If you can not pass a medical school interview, how are you going to practice medicine. You have to convince your patient on your diagnosis and treatment plan. Your patient may not come back if he is not convinced. If you can not convince a interviewer that you are a good candidate for becoming a doctor, may be medicine is not for you.
It is in individual’s control as are other factors like GPA and MCAT score.
FYI, D got into a few BSMD programs where there was a medical school interview as well as Temple/LKSOM BSMD. D chose Temple/LKSOM.
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Simple, the major difference between USF and UCF is MCAT.
At USF, you take it at end of second year, or earliest fall third year for 515.
Hard task.
It is a ONE shot MCAT, for 515. You might have time for reload, and pull off a second shot. But time is really against you.
You will need to study your arsss off for that one shot.
Why is that?
Can anyone comment on Penn, BU, FAU etc. MCAT requirements and how many times you can take it? Looks like 7 year programs has less time to take MCAT. Are these programs one shot MCAT types? I did not know about this # times MCAT tries till now. When do usually students in 7 year programs take MCAT and how many times can they realistically appear for MCAT in their 3 years of UG?
I am sure college that wants to go an extra mile for 1500 SAT, shouldn’t have problem to release those numbers, ofc, if they are not publishing you can always ask in writing from admission office.
Ideal time to take MCAT for 7 year/8 year BSMD is between end of sophomore and start of junior year. The latest may be Dec/Jan of junior year. This will give another opportunity to retake MCAT in March-April time frame. D took in Jan of junior year just before cancellations due to covid last year. Ideally take MCAT once and be done with it.
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This precisely, parents wants, aka tiger parents.
To people who had the meet the deans sessions with NJMS,
How was the experience? What should we expect(Is it just a presentation about NJMS or do they expect us to ask questions and engage?)
That shouldn’t be a deterring factor for any hopeful to be Dr, in fact its necessary trait for a Dr profession.
MCAT: If you are afraid of MCAT, medicine is not for you. In medicine, standardize tests are norm, even with Step 1 become P/F, med school reputation along with Step 2 CK will play a bigger role in residency match.
Just due to sheer nature of MCAT exam, 9 hours, that no one has ever before spent for any standardized test, it requires time and efforts to prepare, it is not a walk-in the park, irrespective of the school you attend, ofc, the rigor of UG will prepare you much better, just like rigor of high school prepares you much better for ACT/SAT.
Even part of preparation student gives multiple FL tests (few 9 hours tests) before actual MCAT exam to prepare your mind and body that kind of workload. That’s why you want to give once, not like ACT/SAT, if I got a low score, I would go in few weeks again, MCAT in few weeks or even 2 months would change the score ±2/3 points, insignificant. There is a published report from AMCAS about MCAT retake outcome depending upon your original score.
UCS, USF: One can easily learn about their medical school by visiting those medical school specific threads on other site, very informative, hopeful candidate should browse them and understand the nature of those medical school.
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Ehhhhh
I want my kid to get what he wants. Our discussions have always been:
Pick what you want (as long as it is legal and pays a living wage).
BUT
Whatever that thing is I expect you do it well and dedicate yourself to being excellent at your craft.
Success could mean being an EMT or nurse instead of a doctor. I am not the one living the daily grind- that’s on him and his choice in the pursuit of happiness.
I married a Soldier and work in education. Prestige isn’t high on our list at home 
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MCAT:
- Plan to take only once.
- For the BS/MD students (means reasonable test takers and good in academics), getting decent score (512-515) (assumes you need to study) is reasonable.
- Doing by 2nd year end (for 7 years programs) should not scare you. The key for this is to start OChem 1 in the 1st semester itself. As long as you do OChem1-2, BioChem, Bio and all mentioned courses in AMCAS, it is doable. The key is complete the courses in a well planned manner so that during 4th semester spring break or latest by that summer you can do it.
For regular MD, don’t ever think about taking MCAT multiple times (max 2 times). For BS/MD programs many schools like UCF, USF, Miami etc allow to take few times if student does not meet the cut off score, which is nice.
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IMO, taking Organic chemistry I with lab and Organic Chemistry II with lab and one Biochemistry class (no lab required) is essential. Some advanced Biology courses like Genetics, Cell Structure and Function may help in MCAT. Of course, Calculus I, II and Physics I, II, General Chemistry I, II are also required before taking MCAT. There is a section on social sciences in MCAT which requires Sociology and Psychology knowledge. Plan well to finish all these before taking FL practice AAMC tests 1,2,3,4.
Try searching for Hofstra or FAU in there. You are down to search results up to Dec 2020 for Hofstra and for FAU it shows until Nov 2020. What happened to search results beyond those dates? There were many discussions on Hofstra and FAU for sure in this thread. If there is any other easy way to pull that info, please let me know.
BTW CC Admin escalated this issue to their team. Waiting for their response.
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Not sure if taking a formal course in Bio chemistry is required for taking MCAT. In C’s program no one had a chance to take it by sophomore year but all did great in MCAT given during summer after sophomore year. Of course they had such a solid grinding in general chemistry freshman year itself, that Orgo I & II also was a walk in the park for most, if not all.
So who knows may be required for those not attending a rigorous school? One needs to decide for self.
Some students did take Biochemistry in 1st semester junior year after finishing MCAT. C went one step further and directly took advanced Bio chemistry, a graduate level course in the med school along with med students and graduate students (and almost aced it with an A- 
)
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There is no fear…! Its about choosing a right one when you have choice!
I don’t agree with your argument at all. If what you saying is true everyone who interviews here should be selected into every program for to be fit as a doctor. And that’s not the case. Don’t you think not being successful in one or two interviews is not a bearing on ones suitability to the trade. There are no. of reasons for schools to fail a candidate in an interview including they can’t offer every one that interviews. Simply there are not enough spots.
But I don’t buy on when you say “if you are afraid you are not fit”. No one is afraid, its about taking a decision that is much favorable among the available options.
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Most medical schools may require a Biochemistry course on the transcript before matriculation. if one has knowledge of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, kreb cycle, glycolysis and other metabolic pathways from organic chemistry courses, they may do well in MCAT.
It is about your risk tolerance and risk appetite. Can you sleep well in night if you lost money in stock market? Choose your risk level which suites you. You may choose to have a zero risk with your money by putting in FDIC insured institution. If you are not afraid of loosing money, one can invest in stock market long term and get reasonable returns according to experts.
By taking a risk of an interview in 3rd year, you are risking to apply via regular route MD if you do not make it(BSMD program). One can even get in to a T20 medical school via regular route, not restricted to one medical school. Most BSMD programs are a good example of a bird-at-hand choice.
I thought it went pretty well! The doctor seemed to like my answers and kept saying thank you after I responded They asked me about 7-9 questions and I’m pretty sure I answered them well
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You don’t have to worry at all then. Many BSMD students have not mastered conciseness in their answers and thus they allocate extra time. If you answered to the interviewers’ satisfaction, and they have been recommended to not offer additional information or questions, like in my DD’s case also, then all they can do is thank you and end early. Looks like that is what happened here. Look forward to positive results!!
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