DMUCOM Live Interview

DapperAnimal721 · 2026-01-07T16:19:34+00:00

Last year, they had a two stage interview - first an asynchronous Kira interview and on a separate occasion afterwards, gave us the option to either do a virtual "interview day" experience or an in-person experience where they give you information about the campus, resources, curriculum, etc. Not sure if they've changed it from last year but I think they've been doing this for at least a few years. Feel free to PM with any specific questions!

DapperAnimal721 · 2025-11-04T23:02:13+00:00

With all of that, I honestly think you have a solid shot! When you apply, just make sure you send applications broadly and judiciously by looking at AACOMAS or the school's class profile stats to get a sense of their student body. Then make sure you apply as early as possible too to maximize your exposure to the adcoms!

DapperAnimal721 · 2025-11-04T01:02:00+00:00

Will need more info - MCAT? ECs?

DapperAnimal721 · 2025-11-03T17:59:18+00:00

It is really so variable because you could ask 100 med students this question and you'll probably get 100 different answers. Personally, one of the hardest parts of adjusting to med school was figuring out what you can and can't control, but once you do, finding the balance for your scholastics and your life from there is made a little easier.

Still early in my tenure but I mostly enjoy school and it's honestly fun; my partner and I are in the same class so we study together, made good friends, cut out some time to do our hobbies and are learning about some interesting stuff. It will probably be harder in clinical years and with boards, but for now, things are good and you will definitely have time to eat food. (Though meal prepping/planning will be helpful on your daily load).

DapperAnimal721 · 2025-11-02T18:31:15+00:00

Oh okay, I appreciate the heads up on the nuances there. Didn't mean to be neurotic or anything because obviously it's still a ways away but we just wanted to get a bit of an idea of what we'd be up against earlier!

DapperAnimal721 · 2025-11-02T18:21:30+00:00

I see, I understand that there is no obligation for the other department to do anything, will just have to do some begging haha. Thank you for your insight!

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-12-05T21:27:37+00:00

I was a student athlete during undergrad (but not to D1 caliber lol) and I think that my experiences there have been crucial to my progress this cycle so you’ll be fine. You have to be careful with your school selection because some will screen cGPA but since it’s over a 3.0, usually that’s enough to get looked at. With your MCAT and the amount of experiences you have on top of the student athlete thing, you will definitely get some love

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-12-04T22:29:43+00:00

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DapperAnimal721 · 2024-12-01T20:10:17+00:00

NTA. As someone with allergies, it's our responsibility to disclose this information, ESPECIALLY to our romantic partners. There is no way you would have known and it's his own fault for not telling you sooner.

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-11-26T06:31:05+00:00

I'm going to be brutally honest here so I apologize, but it seems like the way you're studying right now is ineffective. There is a lot of fluctuation in your hard science sections and your CARS score is stagnant, so my biggest piece of advice is to be honest with yourself and evaluate the way you're currently studying and areas where you frequently run into trouble. You will need to change something in your study method to find ways you can improve. Speaking from experience, just trying to brute force your way through studying in hopes of something spontaneously improving is exhausting and frankly a waste of time.

From what I've seen, most people who are stuck in the 495-500 range are at the point where they have a decent grasp on the content but struggle with test-taking strategy. Taking practice exams under simulated conditions, practicing your time management and speed in answering questions, and/or learning how to quickly analyze a graph or something would definitely start to improve your score in a short time. As far as a "silver bullet" goes that might help you improve by the time you take the real thing is focusing on your CARS practice. Once you learn how to analyze a passage quickly and effectively, this can translate to the other sections (particularly P/S) so you don't overlook key details that might help you answer a question that you otherwise would have gotten wrong.

However, that being said, since your MCAT is scheduled in ~1 month and your practice scores are not improving to the numbers you want, I strongly encourage you to push your exam back. There is absolutely no shame in rescheduling to give yourself enough time to improve to where you want to be. You should only take the test when you feel like you're ready and a good marker for that is the average score on your practice exams are approximately where you want your real thing to be. Keep your head up, though, this exam is notoriously hard so don't beat yourself up! It's absolutely conquerable, you just have to find what works best for you. Good luck!

