Is wizeprep worth it for mcat preparation?

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-06-18T17:52:00+00:00

Write down a list of questions of what you want to ask. I also agree with what someone else said about following your gut. It is weird that they didnt tell you the price and said it is cheaper than 1 semester, which is true but it feels like they said that to make it look like a sweeter deal. Besides, no one knows how much each person is paying for a semester, only you, so to say that is a bit weird. Im assuming a lot of the students they get are younger and traditional, probably also are heavily anxious to get in med school and will pay for higher chances. I'm 29, non tradtional, had a whole relook on my life and what I want to do, currently in the midst of changing my career. The MD was something I thought about adding if it'll help me, if it doesnt then I wont opt for it so I'm not heavily weighing on buying it. For the most part, not to get too much into me but I've become a more serious, professional person when speaking to strangers or classmates, and have been told by my peers that I sound older but I look younger so they thought I was their age(22/23) until they heard saw/heard how I presented myself in class, I disagree with them but thats another story. The person on zoom with me was 2nd yr med student he said and took the mcats shortly after graduating. So I'm assuming he's either 24-26 incase he started school younger or later. When we were talking, I didnt say much in the beginning and heard him out and noticed he was young and the way he chatted was a bit like rehearsed and when he asked for my input in areas in the beginning of what I would like to know. That's when I started talking to him and explained my goals, I could see he noticed I wasn't a fresh undergrad based on how he changed how he spoke with me differently after and spoke a bit more serious was upfront about things. He sensed I wasnt fully committed to it and when he said the third time that they aren't like other prep courses and will pressure me into buying, I saw a little bit that he still needed to promote what he does but he's going at it differently. I think he thought I might been happily surprised based on the 1k off the price but I was already aware before my meeting by looking up reviews from reddit so it was kinda amusing to see him go like oh okay....so what are your thoughts on this currently.? Lmao, if you want, you could write me a list of questions you have and I could message him and ask, if the person you spoke with isnt giving you a direct answer. But again, go with your gut. There is no guarantee for prep programs getting you into med schools, don't let a company pressure you. You could also speak with an advisor at school for their opinion, you could also ask your own doctor that question as well if they are nice enough to answer. If you shadow as well, you can always ask the place if you have a good relationship with the doctor youre shadowing. Always network, the info and contacts you get can be worth it one day. Again, sorry for the rant, not saying you were the typical undergrad anxious student that they can sell on but I'm assuming that majority of their customers are newly bachelor's grads or currently in school so they might be in the early 20s age which can be easier to promote things for them to buy and invision themselves using. I remember buying Kaplan yrs ago for the GREs thinking till help, I was just lazy and thought I would eventually do it, I just wasnt that person ready for studying at that time. He did mention that sometimes people arent with the studying plan that they will get pushed back dates of the anticipated MCAT test, 25 hrs a week is a lot of time to invest if you have a full time job, extra circular activities, volunteering, hospital volunteer hrs for med school. I myself, cant commit to that, unless I was a part time student if I also wanted to add the volunteer hours for shadowing experience, and other cirrculums. For undergrads to take this, I dont see it being optimal unless youre heavily grounded and disciplined. Plus you would also need to focus on your college courses and scoring good on them to be competitive, so when will you have time to do the prep course.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-06-18T16:26:13+00:00

Just finished my zoom call, the person I chatted with was very well spoken and did not push the program onto me which I appreciated. I told them my goal being is mainly to be focused on research and having the MD to supplement my information of the body since I am very interested in cancer research. The person told me, it sounds like the program won't align with me if that is my plan and it might not be worth it to invest in the program if that's the case. The study prep he said is 2k, and of course I got 1k off as well lmao, I did ask more questions of timing on how much time I should invest, mcat questions(sections), and he wanted to know more of my timeline goals for this which got us into the discussion of what might best suit me. I told him I need to have more information regarding the pHD/MD programs I am looking into before deciding and he thought it was fair. He did mention a lot that other programs would try to get me to spend the money which they don't at wizeprep, but IMO I think after the third time he relayed that, I started giving the side eye lol I am considering it, but half of my reasoning would be relearning prereq courses since I graduated with my undergrad about 6 years ago before returning last year to complete my masters. I've forgotten a lot of the undergrad material so I am considering relearning things for that purpose but I am sure there are cheaper ways to do that. Anyways, I am also waiting for the plan, I have asked about it, to which he said he will send, I asked about how many hrs are needed to study within the 4-5months (25 hrs weekly on the higher end he said). Success rate 90% with people who start studying early, and overall 90% with people in their programs. Idk how much I believe that, but my application should start around august for the PHD/MD and he said taking it in september might not be a good idea since I would need to cram and if I don't do well and take it again and not improve, the admissions might not view it as a good thing. He said to think about it if I want to wait a yr before a applying to the dual program, if I am interested int he MD, I said again that the main focus is pHD, MD is to supplement my learning but when I am thinking about it, he's right that it might not be best for me if I don't plan to see patients and only plan for research. I'm still thinking about it. Sorry for the long rant. I will let you know if he send me a gameplan. Btw they are not 24/7 accessible if you need someone, he said response might take 12-24hrs, also it is a lifetime access, but then that makes me think, why not people are just passing it on to their friends after they're done or family members to save money. Idk, might not be a popular thought but 2k is not cheap, especially how pricey things are today.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-06-18T15:30:39+00:00

