Trying to analyze

[158313]

I am sure this has been a common question on here, so I am sorry to repeat. Basically the situation is this, I have 3.16gpa, with this past year of 3.33 and then 3.66 in the spring. i have shown an upward trend since the spring of my sophmore year, always doing better the following semester. Now i will be taking the MCAT in mid august and i am scoring 18 today on an actual 5hr practice test(6/6/6). so now i have only have 4 weeks left to study. then with all this, i will have been working 3years in an out patient ortho Physical therapy setting. my experience for podiatry is 0, and i am freaking out, it justs that i havent had time, and that has been the truth, i will find some hours to shadow befor i apply this fall, but it will only be little.

what are my chances of getting in, be honest

once again thanks

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[Feli]

With the MCAT the way it is now, you can take it next month and then re-take once or twice if you had to. It's not like when I was applying that if you bombed the MCAT, you were done until next year because it was only available in April or Aug. I'm pretty glad I only took it once; now, barely anyone does that.

A 3.1 or 3.2 with upward trending grades isn't too bad if you did a BS degree and/or went to a decent university. A 18 on the MCAT would probably put you slightly to significantly below average depending on which pod schools you are considering, but at least you're balanced in each cat.

If your practice tests are from Kaplan or they're the old ones you order from AAMC, those are usually very close to what you'll score on the real deal. Still, take the MCAT, get your scores, and then analyze. Keep studying hard, and don't beat yourself up just yet. After the exam, shadow a pod and learn more about the programs while you wait for scores. If you're interested, I'd apply early in the cycle; you could always send additional retake MCAT scores to your file later.

 

[Dr. Gangrene]

Feli gives good advice.

Get your MCAT up. It definetly needs to be better. Shoot for the mid 20's. I found that the AAMC practice test scores I got were the closest to my actual MCAt.

Could it be that Kaplan and Princeton review etc. make their test harder so you buy there material?? Possible.

As for shadowing a pod; you definetly want to know what you are getting into. This is the basis of the pod shadow requirement; learn what your future job will consist of so you know if you would really be happy doing it.

My shadowing was limited, but enough to know I would be happy as a pod.

Good luck on the MCAT, and let us know if you need more info!