I’ve had the privilege of being an MCAT teacher, tutor, and content writer for over 15 years. In that time, I’ve seen the “non-traditional” cross-section of medical school applicants increase in number and in the diversity of experiences within that group.
Since non-traditional inherently encompasses an enormous variety of applicants—from career-changing parents to “Oops, I took three gap years working on a really cool research project”—there’s no one-size-fits-all piece of advice I can provide.
But whatever sort of applicant you are, your first goal should be determining what you need and how to use your time.
There’s No One “Non-Traditional” MCAT Student
It’s absolutely critical to be realistic about your timeline because this sets you up for success from square one.
Ask yourself: How many demands do you have on your time beyond studying for the MCAT and applying to medical school?
Are you a history major who decided halfway through senior year to pivot to premed? You’ll need something close to a full undergraduate science review and a way to fast-track your clinical hours.
A stay-at-home dad who works a remote programming job? You’ll need a long-term study plan and flexible ways to build up your extracurriculars.
A pharmacy tech starting MCAT review in January? Your science background is probably solid, but we’d better start practicing yesterday.
For what it’s worth, those are all real people I’ve tutored, and they all became doctors.
Whatever your story, you can do it.
Here are some of my top priorities for non-traditional students when we start planning MCAT prep.
1. Start With the Time You Actually Have
Start by dividing the total hours you think it’ll take you to study by the hours you really, actually, and will commit to each week for MCAT studying.
That gives you an estimate of the number of weeks you’ll need to prep.
For example, someone with an already busy schedule might estimate:
350 hours of MCAT studying/10 hours per week = 35 weeks of prep
The important part here is being honest with yourself.
If you work full time, have children, are taking classes, or have other major responsibilities, your study schedule might look very different from that of a traditional student who has large blocks of time available every day.
That’s okay.
The goal isn’t to create the most ambitious MCAT study schedule possible. It’s to create one you can realistically follow.
2. Plan for Disruptions
Whatever you estimated above, add a couple of weeks if possible.
Yes, things will come up.
No, you probably won’t study efficiently while traveling for the holidays.
Maybe work gets busy. Family obligations happen. You get sick. Or sometimes you’ll simply be too exhausted to study effectively.
Building some flexibility into your MCAT timeline from the beginning can keep one off week from making you feel like your entire plan has fallen apart.
This is especially important for non-traditional students because you likely have numerous responsibilities competing for your time.
Give yourself some breathing room.
3. Take an MCAT Diagnostic
Take a diagnostic, especially if you’ve never studied for or taken the MCAT before. (💡 Get a free one inside the Blueprint MCAT free trial!)
You want a current baseline feeling for, “What even is this test??!”
Plus, your result can give you ideas about where to begin your initial studying.
For non-traditional students, this can be especially useful because your academic background may not line up neatly with the subjects you studied most recently.
A diagnostic gives you a starting point so you can build your MCAT study plan around what you actually need.
4. Get a Little Uncomfortable While You Study
Speaking of studying, you’ll want to be a little uncomfortable while you do it.
Not like…slouched with poor posture on a rough wooden chair. I mean pushing yourself to study areas outside your comfort zone.
It might feel bad to get 1/5 correct on a kinematics review quiz, but that’s an important part of learning. It’s easy to spend most of your time reviewing subjects you already understand because getting questions right feels productive. However, your weak areas are where some of the most valuable studying happens.
5. Hammer Active Review Methods
This is how that 1/5 correct becomes a 3/5 and eventually a 5/5!
One of the most common forms of active review is practicing MCAT questions—either through a QBank or full-length practice exams—and carefully reviewing the explanations afterward.
A QBank, especially, is something you should be hitting right out of the gate. If you review a science topic, always try to apply that knowledge in practice within a few days of learning it.
For example, if you spend a study session relearning fluids, don’t simply read the chapter, close your notes, and consider the topic finished. Do some fluids questions. See whether you can engage with the way MCAT questions test that information. Identify anything you misunderstood, then go back and fix it with another round of study and practice.
For students with limited study time, active learning becomes especially important because you want the hours you do have to move you forward.
Further Reading
💻 How to Use MCAT Practice Tests and QBanks to Improve Your Score
6. Build a Lessons Learned Journal
Along those same lines, build a Lessons Learned Journal, or LLJ. (💡 All Blueprint MCAT students get a built-in Lessons Learned Journal!)
With limited time, your quality of review matters far more than question volume. Journaling your challenges and your corresponding growth is a proven way to keep yourself moving forward.
After you miss a practice question, don’t just write down the correct answer and move on.
Ask yourself things like:
- Why did I get this question wrong?
- Was I missing the underlying content?
- Did I misread the question?
- Did I understand the passage but fall for a tempting answer choice?
- Is this a mistake I’ve made before?
- What should I do differently the next time I see a question like this?
Over time, your LLJ becomes a record of both your challenges and your successes in addressing them.
7. Remember: CARS Is Your Friend
CARS is your friend. (It’s true!)
You need zero—none, not even a little—background knowledge to master CARS.
Yes, verbal reasoning sections in general can be a bit of a bugbear if reading a large variety of material isn’t your favorite thing in the world. However, the MCAT CARS section rewards strategy and practice, with no outside studying required beyond learning how CARS is written and how to approach a given type of question.
You don’t have to remember any exact science facts that you learned in a prerequisite course five years ago. You only have to learn the strategy, practice it, and continue improving how you approach the passages and questions.
8. Save Official AAMC Resources for Later in Your Prep
Save your AAMC resources for the last month or two of prep, depending on your weekly study hours.
You want to be hitting the official practice resources after you’re close to finishing content review and nearing when you’ll take the official test.
By that point, your goal is shifting. You’re no longer simply trying to relearn content or understand basic MCAT strategy. You’re practicing how to apply everything you’ve learned to questions that most closely reflect the official exam.
Your Non-Trad Background Can Be Part of Your Medical School Story
Once you do conquer the MCAT, remember two things as you work on your medical school application:
- What skills have you built or are you building with your time after college graduation?
- How will your experiences help make you a better physician?
Articulating thoughtful answers to these questions ahead of time will make your application more personal than “I want to help people.”
Final Thoughts
Being “non-traditional” isn’t a barrier to getting into medical school. It’s just a label that means you’ve lived a little more life than someone who planned on medicine since high school.
All your experiences are part of your story. Think about the skills they helped you build and the perspective they’ll allow you to bring to medicine.
Your path to medical school may not look traditional, and your MCAT prep doesn’t have to either.
Whether you’re balancing a full-time job, family responsibilities, a career change, or just a busier-than-average schedule, Blueprint MCAT can help you build a prep plan that fits your life. Choose the flexibility of a Self-Paced Course, the structure and support of a live 515+ Course or Live Online Course, or personalized 1:1 guidance from a private MCAT tutor.
And when you’re ready to tackle the rest of your application, our admissions consulting team can help you turn your experiences into a compelling medical school story.
