AndyPeckham.com

August 26, 2008

Today I Almost Took the MCAT

It almost would have been easy to pretend like I wasn’t signed up to take the MCAT today.  I slept in this morning, read the news, and then drove into town (Bozeman).  Except that at 11:45 am I got a call from the test center, wondering if I was still planning on taking the Medical College Admissions Test at starting in 15 minutes.

So what happened?  Did I just forget that I was supposed to taking the exam today?  (Those of you who know me well may not be too shocked if that was the case.)  No, I actually just decided not to show up.  So did I chicken out at the last minute?  Actually, not quite.

The MCAT is a pretty big deal.  Not only is it a long exam (5 hrs), covering a minimum of one year’s worth of general chemistry, one year of physics, one year of biology, one year of organic chemistry, an hour-long verbal reasoning section, and two 30-minute essays, but it is also probably the single biggest factor for acceptance into medical school.  Less than 40% of people who apply to medical school get accepted.  For comparison, the GMAT for business school is 3 and ½ hrs long, the LSAT for law school is 3 ¼ hrs, and the GRE for grad school is 2 ½ hrs.  So you really don’t want to have to take it twice.

The plain and simple truth is, I was not ready to take it today.  You are allowed to take the exam 3 times in a year, but medical schools see all of your test scores that you have ever gotten, and take them all into consideration.  I will admit, I am disappointed in myself.  I think what I’m really disappointed in, more than realizing I wasn’t ready to take the test today, is that basically this confirms that I’ll be applying to medical schools next spring, with the hope of starting med school Fall of 2010, since you have to apply a year before you want to start.

I had worked my butt off this entire year, nearly killing myself this summer taking a year of organic chemistry and a year of physics at the same time, completing 16 credits in 12 weeks, while working with the ambulance on the weekends and volunteering with hospice and search and rescue.  All that with the hope that I could send in a really late application to med schools right before the deadline, and then start med school Fall of 2009.  I didn’t realize though that 75% of med schools have rolling admission, and that as competitive as med schools are to begin with, by now almost all of those spots are already taken, so even if I had a really strong application, and somehow managed to get all my ducks in a row with transcripts, personal statement, letters of recommendation etc, my chances of acceptance would be significantly lower than if I were applying in June along with the majority of applicants.

On the other hand, it is a relief.  I decided last week that I wasn’t going to take the MCAT today as scheduled, after taking a second mock MCAT practice test and scoring very poorly.  I had thought that since I completed all my premed requirements in this one year, everything would still be fresh.  As I study though I realize I need a lot more time to review topics which I have forgotten the specifics for.  My brain reached a supersaturation point this summer during O-chem, and not everything made its way into my long-term memory.  I’ve had two other people give me the same advice about not taking it until I feel I’m ready, so that has been encouraging.

I had less than 2 and ½ weeks from the time my second summer session ended till today to study for the MCAT.  I had hoped to study this whole summer but it was literally impossible if I wanted to survive O-chem (God decided to work a miracle and I pulled off a B+ in O-chem both semesters, and A’s in both physics classes.).  Instead of studying every single day, I ended up working with the ambulance 6 of those days, with most of those being 24 hour shifts, because we were really short staffed this month, with not enough people to have two ambulances running at all times like we’re supposed to.  I also managed to work a mountaineering trip in, which was awesome!  (I’m going to post pictures, really I am…)

I find myself coming up with all sorts of reasons to justify not taking the MCAT today as planned.  Some are good reasons, I know.  But of course there is the fact that I have a fear of failure, and that I have an ego and my pride would be hurt if I took the MCAT and got a low score, as I most likely would have today.  I would have been able to make excuses for a low score, but then I would have had to do it all over again.  Right now I’m hoping to take it the last possible date, which is Sept 13.  School start next week though, and I’m moving in to a new place in Bozeman, so I’m afraid I won’t get all that much extra study time in.  If I’m still not doing well on practice exams by then, I’ll consider taking it in January.  I have another heavy course load ahead of me this fall (biochem, neurophysiology, genetics, and more) so I won’t have much time to study, and then I’m afraid I’ll be worse off than now with having forgotten more.

I have to remind myself that God’s timing is a lot better than my own, even though I may not be able to see it until years from now.  It’s really hard for me NOT to lean on my own understanding in all of this and try to make plans based on what I think is the best thing to do.  I keep telling myself, “All I can do is my absolute best, and trust God to take care of the rest.”  Easier said than done.

Alright, well it is officially no longer the same day, and I think it’s time to dream about the Nernst equation, Zaitsev’s rule, Snell’s Law, Henderson-Hasselbach equatio

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