MCATs

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
81

<p>
[quote]
can you take MCAaT more than once?

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Yes.</p>

<p>
[quote]
is there any set number you can retake up to?

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No - but the more you take, the worse it looks. Conventional wisdom will stop you after two or three.</p>

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[quote]
I plan on taking it a bunch of times to increase my scores as high as possible

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That's a terrible idea. Just take practice tests.</p>

<p>
[quote]
i think it is almost impossible to get [a 40]

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In 2004, approximately 130 kids in the country scored that high or higher out of roughly 66,500 test-takers.</p>

<p>
[quote]
in the 30's and i think that is good right

[/quote]
It depends on what kind of schools you mean to apply to, what the rest of your application looks like. Usually a 34+ is considered very solid - but not always.</p>

82

<p>Also:</p>

<p>The MCAT is very high on English skills. You have a verbal reasoning section, a writing section, and a great deal of reading comprehension even within the science sections.</p>

<p>Now is a good time to learn about proper punctuation and run-on sentences.</p>

83

<p>actually there is a limit of three times for taking the MCAT...after 3 times you need to get special permision from AAMC to take it again.</p>

84

<p>Sorry, went back and checked... Shraf is right.</p>

<p>Still, even if you could, taking the MCAT more than three times would be dumb.</p>

85

<p>assuming one has decent ecs, volunteerwork, and research, what are the gpa and mcat one would generally shoot for to gain admission to a med school such as harvard, jhu, upenn, wustl, etc?</p>

86

<p>1.) As I have decided to start reminding all these premeds, it does not matter what medical school you go to UNLESS you are interested in academic medicine - for private practice, it simply doesn't matter.</p>

<p>2.) This question varies a great deal by race.</p>

<p>3.) Their averages are published at any of their websites.</p>

87

<p>and unlike the SAT, most medical schools will consider scores from each set of testing if you do choose to take it more than once, instead of just the highest subsection scores.</p>

88

<p>You need better than "decent" EC's for top med schools. You need GREAT EC's. Even then, you'll still need around a 3.8 and a 35 for top med schools (and those are just averages).</p>

89

<p>Bluedevilmike is pretty spot on with a lot of stuff. I'm an M1 at Nebraska, and I teach for Kaplan, and you know your stuff.</p>

<p>A couple of other things. This whole site is way over the top worried about prestige and "the top schools"...realize this: As long as you are going to an accredited school in the US, you're going to be a good doctor. The difference between the best school and the worst school is really not that big(no where near the differences between law schools) and your main worry should just be about getting in. Believe me, after going through the process last year and watching friends go through it as well both this year and last, the med school admissions process is a crap shoot. A lot of really good people I know didn't get in for BS reasons ranging from not being in-state to not having enough "doctor" experience (she had enough patient experience). I know kids with 3.8, 29 MCAT, research, good involvement and in-state that didn't get in, while others with 3.4s and 26s did.</p>

<p>That goes for research to if you're thinking of MD/PhD programs. All are going to prepare you for what you want to do. </p>

<p>Finally, realize that most of the best medical schools in the country for producing actual doctors (not based on research) are STATE schools, not private. (again I've been on this site one day and state schools are way frowned upon here). U Dub in Seattle is the #1 Primary Care school in the country, with Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, E. Carolina, UNC, and Michigan State among the others in the top 11. In fact the only two private schools for PC are Duke and Baylor in the top 11.</p>

90

<p>
[quote]
you know your stuff

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</p>

<p>That's what I keep trying to tell them! But nobody ever listens to me...</p>

<p>:p</p>

91

<p>i know this post will sound stupid after bigredmed's post about "prestige" schools and how that is not a factor in chosing a med school, but my life long goal has been to get atleast one degree from Harvard. I tried undergrad and was rejected, so i will try med school, that doesn't work i will go in and try a PhD, but i just have to fulfill this gial and it is important to me. So with this said what kind of stats am i looking at for Harvard Med School.</p>

92

<p>before i answer you question....which indeed is stupid....why do u want to get at least one degree from harvard....i mean y harvard in particular?</p>

93

<p>i don't know really, i have always wanted to go there, and after getting rejected from undergrad i wanna go there more than ever.</p>

94

<p>But why its not like it teaches you medicine better then other schools. Or gives you a better PhD. Its just a name, that sure some people will like to see, but if you only care about name you probably won't succeed very long in medicine, where people care little about names unless you are talking as adding it as a perk. If you are already the best at what you do, and you add the name it might help, other then that it won't do much.</p>

95

<p>Rejected, your fixation on Harvard sounds neither reasonable nor, frankly, emotionally healthy. Do some very serious soul-searching about why this is so important to you: parental pressure? Emotional needs?</p>

<p>You don't want to go into medicine, you just want to be admitted to Harvard? This sort of mentality will be exposed by your essays and interviews, and it will be considered a hallmark of an emotionally unhealthy person - as well it should be.</p>

96

<p>"i dont know really" isnt quite an answer that warrants such a strong fixation...i'm sure theres a reason and i'm sure that its so silly that you dont want to share it with us.</p>

97

<p>well i won't die if i don't get in there, but it is just and Indian thing:
check this excerpt:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.twbookmark.com/books/40/0316059889/chapter_excerpt22754.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.twbookmark.com/books/40/0316059889/chapter_excerpt22754.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

98

<p>
[quote]
My father kept smiling and nodding approvingly at everything.

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</p>

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[quote]
my family’s dream school

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</p>

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I looked over at my mom and dad. They were both dressed in their “parents of the applicant” outfits

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</p>

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[quote]
the only schools I’d even considered other than Harvard were Yale and Stanford. But those were just for the worst-case scenario. And my parents would probably die if I were forced to go to one of those schools.

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</p>

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[quote]
And the one thing [my parents] felt was essential to my success was admission to Harvard University, the world’s finest institute of learning.

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</p>

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So before I began kindergarten, my parents came up with a plan—a carefully plotted and thoroughly constructed plan, which we all referred to as HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard). I’ve followed HOWGIH to a tee since elementary school.

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</p>

<p>those r just some of the wonderful gems from that.....so it is family pressure and/or living up to parents' uninformed aspirations</p>

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[quote]
I suppose being a perfectionist could be considered a weakness. For example, I always quadruple-proofread all my papers for school. But I like to think of it as one of my strengths as well. I’ve never missed a comma.

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</p>

<p>worst answer ever to that question....if i were the interviewer i'd be like...."try again" :-P</p>

<p>wow, i didnt think i'd actually read through that whole thing, but its great.....so after reading that you are still like Ms. Mehta? I bet you have perfect SAT scores dont u? I know i'm one of the last people on this board who should be scolding u since i go to an ivy league college...granted one that your parents would probably laugh in my face for since it is not top three....but seriously kid....this isnt what its about....i really dont know how else to put it. </p>

<p>btw, where do u go to college now since it isnt harvard?
and honestly, what is the difference between harvard and any of the other dozen prestegious colleges out there?</p>

<p>also, i liked this line the best from that excerpt:</p>

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[quote]
Harvard doesn’t want a campus full of automatons.

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</p>

<p>its completely true, and thats y they have interviews and thats y schools usually dont care to interview people like me since it is painfully obvious that i am not that kind of person who they would be affraid may as well be a robot.......all in all, u need to do ALOT of thinking about where u r going in life or else you will miss ALOT of great opportunities!</p>

99

<p>I don't want somebody else's reason. I want yours. And your race is not a reason.</p>

100

<p>Are you so trapped in your twisted fixation that you can't recognize a satirical critique of it?</p>

<p>Do you not see that the passage is encouraging you to move past it, not to buy further into it?</p>