Well, my very first advice is not to panic. Yet. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who leaves the MCAT thinks they bombed it. I mean, your brain just went through a mental meat-grinder, right? It is the worst feeling in the world. If you left totally secure I'd be more worried. (see comments below). So I would sit tight and just wait for the results. Now if you KNOW FOR 100% SURE that you bombed (like you didn't finish the test, voided the scores, your practice scores were consistently low, or you got topics you didn't even remotely recognize), then you probably have a legitimate worry.
BUT, the good thing in medicine is that you can't get into medical school if you aren't ready. Really ready. And I promise, you'll want to be ready. When I am in my classes I am SO thankful that I had to get a good score and really learn all the material well before I started this stuff... because all the MCAT stuff (well, most of it) is your base foundation. And you don't want to start building more on top of that until that foundation is really strong.
I thought that because I did indeed put a lot of work into studying for the MCAT that I was ready, but that is not always the case. Sometimes you don't know the material as well as you think you do. Sometimes you know the material in your way, but not in the way that leads you to be successful on the exam. Unless you are a genius by birthright, the only way to be ready for the MCAT is to take FULL LENGTH practice exams until you get your target score as a practice score... for some this might be 2 tests, for others 40 tests. Until then you are spinning your wheels.
Now, I know what it is like to bomb the MCAT. I studied soft for a year and HARD for about 6 months before my first one, and I got a terrible score (you can find it on this blog :) I was devastated. Even more so my parents were devastated. I felt like an idiot, a loser, like I had no future, etc. To be expected, right? Well here's the second piece of advice I wish I knew then. Becoming a doctor has nothing to do with how smart you are, it has to do with tenacity. In medicine there is always going to be an "MCAT" situation to overcome. Whether its the application process, the board exams (you take 4 big ones in med school and residency), shelf exams, getting a residency, getting your Dean's letter, getting a fellowship, becoming chief resident, getting a directorship, making full professor, getting a big grant, etc. Its always something. And people fail. Someone has to. At the doctor level everybody is super intelligent and not used to losing... because earlier in life it was so much easier to succeed over people who weren't as capable as you are. But now, even smart people lose out. So the absolute one thing you must get used to is falling down and getting back up again.
Personally, when I bombed the MCAT I had a good backup plan. I applied to a Masters program in the health field and moved to a new city. It ended up being great, provided me some additional foundation building in the sciences, and gave me some great connections to eventually get into a great med school. Here's my issue. I am not all that smart. I mean, logically smart, yes, common sense, yes, people smart, yes. Book smart, not so much... and I'm a terrible test taker. The only reason why I'm in medical school today is because I do have the ability to work my butt off and I didn't give up. In fact when I finally got into medical school (4 MCATS later) the admissions committee basically let me in because they thought my application demonstrated "great diversity and tenacity".
Take the MCAT again if you bomb it. And enjoy the time you have before you go to medical school. Get an interesting job, study something you enjoy, travel, live in another city, or do something creative. Almost every 21 year old med student I know laments the fact that they never had another job or another life... and forever they will only be a doctor. This is a gift you just got to diversify your life before you will forever be a doctor. Start enjoying the ups and downs of the ride, because the road to being a doctor is really really bumpy.
* Oh, and 3rd advice? Stay off SDN. Especially now as you are vulnerable. Don't want to find any pre-meds throwing themselves into traffic.
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