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How Should A Engineering Student With No Science Background Prepare For The Mcat?


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I am in my third year of mechanical engineering with the hope of going into medicine (I know I should have picked a more relevant major, but I didn't realize I was capable of getting good grades until after high school and at that point thought it would be nice to have a backup plan so I didn't bother changing programs). So far the only science classes I have taken were in my first year and included a full year of chemistry and a full year of physics, I have also taken a handful of heat transfer and thermo classes as well as a lot of math classes but I'm not sure if those will help.

 

Luckily my home province (Alberta) doesn't have any prereqs so I do not necessarily need to spend a extra year in undergrad. I would love to hear anyones opinion on how I should approach the MCAT, should I take a gap year and self study, or should I spend a extra year in university, or would taking a bunch of MCAT prep courses over the summer (such as kaplan and princton review) be enough? I have heard that university classes will sometimes cover more than what is on the MCAT and that it might not be the best use of my time.

 

Im sorry If this is a dumb question, but I truly don't know what to do. Any information would be really helpful.

 

Thank you.

 

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Prep courses are more like review courses. They cover what material will be on the MCAT but there is not enough time to get into detail. They can be useful for reviewing at the end of a study cycle but it is not enough to go from no previous knowledge to ready for exam in a couple intense days. 

 

The 1st year chemistry and physics should be helpful but you need 6 credits of O-chem, 6 of bio, 3 of biochem to complete the prep work so to say.

 

Lots of people can do this independently but it is a major time investment. Most people will just take the classes where they can have the structure and assistance with difficult concepts. You also can get credit towards your degree out this will likely not help you in engineering,

 

GL

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I'm in the process of apply to med school while in my fourth year of engineering, so I definitely would say that it's possible! And I really do think that the skills you learn in engineering help with some aspects of the MCAT.

 

For example, physics and chemistry should be a piece of cake for you, as well as the math that is associated with those subjects. For the rest, there definitely is a fair amount of content to learn but it is manageable. My program (nanotechnology engineering) requires me to take organic chemistry and biochemistry, so I already had some background. From that, I did about 5 months of self-study with Kaplan books and found that I was able to get through the rest of the content without too many problems. I think physics and chemistry are two of the subjects that require the most understanding/calculations, a lot of the other topics are more pure knowledge/memorizing.

 

In terms of what direction to head in, I would think about what else you want to be doing over the next year or so. Here's some factors I would consider:

  • Finances: Can you afford to be in school for an extra year or take intensive prep courses? Do you need to be working during this time?
  • Knowledge: Do you want to just prep for the MCAT, or prepare yourself for med school while you're at it? Taking courses might be overkill for the MCAT in some cases, but I'm sure would be valuable for first year med school.
  • Self-discipline: Can you hold yourself to a study schedule or do you need some external teaching/guidance?

Obviously there's tons of options, and I don't think there's one right answer - do whatever fits your needs. For me self-study worked well with the time I had, and I was able to keep myself fairly on track.

Sorry that this is more questions than answers, but I hope it provides some good things to think about. Let me know if you have any other questions, or if you want me to point you to some good self-study resources :)

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Mechanical Engineering could be an excellent precursor for Medicine. There  could be some amazing research opportunities for someone who can do both.  I suspect most that follow that path complete the Eng degree first though.

 

The problem as you have already found is the MCAT. 

 

Could you take the entire summer 2017 off ? (no work or school).   Bust your ass May through July 2017 learning Organic and Bio basics. Use the MCAT study guides to focus your content, but source class material from your Uni.  Find people who took the courses and get their books and course notes or approach the profs.  Pay for an Orgo / Bio tutor and find some MCAT study partners.   Write the MCAT mid-August 2017 and see how you do.

 

From there you could apply in fourth year if you have the GPA and MCAT results you need.  If not , atleast you can then plan for post Eng degree on what you need to work on. 

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Mechanical Engineering could be an excellent precursor for Medicine. There  could be some amazing research opportunities for someone who can do both.  I suspect most that follow that path complete the Eng degree first though.

 

The problem as you have already found is the MCAT. 

 

Could you take the entire summer 2017 off ? (no work or school).   Bust your ass May through July 2017 learning Organic and Bio basics. Use the MCAT study guides to focus your content, but source class material from your Uni.  Find people who took the courses and get their books and course notes or approach the profs.  Pay for an Orgo / Bio tutor and find some MCAT study partners.   Write the MCAT mid-August 2017 and see how you do.

