<p>“overly thick-headed”? So I fail your personal standard of acceptable cranial density? Good to know! I’ll never be so insolent again. All I ask, Schraf, is that you tell me this one thing: WHAT was I thinking??? </p>
<p>Shraf, think about this from another point of view. I know that you probably have nothing but the best intentions in posting such helpful advice on a confused student’s CC thread, but do you normally expect people on internet forums to readily accept your perception of their best interest? Is it really a good practice to instantly jump on board with a complete stranger’s idea of your best course in life?</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I offended you in my independent-mindedness, but I, despite being only human, actually am AGONIZING over these decisions. </p>
<p>Perhaps I could restart this thread, but this time I would limit it to only three posts: 1. My statement of the dilemma, 2. Shraf’s life-coaching 3. A pdf of my letter to the AMCAS requesting a registration fee refund.</p>
<p>Time for some adult input. First, acraig, CC is an opportunity to exchange a bevy of ideas and questions in a RELAXING, environment. All of the respondents to your thread have tried (hopelessly, I fear) to provide you candid, clear, unbiased advice—either because they have walked in your shoes, have known others who have walked in your shoes, or just plain care.</p>
<p>By contrast, you are hypersensitive and are looking for confirmation of what you have already decided. I should think, furthermore, that some viewers at your university might have the psychology department review this thread to ascertain if you have some type of narcissistic personality disorder. . .</p>
<p>No, I am not trying to attack you. I stumbled across this thread and I, too, am genuinely concerned. . . Please send a link of this thread to one of your mentors, close family friends, or confidantes before it is too late for you.</p>
<p>Well then, I also give up on this matter. I guess you were right all along, please go take your MCAT after freshman year, take those mediocre grades are indication that are ready for medical school material, and just AP credit out of classes that may give you your last opportunity to improve your low gpa while taking higher level courses in attempt to boost your gpa but realize that they are most likely more difficult then the classes you failed to score high marks in.</p>
<p>Good game.</p>
<p>I mean, I guess you really can’t possibly delay the MCAT until you are ready, since UT Memphis strictly says you now have to take it on the date you register, so as to jeopardize your MCAT history. MCAT is no SAT where you can take it as many times and they take the highest marks from each section. You ruin this chance and it’ll haunt your future MCAT scores. What is there to lose to just retake those AP classes, score higher, and better prepare yourself so you don’t have to say “what if I score really high on this one?”. Your likely turnout after you retake those classes and then take the MCAT is that “I was better prepared taking this now, then I would have been had I taken it after my freshman year.” That’s one “worse” case scenario, although not worse case, but if you really are taking our input and not just finding people who agree with you, you will see that this makes logical sense. Stop rushing, swallow that pride of yours, slow down, enjoy college, you most likely won’t get to do this again. Why are you rushing to get into med school to have a much harder courseload when you haven’t proven much yourself right now? I don’t mean to be mean, but I would be surprised if, with your attitude and grades, you are able to get into an accelerated MD program right now. Just look at the med school acceptance statistics and you will see where you fall. Don’t do more damage or potentially do more damage.</p>
<p>German 311 (3)- B+
Honors Art History (3)- C
Cultural Anthropology (3)- B+
Honors Sociology (3)- A
Honors Psychology (3)- B
Religious Studies (3)- C+
Univ. Honors 100 (3)- A Cumulative GPA: 3.13</p>
<p>Sem. 2</p>
<p>University Honors 267 (3)- A
Physics 222 (4)- A [lecture and lab]
Biology 140 (4)- B+ [lecture and lab]
Orgo I (3)- C</p>
<p>Cum. GPA: 3.26</p>
<p>My GPA got ruined after the first semester. I’ve only taken 3 sciences for a grade. I’m not planning on taking higher level Art History or Religious Studies. </p>
<p>I know I haven’t proven myself yet, but I think I have a chance to do so in Organic II. </p>
<p>The MCAT has Organic Chemistry on it, of course, and I am in no way downplaying those questions’ difficulty. However, I think I’m definitely ready for the other parts of the test (verbal, gen. bio, and physics/gen chem), and my practice scores would support that.</p>
<p>I think it would be best for everyone if this is my last post on this thread until mid-August when I get my scores back.</p>
