test if he really wants to, but that is pretty worthless to (just not damagng)</p>
<p>There’s no way a HS student has to take the MCAT to qualify for something.</p>
<p>Obviously an asian ■■■■■…</p>
<p>should’nt u worry about college first?</p>
<p>The OP isn’t a ■■■■■, let’s be respectful.</p>
<p>OP, given your eagerness, have you considered BS/MD programs? I don’t know much about them, so it might be too late…</p>
<p>There’s still time to apply to BS/MD programs. Many of them do have earlier due dates such as in November or December.</p>