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We’re 300 episodes in! Let’s take the time to reflect as well as announce the 30 winners of 10 packs of Blueprint MCAT’s full-length exams, as well as a year of Mappd Pro for free.
We’re joined by Armin from Blueprint MCAT. If you would like to follow along on YouTube, go to premed.tv.
Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.
Your MCAT score defines you as someone who can score whatever it is that you scored on the MCAT. And that’s just it!
“There are a lot of students out there who conflate the MCAT with the ability to be a physician… and it is not that.”
Remember that there’s not really a difference between a 528 MCAT student and a 500 MCAT student. Those students get through medical school just fine. Maybe that 490 MCAT student is going to struggle. Maybe they don’t have the foundational knowledge to help them get a better score. Maybe they are lacking some critical thinking and analysis skills. Or maybe they just took the test without preparing at all.
“Higher MCAT scores don’t mean a better physician. Higher MCAT scores don’t mean better medical students.”
The only thing a higher MCAT score means is that you got a higher MCAT score. There are medical schools out there that don’t understand those differences because they are trying to one-up another school.
At the end of the day, the MCAT is just the MCAT. It’s just a test that is an unfortunate speed bump on the way to medical school.
“The biggest benefit of the MCAT is really the effort that goes into taking the MCAT.”
The MCAT is just there as a potential test. Are you willing to put some time and effort into this thing and get a decent enough score? If you got 500 and above, you’re probably doing really well.
The MSAR says that the median score is 517 for the school that they want to go to. But it’s just a number. So just keep that in mind as you’re going through this process, that the MCAT is just the MCAT.
Plenty of data shows the MCAT is not great for non-native English speakers. Now, I had a student who is a non-native English speaker who scored the highest out of everyone in the country when taking USMLE Step 1.
Just because you struggle with the MCAT because it’s a unique test doesn’t mean you’re going to struggle with Step 1. Step one is a very different test. So don’t stress out too much about the MCAT.
Check out The Premed Years Podcast Episode 520 with Dr. Bryan Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist. We talked about US News and World Report and med schools pulling out of their participation in it.
One of the variables that go into that methodology is that the higher your average MCAT score for your cohort of students, the better you get ranked in US News and World Report. That’s a very bad reason to want higher MCAT scores when ultimately it’s not affecting education. It’s not affecting anything. It just means higher MCAT scores. But in terms of the future of the MCAT, it’s not going anywhere, at least anytime soon.
As for The MCAT Podcast, our goal here is to continue to provide you with the best free MCAT prep in podcast form. We also record videos. Check out premed.tv and see when we’re going over questions and passages and stuff. You can watch all of that right there.
Check out Blueprint MCAT and their full-length exams as well as Mappd Pro where you can get access to chat advising. You can also start using our new myLORs, a third-party letter recommendation service. Start collecting your letters, ideally the year that you’re applying. But you can start collecting them in January instead of waiting until May when the applications open up.
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I just received my admission to XXXXX! This is unreal and almost feels like I am dreaming. I want to thank you for all of your help with my application. I cannot overstate how influential your guidance and insight have been with this result and I am eternally grateful for your support!
IM SO HAPPY!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP, IM INDEBTED TO YOU! Truly, thank you so much for all your help. Thank you doesnt do enough.
I want to take a few moments and thank you for all of your very instructive, kind and consistent feedback and support through my applications and it is your wishes, feedback, and most importantly your blessings that have landed me the acceptance!
I got into XXXXX this morning!!!! It still has not hit me that I will be a doctor now!! Thank you for all your help, your words and motivation have brought me to this point.
I wanted to once again express my heartfelt gratitude for your help in providing feedback during my secondary applications. Your guidance has been instrumental in my journey.
Just wanted to share my wonderful news! I received my first medical school acceptance! Thank you for all that you do for us Application Academy!!!
I am excited to tell you that I just got my third interview invite from XXXXX today! I can’t believe it. I didn’t even know if I was good enough to get one, let alone three – by mid-September. Thank you so much for all of your help and support up to this point; I would not be in this position without it!!
I wanted to thank you for helping me prepare for my XXXXX interview. Even in a 30-minute advising session, I learned so much from you. Thank you for believing in me, and here’s to another potential success story from one of your advisees!
I just received an acceptance with XXXXX! This is so exciting and such a huge relief and so nice to have one of our top choice schools! I also received an interview with XXXXX which brings the total up to 20 interviews! Thank so much, none of this would have been possible without you!
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