<p>No, this should be your last post PERIOD, acraig. You have just proven everyone’s point that you are truly NOT interested in anyone’s opinion: indeed, you are motivated to prove everyone wrong.</p>
<p>You are, at a minimum, a churlish brat. At the other end of the spectrum, I reiterate that you may have some type of narcissistic personality disorder. you have wasted time and others’ time, too, because when you didn’t hear what you “decided” you SHOULD hear, you threw sand on everyone and shouted that everybody must get out of your precious sandbox immediately. </p>
<p>I would invite you to casually—please not caustically—look at a few other threads in your spare time. Get to know how cc works. Look inside yourself and maybe you can figure out how you work as a bonus!</p>
<p>Whatever academic advisor or college registrar that ALLOWED you to take 21 hours in your first term at school should be fired. Hmmmmmmmmm. What do the rest of you think? Yes, acraig probably threw a tantrum to be permitted to take so many hours to “achieve” a 3.13 GPA. It is so sad…</p>
<p>Eh, acraig is quite the ■■■■■ in posting just to get people worked up.</p>
<p>Anyways, if you take one last look at this, consider this, even if you do score well on MCAT’s, that’s all you have. You didn’t state anything about clinical experience, research experience, community service, EC’s, or anything. So basically, best case, you have a good MCAT and low gpa, which won’t get you any acceptances off that bat with those.</p>
<p>You need to work on your gpa first off, since that’s something you have a limited time (only your undergraduate years) to complete, whereas MCAT can be taken any time. If you never raise your gpa up, that MCAT score will expire in 3 years, and you will wonder why you wasted your time preparing for a big exam like that.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how are you scoring on the practice exams? Don’t worry about pride on this, you’ve already damaged your reputation enough in this thread so just go ahead and post them.</p>
<p>Correction: UH 100 was a 1 hr. class not a 3 hr. class. So total was 19 hrs, not 21 (still too many, obviously lol)</p>
<p>I’ve gotten two 32’s and a 34 on the practice exams (all 3 taken last week)</p>
<p>BarristerDad, thanks for the character evaluation. I wish I could buy you lunch and defend myself in person, but I guess that’s impossible. The only thing I would say in closing is that the tone and intended meaning of internet forum posts can often be lost over the wire.</p>
<p>Wow, that sounds great. If that is the Kaplan and the official AAMC Practice tests, then your progress looks great…except don’t you think that if you can score this well 1st time around with your AP credit, you would be able to possibly even break 40 if you just hold off your first time until you take those AP classes at a college level?</p>
<p>I don’t get why you keep avoiding that. If anything it benefits you the MOST, moreso than just taking the MCAT early. (I’d like your input into what you think the advantages/disadvantages of each option are for, it seems a lot of us see no real advantage of you taking it so early).</p>
<p>Thank about it, if you break 40 the first time around, as well as raise your gpa to around 3.6-3.7 (looks a lot better then scoring mediocre with a low gpa, then high with a still low gpa), then your application is golden. It’s better guaranteed as a package than a 33 and a 3.2. I mean, why rush one, when you can’t keep the other one in line? They look at a package deal, those adcoms, you know. It’s not just one number, the mcat, that they look at and judge your proficiency.</p>
<p>Your scenario is unrealistic. A score of 40 or higher on the MCAT in 2007 meant that you scored in the 99.5+ percentile. The chance that anyone is going to score 40+ on the MCAT is quite small. You might as well advise acraig to grow a few more inches in height. Certainly possible, but definitely not probable.</p>
<p>I’m in agreement with the majority here - this is not the time to take the MCAT.</p>
<p>I sort of understand what you are trying to do, acraig.</p>
<p>Most of us here won’t be applying into any 2+1 or 3+1 system that you have the opportunity of doing. That’s why everyone here is against you, because we’re more of the traditional 4 yr. </p>
<p>So we can’t really give you advice on the matter. Just ask people in your school</p>
<p>I wouldn’t define it as unrealistic, especially since you even said the chance is “quite small”. I have one friend who scored a 37 and the other a 42. Those scores are only a few questions wrong away from each other, and many can argue that at that point, it can just be luck, depending on what question you are presented. I presented that scenario to further persuade acraig that a higher score later on in addition to a stronger gpa later on will make a greater case than a high score and low gpa now. If he retakes those classes, he may be able to boost his score potential more since he’ll be more proficient in the subjects.</p>
