Hi all, thanks for your time.
I posted previously on SDN last year around Jan (Not sure what to do.) regarding my concern about my MCAT score. It was a 505 (128/123/126/128). At the time I was pretty hopeful that I would be able to find proper help and/or come across some kind of epiphany for raising my CARS score. I looked around SDN and all sorts of pre-med advice blogs for a course and bit on one with a fair number of great testimonials. I took the CARS course (won't mention which, you could PM me if you want to know) that touted their success. Unfortunately, the strategy I was taught simply did not resonate with me, as it involved writing down an outline during the test - the timing with it simply did not work out - among other strategies. I had so much faith for the strategy up until 3 weeks before the test, when I sat down and really asked myself if it was working for me: and it wasn't. I was at least 2 to 3 minutes over time for each passage. I abandoned ship last-minute and had to do it the way that at least let me finish CARS section on time. During the CARS section, I quite literally zoned out for the first 2 passages, and then lost hope. I voided that exam (4/28/17).
So I'm stuck with that 505 right now, and by advice of my peers here on SDN and a friend, I realized I'm not out of the game yet with osteopathic schools and a few lower-tier allopathic schools as options. All I really need to do at this moment is hit submit, and my application will be in for both AACOMAS and AAMCAS (late or not for verification, that's for another time). I've been doing more and more research about D.O's during the application process. I'm quite happy about everything the D.O school has to offer, but I'm very worried about the statistics with regards to obtaining residencies in specialties if I go this route especially with the upcoming ACGME/AOA merge. While I don't see myself applying to ortho/optho/derm, I want to keep my options viably open to some extent.
By logic it makes more sense to apply this cycle and get into some medical school to save the money and time. What do I know about residencies and what-not, right? I'm 24 (2 years post-graduation) with a few hundred hours of clinical volunteering/shadowing and starting to think I'm just taking too long. Parents are getting older (mid to late 60's) and friends are moving on professionally. But I'm now looking back and thinking about the "what-if's," where I would have found the right help for myself and would have raised that CARS score. I really want to put my best foot forward, and some part of me really believes I could have at least a 127 or 128 in that subsection. At this point I'm wondering if I'd really be happy settling with the 505 MCAT score and applying broadly, or if I should take another year off and try again.
They say you should never give up on your goals and your passions, but its becoming harder for me to differentiate to where that kind of energy should be directed.
I'm really sorry if this thread feels like alot of rambling and disorganized thought - it really is - but its been concerning me so much for the past week its been affecting my sleeping patterns among other things.
I posted previously on SDN last year around Jan (Not sure what to do.) regarding my concern about my MCAT score. It was a 505 (128/123/126/128). At the time I was pretty hopeful that I would be able to find proper help and/or come across some kind of epiphany for raising my CARS score. I looked around SDN and all sorts of pre-med advice blogs for a course and bit on one with a fair number of great testimonials. I took the CARS course (won't mention which, you could PM me if you want to know) that touted their success. Unfortunately, the strategy I was taught simply did not resonate with me, as it involved writing down an outline during the test - the timing with it simply did not work out - among other strategies. I had so much faith for the strategy up until 3 weeks before the test, when I sat down and really asked myself if it was working for me: and it wasn't. I was at least 2 to 3 minutes over time for each passage. I abandoned ship last-minute and had to do it the way that at least let me finish CARS section on time. During the CARS section, I quite literally zoned out for the first 2 passages, and then lost hope. I voided that exam (4/28/17).
So I'm stuck with that 505 right now, and by advice of my peers here on SDN and a friend, I realized I'm not out of the game yet with osteopathic schools and a few lower-tier allopathic schools as options. All I really need to do at this moment is hit submit, and my application will be in for both AACOMAS and AAMCAS (late or not for verification, that's for another time). I've been doing more and more research about D.O's during the application process. I'm quite happy about everything the D.O school has to offer, but I'm very worried about the statistics with regards to obtaining residencies in specialties if I go this route especially with the upcoming ACGME/AOA merge. While I don't see myself applying to ortho/optho/derm, I want to keep my options viably open to some extent.
By logic it makes more sense to apply this cycle and get into some medical school to save the money and time. What do I know about residencies and what-not, right? I'm 24 (2 years post-graduation) with a few hundred hours of clinical volunteering/shadowing and starting to think I'm just taking too long. Parents are getting older (mid to late 60's) and friends are moving on professionally. But I'm now looking back and thinking about the "what-if's," where I would have found the right help for myself and would have raised that CARS score. I really want to put my best foot forward, and some part of me really believes I could have at least a 127 or 128 in that subsection. At this point I'm wondering if I'd really be happy settling with the 505 MCAT score and applying broadly, or if I should take another year off and try again.
They say you should never give up on your goals and your passions, but its becoming harder for me to differentiate to where that kind of energy should be directed.
I'm really sorry if this thread feels like alot of rambling and disorganized thought - it really is - but its been concerning me so much for the past week its been affecting my sleeping patterns among other things.
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