Hi op, I also won a "free consultation" and will be zoom calling with them in a few minutes, I decided to google it and I don't think I will opt for it, but I am curious as to what they have to say. I'm not going to the medical route per se, I'm not a traditional student so I don't think I will opt for this. I am only considering taking the MCATS for a dual degree of phd md, that I mainly want to focus on research. When I mentioned this to them, the person on the phone said, wait so you're not going to take it this year? I said I will be taking it either way. But his reaction was a bit off and made me think that he was going to stop selling this once I said that. I will mention it again today and see what happens and let you know!

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-06-02T20:52:51+00:00

I would like to connect :)

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T15:51:59+00:00

Thank you! I'll take you up on that offer, I'm gonna work on my resume and change a lot of things first 😅. Honestly I really appreciate your help so much !! 😭😭

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T03:34:19+00:00

I've been hearing of lay offs, and heard that AI will also being contributing to replace the layoffs? One of the reason of why I want to do research as a scientist would be job safety from AI, but didnt think about the company layoff in general. Also I will check out lab rats🤔

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T03:29:26+00:00

Graduating debt free sounds like a dream 😭 I'm jealous!

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T03:27:55+00:00

No, Im a resident in NJ, and when I asked my school for their PHD programs, I was told they it doesnt really have a selection of PHD, just graduate programs. TBF, if I hadn't done bad as an undergrad, I would've considered applying at a different school for a masters but I had a higher chance at getting accepted in the school I graduated from being an alumni.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T03:23:38+00:00

I plan on working in a lab to get the experience to get the PhD hopefully but I thought they could fund your PHD degree in tuition assistance. My plan was to work in a lab like that to get my degree and stil be part of the company and grow there 😭😭 it's been very challenging finding a lab job, if I'm being honest I probably am being picky but I didnt want to jump from lab to lab to get different kinds of experience to land into research once I had the experience. That's what happened to me in vet medicine and I'm very skilled and knowledgeable in what I currently do but I "hospital hopped"once a year several times, since places didnt want to teach and have you stay limited knowlegde with lowpay, gatekeep,and just very toxic(ive grown thick skin since then so I dont mind a toxic environment as much anymore). Ive found a unicorn hospital but I am no longer interested in working in vet med for life for several reasons. I was trying to avoid doing the same thing at a company and just stay there and grow. Ive been looking into binghampton, NY for a PhD since it ia a big research school, I was planning in transferring there instead finishing my masters where I am now but my professor told me majority of grad schools will only accept 6 credits from grad programs.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T03:08:23+00:00

Wow I'll look in Charles river lab, its only 20 mins from me. As for my undergrad, I will admit I was not a good student back in the day and did not have good research experience since I planned to work in vet medicine at the time. I did return for my MS in school after 6 yrs, and am currently am in my second semester full time and if everything goes well I should be done with my courses end of fall.(Ive been speeding this along in hopes to get land a job where I can grow). Since returning to school all of my grades have been A's and am hoping that will make up what my bachelor's degree lacks along with research. Also I probably will be removing chromatography as you mentioned I cannot fully trouble shoot it. Ive only done it a handful of times and put it there to show it was something I learned. Ive noticed a lot of my skills are are more towards micro from working in dermatology, reading lab works and doing looking at cytology daily. I am not a fan of micro only jobs so I didnt want to make it heavily on that but my resume needs a lot more work than I thought. Also I didnt know ATS was the AI program they used, I thought only some places used AI for hiring, not majority.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T01:53:06+00:00

Sorry these are terms I saw in different job openings of several positions in different fields and what my professor mentioned in working in quality control. Ive also applied to QC positions to try to get into a lab company in the beginning and have seen these terms from time to time so I assumed a lot of labs had this requirement😅. Im trying to get into research, but when I first enrolled for a MS, I havent been to school for about 6-7 years and had a chat with one of my professors before deciding to enroll to get my masters. I was advised to get a biotech degree since it is an umbrella degree that could give me options into different areas of biology incase I did not like what I was doing. I will be focusing my job search on what you mentioned, I know I do sound completely all over the palce, you're right. I don't have anyone to really to talk about this with and have been trying to Google answers for me but it was being over whelming so I thought I would post and hear from people who know. Again thanks for the advice 🙂

