2018ers...Where are you applying?

[2105]

I feel you. PS melts my brain as well, I am always down to the wire on it; therefore, I always try and take the full 10 minute break.

As far as my take on verbal goes:
1) I pretty much use the system outlined in ExamKrackers
2) When I'm reading I try to get a firm idea of what the author looks like...what their opinions are...and especially why they wrote the passage. They are obviously doing so for a reason and that is usually the "main" theme of the passage.
3) On the AAMC tests I always use the title given at the bottom of each passage that shows you where it originally came from...I find it gives clues to the author's intentions and theme
4) Probably what I find the most useful: I read cocky as hell. I'm super pretentious in my reading and if I don't understand what's going on in the passage I assume it's due to the writer not being concise/a good writer, not because I can't understand it.

I have done pretty much no practice passages for verbal other than the FLs. I do however read and write a lot anyway.

Have you been doing the EK101? I've heard they're good. They are setting on my table at home in case I start to bomb some of my full lengths and panic on my verbal skills

I honestly believe reading arrogantly and trying to pick up on the devices the writer is using to convey his message are the keys to doing well on verbal. I think people over-think things quite a bit and end up inferring too much and putting their own opinions into the writer's mouth. A lot of times there are truthful and seemingly good answers for questions that simply are too beyond what the author said in the passage.

I apologize if "teach me your ways" was a jest and not a request for my take on verbal reasoning, but if what I said is any help to anyone, go with it

Thanks! lol anything help at this point.

The bolded is what will hold me back.. who knew reading was good for you? lol I honestly stay away from any reading/writing classes because its my weakness. Give me some equations and graphs and I'm good to go. I'm feeling pretty good about PS and BS I've been pretty consistent with 10+ and I haven't put much into it to be honest. I just don't think I can make up for poor reading skills as a product of poor public school education in the next 4 weeks. I

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[ChemEngMD]

I dont mean to just bud into the conversation but in terms of what you should memorize... well kind of all of it because which test you get is a crap shoot in terms of what is on it or what is more emphasized. I took the test twice, for VR score purposes, and my two PS and BS couldn't be anymore different in terms of which concept they emphasized.

I get that, but I feel that the majority of the topics on the MCAT do not require rote memorization but more of familiarity with general concepts... so I was more wondering what topics legit require memorization (I.e. I feel that knowing AA groupings is important but specific functional groups are not)

Or if I'm completely wrong let me know and I'll postpone my test

 

[Juan Solo]

I get that, but I feel that the majority of the topics on the MCAT do not require rote memorization but more of familiarity with general concepts... so I was more wondering what topics legit require memorization (I.e. I feel that knowing AA groupings is important but specific functional groups are not)

Or if I'm completely wrong let me know and I'll postpone my test

Yes, you are correct in this regard. I think what you are asking is it required to memorize AA, functional groups, etc.? In that case, I honestly cant remember.

 

[The Beyonder]

Thanks! lol anything help at this point.

The bolded is what will hold me back.. who knew reading was good for you? lol I honestly stay away from any reading/writing classes because its my weakness. Give me some equations and graphs and I'm good to go. I'm feeling pretty good about PS and BS I've been pretty consistent with 10+ and I haven't put much into it to be honest. I just don't think I can make up for poor reading skills as a product of poor public school education in the next 4 weeks. I

I'm sorry you're having a difficult time with verbal. Can you find a MCAT coach who can help you on the verbal section. I had a few friends who struggled on the verbal section and a tutor gave them some tips that helped them get over the hump.

I get that, but I feel that the majority of the topics on the MCAT do not require rote memorization but more of familiarity with general concepts... so I was more wondering what topics legit require memorization (I.e. I feel that knowing AA groupings is important but specific functional groups are not)

Or if I'm completely wrong let me know and I'll postpone my test

I did not memorize the functional groups, but I did know which ones were polar/charges. Concerning what to memorize, that is what the pretest are for. After I took a test I would see what I got wrong and go over those concepts hardcore. I would be very disappointed in myself if I got the same concept wrong on back to back test.

