Grad school and mcat

[globy321]

Hi guys. I am starting graduate studies in January. I have been working full time during the summer and recently I decided to start working part time in order to study for the MCAT. I have been studying for the MCAT on and off when I have the time. I was wondering has anyone found it difficult to study for the MCAT while in grad school?

 

I am not sure if I should write the MCAT in January or wait and write it in March so I have more time to study and prepare, but I am not sure if I would have the time to study while in grad school?

 

What should I do? Should I sign up to write it in January and start studying hardcore now or wait and write the MCAT in March?

[astrogirl]

Hi. I'm a grad student in the third year of a Ph.D. program, and I'm planning on taking the MCAT in January. My advice to you would be that if you're just starting your grad program in January, then definitely take the MCAT in January instead of March, as long as you think you can be prepared by then. In my experience with both my Ph.D. and my master's, the first month of grad school is the time when you'll have the least to do, and things just start to get worse from there. So if you can take the MCAT in your first month before things get totally crazy, then do it. By the time March rolls around, you might have so much other stuff to do that you really won't have gained too much extra study time anyway.

[globy321]

Thank you for your advice astrogirl. Can you elaborate on how and why do things get crazy in the third and further months of grad studies?

 

Were you TAing while in grad school so that made things stressful in March? Is it because you are doing lab work and taking classes at the same time, meeting with the advisory committee etc? What other stuff would I be doing in March while in grad school for a MSc that would make it difficult to write the MCAt in March?

[ontariostudent]

Basically, the longer you're in grad school, the more work you will have to do. This is because you'll have more research work and more course work. I would also recommend writing the MCAT before you start, if at all possible. I wrote it the summer after my first year in grad school, and it wasn't easy to fit it in between my grad student duties, even though my supervisor was very good about letting me take some time off to do it. It will only get harder to study once you start, so worry about it now.

[globy321]

I have a couple of things right that are stressing me out and not letting me concentrate for the MCAT. These things have made me have second thoughts about writing the MCAT on January which I originally planned and instead write it in March.

 

First, I am working about 22.5 hours per week. I am planning to quite in December. Second, I am in the process of interviewing a couple of more potential supervisors. I have one supervisor who said that he will be supportive in my application to grad school but I want to see whether other supervisors may have potential good research projects as well. Third, I need to go to the dentist for complete exam because I have not seen a dentist in 3-4 years. Fourth, I need to look for new eyeglasses. All these things are taking time from my schedule.

 

I am not going to be taking any courses when I start grad school in January so I was thinking I could use this time to study in order to write the exam in March. I don't want to rush studying for the MCAT so that's why I was thinking in writing the MCAT in March.

 

Do you guys think writing the MCAt in March would be a mistake while in grad school? What do you guys think I should do?

[astrogirl]

If you're not taking any classes, then doing it in March might not actually be such a bad idea. The things that get crazy in your first semester are mainly your own course work and your TA stuff. If you were taking courses, you would probably end up with exams and presentations and a million things due in March. If your program is 2 years long, then research probably won't start to be too crazy until the summer.

 

Right now I'm at the point where all I'm doing is research and a 10 hour a week TA job (well, that's all the school related stuff, anyway), and I do have a bit of trouble fitting in time to study for the MCAT, but it would have been much worse if I had decided to this while I was still taking classes. Since you don't have classes, March is probably just as good as January. But if you take it in January, then you can always take it again in March if you need to.

 

It's hard to say, because research just keeps taking up more and more of your time until you finally graduate. But in your situation, it sounds like there might not be too much of a difference in your workload between March and January and also that you'll feel more confident and prepared in March, which is pretty important. One other thing you should check on, though, is when you might have research proposals due or conferences that you're expected to attend. Depending on what you're doing, you might have to write a thesis proposal or a grant proposal, or get approval for experiments on human or animal subjects if you're in that kind of a field. You don't want to be taking the MCAT at the same time that all of that stuff is due. If possible, ask other grad students in the department what to expect about your workload for various things because they aren't trying to recruit you and they'll give you more realistic answers.

 

Good luck to you on both the MCAT and grad school!

[ontariostudent]

This is very situation specific, but most grad labs are not 9-5, so you'll likely have less time once you start than you do now. I would aim to write in January, and if you really feel that you're not ready you can change your mind. Don't assume now that you'll have more time later, because there's a good chance that you'll have less.

[globy321]

Yeah so I will not be taking any graduate courses until August 2010 and I will not be TAing any courses until September 2010.

 

Another thing is that until now I have spend the majority of my time studying for the Biological and Physical Sciences and I have not spend anytime studying/practicing for the Verbal section. So I feel that if I write it in January I will do bad in this section. I haven't written essays in quite a while so I don't feel prepared for the Writing section either. So all these are making me lean towards the March date as well. I don't want to just waste my money on the MCAt by writing it in the January and doing bad, then having to rewrite it again.

 

ontariostudent-->If I sign up for the January date now and if I feel unprepared when January comes along the March date might be full so this is why I want to decide now whether I want to write it in January or March.