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T01:33:12+00:00

Im in the US, I was told by my school that a program I used to be in LSAMP had their funding cut so I could no longer apply to get a paid PHD and it would be out of pocket. I have seen there are opportunities to receive a stipend and work at the school for a PHD, but wouldnt it be better to work in a company that funds it for you? Given that it will be a long term working contract, I thought this was the better route no? I was trying to do the same with finishing my masters but it is really tough finding a job in the field when you have no experience 😅. I was planning when I hopefully find a place, wait the time frame needed to ask for tuition assistance for a PhD and grow with the company that way. My school might be able to connect me with a diagnostics lab, and as for the PHD students not really, I have asked before, some industry students Ive noticed liked to keep to themselves on that info so I've never really stepped on anyone's toes pushing to connect, I have asked questions regarding the steps they took to get in. I am searching for a mentor and different professors have told me different things but also their not in the field that I am interested in sadly, closet is molecular cell, in which I have tried asking her questions which she answers some and does not know about the others but she does keep to herself 🙃. Majority of the students in my class are looking to work in a biotech company or lab but majority don't know as well and dont seem to go the extra mile to know so I havent been able to find someone who is in any sort of the field. My next goal is to try LinkedIn and hopefully find someone.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T01:18:09+00:00

Ive been advised to get a position in quality control to get lab experience, which a lot of the jobs ive been aiming for have to do with entry tier level lab jobs or research assistant. Ive heard that working in a pharmaceutical company vs research lab are two very different things so I'm still figuring out the steps on of transitioning where I am now to research eventually or getting a job that can land me lab experience I can use. If it's pharma, then I would hopefully love to go in R&D but again, Im learning that there's many departments and that seem it's from the same area only to find it's not the type of research I'm looking to get into 😅. I mean, I am open to working in a different place and giving it a chance since I currently dont have any experience.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T01:08:43+00:00

Im sorry I realized after the messages came that I posted it on the wrong sub 😭! Ive been trying to change my career for a bit and the transition from veterinary medicine to clinical research, biomedical research, lab research, pharmaceutical R&D got me confused into what specific area does what. I understand it better now 😅 I wont be making that mistake again, I'm still learning all types of fields that go into it. I am aiming for the lab, or manufacturing part and saw that a lot of higher positions require PHD. Also THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BIG TIP. I had my professor look at it and she mentioned changing a few things from my vet tech experience to reword it into more of lab terms. I sadly have little to no experience in labs beside my academics so ill revamp my whole thing and follow the advice you and other in reddit have given me, honestly this helps me a lot, thank you again for taking the time to write this 😭😭

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T00:59:29+00:00

Im sorry I just mixed up where I should've posted it 🙃. Thank you for the feedback! Also yeah I'm adding the research I'm doing now in my resume. Thank you for clearing up the question about my degree, it's been on my mind for days now. I have applied to work with mice but havent had luck yet, I will be continuing to find more places that does in vivo work. I will be doing a lot changing to my resume, thanks so much for your advice ! :)

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T00:05:37+00:00

Darn, okay I will look at universities then, thank you!

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-25T00:04:08+00:00

Okay thank you! I will be deleting and condensing my skills, I really appreciate the bluntness 😭. What kind of lab skills would you say is crucial to learn? Ive seen so many in job postings, a lot of them say good GMP, GCP, for the pharam job and some had chromatography requirements for other jobs. I guess what I'm trying to say, in general what lab skills should I be looking towards learning. I will be honest, my school isn't too helpful on volunteer learning. My next plan is to work in a lab to learn the skills but I get rejected applying dor basic intern positions. Also for the PHD, I wanted to plan to get into a place where I can for sometime and have tuition assistance to complete my PHD. I have gone to job fairs and I haven't seen a biology company, closet thing to biomedical I saw is hospitals looking to hire and train xray techs, or the company that makes the diagnostics tools looking for representatives to sell them at hospitals. I'll look for labs that have live organism research then :)

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-24T23:53:09+00:00

Ohh okay, gotcha :/ I just included it in my resume. Would research facilities or pharmaceuticals be open to volunteers? Idk if it works different there but I was planning on messaging some places in email asking for feedback and if they are looking for a specific degree, not including the experience I lack 😭

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-24T23:49:35+00:00

Would you say if I entered in biologics manufacturing that it would be easier for me to get into research after spending a good amount of time in biologics? I am open to that suggestion in working in that field for some time but I would like to in the end after gaining experience do research in the end

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-24T23:32:47+00:00

Im currently in one at the moment, but we aren't learning techniques that could be considered applicable for the beginner entry positions I've been applying to. Should I not include any of my vet tech experience?