 

[ChemEngMD]

I did not memorize the functional groups, but I did know which ones were polar/charges. Concerning what to memorize, that is what the pretest are for. After I took a test I would see what I got wrong and go over those concepts hardcore. I would be very disappointed in myself if I got the same concept wrong on back to back test.

Yeah, that's what I've been doing. I just get annoyed when they throw in a random discrete in that is blatantly background memorization...like AAMC #3 when they ask about the structure of cholesterol...I guess knowing the structures of major micro/macromolecules is helpful?? We'll see how this next practice goes...the last one was a 10/12/10...gonna take the free TPR tomorrow probably

 

[2105]

I'm sorry you're having a difficult time with verbal. Can you find a MCAT coach who can help you on the verbal section. I had a few friends who struggled on the verbal section and a tutor gave them some tips that helped them get over the hump.



Yea I've been meeting with this coach, and he has given me some extra materials to help with comprehension. Idk, I think its a mental thing, I think if I can get confidence, like ChemEng, I might do better... my coach has told me this a couple of times.

 

[Sailor Senshi Dermystify]

For me,

I am debating on applying this cycle because I've been abroad for two years, but haven't done anything medically-related. The last medical experience I had was in 2011 when I was in undergrad. I don't feel competitive anymore, even though a lot of people said I am. I did get accepted into the AmeriCorps Community HealthCorps program for one location. I am waiting on the other locations to contact me and things like that. I think waiting out for another year and doing this program can really help and I want to get more involve in SNMA, mentoring and hospice care. I am returning back to the States mid-July, so I shall see. I am 75% sure that I am not going to apply this cycle because of my lack of medical-related activities. I am very hard on myself and I want to submit in the best app possible. Plus, I am a NY resident and I want to stay in NY or somewhere in the NE region .

 

[SilentSoldier]

Its time for me to chime in, I shall be applying this cycle too. My MCAT is currently scheduled for July 13 (couldn't get June 20th and already postponed from May). I'll be a reapplicant from the 2011-2012 cycle and have been doing a postbac to improve pretty much every part of my last app that could've been a red flag ( GPA, MCAT, late app, interview skills) so I'm coming in swinging this time around.

 

[jeffs office]

Yay, SS, welcome to the club!



So it turns out I will be retaking my MCAT in July, and honestly, my poor VR performance is making me second-guess applying to some of my reach schools. I'm going to try my best to do better this next time, but man, I really think I'm going to have to get a solid 10+ so adcoms can overlook this VR score (6).

I need to look into schools that average all your MCAT scores, and judge you based on the average (maybe those won't be the ones for me). I heard from a friend that if you have a letter of recommendation from professor in an English class, or even a communications class, it could slightly offset your poor VR score. Have you guys heard that also?

How many reach schools are you guys applying to? Are most of your schools' averages within the your GPA/MCAT range?

 

[ChemEngMD]

I need to look into schools that average all your MCAT scores, and judge you based on the average (maybe those won't be the ones for me). I heard from a friend that if you have a letter of recommendation from professor in an English class, or even a communications class, it could slightly offset your poor VR score. Have you guys heard that also?

A guy who used to be on here recommended the same thing. He felt his VR score wasn't strong enough so he made sure to get a LOR counteracting it.


Edit: http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?view=viewprofile.discussion&id=16779

^^I stalked down his MDApps he got an 8 on VR and managed to get into Harvard ...obv he has a lot of other great stuff on his app

 

[Sailor Senshi Dermystify]

Yay, SS, welcome to the club!



So it turns out I will be retaking my MCAT in July, and honestly, my poor VR performance is making me second-guess applying to some of my reach schools. I'm going to try my best to do better this next time, but man, I really think I'm going to have to get a solid 10+ so adcoms can overlook this VR score (6).

I need to look into schools that average all your MCAT scores, and judge you based on the average (maybe those won't be the ones for me). I heard from a friend that if you have a letter of recommendation from professor in an English class, or even a communications class, it could slightly offset your poor VR score. Have you guys heard that also?

How many reach schools are you guys applying to? Are most of your schools' averages within the your GPA/MCAT range?

