Verbal Reasoning went down by one point to 11--big whoop, still sizzlin'.
Physical Sciences went up by one point to 8--that's good enough for me.
Biological Science--bam!--jumped up FOUR points to an 11.
Sweet, sweet, sweet satisfaction. 26o to 30p.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Mini-Me
Mini-Me is 17 and a senior in high school. Needless to say, she resembles her mother. Though she is convinced that I have no idea what she is going through, I'd say that we are both in the same boat. Or at least, we rented our canoes from the same place.
Mini is feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of applying to college. It doesn't help that I keep telling her she needs to get her applications in right away. How nice it must be to decide if you want to apply to three places or stretch yourself and apply to five! (Jealously point #1.) So far, I think she has decided to exclude schools that have an essay section on their applications. (Jealousy point #2.)
She took her first ACT exam this spring. With a score of 29, Mini believed that she could have done better if she had actually gone through the prep book I bought her. Frankly, I think a 29 is a great score, but I'm always delighted to hear my kids say they want to best themselves. So, Mini registered to take the ACT a week after I was scheduled to retake the MCAT.
M's scores arrived at our house yesterday, two weeks earlier than expected. She opened the envelope with a big smile on her face, but it quickly faded. She scored a 30 on the second go-round. "That's awesome!" I said. She just glared at me.
The day of her retake, Mini came home happy. "I know that I did so much better," she told her dad and me. "I finished all of the questions, not leaving a single one blank this time. I think I'm going to get a 33." She's a smart girl, and math is her forte, but her dad and I were quick to remind her that scoring in the 94th percentile (jealousy point #3) didn't give her much room for growth. Her score of 29 meant that she'd definitely get scholarships at the state schools (JP #4). That said, her optimism was inspiring. I had taken my test a week earlier and loved the idea of having my score increase by 4 points. I, too, felt like I had done so much better on the second test.
Mothering has got to be the best way to find yourself face-to-face with your own issues. On one hand, I'm reassuring my daughter, trying to get her to be OK with her score and see it as a victory. On the other hand, my fear of not doing better on the MCAT suddenly jumped out of the closet. Really, truly, honestly, I thought I was fine with it. I thought I was in a comfortable, wait-and-see sort of place. Mini's disappointment has given me a new dread for Tuesday.
Mini is feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of applying to college. It doesn't help that I keep telling her she needs to get her applications in right away. How nice it must be to decide if you want to apply to three places or stretch yourself and apply to five! (Jealously point #1.) So far, I think she has decided to exclude schools that have an essay section on their applications. (Jealousy point #2.)
She took her first ACT exam this spring. With a score of 29, Mini believed that she could have done better if she had actually gone through the prep book I bought her. Frankly, I think a 29 is a great score, but I'm always delighted to hear my kids say they want to best themselves. So, Mini registered to take the ACT a week after I was scheduled to retake the MCAT.
M's scores arrived at our house yesterday, two weeks earlier than expected. She opened the envelope with a big smile on her face, but it quickly faded. She scored a 30 on the second go-round. "That's awesome!" I said. She just glared at me.
The day of her retake, Mini came home happy. "I know that I did so much better," she told her dad and me. "I finished all of the questions, not leaving a single one blank this time. I think I'm going to get a 33." She's a smart girl, and math is her forte, but her dad and I were quick to remind her that scoring in the 94th percentile (jealousy point #3) didn't give her much room for growth. Her score of 29 meant that she'd definitely get scholarships at the state schools (JP #4). That said, her optimism was inspiring. I had taken my test a week earlier and loved the idea of having my score increase by 4 points. I, too, felt like I had done so much better on the second test.
