Would you submit this MCAT?

[Ivegotnotoes]

I've searched the forums and have seen responses to MCAT scores stating they tend to do more harm than good, unless they are great, but people aren't really quantifying what "Great" means.  I received a 34 on my MCAT, which was 94th percentile. Would you submit that?

 

I get that I'll have increased scrutiny, and that I'll have raised a red flag. I was absolutely pursuing medical school, took all the prereqs (4.0), and worked as an ER scribe. The realities started to hit me at that point. I'm a nontrad (IT career) - mid 30's, married, and a desire to have kids. I didn't see medical school as a route leading to happiness as I defined it. I saw a lot of miserable doctors and a lot of happy PA's, so I decided to pursue the PA route. 

 

I can dress it up and parade it around. I can justify my change of direction, and I'm certainly not trying to use PA as a bridge to DO/MD. The MCAT score just seems too good to throw away, so, what would you do?

 

Thanks

[Guest HanSolo]

94th percentile on the MCAT! That's awesome. I would use it if I were you. Keep it mind not all programs will accept MCAT scores. Some require the GRE. Something to keep in mind. Contact the ones you are not sure about. 

 

Best of luck. You sound like a good applicant. 

[rpackelly]

If you test that well, which is exceptional, you will also ACE the GRE. Try that first. Keep the MCAT as a card in your pocket. People will look at you score and prerequisites and might just assume you will end up in med school at some point.

 

Also keep in mind that knowing unhappy doctors and happy PAs, you are in reality looking at a subset of both and not the mean. We all appreciate that medical school and residency is a long hard slog (although very doable these days compared to the 1970s) and PA school is a shorter hard slog, but after 8 years of school entry, the lifestyles look quite similar, and it is a really long hard slog to age 65 with either career. So in eight years after you start school, PA or MD, your lifestyle will be identical, but MDs generally have more leverage, bargaining power, and control just because of their place in the hierarchy.

 

You are obviously quite talented and smart, but as a PA you will find yourself at times working with docs that are, we shall say, not so much, and it might actually be to the detriment of your patients. Just saying, consider long and hard.

[Ivegotnotoes]

If you test that well, which is exceptional, you will also ACE the GRE. Try that first. Keep the MCAT as a card in your pocket. People will look at you score and prerequisites and might just assume you will end up in med school at some point.

 

Also keep in mind that knowing unhappy doctors and happy PAs, you are in reality looking at a subset of both and not the mean. We all appreciate that medical school and residency is a long hard slog (although very doable these days compared to the 1970s) and PA school is a shorter hard slog, but after 8 years of school entry, the lifestyles look quite similar, and it is a really long hard slog to age 65 with either career. So in eight years after you start school, PA or MD, your lifestyle will be identical, but MDs generally have more leverage, bargaining power, and control just because of their place in the hierarchy.

 

You are obviously quite talented and smart, but as a PA you will find yourself at times working with docs that are, we shall say, not so much, and it might actually be to the detriment of your patients. Just saying, consider long and hard.

 

I am definitely studying for the GRE now. Everyone keeps saying "Oh just get above 50% and you'll be fine", but I was hoping to bring a great score to the table in hopes of hinting at PANCE performance in the future.

 

You are absolutely right. The doctors I worked with complained about compensation and metrics constantly, the only ones that weren't were churning out patients at an astonishing rate. The PA's there didn't have the same performance stresses, so in a different environment, the PA's might be equally stressed and under compensated compared to the work they do. And I definitely have seen adversarial PA/MD relationships and realized quickly that you have to check your ego at the door and document, document, document.  I can only imagine how demoralizing that sort of a relationship would be, and I hope that I never find myself in one, and if I do, I hope I'll have the wherewithal to extract myself from the situation graciously :)

 

Thank you for the words of wisdom, I really appreciate them!

 

94th percentile on the MCAT! That's awesome. I would use it if I were you. Keep it mind not all programs will accept MCAT scores. Some require the GRE. Something to keep in mind. Contact the ones you are not sure about. 

 

Best of luck. You sound like a good applicant. 

 

Thank you so much for your reply! I'm definitely going to take the GRE as well for the reason you stated. I hope the schools see me as a good applicant too :) Thanks again!