 

From there you could apply in fourth year if you have the GPA and MCAT results you need.  If not , atleast you can then plan for post Eng degree on what you need to work on. 

 

Thanks what I was hoping to do but I'm not sure I have enough time. I also found a really cool internship in prosthetics that I think fits well with my studies for the summer (but its only 5 weeks) and I don't think the hours will be too long. 

 

Thank you for the kind words, I think this is honestly the first time I haven't been criticized for wanted to do mech eng into medicine.

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I did engineering and am in the current application cycle. My engineering degree meant I only had only one semester of chem, full first year physics , no bio and due to my eng discipline not much thermo, heat transfer or anything relative.

I took psych by distance while working which really helped for the psych soc section and then I took an online Princeton review prep course, self paced, I took 11 weeks, went offshore for a week in the middle, usually took weekends off, and put in about 5 hours a day during the week. I scored 511 on the MCAT which was enough for one interview so far and my gpa is nothing spectacular. The prep course for me was sufficient for the biochem/orgo which I imagine is the most worrisome part.

 

You should also consider applying to NOSM (no mcat required .. especially if you have any rural ties) and McMaster which only counts the CARS section ( there's also a CASPer ethics type test, but I found my engineering ethics course was pretty good prep for this)

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I did mech eng and then applied to med school. I had done AP Chem (which let me skip uni chem), as well as physics and bio in university (I did bio just to fill some time since I had extra time due to ap courses). Never did organic chem.

 

I wrote the MCAT in August after I graduated engineering. What I did was get a couple MCAT books and went through them cover to cover. I looked up any concepts I wasn't clear on. I never found my lack of organic chem was a huge issue on the MCAT. Ended up with a 34R (I wrote the MCAT way back in 2006).

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I did mech eng and then applied to med school. I had done AP Chem (which let me skip uni chem), as well as physics and bio in university (I did bio just to fill some time since I had extra time due to asap courses). Never did organic chem.

 

I wrote the MCAT in August after I graduated engineering. What I did was get a couple MCAT books and went through them cover to cover. I looked up any concepts I wasn't clear on. I never found my lack of organic chem was a huge issue on the MCAT. Ended up with a 34R (I wrote the MCAT way back in 2006).

 

 

Just out of curiosity how did you spend your gap year after graduating eng? Did you do med school stuff?

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I did engineering and am in the current application cycle. My engineering degree meant I only had only one semester of chem, full first year physics , no bio and due to my eng discipline not much thermo, heat transfer or anything relative.

I took psych by distance while working which really helped for the psych soc section and then I took an online Princeton review prep course, self paced, I took 11 weeks, went offshore for a week in the middle, usually took weekends off, and put in about 5 hours a day during the week. I scored 511 on the MCAT which was enough for one interview so far and my gpa is nothing spectacular. The prep course for me was sufficient for the biochem/orgo which I imagine is the most worrisome part.

 

You should also consider applying to NOSM (no mcat required .. especially if you have any rural ties) and McMaster which only counts the CARS section ( there's also a CASPer ethics type test, but I found my engineering ethics course was pretty good prep for this)

 

So just to be clear, no bio, no organic chem, no biochem, 250 hours of studying and you got a 511!?! Isnt that like, crazy?

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Hi,

 

I self-studied using Khan academy and Kaplan books. I studied for 8 hours a day for ~ 2 months.  Just like you, I also did not take some of the pre-requitste MCAT courses.  However, khan academy videos were great and I managed to learn every thing by myself.  I used to go to the library every day at 8  AM and study till 5 PM. 

 

If you have enough money, then you may spend it on MCAT course. 

Best of Luck

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I'm a nurse, and hadn't taken anything except anat/phys.

 

Got a 513 using Kaplan, khans, and a ton of effort. I also didn't take a prep course. Couldn't afford the time off of work. I studied for 8 months on every night shift. On average between 5-15 hours a week until a month before the exam, when I stepped it up.

Damn that's awesome! I'm in the same situation that you were in. Physical therapy student, with only anat and phys... Hopefully I'll be able to learn biochem/organic well on my own!

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