Mothering has got to be the best way to find yourself face-to-face with your own issues. On one hand, I'm reassuring my daughter, trying to get her to be OK with her score and see it as a victory. On the other hand, my fear of not doing better on the MCAT suddenly jumped out of the closet. Really, truly, honestly, I thought I was fine with it. I thought I was in a comfortable, wait-and-see sort of place. Mini's disappointment has given me a new dread for Tuesday.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Top Entertainment Pick
A friend of mine assumes that I am a Grey's Anatomy junky. "Doesn't watching that make you scared to go to med school?" I just laughed. She was surprised that I had never seen it. To humor her, I finally pulled up the pilot on Netflix. Nope. Grey's Anatomy does not scare me. (That is, unless you are talking about the original Gray's Anatomy. That puppy is pretty daunting.)
So what's a good thing to watch if you'd really liked to get scared? I humbly recommend the NOVA documentary Doctors' Diaries. I caught the program when it originally aired on PBS in 2009, and stumbled across it this past week on Netflix. The program follows seven students enrolling in Harvard Medical School in 1987 over the course of 21 years. In an era when reality TV abounds, it is refreshing to see this candid look at these students who were simply being themselves. (No, I really don't believe the average reality TV star today has much genuine personality.)
You just can't help but feel for these people. Their reaction to being in the anatomy lab for the first time, their realization that there are no promised outcomes--these are things that network television tries to capture, but can't.
You watch them smile as they try to deal with the humbling and somewhat humiliating reality that the "brightest kids in the class" no longer have all the answers. Frankly, one of the guys sounds like a total idiot while taking a medical history. At first you might think, "Wow! Any body can get into Harvard," but it doesn't take much to realize that sleep deprivation is the primary cause of his unintelligent speech, and this guy isn't operating far from his breaking point.
The documentary also chronicles the impact high-intensity training followed by a high-intensity career has on intimate relationships. There is no pretense, just the reality that it is hard to strike a balance in life. The guise of being successful as a physician is pulled aside as you catch them reflect upon what type of success matters most in life. I'll admit it; it left me a little spooked.
So what's a good thing to watch if you'd really liked to get scared? I humbly recommend the NOVA documentary Doctors' Diaries. I caught the program when it originally aired on PBS in 2009, and stumbled across it this past week on Netflix. The program follows seven students enrolling in Harvard Medical School in 1987 over the course of 21 years. In an era when reality TV abounds, it is refreshing to see this candid look at these students who were simply being themselves. (No, I really don't believe the average reality TV star today has much genuine personality.)
You just can't help but feel for these people. Their reaction to being in the anatomy lab for the first time, their realization that there are no promised outcomes--these are things that network television tries to capture, but can't.
You watch them smile as they try to deal with the humbling and somewhat humiliating reality that the "brightest kids in the class" no longer have all the answers. Frankly, one of the guys sounds like a total idiot while taking a medical history. At first you might think, "Wow! Any body can get into Harvard," but it doesn't take much to realize that sleep deprivation is the primary cause of his unintelligent speech, and this guy isn't operating far from his breaking point.
The documentary also chronicles the impact high-intensity training followed by a high-intensity career has on intimate relationships. There is no pretense, just the reality that it is hard to strike a balance in life. The guise of being successful as a physician is pulled aside as you catch them reflect upon what type of success matters most in life. I'll admit it; it left me a little spooked.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Retakes, Anyone?
With my second test scores yet-to-be-revealed, I can say with confidence that I'm glad I retook the MCAT. According to AAMC, you have about a 50/50 chance of improving your MCAT score with a retake. That's right, my friends, that means you could actually do worse. Before retaking it, be honest with yourself about your ability to raise that score.
It took me almost two weeks to make peace with my first MCAT score. Could I be content with it? Were there clear challenges I could overcome? If I didn't find time to study like I wanted to for the first test, would I really find more time before the second? How likely is my score to fall instead of improve?
As nerve-wracking as it seems, you've got to be OK with that bit of reality. If you are scoring outside of a competitive range on your practice exams and on your initial MCAT, I don't know if it is worth putting yourself through the wringer to try to bump up your score by a couple of points. Apply for the MD schools that you like, but be sure to hit the osteopathic medicine programs early. I know that there are people who don't get into an MD program and so they spend a year trying to strengthen their applications by focusing on MCAT prep. The MCAT is just one piece of the puzzle. If it is the only place where you are weak, why wait another year?