[sticky1]

ontariostudent how many meetings did you have with the advisory committee while you were doing the MSc?

 

Also, when you started you graduate studies, when did you meet with the advisory committee (Did you meet after 4 months of starting graduate studies, then 8 months, then at 12 months etc.)?

[ontariostudent]

I actually didn't meet at the proper time. You're supposed to meet every 6 months or less, but things took a bit longer for me and I'm a very bad example.

 

To the OP: I know that you're stressed about the MCAT right now, but I really think it's better to prepare as much as you can now. Study for it as if you'll write in January, and if you don't end up writing you'll at least have laid a really good foundation that you can build on. If you decide now that you're not writing until march, there's a good chance you won't be any more ready than you are now. I'm not sure if the March dates are very popular (seems like a really random time to write the MCAT), but I suggest you call AAMC and see if they'll tell you when the March dates usually fill up. My guess is that this isn't something you have to worry terribly about. In any event, why are you so set on writing by March? There's always summer... When I was wrote the MCAT I was a grad student NOT taking any courses and with no responsibilities aside from my research, but that still ended up being significant. Plan ahead.

 

Again, my advice: Prepare for writing in January. If you end up canceling, at least you would have done a lot of prep and you'll have less to do later.

[globy321]

ontariostudent do you know the phone number to call AAMC and ask how fast seats fill up for March?

[ontariostudent]

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/contact.htm

[sticky1]

Sorry for asking this question again but for all the grad students out there, how any meetings did you have with the advisory committee while you were doing the MSc?

 

Also, when you started you graduate studies, when did you meet with the advisory committee while doing MSc (Did you meet after 4 months of starting graduate studies, then 8 months, then at 12 months etc.)?

 

I have a few more general graduate studies questions to ask graduate students:

How many hours long was your thesis defense for a MSc?

 

When you are defending your thesis for MSc, is your supervisor there or just your advisory committee?

[ontariostudent]

Sorry for asking this question again but for all the grad students out there, how any meetings did you have with the advisory committee while you were doing the MSc?

 

Also, when you started you graduate studies, when did you meet with the advisory committee (Did you meet after 4 months of starting graduate studies, then 8 months, then at 12 months etc.)?

 

I have a few more general graduate studies questions to ask graduate students:

How many hours long was your thesis defense for a MSc?

 

When you are defending your thesis, is your supervisor there or just your advisory committee?

 

Most of your questions are specific to your grad program. I think mine wanted me to meet with my committee 4 times pre-defense, at regular intervals (4-6 months or something), but every program is different. Also, if you don't meet on time they probably won't kick you out of the program, they'll just give you a deadline by which you have to meet. I wouldn't worry too much about this until you have a specific issue.

 

My defense was about an hour and a half, but it was scheduled for 3 hours. This is extremely variable and will depend on how much time your examiners have to sit there.

 

Every department is different (notice a theme?), but in mine I needed my supervisor plus two members of my PAC plus 2 non PAC examiners plus 1 external examiner from outside the school who didn't attend the defense, but provided written feedback on the written thesis.

 

What exactly are you worried about here? What program are you talking about?

[astrogirl]

Like ontariostudent said, each department is completely different and they all have different rules about how those things are supposed to happen. The department I did my master's at is completely different than the department where I'm doing my Ph.D.

 

I have formal meetings with my committee every four months or something just because that's a requirement, but I talk to all of my committee members informally on a regular basis just because I picked each of them because they have expertise on various issues that I need.

 

My master's thesis defense was about two hours long. I was supposed to give a 20 minute presentation, which turned into a 50 minute presentation because there was just too much to talk about, and then they asked me questions for about another hour.

 

My master's defense was public, so my whole committee was there, plus a few other professors who were interested in my work and some friends (both from school and not from school). But in my current department, only a very short initial presentation is public and then they kick out everyone except your committee for the actual defense.

 

If you're stressing about the idea of a thesis defense, I should tell you that for most people it's really just a formality. It was probably the least stressful presentation/oral exam that I did in my whole grad school experience. Your committee won't let you schedule your defense until they're pretty sure you're going to pass. It's really just a chance to kind of show off what you did and for them to make sure that you know the things you need to know. It's much less stressful than a qualifying exam or a proposal defense. Yes, it is a long and formal presentation with a lot of questions afterwards, but you have to remember that your committee has spent a lot of time (and usually money) getting you to that point, and they want you to pass as much as you do.

[ontariostudent]

If you're stressing about the idea of a thesis defense, I should tell you that for most people it's really just a formality. It was probably the least stressful presentation/oral exam that I did in my whole grad school experience. Your committee won't let you schedule your defense until they're pretty sure you're going to pass. It's really just a chance to kind of show off what you did and for them to make sure that you know the things you need to know. It's much less stressful than a qualifying exam or a proposal defense. Yes, it is a long and formal presentation with a lot of questions afterwards, but you have to remember that your committee has spent a lot of time (and usually money) getting you to that point, and they want you to pass as much as you do.

 

I totally agree.