That God-awful MCAT

Note: This is the first in a series of posts rehashing the beginning of my summer.

My MCAT was finally scheduled for May 19th at 8 AM and since it was about an hour away from my house, I stayed at a friend's place closer to the test site.

I'm a night owl and rarely fall asleep before 2 AM so although I'd been trying to get myself to wake up early in the mornings leading up to the MCAT, I just couldn't do it and thus got only about 3 hours of sleep before the test. I'm used to doing important things on little sleep so I wasn't too worried about it, but I think it may have influenced how my day was going to go.

Long story short, I thought I bombed it. As I walked out of the exam room I began praying for a 30, which is a far cry from the 33-36 I was expecting based on my practice scores. I had mistimed the Physical Sciences section so I was rushed towards the end and Biological Sciences just kicked my butt and bruised my ego.

Here's an excerpt about the BS section from an unpublished post I wrote the next day titled "Picking up the pieces":

Biological Sciences - Oh boy. This section reduced me to a pile of tears. Well, not during the exam, but immediately after. There were a couple of ridiculously hard sections that I just couldn't comprehend. I read them over and over again and I wasn't getting anything out of them. I don't think more time would've helped either. The worst part was that all the questions relied entirely on info from the passage and so I couldn't even reason my way through it with my background knowledge. More than a few discretes had me scratching my head and essentially guessing randomly, and that hasn't happened on any of my practice tests. It's very disconcerting.

A note about my feelings, also from that unpublished post:

I walked out of that exam honestly in tears. I am not much of a crier so this had clearly been a kick to the balls. I felt like all the hard work I had put into studying for this had been for naught and I had just killed any chance I have of getting into medical school this cycle. But at the same time, I don't think any more studying would've helped much. I may've gotten a couple more discretes correct in the Biological Sciences (BS) but I still would've been killed by two of those passages.

And my thoughts about voiding the results, again from that post:

If I hadn't been leaving the country on Tuesday [three days after the MCAT], I would've totally voided the exam and tried again in a month. Although, I don't think I had another month of studying left in me. I was pretty done by the end of it, so maybe that wouldn't have made a difference either.

On the bright side of things, two out of the four people taking the exam had massive computer failures in that their screens froze for over an hour. Maybe it's because I had people praying for me on two continents, but luckily that didn't happen to me. I don't know how I would've handled that, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been pretty.

Anywhos, I gave myself one day to mope and feel sorry about the whole situation, and mope I did. I held back tears at the baby shower I went to after the test and couldn't speak about the exam without welling up. It was BAD.

I had organized a paintballing excursion for the next day, which was great planning since it totally got my mind off everything. And then I started packing for my Asian adventure that I was leaving for three days after my MCAT. Again, good way to take my mind off things.

Paintball: The perfect post-MCAT stress relief.

The issues, emotions, and events that occurred during my international medical relief mission with the U.S. Navy were enough to keep me even more distracted while waiting for my score to come in (that's a post for another day). So all in all I really only suffered from this experience for about 24 hours.

But I am so glad I never have to go through that again because it's a complete mind-*&^#. Well, that is, until Step 1 rolls around in 3 years.

And now onto the score I received on the day I set foot in the United States again, which I checked at the tail end of a 48 hour journey home that included lost passport scares (plural), a death on an airplane, and a subsequent rescheduled flight. All in all, not ideal circumstances to deal with the feelings of getting my MCAT score back. But again, that's a post for another day.

Without further ado, ta da!

Click to enlarge.

Apparently I do really well when I'm not firing on all cylinders.

P.S. In my original unpublished (for a reason) mopy post, I did a breakdown of each section of the MCAT. Here is what I had to say about the writing part. Pop culture for the win!

Writing Section (?) - I don't even know what this section is officially called, so that shows you how much I prepared for it before the real thing. It was pretty straight-forward and kind of fun, actually. I channeled a bit of Jon Stewart in that I used a Nazi example for one of my responses. I was laughing on the inside the whole time.

Quasi done-zo

I've finished up my secondary applications* (finally!) except for a few that I'm only doing to appease my mother, most of which I have absolutely no chance of being admitted to. Turning them in this late doesn't help in that respect but I told her I'd apply so I have to get them done eventually. And I don't particularly want to attend these schools in the first place so that's another reason not to get too worked up about most definitely being rejected without even an interview.**

Anywhos, remember my confidence about getting admitted this year? That's all about gone at this point because of the tardiness at being "complete" at all my schools.***

I'm actually starting to freak out a bit about possibly not getting in because so many people already have interview invites and/or have attended interviews and all I have is one measly email saying I've been moved to a "pool of applicants who potentially will be invited to interview with us."

That's not very hope-inducing but it does mean that the letter of recommendation I was worried about turned out to be pretty spectacular. It was either going to sink my application or make it (no in betweens) and I'm glad that it was the latter.

I don't know how I would've answered "How have you improved your application since the last time you submitted?" if I had to reapply. Umm...not piss off my letter-writer within a week of asking him to write it? I don't think that explanation would fly.

Also, pardon all the stars here but I'm using this post as a not-very-well-organized explanation of the medical school application process to people not familiar with it.

Lastly, here's the most recent Facebook meme I found hilarious:

If T. Rex had just one wish, he'd wish he could cuddle.

(Full disclosure: It's not the most recent, but the cleanest. I have one up my sleeve that's not exactly politically correct. I'll save it for when I'm feeling particularly feisty.)

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*For the non-medical school folk, after submitting the primary application that consists of a personal statement and description of extracurricular activities to the medical school application black hole, each school you have applied to can choose to send you a secondary/supplemental application that requires paying another fee but also often requires writing essays about greatest challenges, moral and ethical dilemmas, or your prized possessions. This has been the greatest hang-up for me because I absolutely hate formal writing that needs to put me in the best possible light.

**If schools really like you, they invite you for an interview. You can't get in without one. The earlier you get your application in, the better your chances of being asked to interview. And the earlier your interview, the more likely you'll be admitted (at most schools, at least).

***Being "complete" means having your MCAT scores and secondary/supplemental application submitted, paying the application fee for that specific school, and having all your letters of recommendation ready.