<p>Also, I put that out since if he’s scoring 34’s on the AAMC practice exams with all his pre-reqs as AP credits from high school, that shows a good amount of potential in a way that may suggest that taking those courses at a college level and further develop his understanding of the subjects may provide an additional boost to his scores. However small the probability is, it’s not unrealistic unless there is just no chance.</p>
<p>12 PS 11 VR 10 BS O WR Not what I had hoped for but right around the average of my aamc practices. So with that score, advice on the 2+1/3+1 at UT Memphis?</p>
<p>everyone on this thread spazzed out about acraig and he went out and scored 33 on the mcat. although acraig might be crazy, still, good for him. i just don’t think he needed to make a whole thread about it on CC because it didn’t really achieve anything. hilarious to read, though.</p>
<p>Hey congrats acraig. I can tell that you’re a really bright guy but I seriously think you should have waited just 1 more year. You could have raised your GPA up to around a 3.5 and gotten your MCAT up to a 37. I think you’d be a far better candidate for medical schools and you’d still be a year ahead of everyone else. Also, I didn’t see anything concerning EC’s. How is it going on that front, acraig?</p>
<p>I have been thinking about med school and careers a lot this summer, and I’ve basically realized that my parents have been pushing me to go to med school for as long as I can remember, and that I haven’t had enough time to decide what I actually want to do. Between taking the mcat and now I have come to the conclusion that I need more time to decide and that maybe a few more years of college would be better for me.</p>
<p>Right now, I’m seriously considering doing the math honors program and utknoxville, which (upon acceptabce) gives students an additional $5000 a year in scholarship money. This was my original plan for college before freshman year (before I did so poorly first semester and subsequently began pandering to my parents hope for med school), and I think I’m going to give that route a try before trying to exit for med school. I would much rather major in math anyway. Also, because of my credit, I will have the option to complete the math dept.'s math honors accelerated masters program in four years. So that’s an interesting option that I’m considering.</p>
<p>As far as EC’s go, I volunteered at a local cardiovascular clinic this summer and plan to continue at the local hospital at UT. I also plan on joining the alpha epsilon delta (pre-health society) chapter at UT this fall. If anything this summer has made me more confused about what I want to do, but I think I’m going to spend at least 2 more years at UT, if not three should I decide to do the masters thing.</p>
<p>I think you decided to follow a very smart path. So many freshman come into college as pre-meds, without any second thought; just the prestige and money attracts them, but they don’t think about the level of commitment it entails. I mean, if you happen to major in a science, not only do you go through 4 years of a science, but you’re going to be going through 4 more years of science and many more in residency. I admire the people who take some time off after graduation to do something productive such as actually using the undergrad/grad degree they paid so much to earn.</p>
<p>Between undergrad and medical school, you can do so much that you cannot if you just go straight from undergrad to medical school. Heck, the information you learned to earn your degree might have been long forgotten by the time you go through med school so there goes the chance to go fresh into industry to use the knowledge you paid so much for. Additionally, you’ll be much more mature, learn to value your time and effort much more, and better decide whether medicine is the choice for you.</p>
<p>From friends who have gone the non-traditional route to medical school and decided to go that route in their mid twenties have told me how the interviewers spoke of how much they’d rather have a more mature applicant who is making an informed decision than a fresh out of undergrad applicant who just plowed through [which is exactly why you can find the advice of acting mature in every piece offered to people going on interviews.] Acting mature is one thing, but actually maturing to the level where you feel absolutely comfortable making such a big commitment is another.</p>
<p>Good job! Enjoy your undergrad years and enjoy that major. Don’t waste your undergraduate experience gunning pre-med when you’re not 100% you intend to pursue medicine. That’s not to say that everyone should just settle with mediocre grades. Obviously if you at least considered medicine as a goal, you have high aspirations which require hard work nonetheless.</p>