The MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) is the SAT or GRE of medical school. Practically every medical school in America requires applicants to take the MCAT. This test is a BEAST of a test. Adam prepped and studied hard to get his best possible score. This looked like a whole lot of early mornings at 5:00AM studying thick practice books and even late nights taking online practice tests.
In full transparence this is not a cheap test. Adam paid almost $200 to get a large stack of books that covered a range of almost 10 subjects. With the books came a link where he could take practice test that covered each subject. The big kicker is how much the actual test cost. Not only did he have to drive almost three hours, but the test was over $300. FOR ONE TEST.
Adam picked a Saturday to take the test and started studying about two months prior. He then drove up to be close to the testing center the night before. He woke up bright and early and was ready for the eight-hour long test. I don’t know what was going through his head but I knew I was so worried for him. I made sure that I and all our family and friends where covering him in as much prayer as possible.
Close to 3:00pm I got a call from Adam. All he said was that it SUCKED! And I believe him. He made it safe and sound back home and then we started the wait to see his test results. If his test results were not good, he was going to hold off on applying until 2019 after taking the test again. If the scores were okay he was going to pick his top five schools and apply. Adam had read that he would be mailed or emailed his test score by a specific day.
Well it was that day and he had not heard anything. We were on pins and needles just waiting to find out how he did on the test. While Adam was at work I got to thinking. I couldn’t wait to see his test scores. So as a good wife I decided to log into his MCAT online portal just to check and see if there was an update on the test score announcement. Luckily his user name and password were saved and all I had to do was click “login”. Once the site logged in there was a huge button that said view MCAT test score. Of course, I clicked it. And then, right in front of me, I was staring at Adams MCAT test scores…. before he ever saw it.
This was around 11:00AM and Adam was due to be home around noon for lunch. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Do I celebrate because I think these scores are decent or do I run and hide because I am now a snoopy wife? My mind was racing. How do I tell him I know his test scores? How will he react to 1. Me knowing before him and 2. About his score? Do I call his mom? Do I call a close friend and ask what they would do? Do I just run away and act like I never heard of medical school or the MCAT all together? All I could do was wait for him to get home.
I think I sent him a text asking if he has received his scores yet and he replied with a simple “nope”…. As he walked in the door for lunch my heart was pounding. I gave him a big hug and just started saying I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I just clicked the button and then your scores were right there. He looked at me and smiled, didn’t say anything and headed straight to the desktop. He looked at his scores, met me back in the kitchen and smiled. Not made at me at all…or he didn’t seem to be! He was happy with his scores and thankful to be able to take the next step to apply for medical school.
Boy, I was a hot mess. Lesson learned is that I will not go looking for an answer if I am not ready to handle finding the answer. I am so thankful that Adam was not mad at me snooping but he knew how excited I was for him. His test scores were baseline. He took the test without taking three of the chemistry classes that are covered on the MCAT, so he was happy with score considering the amount of material he still hadn’t covered. If this round of medical school applications comes back with no acceptance Adam is planning to take the MCAT again in March once he has finished taking all of his pre-requisite classes. After that time in March we will know where to find the MCAT scores and I will not look until Adam has checked! Live and learn…right?
Keep your head up high and your words filled with love!
~Your friend Colleen Howard
Congrat!!!!