The dreaded MCAT

Cue the dark music here. Does anyone actually enjoy studying for the MCAT?

Let me start by saying that this blog post is not meant to discuss the actual test content or scoring, especially because I took the test TEN years ago. Yes my friends, the test was still on paper when I took it for the first time. I am indeed showing my age.

I am here to tell you about MY experience with the MCAT, and it was not pretty.

Viewer discretion advised…

I took the MCAT for the first time during my junior year of college. I was always serious about medical school, but my history of studying for standardized tests (the ACT) was a little disorganized. During my first attempt at the MCAT, I used a couple of resource books and studied on my own. That did not go over well. Unfortunately, I did not do well enough to use that score for medical school applications.

I was lucky enough to have time to fit in a second attempt at the MCAT prior to application season. The second time around, I took a Kaplan MCAT course that included in-person classes a few times weekly, for a few weeks. Gearing up to take the MCAT for a second time, I felt much more prepared. Unfortunately… my score did not reflect the confidence I had felt going into that test day. I was left again with a score that was possible good enough for some schools, but unlikely competitive enough for the schools I really wanted to attend.

I had to make a decision- apply to attend medical school directly after undergrad, or wait a year and find something to do with my time. The young, carefree student in me said “what the heck, I’ll just go for it”, and I sent out those MD applications left and right, racking up a large amount of fees by applying to many schools so I could increase my chances as much as possible.

The vision of my younger self, trudging out to the mailbox to open yet another rejection letter, is pretty vivid in my mind. I did have a few interviews and acceptance to a school that I wasn’t super excited about. I quickly realized that I had another decision to make. I really wanted to go straight through undergraduate and medical school, to minimize my time to graduation, but something didn’t seem right within my gut. In the midst of the application process, I was invited to interview for a post-baccalaureate program at Ohio State. This program, if completed successfully, would allow immediate matriculation into medical school at Ohio State without an additional interview or application.

I was very blessed to have been accepted into this program, but guess what? They required another attempt at the MCAT!

I took the MCAT one last time, after another review course, this time the Princeton Review.

I’m going to be honest here. I made the marks to matriculate into medical school, but I didn’t do much better on that third MCAT attempt.

So yes, you do in fact have a successful Emergency Medicine physician here, telling you that I never did stellar on the MCAT! I can also tell you, that my day-to-day practice does not involve concepts from the MCAT (I know some of you are doing a happy dance right now). The test IS important, in order to gain admission into medical school. But after that… you can move on with your life and forget it!

Look, I can’t speak for everyone here, but the MCAT did not predict my success as a medical student OR a physician. Many people will tell you it does. I think what people mean to say, is that proper study skills and concept application MAY predict your success, as a graduate student and physician, but a specific test, will not.

And just like that… my MCAT review books went into the garbage along with the previous night’s pizza.

Sorry for the blurry photo. My 22-year-old self didn’t know I would be blogging about this, 10 years later!

My biggest take home message from this post, is that you CAN find a way to conquer this test. It may not have been what you intended, or what you really want to do (who wants to sit through hours of review courses), but if you want it bad enough, you will find a way. Maintaining a positive, motivated attitude is half of the battle. So for those of you sitting at home crying over this test, listening to your peers that tell you this test is the only thing that matters… stop, breathe, and formulate a plan that will lead to your conquering this exam.