I wouldn't depend on that because it's getting more competitive each year to get in and he applied cycles ago. I think he's about to graduate next year. Plus, he's an African-American male who attended a pretty top school. When are you taking it exactly?

A guy who used to be on here recommended the same thing. He felt his VR score wasn't strong enough so he made sure to get a LOR counteracting it.


Edit: http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?view=viewprofile.discussion&id=16779

^^I stalked down his MDApps he got an 8 on VR and managed to get into Harvard ...obv he has a lot of other great stuff on his app

I think Jolt21 is still on here. I know he posted in the Black Greeks in medicine thread. I think he is an Alpha man. But I think it may be different when it comes to you Chem because you're a male . Females get the burnt end of the stick when it comes to medicine

 

[ChemEngMD]

I wouldn't depend on that because it's getting more competitive each year to get in and he applied cycles ago. I think he's about to graduate next year. Plus, he's an African-American male who attended a pretty top school. When are you taking it exactly?



I think Jolt21 is still on here. I know he posted in the Black Greeks in medicine thread. I think he is an Alpha man. But I think it may be different when it comes to you Chem because you're a male . Females get the burnt end of the stick when it comes to medicine

What year did he post in though? Lol I haven't seen him post in the URM thread since like 09 when he started med school. He seemed a cool dude tho.

 

[jeffs office]

A guy who used to be on here recommended the same thing. He felt his VR score wasn't strong enough so he made sure to get a LOR counteracting it.


Edit: http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?view=viewprofile.discussion&id=16779

^^I stalked down his MDApps he got an 8 on VR and managed to get into Harvard ...obv he has a lot of other great stuff on his app

Thanks for the link! I hope I can really pull up this score next time.

I wouldn't depend on that because it's getting more competitive each year to get in and he applied cycles ago. I think he's about to graduate next year. Plus, he's an African-American male who attended a pretty top school. When are you taking it exactly?



I think Jolt21 is still on here. I know he posted in the Black Greeks in medicine thread. I think he is an Alpha man. But I think it may be different when it comes to you Chem because you're a male . Females get the burnt end of the stick when it comes to medicine

Well, I'm not trying to get into the schools jolt has gotten into, but I definitely need to pull up my score. Retake is in July. My sciences aren't bad, so my main focus will be VR. I will still be submitting primary apps the first day. meh. The stick isn't too bad from my point of view. Just looking for some places where I would be happy.

I think I'm going get rid of a couple more reach schools. I was hoping for a more competitive score.

 

[ChemEngMD]

Trying to inject some life into this thread. We can submit AMCAS in less than 3 weeks! Let's submit early people!

 

[Domino2178]

.

 

[Ambitionista]

Planning on submitting early as well! Not sure how much that will benefit me though...My school doesn't send out our committee letters/letter packets until July and by taking the June20th MCAT my score won't be released until late July.

 

[Brpremed]

Hello. I want to represent my home state NY. I'll be applying to schools in NY, New England, and Pennsly.

I am applying around NY as well!

 

[Domino2178]

.

 

[starfar]

3 weeks already!?

I've been whittling away at the app bit by bit daily to get it done by June 1. Longest part thus far has been figuring out how to craft the activities section. Its certainly a blessing to have more ECs etc than space for.. but its tough deciding what to include to actually reflect who I am!

I still need to get my transcripts in though, 7 undergrad institutions I have to get transcripts from lmao!! This should be fun.

 

[Ambitionista]

3 weeks already!?

I've been whittling away at the app bit by bit daily to get it done by June 1. Longest part thus far has been figuring out how to craft the activities section. Its certainly a blessing to have more ECs etc than space for.. but its tough deciding what to include to actually reflect who I am!

I still need to get my transcripts in though, 7 undergrad institutions I have to get transcripts from lmao!! This should be fun.

7? I have 3 and that's already been a nightmare.

 

[Ambitionista]

This thread has been dead for a little while. How's everyone's application going? Ready to submit the 10th?

