<p>isn’t that where those lemurs are from?</p>
<p>Lemurs, lepers. Whatever. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.</p>
<p>Hey, Curmudgeon: how’s the weather in Madagascar right now?</p>
<p>Backhandgrip: After 4+ pages of pretty positive comments, I’m glad that you’ll be staying. I hope that your daughter’s surgery goes well, all of us here will be thinking of her and praying for her. One of my daughters may face such surgery in a year of so, but we’re hoping for the best. I certainly encourage you to stay and post and add your point of view whenever you wish. This forum wouldn’t be very interesting if there was only one point of view. I think for the most part the parents are supportive, but there’s always the chance that a comment may seem condescending or negative. Hang in there and come here for support when you need it. That’s what we’re here for.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My take is that there’s no magical secret you get for $3000. What you [bold]do[/bold] get is a strong committment to study and do the assignments because for all that money you better be taking advantage of it! However for $30 you can get the same education by buying the review book. You just need a personal committment to do the work instead of being motivated by the huge sum you spent for the course. For a kid in college there is no problem in getting help with questions they aren’t clear on; they can go ask a prof /TA/fellow student for help. But you can’t buy the book and expect that in a nite of work you’ll be ok. You need to map out a 2 month or so course of steadily doing the work, taking practice tests, and so on.</p>
<p>All the posts have been fabulous. I need to print it out for future reference. YOU ARE ALL SO BRIGHT!!!I can’t get over how bright everyone is here.</p>
<p>How did this get up front again. For heavens sake.</p>
<p>Sorry BHG. Every time someone posts it goes back to the top. CC geographic distribution seems like the perfect stats opp for all those ‘Tute’ and data folks… </p>
<p>But hang on a sec–did someone say there were TEXANS on CC??! </p>
<p><em>Gasp!</em> </p>
<p><em>Sputter!</em></p>
<p>BHG, you ask if you should stay…well, look at this thread! It has 89 posts! I think you must have touched a nerve or something as it is really bringing out everyone! So, if you can start a thread that has this much response…seems like you ought to hang on…</p>
<p>I tried to private message or E-mail, because it has been so long since you posted this question, I hope you come back to the thread.
Post this on the med school admissions thread, but my 2 cents is save your money. Spend $40 and buy her 2 or 3 prep books. She should take a practice test (if she has finished her prereqs) and just see how she does. The MCAT is more like the ACT in that it measures achievement, a relatively straightforward assessment of “what you learned in school” - in other words, you can take a diagnostic test, and review areas of, say physics or chemistry that you aren’t quite fresh on. I believe (it has been a long time) that it has an essay now, that might require some practice or thought.</p>
<p>Of course if she has severe test-taking anxiety, or just doesn’t do well on standardized tests, she might benefit from a Kaplan like course in test taking skills as opposed to MCAT prep. Medical education is just one long series of standardized tests, and you have to develop some test taking skills to excel in med school - pure knowledge is not enough. The MCAT review would be an intensive review of what she took in college plus the test taking skills - she may well be able to do much of the content review part on her own. Save her money for the specialty board review - that’s when a course comes in handy!</p>
<p>Note: This was supposed to be in response to the person that asked all lurkers to introduce themselves. Somehow, I lost the message I was replying to. So this is me, introducing myself. – </p>
<p>OK, now that I’ve figured out how to post with the new CC, look out world!</p>
<p>Some of you know me from the Musical Theater board. My Daughter auditioned at six elite/fairly elite schools, and got six rejection letters. Her seventh audition was a “safety”, and she is extremely happy there. Will she every make to professionally? Who knows! But she’s studying what she loves, getting good grades, and is 12 hours away from Boyfriend. Life is good in Decatur. (She is majoring in Musical Theater with a minor in Dance at Millikin University in Decatur, IL.)</p>
<p>My Son is a sophomore, taking two junior classes (English and Pre-Calc) and getting A’s in everything. He’s dreaming of Stanford and MIT, will probably “settle” for Univ of Mich (40 miles down the road).</p>
<p>I have great tendencies to pop in, answer several questions with long answers, and then not post again for a while. I will talk forever on Millikin, and have lots of questions about PSAT scores and good Engineering college. In the meantime, I read and learn a lot.</p>
<p>Peg</p>
<p>Hey Peggy,</p>
<p>Welcome. Lurk no more jump right into the madness. I don’t remember hearing any stories about mississippi.</p>
<p>Backhandgrip…its disappointing to me that from the way I read your post you
do not feel a state university can give a student one of the “finest educations”. I am a big supporter of public schools and feel you can definately get an outstanding education at state schools - as good as you can at the ivies.</p>
<p>sybbie719 –</p>
<p>(whisper) um . . . it’s Michigan, not Mississippi . . .</p>
<p>Ok, I guess, I still won’t hear one from mississippi. I haven’t been to michigan either, so there is still something to be learned</p>
<p>Cangel, thanks for your response. She does fine with standardized tests. We’ve heard though that preparing for the MCAT is the equivalent of studying for a 4 credit hour college course, and that the best time to take it is at the end of junior year, after the full year of org chem, which would be the end of this year. Is this true? Or does it make more sense to wait a little longer, take her time approaching it?</p>
<p>I did post this on the pre-med board a few days ago, but no one has responded yet.</p>