It took me almost two weeks to make peace with my first MCAT score. Could I be content with it? Were there clear challenges I could overcome? If I didn't find time to study like I wanted to for the first test, would I really find more time before the second? How likely is my score to fall instead of improve?
- I know I could be content with my scores. If I get the same scores on the retake, I'll be OK with that. It just means I'll most likely need to change the name from "MD at 43" to something that doesn't quite rhyme. ("DO at forty-fo"?)
- I was able to identify clear challenges for me to overcome. I realized that the actual test was the first time I sat through the complete exam, including the writing. None of my practice exams were the mock tests I intended them to be. It was hard finding a place to sequester myself for 5 hours, but I did it. I even packed myself a little cooler bag of snacks and kept my potty breaks to the allotted time.
- I realized that I wouldn't magically find extra study time, so I made it, and I was pretty ferocious about it, too. "Sorry, honey, I want to help you," I said to my teen-ager who wanted to practice driving, "but I feel like I already failed the MCAT once and don't want to do that again. Go ask Dad." My kids came around, and became my cheerleaders.
- My verbal score is likely to be lower the second time around. But you know what? That's only because 12 is pretty dang high and if it fell to a 10, that would still be really solid. I had to take that risk in order to bring up my biology score from a 7. (And I'm fairly certain I bottomed out on the 7. Hopefully, I could only go up from there.)
As nerve-wracking as it seems, you've got to be OK with that bit of reality. If you are scoring outside of a competitive range on your practice exams and on your initial MCAT, I don't know if it is worth putting yourself through the wringer to try to bump up your score by a couple of points. Apply for the MD schools that you like, but be sure to hit the osteopathic medicine programs early. I know that there are people who don't get into an MD program and so they spend a year trying to strengthen their applications by focusing on MCAT prep. The MCAT is just one piece of the puzzle. If it is the only place where you are weak, why wait another year?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
26 to Go!
In three weeks, my scores will be released from my September 1 MCAT. Right now, all of my applications are in that limbo known as "under review." Yesterday, I recieved an email alerting me to log into my account with VCU since my status had been changed. Knowing that my new scores weren't ready, I was certain that I got my first rejection. Nope...just a notification that I was cleared for a secondary application.
Secondaries are like a horde of minions, with each one tossing three or more essays at you. If it wasn't all managed electronically, I think that I would die the death of a thousand paper-cuts. Some schools actually do a cursory review of your file (whatever that means) before sending you a secondary, but most seem eager to collect the associated fee and have you craft a few more essays. (Did I mention the fee waiver? If you've got kids, you just might qualify. See my July 8, 2012 post.)
So, yeah, I've got "a few" more essays to write. Actually, I meant to say 26. I just counted them. Just for kicks, I decided to string all those prompts together in one long document, scanning for the opportunity to re-work some of material on the six secondary applications I've turned in thus far. I sorted the questions by themes. A few schools had somewhat similar prompts. For instance, three schools asked me how I will contribute to the school's diversity. Of course, all of the essays are different enough that there is no way you can simply plug in one for another. And I still have 26 essays to go. Twenty-six!
I'm curious how much time the typical applicant spends on these puppies. Arizona asked me (in 350 words or less) to answer the question, "Do you believe your MCAT scores or GPA accurately represents your potential to succeed in medical school? Why or why not?" Of course, being me, I couldn't answer this without asking what the research says and wondering if I feel like I'm some sort of outlier (hey, I'm 38--I'm an outlier). Just so you know, a broad review of the literature shows that correlation between MCAT scores and med school performance are not particularly strong. SpringerLink had an interesting little abstract on age and gender as predictors of medical school success, but I think that bit of info simply illustrates how easily I am distracted from the task at hand (more than it illustrates that I'm totally going to kick it as an older female student).