 

[MagisandCP]

I am planning to submit a few days after. My MCAT is June 20th. I'm going to take it, then submit my application to one school to get verified. Depending on how I perform, I will submit to more schools. Anyone else taking this approach?

 

[Ambitionista]

I am planning to submit a few days after. My MCAT is June 20th. I'm going to take it, then submit my application to one school to get verified. Depending on how I perform, I will submit to more schools. Anyone else taking this approach?

I'm currently working on some final revisions of my PS (my 6th draft, hopefully I stick with it!) and finishing up my work/activities section. I plan to submit sometime later this week as well. I'll be taking a similar approach. My MCAT is July 26th (late, I know). I plan on submitting this week to all my 3 in state schools then based on my practice FL scores leading up to the exam I will add more schools.

 

[ChemEngMD]

I am planning to submit a few days after. My MCAT is June 20th. I'm going to take it, then submit my application to one school to get verified. Depending on how I perform, I will submit to more schools. Anyone else taking this approach?

I'm trying to do the same but I am still having a hard time finishing up my PS ugh

 

[2105]

I am planning to submit a few days after. My MCAT is June 20th. I'm going to take it, then submit my application to one school to get verified. Depending on how I perform, I will submit to more schools. Anyone else taking this approach?

Agreed. I'm being very lazy about my work/activities section. I'm also finishing up one other essay for MD/PhD. I plan to submit by the end of this week. I'll get my MCAT score around early July (took 5/30). God willing I can apply to all of the schools I want to.

I wish everyone the best of luck this cycle! I can't wait until we can create an acceptance thread and stunt!

 

[RocDiva4040]

Hey y'all!!

I just submitted my app today. I applied to 15 schools. I tried to make sure that my schools had a good (read double digit) number of black folks lol.

Here's my list:

Florida State
Miami
Georgetown
George Washington
Brown
USC
BU
UCLA
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Yale
Cornell
Harvard
U Penn

 

[ChemEngMD]

Hey y'all!!

I just submitted my app today. I applied to 15 schools. I tried to make sure that my schools had a good (read double digit) number of black folks lol.

Here's my list:

Florida State
Miami
Georgetown
George Washington
Brown
USC
BU
UCLA
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Yale
Cornell
Harvard
U Penn

Very ambitious list! I hope it works out for you. I assume you're from Florida? Considering the only school on that list that could be seen as "safety" would be FSU and 2/3 of your list are top 20 schools...

best part about submitting early though is that if you find that your list was too top heavy and you get rejections/deferments from a lot of schools you can throw more on in August or September (not saying that will happen, but it's nice to know)

 

[Juan Solo]

Hey y'all!!

I just submitted my app today. I applied to 15 schools. I tried to make sure that my schools had a good (read double digit) number of black folks lol.

Here's my list:

Florida State
Miami
Georgetown
George Washington
Brown
USC
BU
UCLA
Mount Sinai
NYU
Columbia
Yale
Cornell
Harvard
U Penn

That's a solid list of schools. Good luck!

 

[RocDiva4040]

Very ambitious list! I hope it works out for you. I assume you're from Florida? Considering the only school on that list that could be seen as "safety" would be FSU and 2/3 of your list are top 20 schools...

best part about submitting early though is that if you find that your list was too top heavy and you get rejections/deferments from a lot of schools you can throw more on in August or September (not saying that will happen, but it's nice to know)

Yea I know. I hope it works out for me. I only have enough money to apply to 15 (so like 1 extra school than FAP gives at the moment). *Prays* I didn't wanna waste any space on schools that I knew I wouldn't actually go to/like.

Yep I'm from Florida.

 

[kaygeebee]

Hello everyone! I just submitted a few hours ago! 15 MD schools and 5 DO schools...good luck to all of us 2018ers

 

[Juan Solo]

Yea I know. I hope it works out for me. I only have enough money to apply to 15 (so like 1 extra school than FAP gives at the moment). *Prays* I didn't wanna waste any space on schools that I knew I wouldn't actually go to/like.

Yep I'm from Florida.

Makes sense. No Stanford or UCSF huh? Don't like the bay area?

