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Should I write the MCAT?


brother

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My moral is low because I have low marks. I have terrible excuses for that. But I feel like I should still write the test.

 

I know I have the potential for doing well. Are there any upper seniors I can talk to via chat, please? I have some personal situations which I would like to talk about that I feel shy of mentioning here.

 

I'm in third year undergrad btw.

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Uh, if you want to be a doctor, you HAVE to write the MCAT...so I don't know why you are contemplating not writing it. Even if you are implying that you may not do well on it because you had low marks, you still have to write it because it's a requirement (in most cases)...

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Uh, if you want to be a doctor, you HAVE to write the MCAT...so I don't know why you are contemplating not writing it. Even if you are implying that you may not do well on it because you had low marks, you still have to write it because it's a requirement (in most cases)...

 

Summergirl, I realize you added the "(in most cases)" at the end but just to clarify for the OP: you don't have to write the MCAT to attend Medical School. Within Ontario, NOSM and Ottawa don't require/consider the MCAT.

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If you've just finished your third year, then there are still paths to medicine, provided you can bump up your grades for your fourth year. Depending on your past marks, you may also need either a fifth year or a second undergrad, which will also need fairly high marks. Depending on your regional considerations, your options for med schools would be limited, but not zero.

 

So, should you write the MCAT? As others have said, the MCAT can't make up for poor marks, and so without fixing those, the MCAT is kinda pointless. They're right in that regard. However, I'm of the view that for people who have a longer and potentially more difficult path to Med School, the MCAT is worth writing early, provided you put in a strong effort to do well.

 

Basically, the MCAT can go two ways: either you get above the cutoffs for the schools you're looking at, or you don't. If you don't, then it's a good call to reflect on whether the effort you would need to put in is worth it, especially if you're far away from those cutoffs. Those coming years of hard work mean nothing without a reasonable MCAT score. At that point, you would not only have to do well in school when you hadn't before, but you would have to do well on the MCAT when you haven't before. It's not impossible to do, but at that point, it's worth seriously re-evaluating whether Med School is the right path for you.

 

If you meet those cutoffs and get a good MCAT score, then it not only makes those coming two years more definitively worthwhile, it can also be a huge motivator as well. Having potential is important, but being able to show it is what matters. A decent MCAT says that your potential is not just a hypothetical. It can push you to show your potential again in your academic work, and in your extra-curriculars (which are also quite important).

 

Long story short, for longer-shot candidates, the MCAT is a relatively good, cheap (both money and time-wise) way to gauge where you actually stand, so that you can plan accordingly. There are lots of good reasons not to write the MCAT before you get your grades in order, but this was my reason for writing beforehand.

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