Session 34

Update – Marteney got into medical school! Check out the quick update here.

In this episode, Ryan talks with Marteney, otherwise known as @premedprincess_ on Twitter with over 9,000 followers and spreading the premed gospel on Twitter.

She shares with us her experience going through the premed process, her premed path, why she did not #RespectTheMCAT, and how she corrected the course. Marteney also shares how she’s helping other premed students by giving a lot of encouragement and motivation.

As premeds, you need to understand that MCAT is a test like no other. It is a beast that challenges your thinking ability running for 4-5 hours. It’s not a test of knowledge but a test to see how well you can take tests. But it’s not a hurdle you can’t surpass as long as you come very well-prepared.

Here are the highlights of the conversation with Marteney:

Marteney’s premed path:

• Taking anatomy in high school and loving it ever since
• Volunteering and shadowing experiences
• College years majoring in Biology
• Participating in sports in high school and college

Marteney’s experience with the MCAT:

• Not knowing about MCAT until junior year without any premed program in their undergrad
• Not taking any prep courses and just bought the first MCAT test prep book she found at their local bookstore
• Studying the MCAT only days before test date

Retaking the MCAT:

• Scheduling another date with only two months to study
• Not studying enough for the second one, taking only one practice test

Applying to medical school:

• Not knowing what really a DO was and applying late and now being wait listed
• Applying to 3 MD and 1 DO schools all in her state (on her first application)
• Now applying to 6 DO schools and 2 MD schools

Retaking the MCAT a third time:

• Examkrackers
• Doing practice test once a week simulating real conditions (back to back to back)

Being @premedprincess_:

• Almost a year since the account began with now almost 10,000 followers
• Getting good feedback
• Setting up an email account so students can contact her and ask her any questions
• Creating the ask.fm account where they can ask questions
• Sharing her experiences so other premeds can learn too

Some pieces of advice for premed students:

It’s never too early to start preparing for the MCAT. Practice, practice, practice. Examkrackers, Kaplan, Princeton Review – whatever suits you.

Take MCAT in the Spring of your Junior year to allow you to get your score back before you apply. In case, you don’t do as well as you wanted then you can re-think submitting the applications.

Don’t count out DO schools. Consider applying to both MD and DO schools.

Apply to as many school as you can. Every school looks for something different in an applicant as they try to piece together the perfect community of students to make up their class for that year.

Links and Other Resources:

Examkrackers Books

Kaplan

Princeton Review

Check out Session 2 and Session 17 for more great info about the MCAT, as well as the MCAT and MCAT Prep posts.

Save $225 on the Princeton Review’s MCAT Ultimate or MCAT Self-Paced Prep Course through March 30th 2016 by going to www.princetonreview.com/podcast

If you need any help with the medical school interview, go to medschoolinterviewbook.com. Sign up and you will receive parts of the book so you can help shape the future of the book. This book will include over 500 questions that may be asked during interview day as well as real-life questions, answers, and feedback from all of the mock interviews Ryan has been doing with students.

Are you a nontraditional student? Go check out oldpremeds.org.

For more great content, check out www.mededmedia.com for more of the shows produced by the Medical School Headquarters including the OldPremeds Podcast and watch out for more shows in the future!

Free MCAT Gift: Free 30+ page guide with tips to help you maximize your MCAT score and which includes discount codes for MCAT prep as well.

Hang out with us over at medicalschoolhq.net/group. Click join and we’ll add you up to our private Facebook group. Share your successes and miseries with the rest of us.

Check out our partner magazine, www.premedlife.com to learn more about awesome premed information.

Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep): Get one-on-one tutoring for the MCAT and maximize your score. Get $50 off their tutoring program when you mention that you heard about this on the podcast or through the MSHQ website.

Listen to our podcast for free at iTunes: medicalschoolhq.net/itunes and leave us a review there!

Email Ryan at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or connect with him on Twitter @medicalschoolhq