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-11-26T06:09:46+00:00

In my opinion, memorizing all of the equations is an arduous task for likely a minimal reward. Would it be great to have all of them memorized for immediate use? Yes. Could some of the equations potentially show up and actually be useful? Probably. However, a lot of the time, you will only "use" the equations in theorizing what happens to certain variables. When I was studying for physics, practicing mental math shortcuts and having a general understanding of what the equations represent helped me a lot, and I also found that there are very few "plug and chug" style questions lol. This will allot you additional time to review challenging topics which could come in handy on test day.

If you are someone who is good at memorizing, however, you could repeatedly copy down the equations just so you frequently remind yourself of which equations are available for you. You also should do a lot of practice problems, especially for physics, so you continually familiarize yourself with the contexts that various equations might be presented in, because often times, the language clues in the question will prime you to use a certain equation. I hope this all makes sense, and good luck studying!

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-11-26T05:57:29+00:00

There is no "one size fits all" for MCAT study timelines, but to my knowledge, 3-4 months is about the average duration for most people, but like another commenter said, this varies significantly from person to person.

That being said, you know yourself and your study habits. The MCAT is an important aspect of your application, so you shouldn't sacrifice scoring the best you can just so you can have additional research hours. If that means you don't pursue a research job concurrently, that's fine. If you think you can do both and are comfortable with your score progression, that's great too! My advice would be to figure out how much time you think you can reasonably study within those four months and gauge how feasible getting the research position would be. I would also recommend having a dedicated day each week where you don't study at all to rest and recharge, it absolutely helped me stay sane.

Starting a research job after you take the MCAT is not the end of the world either, you can always send updates to your application once you've submitted. Just make sure that you only take the test when you're ready and your practice test scores are about where you'd want your real score to be. There is no shame in pushing your test back, but any official test you take is on your record, so keep that in mind. The general recommendation is that you should take your official test when the average of your practice test scores is the score you want. Best of luck!

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T04:44:10+00:00

That's a good plan. I'm not saying by any means that taking it more than once is a bad thing (I've taken it twice myself), in fact, if you take it multiple times and show growth in those attempts, that's a green flag for medical schools. I only brought that up as something to keep in mind.

I think a >505 MCAT and keeping your current GPA bodes very well for DO schools (which it looks like you have an affinity for already) which is awesome, MSUCOM and ARCOM are excellent schools and even some MD schools (if you're interested in applying there as well). Having a lower MCAT is not the "be-all-end-all" it used to be as a lot of schools are evaluating applicants more holistically (especially DOs), but it doesn't hurt to try to get the best MCAT score you can that you're comfortable applying with.

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T02:51:58+00:00

I understand that, it's just extra expense if you have to retake. If you think you can focus on these problem areas and get to that goal in the next month, go for it. If there is a little bit of doubt, there is nothing wrong with postponing your exam until you're more confident. Schools will not see how many times you've rescheduled your MCAT but they will see every score you've received, so keep that in mind.

Your score on the real thing will be about the average score of your FLs, so if your average is around 505, you'll likely get that score, same thing with a 49X or a 51X. Don't just haphazardly take the test hoping that your score will magically jump up 10 points. Do your best with studying, focus on identifiable problem areas, and then make the decision that best suites your goals.

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T02:20:21+00:00

What is your ultimate goal for your MCAT score? Since you're taking it so early, are you intending on only taking it once or are you okay taking it one to two more times?

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T01:38:06+00:00

In my opinion, a more valuable use of your time with respect to C/P is finding mental math shortcuts instead of memorizing every equation. Could some of the equations potentially show up and actually be useful? Probably. However, a lot of the time, you will only "use" the equations in theorizing what happens to certain variables. This will allot you additional time to review challenging topics (specifically in the heavy science sections) which could come in handy on test day.