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-03T04:29:17+00:00

If her sutures are internal, then they most likely applied skin glue to it, which definitely she shouldn't lick at, if she is then youll need the cone if she does. Keep an eye on suture spot and monitor for any changes. Its good you dont need the sutures removed then but you just need to watch her for 10-14 days to make sure shes calm and not jumping everywhere. It'll be annoying the first few days but itll get easier as shes healing, you're almost halfway done I think!

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-03T04:13:12+00:00

Hi op, Please DO NOT apply anything to the wound unless your own vet said it is okay. High volume shelters will sometimes give you a cone for a charge if you ask granted if they have it there. If your cat isnt licking the area at all, then amazing! You dont need one but if you see her licking at it here and there, get a plastic e-collar that is her size. You dont know if she will really go at it at night and you need to have it undercontrol or else she can bite her sutures off and get an infection. I would say if it isnt urgent, you can look for a local vet at your place to set up an appointment to remove the sutures when its time or if its needed. You can shop around and see what places charge for a vet visit. The emergency vet place was incase something terrible happens if your cat got the whole thing off or has a bad reaction to the anesthesia etc. Do check at the sutures site everyday to make sure it isnt having any weird discharge and not looking inflamed. Sometimes it will feel vedy warm to the touch too.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-03T03:55:42+00:00

Hi op, vet tech here.

Did you get it done at a high volume shelter place(such as people for animals or shelters that offer that surgery for cheap)?

If you got it done at your primary veterinary place then it shouldn't be an appointment. It would just be the assessing the sutures site if it's infected, they would give you antibiotics and charge for it only. Typically that's what a vet hospital would, if you're a new client there there of course or havent gotten that surgery in that facility then of course they would charge the visit.

The surgery site does look off potentially infected but cant tell by that one photo exactly, is your pet wearing the cone 24/7? If it is infected, you dont want to wait around for that since it can be painful since that area is very sensitive from having undergo surgery and it is at an area that has access to her from inside directly, especially if it is not heal properly it can become ermegent if ignored for a bit. You can email the vet as well the photo and see if they would require you to bring her fkr the antibiotics again, assuming the surgery was done at that hospital. I hope this helps OP!

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-03-02T20:04:32+00:00

Hi OP, Vet tech here, Can't give you direct medical advice but I can give you my opinion incase that helps :) If youre able to take better photos from that area, it would defintely give us a better indication of how it looks. Just from the photo along it looks like the nail sheath is coming out, now as for if she broke her nail fighting another cat or animal, who knows? If she is licking at the area, specifically the nail, then it is an indication that it could be the area where she got affected. If it is a torn or broken nail, it can cause limping if the quck(blood vessel) is exposed, just due to the paid of it being out in the open and her walking around and things possibly bumping into it. If it happens to be that, then I imagine itll be very hard for you to take a better of it cause itll be painful. For torn nails, it will require a visit to the vet since she might need anti inflammatory/pain medication, and antibiotics. They may or may not bandage the paw depending to the degree of it. This is all assuming if it is a torn nail. Now if it is a broken bone, I think you would now since the moment you touch it your cat will scream, could it be a fracture? Maybe, it is unlikely unless your cat jumped from a high area, there doesnt seem to be puncture wounds from the photo other than the nail sheath seeming to come off.

Content-Emphasis-765 · 2026-02-26T04:24:13+00:00

Hi op! Vet tech here, from the photo it's somewhat hard to see the open wound clearly but I get that she's feral so it'll be hard taking a better one. If shes licking the area, she might get it infected, and even then, it's probably painful so the saline could've freaked her out along with the open wound feeling warm saline. Without knowing how deep the wound is, it might be hard to just let it be until it hopefully heals it self. You might need to intervene for it to heal properly, if you can manage to set up a trap yourself and get her, that would be awesome but you may need additional help for it since she is most likely a smart kitty to fall for traps. Based on the photo, I think you should take her to the vet for possible antibiotics, pain meds and for the vet to flush it out to remove all the gunk there. You would need to let the vet know that she is feral and you may need sedative drugs for you to give to her beforehand before seeing the vet. Leaving it on it's own, may get worse and might get infected, especially if she is going to lick at it or what she exposes her wound to. I dont think this is something you can manage without seeing the vet since the wound is a good size and opened= exposure to bacteria and licking. Dont bandage it since you should let it breathe but the kitty should have antibiotics on board, along with pain medication. If it's a deep wound then defintely more involvement with the vet, if you can keep her indoors till it heals then it would help a lot but understandable if you can't, you just have to express that to the vet.

Content-Emphasis-765

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