 

[HobbitJane]

Feel free to come over to sunny Arizona.

 

[RocDiva4040]

Makes sense. No Stanford or UCSF huh? Don't like the bay area?

It's just so far lol. I just feel more comfortable on the East Coast. I've actually never even been to Cali, and I have no family there. The only reason I even have 2 Cali schools is because my best friend loves Cali and has a lot of Cali schools on her list.

 

[Juan Solo]

It's just so far lol. I just feel more comfortable on the East Coast. I've actually never even been to Cali, and I have no family there. The only reason I even have 2 Cali schools is because my best friend loves Cali and has a lot of Cali schools on her list.

Yeah, I completely understand. Well I wish you the best of luck on this upcoming cycle!!

 

[DR MOM]

I submitted on the tenth! I've got three state schools and a list of out of state schools I like that are in places I'd like to live - plus my dream school.

I'm from TX, so it's been weird to look at some of the med schools I am applying to and see that they have only 3 Latino students.

I'm so excited to get this process going. Good luck everyone!

 

[Ambitionista]

Finally submitted! I'm curious to see how long it will take my app to get verified seeing how one of my transcripts appears to have gotten lost in the mail and the admissions staff for this particular college is apparently on vacation. mad: end rant.)

I've only added VA schools so far:

UVA [[[top choice!]]]
VCU
EVMS

Once my app is processed (and I get my funds up haha), I plan to add the following:

Johns Hopkins [a girl can dream...]
Columbia
Duke
UNC Chapel Hill
Wake Forest
Emory
BU
Georgetown
GW
Howard
University of Maryland
Uniformed Armed Services [military brat]

...and maybe a school or two in CA (I would love to go back!!)

Until then, back to MCAT studying. Good luck everyone!!!

 

[ChemEngMD]

Welp, just submitted about an hour ago to one school (ECU) to get verified. So stressful!

All my transcripts have been in for weeks so hopefully it won't take them too long to verify me. Now I gotta wait 8 more days for my MCAT scores ahhhhh

 

[Juan Solo]

Welp, just submitted about an hour ago to one school (ECU) to get verified. So stressful!

All my transcripts have been in for weeks so hopefully it won't take them too long to verify me. Now I gotta wait 8 more days for my MCAT scores ahhhhh

Good luck!!!

 

[ChemEngMD]

Good luck!!!

Lo agradezco, hermano

 

[Ambitionista]

Amcas found my transcript!

 

[ChemEngMD]

Amcas found my transcript!

Good, bout time! Now just rock that MCAT and you'll be all gooood


Hope everyone else's applications are coming along well!!

 

[malaika]

Wish you all good luck and success!! I pray you all get into your favorite school.


kaygeebee, what schools did you apply to? Mind sharing?

 

[Ambitionista]

Good, bout time! Now just rock that MCAT and you'll be all gooood


Hope everyone else's applications are coming along well!!

Haha thanks, that's the goal!

Have you made plans for how you're going to celebrate your MCAT score?

 

[MagisandCP]

Gotta get my AMCAS ready to submit. Transcripts all done. MCAT done on 6/20 (it was brutal). Gotta schedule my final interview for my committee letter from my undergrad. The main focus now is my personal statement.

 

[Juan Solo]

Gotta get my AMCAS ready to submit. Transcripts all done. MCAT done on 6/20 (it was brutal). Gotta schedule my final interview for my committee letter from my undergrad. The main focus now is my personal statement.

You got this! Good luck!

 

[MagisandCP]

You got this! Good luck!

Thanks Juan solo! Did you submit already?

 

[Juan Solo]

Thanks Juan solo! Did you submit already?

Yeah, I applied in just this last years cycle.

 

[MagisandCP]

Yeah, I applied in just this last years cycle.

Oh nice. How's it lookin?

 

[Juan Solo]

Oh nice. How's it lookin?

I can't complain

 

[RocDiva4040]

Hey hey

I added more schools to my app, so now I'm applying to 21 and feel much better about that, but my MCAT is in 5 days!! My practice scores are kinda all over the place.

Any tips/suggestions?