Need Personal Statement Help?

The MCAT. (affectionately referred to as the Terminator)

The MCAT, the most dreaded and feared part of the med school application process and probably the #1 most feared exam for students anywhere is wrapped up in an all day multiple choice answerfest, with a couple essays thrown in for good measure! The MCAT claims to test your aptitude in Verbal reasoning, Essay writing (it’s important to be able to communicate), Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. For the latest details, check out the MCAT website.

When should I schedule this pain? 
Take this in APRIL of your application year (probably as a junior) or the previous AUGUST (after 2nd year if you plan on going straight to med school) if humanly possible! People taking the August MCAT as seniors won’t get scores until late October at the earliest, so schools also will not get scores until then. They will not consider you complete without scores and this will definitely tie up your application! You will be busy enough trying to get your letters of rec and other materials together, the last think you want to think about are your MCAT scores coming in!

How should I prepare for the MCAT?
Much of your introductory preparation should come from your own college courses in Biology, Chemistry, etc. I recommend that everyone get the MCAT practice tests given out by the testing company so that they can practice doing some of the questions, and so you get familiar with the kinds of things that they test for. In addition, there are many excellent books on the subject.

MCAT	MCAT Complete 7-Book Subject Review: Online + Book MCAT Princeton Review Complete Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review ExamKrackers: MCAT Practice Tests

Remember, start preparing Early! Let me repeat that! Start preparing EARLY. Allow yourself at least several months prior to the exam to study. Get a few books on the subject, and review the commonly tested material. Avoid the temptation to study things that are already familiar to you, just because it’s easier. Do a hours of studying per day, pace yourself. Do a few questions, maybe 15 to 30 minutes worth a day, to keep yourself sharp. Practice, practice, practice.

To course or not to course?
Should I spend hundreds of dollars more on an MCAT course? There are about a half dozen or so classroom type courses. Check with your college counselor to see if there are any in your area. Classes are a good way to force yourself into learning the material, as well as build in several hours of extra study time per week. Whether or not you take one is up to you, just be aware, that the trend toward taking an MCAT course is moving up, and more and more people are taking them. The plus side is that many courses offer you a FREE chance to retake the course if you don’t get a good score. But that’s like saying I’ll give you a 2nd root canal, if the first one doesn’t work for you!

For you computer savvy people, there are also a few books with CD ROMs with MCAT material, and these are also nice, because it is a break from the paper tests. And for anyone with a long commune to school or to the library, audio tapes of MCAT prep material are available, and will give you an extra 30 minutes of learning a day (depending on your commute.)

When evaluating whether or not to sign up for a course, or buy study materials, avoid the temptation to try to skimp, because. After all, it is your future, and it will be far, far more costly or painful to retake the MCAT if you aren’t happy with your score. On the other hand, with so much stuff out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Don’t over do it, and remember to economize. You may be able to borrow books from graduating seniors or buy used editions online or at your college bookstore. Check around. It’s a good idea to buy these early, just so you have them on hand when it’s time to start hitting the books. Thumbing thru a biology MCAT book is a good idea while you take your own course. While it won’t necessarily help you on your midterms, it may bring to attention areas that your class isn’t covering.

What score do I need?
MCATs score, as with everything: the higher the better. Expect that double digit scores will be desired if not required from all schools. The writing sample score is more lenient, that unless you really bomb that section is it likely to affect your evaluation. Conversely, a stellar writing sample will NOT make up for a less than spectacular score on the Biological Science portion of the exam.
Just so you know, if you take the MCAT more than once, some schools take your most recent score (better or worse), some schools average, and some schools take the best one! Most schools count your science half higher than the verbal stuff at least unofficially (UCSD does the opposite) and a few schools throw out the essay portion completely! But, as long as you improve your score, you’ll do fine.

One more note: if you are considering taking a year off, you may still want to apply when everyone else does. This gives you more options, in case you decide later that you want to go straight to med school AND you can always defer your acceptance by one year later and take a year off with your mind at ease!