Early MCAT preparation

kime

My wife is thinking of taking the MCAT and going to med school sometime in the future. She has a BS in Petroleum Engineering, so I guess for now we'd be looking at good resources (textbooks, etc.) to learn/reference the four sciences (not necessarily in an MCAT format). I don't know if there is anything special or not, but figured I'd ask.

So, any recommendations? Was that clear-ish what I'm asking?

Raif Severance

I would direct you to the Student Doctor Network website - specifically the MCAT discussion. Lots of good advice and a better forum for med school related questions.

YoSoyTheWalrus

Step one would be to make sure she has the required courses under her belt. The Harvard Med School requirements are pretty standard. I imagine she has the physics and math but maybe not the biology or labs. As far as resources, I took the Kaplan course and used their materials, I'd say it was pretty much worth the time and expense in my experience.

kime

OK, thanks for the advice, both of you

kime

So I haven't had a chance to check out that Student Doctor Network yet, but I will. For now, I have another question here since I trust people here :P

How important are actually having those courses to med schools? Like, with her undergraduate degree (which is weak in chem and bio, but strong in math and physics), and a good MCAT score, will the lack of official courses in those hurt a lot?

If so, would there be a problem with just filling in her blanks course-wise with a local college, or...?

Thanks! I did computer science, so I no little about this side of things haha

Skeith

Not having a strong background in chem and bio would definitely hurt.

kime

Yeah. I was hoping the MCAT itself would be enough to say, "hey she knows enough of the important stuff for med school"

Since it's a test designed specifically for that :P

But I can also understand that not being enough

Rawkking Goodguy

Hi kime, biochem major ex-premed who is ironically working more in computer science now here :P

If your wife needs certain coursework I'd highly recommend researching postbaccalaureate premedical programs online. Where she goes certainly matters, and while it's probably not unheard of for someone with a few community college courses to get into medical school I wouldn't risk it personally.

And yeah, she'll absolutely need the coursework, both because medical school is crazy competitive and they can afford to exclude people who haven't. This is both in a getting the best of the best, knowing more than they were able to put on one MCAT test way, and also knowing that the person got through that coursework while still enjoying the subject enough to want to continue on to medical school. (I concluded that spending many, many hours over the next four years of my life studying flashcards and coming up with unusual mnemonics to memorize medicine contraindications, anatomy, and the names of enzymes involved in biochemical reaction pathways was not something that appealed to me.)

As I think Skeith is getting at above, it is going to be extremely hard to do well on the MCAT without all that biology and chemistry/organic chemistry coursework. Physics/math too, but she has that. A lot of questions require you to not only have the memorization of relevant subject material but also understand it well enough to apply it in a new direction you might not have seen before taking the test. Studying for the MCAT a lot, taking practice tests, and taking a prep course isn't really going to help most(practically all) people for the latter part, or at least not enough (it's still very important).

YoSoyTheWalrus

Agreed with the above, the coursework including the labs is pretty much mandatory. That being said, med schools generally like to see a variety of experience so her less-traditional undergraduate degree may actually be an advantage if she can take the courses to make up the difference. Look at satellite schools as opposed to CCs for this, if not a major university. Most schools will happily take your money for a few classes and labs post-bac.

Another note is some form of lab or health care experience. The majority of doctors and med students I know spent some time working, interning or volunteering in either a laboratory or a hospital. It shows both an interest in the subject matter and the ability to apply biomedical concepts. I spent three years in undergrad in a lab just on the off chance I decided to go.

Admissions officers at many schools are willing to take appointments with prospective students and tell them exactly what they're looking for. If she has a school in mind that is close, I'd suggest looking into that as well. It can be much more complex than simply doing well on the MCAT...not to be discouraging, but she should be realistic.

kime

YoSoyTheWalrus wrote: »

It can be much more complex than simply doing well on the MCAT...not to be discouraging, but she should be realistic.

No, this is exactly the sort of feedback I want to hear, we need to know what to expect and how to prepare at this stage, so thanks!