When I read the prompt from The Commonwealth Medical College, "List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess," my heart leapt with joy for the sheer simplicity. "2000 characters" brought me down, especially when you consider that prompt two is, "Choose one attribute from the above list, and describe one personal experience that best exemplifies that attribute. 2000 characters."
Yep, they want it all. These schools want you to disclose your greatest accomplishments, biggest failures, and personal challenges. Utah even wants you to write a second personal statement that is "specific, succinct, straightforward and sincere" in 3990 characters. Essentially, think of all the poetic angst that went into the AMCAS/AACOMAS/TMDSAS essay, and do it again with a completely different story arc.
Part of me thinks this process is just about jumping through hoops. The primary medical school application is pretty thorough as it is, and it is considered good enough for some schools (e.g., Mayo doesn't ask for a secondary). But then another part of me hopes maybe, just maybe, this vetting process will help filter out some of the shallow, egotistical folks who simply see medicine as a lucrative career.
Yeah, I know. Not likely.
Secondaries are like a horde of minions, with each one tossing three or more essays at you. If it wasn't all managed electronically, I think that I would die the death of a thousand paper-cuts. Some schools actually do a cursory review of your file (whatever that means) before sending you a secondary, but most seem eager to collect the associated fee and have you craft a few more essays. (Did I mention the fee waiver? If you've got kids, you just might qualify. See my July 8, 2012 post.)
So, yeah, I've got "a few" more essays to write. Actually, I meant to say 26. I just counted them. Just for kicks, I decided to string all those prompts together in one long document, scanning for the opportunity to re-work some of material on the six secondary applications I've turned in thus far. I sorted the questions by themes. A few schools had somewhat similar prompts. For instance, three schools asked me how I will contribute to the school's diversity. Of course, all of the essays are different enough that there is no way you can simply plug in one for another. And I still have 26 essays to go. Twenty-six!
I'm curious how much time the typical applicant spends on these puppies. Arizona asked me (in 350 words or less) to answer the question, "Do you believe your MCAT scores or GPA accurately represents your potential to succeed in medical school? Why or why not?" Of course, being me, I couldn't answer this without asking what the research says and wondering if I feel like I'm some sort of outlier (hey, I'm 38--I'm an outlier). Just so you know, a broad review of the literature shows that correlation between MCAT scores and med school performance are not particularly strong. SpringerLink had an interesting little abstract on age and gender as predictors of medical school success, but I think that bit of info simply illustrates how easily I am distracted from the task at hand (more than it illustrates that I'm totally going to kick it as an older female student).
When I read the prompt from The Commonwealth Medical College, "List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess," my heart leapt with joy for the sheer simplicity. "2000 characters" brought me down, especially when you consider that prompt two is, "Choose one attribute from the above list, and describe one personal experience that best exemplifies that attribute. 2000 characters."
Yep, they want it all. These schools want you to disclose your greatest accomplishments, biggest failures, and personal challenges. Utah even wants you to write a second personal statement that is "specific, succinct, straightforward and sincere" in 3990 characters. Essentially, think of all the poetic angst that went into the AMCAS/AACOMAS/TMDSAS essay, and do it again with a completely different story arc.
Part of me thinks this process is just about jumping through hoops. The primary medical school application is pretty thorough as it is, and it is considered good enough for some schools (e.g., Mayo doesn't ask for a secondary). But then another part of me hopes maybe, just maybe, this vetting process will help filter out some of the shallow, egotistical folks who simply see medicine as a lucrative career.
Yeah, I know. Not likely.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Plus and Minus of Being Everything but Traditional
On Student Doctor Network, there is a much-celebrated study schedule to help students prep for the MCAT. It lays out a great 3-month plan of attack. Of course, it is 3-months of studying 6-8 hours each day. Yeah, right. Maybe, just maybe, you can stick a part-time job on top of that. Or maybe you could still have time to spend on one class during the semester. Or maybe you might be able to meet the needs of a self-contained child (whatever that is supposed to mean). But, honey, there ain't no way you are doing it all.