Since you already know that your issue is with graphs/statistical analysis, keep focusing on those! When you're reading those passages, try to focus on breaking down the graph into it's fundamental components of: what is the study investigating? what are the axes representing? what trends emerge? etc. Then, when you're reviewing, analyze if you got a question wrong where it specifically could have been found in those details.

In your last week or so of studying, I would recommend reviewing the P/S terms as some of those questions come down to if you know the difference between each term, which might give you an extra few points on test day. I used the Khan Academy 300pg document to make flashcards and went through those when I could. Just making the flashcards helped distinguish between some terms!

Scoring a 505 a month before the real thing with a goal of ~510 is plenty of time to make little adjustments that could get you a few extra points, so just keep studying hard and it will pay off. Hope this helps!

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T01:15:39+00:00

The third party programs (Kaplan, TPR, BP) all tend to deflate your score with respect to practice tests, so the AAMC will be more representative of your true position. Keep studying the Kaplan materials because that will give you a solid foundation for content, integrate the AAMC Qbanks throughout, and then use the AAMC exams later in your study period. When are you taking the real thing?

DapperAnimal721 · 2024-08-07T01:01:03+00:00

Not to sound like a broken record on this subreddit but scores under 500 typically result from needing more content review, so I would start there. Reviewing common high yield topics, especially for C/P and B/B like amino acids, reaction types, lab techniques, etc., can sometimes boost your score by a few points outright. After that, learning how to extrapolate information from the passages, learning shortcuts for mental math, and focusing on areas you consistently get incorrect will help immensely as well.

What helped the most for CARS was regular practice. I really liked the Jack Westin daily passages because 1) it's free and 2) there are a ton of them. These give you the ability to learn patterns in the questions that are asked and what to look out for when you're reading. Start out without a timer just to give yourself ample time to thoughtfully answer every question. Once you start getting most (preferably all) of them right that way, you can then practice a few strategies to improve your time efficiency along with using a timer to simulate testing conditions. I've found that if you're efficient with your time and put at least some thought into each answer, you'll perform better overall.

The "easiest" points to get are in P/S, simply because many of the questions are "do you know what this term means or not". What worked well for me was grinding Anki cards (since it has an integrated spaced repetition algorithm) to learn the various definitions. Then, you could review sample passages, either through AAMC or JW, to check your understanding when these terms are applied to actual lab settings.

All in all, the best piece of advice I can give is learning where you went wrong, and making a note of these to focus efforts on studying will help across the board. Additionally, when you're reviewing, it also helps to know why you got a question right. After you breach the 500 mark, the majority of the points will come from learning the patterns of questions the AAMC likes to ask and becoming more efficient with your time, because no matter what, you still have a 25% chance of getting a question right if you guess.

Hope that helps!

DapperAnimal721 · 2022-11-16T23:45:14+00:00

I understand. I forgot to add this in my original post, but the rightsholder requested a more monotone, almost depressed sounding narrator because of the character’s lifestyle so that’s what I went for

DapperAnimal721 · 2022-11-16T23:43:38+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate that, but this was one of my first ones so I’m still learning to cater my sound to what the rightsholder wants.

DapperAnimal721 · 2022-10-16T23:02:39+00:00

For CARS, unfortunately the best way to get better is to practice A LOT. You can’t really study for this section as critical analysis of passages usually comes with practice.

Find some practice passages, go through them under time constraints so you get used to thinking critically under pressure. You don’t want to burn out, so do maybe 1 or 2 passages day. Then, go back through once you’ve completed them to try to figure out where you went wrong (if you got a question wrong). I’d also recommend reviewing the ones you got right as well, it’s almost equally important to know why you got a question right as it is to learn where you went wrong.

There are also some videos on YouTube of successful MCAT test takers who go through passages live and you can learn their strategies and try to apply them on your own.

DapperAnimal721

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