When To Apply For Medical School?
When should I apply to medical school? –
- Timeline for an Early Assurance Program (EAP) These programs typically ask you to apply during your sophomore year of college and require that you have done exceedingly well (to the point that they can assume your MCAT score will be top notch).
- Timeline for an Early Decision Program (EDP) The deadline for these programs is August 1st following your junior year. This program allows you to gain admission to one school and not apply to others. It is difficult to gain acceptance this way, and if you are not accepted, the early application delays your applying via the traditional route. Rejection from EDPs does not mean you are not qualified, just that schools want to see all candidates before deciding.
- A traditional application timeline The traditional timeframe is to apply at the end of your junior year as a rising senior in college. This requires that you take the MCAT early in your junior year or even during the summer between your sophomore and junior years of college. Taking the MCAT early allows you to know which schools you are competitive at and have a chance to retake it if needed. It also means that you will go on interviews during your senior year.
- A Postbac timeline Postbacs are one- or two-year programs designed to give you the foundational coursework needed for medical school. Some programs require that you enroll full-time, while others have a more flexible curriculum and timeframe. They were originally designed for applicants who were in the workforce and wanted to change careers, or for students who majored in a non-science field and need to complete the required premed coursework. In addition, postbac classes can be taken by students directly out of college who need to improve their GPA and MCAT scores. Postbac programs enable students to show their ability to perform well in higher level science coursework. If undertaking a postbac program for this reason, your goal should be to demonstrate a sustained upward trend in your GPA for more than two semesters. Another thing to look for in a Postbac program is MCAT prep. If you are hoping to counter a below average GPA, your MCAT score is critical. While a postbac program can show med schools that you are capable of high-level coursework, be prepared to dedicate a significant amount of time to the program. If you have a bad semester in a postbac program, this can work against you. If you had a rough freshman year in college, but have had an upward trend in your GPA (and an overall GPA above 3.5), you might want to apply to medical school right out of college. However, if you did not start your upward trend until your junior or senior year, you may want to seriously consider a postbac program.
- Timeline for applying after doing an MS, MPH, or other post-graduate study If you have been out of school for a year or more, did not get accepted the first time you applied, or are not entirely certain that medical school is for you, you may want to explore a graduate program before applying to medical school. Masters programs give you advanced skills that you can use in medicine, while also exposing you to other aspects of science and healthcare. Good grades in masters programs show medical schools that you are capable of graduate level work, so it is essential to get excellent grades throughout. In contrast to a postbac program, MS programs give you graduate-level coursework comparable to medical school, but they do not change your undergraduate GPA. MS programs can be found in biomedical sciences, bioinformatics, biotechnology, genomics, physiology, stem cell biology, and many others. MPH programs allow you to focus on epidemiology, biostatistics, policy, environmental health, international health, disaster management, health services administration, and other areas. You may have opportunities to do research and enhance your awareness of major public health issues critical to medicine. You can gain valuable skills working with data, designing experimental protocols, and analyzing results. You might also discover issues in healthcare that motivate you and help you to focus your applications to med schools. Just be sure to maintain your basic science knowledge, so that you can apply with a strong MCAT score.
<< Work with a medical school admissions expert to craft a med school admissions strategy that will get you accepted! >>
View complete answer
Contents
How common is a 528 MCAT?
Part 2: What is a perfect MCAT score? – A perfect MCAT score is a 528. The MCAT is made up of four sections:
Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (CPBS) Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (BBLS) Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (PSBB)
Each of the four MCAT sections is scored from a 118 to a 132, and when you add these four sections up, you can score anywhere between a 472 and a 528. If you score a 132 on each section, you will achieve the perfect 528 MCAT score. A 528 MCAT score corresponds to the 99.9th percentile of all test takers, along with scores of 524 and above.
View complete answer
Has anyone gotten a 528 on the MCAT?
How to Get the Perfect MCAT Score – Written by Keenan on Feb 3, 2023 The MCAT is the longest and perhaps the most challenging exam that premeds take to get into medical school. The MCAT is one of the most critical factors for the schools’ admissions committees.
Naturally, scoring high on the MCAT becomes a priority for premeds if they want to get into their selected schools. When many students try their best to find answers to questions like how to prepare for the MCAT, how to read CARS passages, and when to start their application process, some other students ask another: How to get a perfect score on the MCAT? And another fundamental question: Is it even possible to get a perfect score? Yes.
It is possible. Test designers make it difficult, but it is possible. Some students achieve a 528, the magic MCAT number, the perfect score every year. How do they pull it off? What is a perfect MCAT score anyway? Does that mean you have to answer every single question on the exam correctly? In this article, we dive a little deeper into how to get a 528 on the MCAT.
What a perfect MCAT score is, How to get the perfect MCAT score, Tips to help you work your way to the ideal score.
Is MCAT all memorization?
How to ace the MCAT in 3 steps! 
The MCAT is not a memorization test. Let me be more specific: it’s much more about recall than it is about recognition. When you’re prepping for the Psych/Soc section of the MCAT, you’ll learn about different types of memory—sensory, working, procedural, episodic—how memory is stored, and how it’s retrieved.
You can retrieve stored memories through recall—rattling off everything you remember about ADH—or through recognition—noticing that aldosterone is one of the answer choices and remembering you read about its role in the renal system. So don’t worry about memorizing every single detail in your prep books.
You do, of course, need to memorize some things for the MCAT, but by and large, the MCAT is about recall and association: drawing the connections between subjects. This format actually mirrors how memories are organized in the brain: in semantic networks.
Semantic networks connect memories whose meanings are related, and ultimately, the goal of your studying will be to strengthen those networks. Ultimately, you will be increasing your fluency in a number of areas, appreciating how they speak to one another, and noticing the patterns that underlie the details.
The MCAT tests your ability to associate much more than it does your capacity to memorize.
View complete answer
What is a LizzyM score?
What Is The LizzyM Score? – The LizzyM score is a number computed from your GPA and MCAT score, It gives you an approximation of your standing based on historical data of accepted applicants. Med school applicants use the LizzyM score to gauge how competitive their applications are,
It also helps students to determine the schools where they have a high chance of getting into. The LizzyM started as an anonymous account in Student Doctor Network (SDN)—an online platform where med students and even successful doctors share their personal tips, tricks, and hacks on how to ace every step of the med school application.
LizzyM is one of those accounts that provide pretty good advice to aspiring doctors, There were speculations that it was owned by an admissions committee member at a prestigious med school. It is said that the account is now run by a group of admissions committee members from various med schools.
View complete answer
