Guest mosquitoba Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 Congrats to everyone that made it in this year! I'm finishing up at UW next year, and I am studying for the MCAT right now and just took my first practice exam... I was half disappointed and half relieved with the results. I got 9 on the PS, 10 on VR and 10 on Bio. Does anyone have any idea of how much you can improve your scores (ie in the next month and half!), and what the "competitve" MCAT grades are for U of M? I'd love to stay at home for medical school but am starting to lose hope, since some friends who I thought were strong candidates got their rejection letters from U of M recently. Any info would be great! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ManitobaMed Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Hey Mosquitoba (by the way, thumbs up on the name!) If you're an in-province applicant, the scores you listed should be sufficient for an interview (check out the U of M entrance stats for more info on this), provided you meet the WS minimum. I'm not really sure how much one can improve scores in 1.5 months; however, from my experience with the MCAT, success on the PS section is a matter of knowing basic concepts and applying them. The bio section is similar. One suggestion I can offer is to do some practice sections in these two areas and identify concepts that might be weaker for you so that you can put some additional study focus on them. As for the two English sections: practice questions! Check out the MCAT thread for further advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest box Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 dude, you'll definitely be fine if you're getting those numbers on your first practice exam. i've written the mcat once before and that was 2 years ago. i'm struggling to get my ass in gear just to get this done again in august which is in 7 weeks (eek!). any study tips you'd like to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mosquitoba Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Hey again! Thanks, manitobamed I am a full-blooded Manitoban and felt that the name describes Winnipeg summers pretty well... (although I am away for the summer living in Halifax and have only heard complaints about the little buggers this year!). I checked out the stats on the UM site, and they were quite uplifting! The thing is, I have trouble believing it! I feel pretty confident that I should be able to up my PS and BS scores, as I haven't yet studied all the material. I'm hoping for an average of 11. I had a couple friends interview this year, and some of the rejection letters are a bit surprising to me. There are some compassionate, competent people who will not be attending UM med school next year, and the trouble doesn't seem to lie in their grades or their MCAT scores. I'm wondering if what went wrong were their interviews.... Is it true that if you're offered an interview you are considered to be competitive? It seems that most applicant last year fell in the 9.25 - 10.5 MCAT range. My GPA so far is 4.45, and I've spent 5 summers in labs in Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia doing research. I volunteer with a counselling team at my university and sing in 2 choirs. I'm not sure how those EC's stack up against the majority of applicants... any idea? My opportunities in research have been awesome, but I would love the opportunity to pursue medicine, and put the scientific technologies and concepts I've studied to use in an applied way. To box - I'm just trying to study a little bit each day, and do as many practice AAMC things as I can. I'm working, but am finding time in the evenings and on weekends to get a few practice exams in. It might be too late now, but I am also taking a Kaplan prep course. The most helpful thing about the course is the practice material. We're all in the same boat, trying to focus on studying in the midst of summer. Best of luck! Hang in there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ManitobaMed Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Hey Mosquitoba, Indeed, anyone offered an interview has a chance at acceptance. The odds of acceptance, however, do increase with increasing MCAT scores and, to a lesser extent, AGPA. If your friends' MCAT scores and AGPAs were very good, then the Personal Assessment Score was likely the problem. Unfortunately, with the interview process, it can be difficult to guess what might have gone wrong. :\ To me, your extra-currics look pretty good; however, I'm not really sure even now what exactly the admissions committee is looking for. :rolleyes A major key to the interview process is assessing how your extra-currics have affected you as a person and how you've grown/learned as a result of them. In this way, the importance isn't so much in what your extra-curriculars are as it is in what you took away from them. And, in fact, the autobiographical essay portion of the application essentially asks you to discuss how your activities and personal traits contribute to your fitness as a future physician. (Or, at least, it did when I wrote it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mosquitoba Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 Hey again. Thanks alot for your replies ManitobaMed. They're really helpful in putting some perspective into the whole process of applying to med school. I'm feeling pretty stressed out because of all the "horror" stories I've heard, and had begun to feel like even the strongest applicant was not assured an acceptance letter. I guess thats still not true, but all I can do is try my best, right? Hope you guys get some sunny days out there in MB. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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