This brings me to the question "Is being a non-trad an asset or a liability?" Just earlier today, a friend asked me to read someone's letter of intent to get into PA school. I've never met the would-be physician assistant, so I only "know" her based on her writing. She sounded so young. In fact, I'd say she sounded too young, too lacking in maturity. Youth is not a bad thing by any means (sigh, gray hairs), and age does not necessarily bring with it maturity, but there was something definitely missing. The conviction of someone saying "I really want to do this because I've been a CNA and I liked helping the old people" is a vastly different from someone who has experienced adult life. I understand what it means to enjoy work-life balance. Physicians score lower on this metric than the average adult. This means something completely different to a non-trad working wife and mother than it does to a single 22-year-old. I've got a very different vantage point to view that from. That's not to say that my vantage point is superior; it just makes me a more informed applicant. That's an asset.
So that brings me back to the 3-month wonder schedule. The author is honest in saying that it isn't for people who can't commit to studying full-time. Is that the key to success on the MCAT? Do you really need to devote three months of full-time study in order to get a competitive score? When I first started looking at applying to medical school, I was irked by all non-trad info I was finding. It seemed like common consensus is non-trads need to go DO because they don't perform as well on the MCAT and with GPA. The notion is that DO schools tend to look at the whole person and value the diversity of life experiences non-traditional students have had more than MD schools. This ruffled my feathers a bit. I'm one of those non-trads who didn't blow-off undergraduate school. My GPA (anyway you cut it: bachelors, postbacc, graduate, science, etc) is 3.88 or higher. I thought I would totally kick the MCAT. I was wrong. For me, the MCAT as a non-trad was definitely a liability. Working full-time, helping kids with their homework, and prepping for my lab class (thank goodness I didn't take the lecture that semester) made finding MCAT study time a real challenge.
The MCAT is a 5+ hour exam. Testing fatigue was a real issue. At some point, I found myself thinking, "I don't care what the answer is, I just want this damn thing to end." In all of my prep efforts, I only did one full-length practice test mimicing the real format. Big mistake. I think, finally, I've worked through the test-fatigue issues. It is still grueling, but not as hard as it initally was.
The biggest challenge of the MCAT is the simple fact that there are dozens and dozens of topics to master, yet there are a mere 52 questions in each of the science sections. I know I have not mastered all of the topics in the study guide, and so chance comes into play. Maybe the topics on that test are my forte and maybe they aren't. In preparing for the exam, I've taken five different tests from e-MCAT. These exams are honest-to-goodness tests from AAMC. I thought that my practice tests should roughly correspond to the score I got on my real test. Nope. I score 1-2 points lower on the physical sciences and 2-3 points lower on biological sciences. (At least my verbal score was 1-2 points higher than my practice scores.) Having graduated with a degree in social sciences 16 years ago and having multiple full-time commitments makes being a non-trad a definite disadvantage for the MCAT.
I'll let you know how this Saturday shapes up.
This brings me to the question "Is being a non-trad an asset or a liability?" Just earlier today, a friend asked me to read someone's letter of intent to get into PA school. I've never met the would-be physician assistant, so I only "know" her based on her writing. She sounded so young. In fact, I'd say she sounded too young, too lacking in maturity. Youth is not a bad thing by any means (sigh, gray hairs), and age does not necessarily bring with it maturity, but there was something definitely missing. The conviction of someone saying "I really want to do this because I've been a CNA and I liked helping the old people" is a vastly different from someone who has experienced adult life. I understand what it means to enjoy work-life balance. Physicians score lower on this metric than the average adult. This means something completely different to a non-trad working wife and mother than it does to a single 22-year-old. I've got a very different vantage point to view that from. That's not to say that my vantage point is superior; it just makes me a more informed applicant. That's an asset.
