Non-trad self prep????

[GabriellaGE]

Sorry if I’m not supposed to post here!

My UG is Psychology and my schools of interest don’t  require prerequisites, has anyone been in a similar situation and self studied for the MCAT?

how long did you give yourself? Did you study while in school?

 

[hartk48]

I am assuming that you are mentioning that lack of pre-reqs to suggest that you wont be taking those courses during your undergrad, correct?

I will say this, taking basic science courses have their pros and cons. I think its a great way to knock out two birds in one stone: getting credits and studying for the MCAT. You also build a stronger foundation. The con: you MAY do "worse" in those classes. I think its the wrong attitude, you will have to perform well on the MCAT and face those daunting subjects, so its best to take them a few courses at time and again build a foundation. I was a psychology major, and yet I managed to take all the science courses covered on the MCAT and did very well in them..

Anyway, to answer your other question... it is definitely possible to hit 90+ percentiles without taking pre-reqs, you can either spend 4-5 hours a week over a course of 8 months or cram 8-10 hours a day over four months. You will have to decide what is best for your mental abilities and work-life balance. I highly recommend visiting S D N or R E EDDIT, as they have large MCAT forums. 

[Yc21]

I am also a non-traditional applicant planning on writing my second MCAT in the summer of 2018. Like you I am a psychology major that decided way too late into undergrad that I wanted to do medicine. 
I have already written it once, did VERY average on it hence why I am writing it again.

The first MCAT I did, I had no pre-requisites. I gave myself 2-3 months to study for it and averaged 4-6 hours a day. I was way too optimistic for this and the chem/phys, bio/biochem sections destroyed me. The only reason I even got the mark I did was because my CARs and Psych sections carried me through.

I learned from my mistake though and I realized that I needed at least a few classes to provide me with a better foundation. I took intro chem and human biology as my two options for my final year of undergrad. I also realized that in between my work, projects and volunteering, I did not have enough time to dedicate a full-time schedule to the mcat if I only gave myself 3-4 months. If you have time and a weaker science background, I would really recommend giving yourself time to understand the fundamentals. However, you could have exceptional test-taking abilities and not even require that much time, then that's up to you. I am giving myself from mid-November until next summer to really do well. 

I also don't recommend studying while you're in school. Unfortunately for us non-trads, unless you're in relevant classes - the information we're studying for our regular classes don't really help the MCAT so it'll just overload your brain and ultimately, you won't be able to retain much of both.