What part of med school admissions or the MCAT would you like recommendations for?
Moderator
🚨🎃 Happy Halloween! No trick - just a treat! Comment below with a👻spooky emoji and the section of the MCAT or part of the admissions process that you feel you least prepared for and we'll respond with some helpful resources.
Comments
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👻as a non-traditional student, I am overwhelmed with where to start. Sometimes I feel lost since I haven't seen all of this material in 10+ years. I have been questioning whether or not to sign up for night classes in bio and chem in order to have a better place to start.
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@pennylane8468 Near and dear to me! I was also 15+ years out of school when studying for the MCAT, and there was definitely content I had never taken classes on (looking at you, psych and soc). There's no right or wrong way about this, but the most important component for me was to NOT expect myself to have the same timeline as a more traditional pre-med. I had very limited time to study with young children at home, in addition to the content being so far out. So I made the choice to give myself ample time to get to my goal score. That might not necessarily work for everyone—I can see how having a set test date can be very motivating for others, but it was more pressure on me than I really needed in my life. That's not to say that my studies were picture perfect; I was ridiculously inefficient because I didn't know better, but that's part of learning how to do well on the MCAT. To give you a sense of timelines, if the average student spends ~300 hours studying for the MCAT, I probably spent at least double that time, but that's how long it took for me to get through content and adequate practice (as well as lots of trial and error). It's not meant to be discouraging but to help you get a better sense of expectations—it's ok to give yourself the space and time to get there.
A great option is to take classes, like you're suggesting. It provides guidance and a source of expertise to get follow-up. There are post-baccalaureate programs that do just that. If that's not the route you go, then here's what I would suggest (not what I did, but I wish I did in retrospect).
1. Start with a practice test to help you narrow down the scope. No pressure to perform, no need to feel embarrassed about the score. I did horribly on my first one lol.2. Generate a list of topics for additional review based on what you're missing in Chem/phys and Bio/biochem. For Psych/soc, often just tracking the terms you're missing (maybe flashcards) is sufficient, as there usually isn't a lot of content depth required. For CARS, identify patterns of mistakes (types of passages, types of questions)
3. Get that review done. Use MCAT specific books (Kaplan ones are a particular fav :D), other video resources that exist online, and complete the practice questions/guided examples within each chapter. If possible, get access to a bank of questions to do additional MCAT-like practice on the specific topic. Plan out which topics and resources you want to tackle on a weekly basis. For CARS, get that practice done on a regular basis - the frequency and amount will depend on availability of practice resources and whether this is a particular area of focus for you. Try to adjust your approach for the passage and questions based on the types of mistakes.
4. Once you've completed your action steps, it's time for another practice test. Lather, rinse, repeat.Hope that helps!
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Hello! I will be 3 years out of undergrad when I'm applying and I'm most concerned about asking for letters of recommendation from my professors. I didn't form the best bond with my science profs due to large classes and COVID, so I'm unsure how to navigate asking if they may not even remember me. Any tips?
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@Enjolie_V great question! Yeah, COVID certainly did make things challenging for many students. It's still worthwhile reaching out to them, particularly for classes you did well in. Send them some info about the papers/projects you completed in their class, your grade and resume/CV, how they helped you in that class and why you're contacting them. You might also offer to schedule a video call if they have availability, or if you're still in the area, maybe even offer to meet them in person. I know, awkward, but the science professor letters of rec component is pretty important for applications, and I'm willing to bet they get a lot of these requests. Send as many as you can! Hope that helps.
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