September 13 or January 31?

[alexinorbit]

Hi,
I have been studying for the mcat since June. I am going into my third year this september, but I am thinking of postponing my mcat to january 31st. Right now I am scoring low 30s but my verbal score is very low(~7), and I think I can improve much more. Would you recommend postponing the test? Since I have already covered most of the biological and physical sciences I am thinking that all i need is to review and continue doing practice tests until january. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

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[AZFutureDoc]

Ya postpone. I am assuming you apply next year and that you don't think you can use the Jan score for this cycle. There's just no advantage taking it in Sept vs January. You are still incredibly early and have time to retake if necessary

 

[Rajkumar Paul]

Hi, This is Rajkumar from India. I want to pursue MD/PhD in USA. Currently, I am doing lectureship in an engineering college in India. I have done M.Tech (Biotechnology) in 2007 and M.Sc (Agricultural Science). I have registered for TOEFL and GRE in October this year. I also want to give MCAT. When should I give this exam--- in September or January? I want to take admission in next year. Plz, tell me wheter I am eligible for the above program or not. If yes, what chance I will have? Is it better for me to do MD/PhD than to do PhD? How many seats are there in each university for international student viz. Havard, MIT, Jhon Hopkins, Cornell etc.? Which scholarship can I get if take admission in MD/PhD program?

 

[silverlion]

Hi Rajkumar....I'm Indian too...but I'm a US citizen and therefore an eligible for med School at schools in the US as opposed to an international applicant. Most medical schools here do not accept international applicants for M.D. The few who do are extremely hard to get in and your profile should be a killer to say the least to get in as an international student.

You talk about the M.D.-Ph.D. program but it seems to me that you know very little about it...the M.D.-Ph.D. program is extremely competitive (and by that I mean its way more competitive than anything youve seen in India so far...I was there too ...so believe me). I'm trying for M.D.-Ph.D. at the moment too and you need to have some research experience before you even think of getting in. if you have a publication through your research then chances go up. the good thing about the M.D.-Ph.D. is that they usually consider international applicants too...But again the people who get into these programs are highly motivated , hardworking etc...

You might be better off with a Ph.D. ...But I dont really know because you dont say much about yourself or your interest...It might be of use to you to realize that admissions in the United States are not one dimensional like in india. While in India you give an entrance exam and voila ..you're in if you cleared it....here the application process is much deeper and really aims at looking at you as a whole...how you've done in college, extracurriculars, community service and volunteering, research, teaching, any clinical experience(like physician shadowing etc.)...I doubt that you have all of this in your bag and you should look into the specifics of the program even before you start talking about it...

I'd suggest you look into the Physician-Doctors subforum on sdn itself...there will be people there who would give you more insight...

about giving the MCAT..you can give it if you want to...no harm in that...If you think you're well prepared then go for it...If you get really serious about the M.D-Ph.D. thing then you will need a good MCAT score (around 35 or more)...

Good Luck...