So that brings me back to the 3-month wonder schedule. The author is honest in saying that it isn't for people who can't commit to studying full-time. Is that the key to success on the MCAT? Do you really need to devote three months of full-time study in order to get a competitive score? When I first started looking at applying to medical school, I was irked by all non-trad info I was finding. It seemed like common consensus is non-trads need to go DO because they don't perform as well on the MCAT and with GPA. The notion is that DO schools tend to look at the whole person and value the diversity of life experiences non-traditional students have had more than MD schools. This ruffled my feathers a bit. I'm one of those non-trads who didn't blow-off undergraduate school. My GPA (anyway you cut it: bachelors, postbacc, graduate, science, etc) is 3.88 or higher. I thought I would totally kick the MCAT. I was wrong. For me, the MCAT as a non-trad was definitely a liability. Working full-time, helping kids with their homework, and prepping for my lab class (thank goodness I didn't take the lecture that semester) made finding MCAT study time a real challenge.
The MCAT is a 5+ hour exam. Testing fatigue was a real issue. At some point, I found myself thinking, "I don't care what the answer is, I just want this damn thing to end." In all of my prep efforts, I only did one full-length practice test mimicing the real format. Big mistake. I think, finally, I've worked through the test-fatigue issues. It is still grueling, but not as hard as it initally was.
The biggest challenge of the MCAT is the simple fact that there are dozens and dozens of topics to master, yet there are a mere 52 questions in each of the science sections. I know I have not mastered all of the topics in the study guide, and so chance comes into play. Maybe the topics on that test are my forte and maybe they aren't. In preparing for the exam, I've taken five different tests from e-MCAT. These exams are honest-to-goodness tests from AAMC. I thought that my practice tests should roughly correspond to the score I got on my real test. Nope. I score 1-2 points lower on the physical sciences and 2-3 points lower on biological sciences. (At least my verbal score was 1-2 points higher than my practice scores.) Having graduated with a degree in social sciences 16 years ago and having multiple full-time commitments makes being a non-trad a definite disadvantage for the MCAT.
I'll let you know how this Saturday shapes up.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Such a LONG road
This is one ridiculously long road to go down. (Yeah, yeah, yeah--I know that applies to all of medical education.) If you are thinking about applying next cycle, push your "submit" button as close to June 1 as possible. Maybe, just maybe, that might make the wait a little less painful?
I applied to medical schools through three systems in July: AMCAS, TMDSAS, and AACOMAS. I started AMCAS first (in May) and submitted it last (early July) as I felt so particular about what I wrote for each of my 15 extracurriculars. I hope that extra crafting helped, because it took the full six weeks ("expect 3-6 weeks") to get verified. That was nerve-wracking. The Texas system was the quickest one to verify. I got verified with them in just under three weeks. AACOMAS was three weeks and a couple of days.
As of August 21, my application is complete at 9 schools. (It helps that Houston, San Antonio, and Gavleston do not require a secondary application.) Right now I am insanely excited to finally be verified by AMCAS and feel the urge to push out three or four secondaries by the end of the week. A little reality check, though. School starts tomorrow for my kids. I'm retaking the MCAT in 10 days, and I just started a genetics class at today. Secondaries must wait until after the MCAT is put to rest.
I applied to medical schools through three systems in July: AMCAS, TMDSAS, and AACOMAS. I started AMCAS first (in May) and submitted it last (early July) as I felt so particular about what I wrote for each of my 15 extracurriculars. I hope that extra crafting helped, because it took the full six weeks ("expect 3-6 weeks") to get verified. That was nerve-wracking. The Texas system was the quickest one to verify. I got verified with them in just under three weeks. AACOMAS was three weeks and a couple of days.
As of August 21, my application is complete at 9 schools. (It helps that Houston, San Antonio, and Gavleston do not require a secondary application.) Right now I am insanely excited to finally be verified by AMCAS and feel the urge to push out three or four secondaries by the end of the week. A little reality check, though. School starts tomorrow for my kids. I'm retaking the MCAT in 10 days, and I just started a genetics class at today. Secondaries must wait until after the MCAT is put to rest.
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