Just got my MCAT score, kind of sad. Please tell me what my chances are.

[TTJ111]

I see that you list work experience in the field... can you be more specific?
Clinical experience is huge and it seems like something you may be missing. Just something to think about if you don't get in this time around. With research under your belt, real-world experience is MUCH more important IMO during a gap year than more research. I think you have a good shot this year though. Best of luck

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[Irish Football]

I see that you list work experience in the field... can you be more specific?
Clinical experience is huge and it seems like something you may be missing. Just something to think about if you don't get in this time around. With research under your belt, real-world experience is MUCH more important IMO during a gap year than more research. I think you have a good shot this year though. Best of luck

I've volunteered at hospitals for over 200hrs, shadowed various surgeons and doctors, and worked in industry for four summers. I also have research (non-clinical) experience. Does my volunteering and shadowing count for clinical experience?

I am also currently involved in medical clinical research during my gap year right now, and I will be sending out some update letters to schools soon.

 

[Irish Football]

Dude I got a 37Q first try 4.0c&s with one interview so far. I feel for you but I'm ****ting my pants haha

Sent from my SCH-I500 using SDN Mobile

Whoa...that's crazy you only have one II so far, but with your stats I am sure you will get more. In some weird way you've made me feel better. Hopefully, we will get some II's soon!

 

[Redpancreas]

Hey guys I would appreciate some words of encouragement right now, I'm really bummed about my MCAT score. Here is my info:

Indiana resident (with significant ties to Illinois), non-URM

MCAT- PS:11 VR: 8 BS: 10 Total: 29 O
GPA: cGPA: 3.57 sGPA: 3.47 (with an EXTREME upward trend, see below)

-200 hrs volunteering at 2 different hospitals over the span of 2 years.
-Shadowing experience
-Independent Research at school as well as a summer REU program at a good university.
-Biology Lab TA
-Work Experience in Industry
-Musician, member of school bands, recreational bands and instructor.
-Member of school's chemistry club
-Other good ECs
-Doing research at a med school next year

My committee letter will contain plenty of good LORs and I believe I have a good PS.

I am just upset because I know that with my GPA being a little bit lower than I would like it, that I needed a higher MCAT score and I screwed up the VR section! I had been getting 11s on all my practice tests on verbal!

At this point I just want to get into ANY ALLOPATHIC MED SCHOOL! The schools I was considering applying to include,

-Indiana (IS)
-Rush, Illinois, Loyola, RFU
-Case Western
-Michigan
-Georgetown
-BU, Tufts
-SUNY-downstate, Hofstra, Einstein

I had more reach schools (NW, U of C) but now I think they aren't possible anymore. I'm really down right now. Should I retake my MCAT?

Here is my science GPA upward trend:
First two years:
Gen Chem I, II----- B+, B
Calc I, II, III-------- C, C+, B-
Orgo I, II------------ B, B
Orgo Lab------------ B+, A
Linear Algebra----- A-

Last Two Years:
Bio I, II, Labs------ A, A, A, A
Biochem, Lab------ A, A
Analytical Chem--- A
Physics I,II Labs------ A, A, A, A
Physical Chem I,II--- A-, A-

Well, here's my opinion.

A GPA is a GPA. I think upward trends are considered but I think an applicant would be better off with a 3.6 an a downward trend (not a huge one though) rather than having an upward trend with a 3.5. Basically what the upward trend does it prove you are a legitimate student with potential but it won't move you past those with high GPAs. That's why it's important to do well on the MCAT. Now, I know, you think you did horrible. Admittedly, an 8 in Verbal is not what Adcoms like to see but on the bright side, it's usually the 7's I hear that warrant a retake and if you are getting a 29 (so close to a 30) I think you still have a good shot at many MD schools. Now with a superficial glance at your schools I have a few suggestions. I'm a Michigan Resident and I noticed the only Mich. school you have is my dream (far-reach) school (University of Michigan). This school LOVES the high MCAT and the high GPA. It's a top tier medical school. Usually it's a 34-35 average as well as a 3.8 that gets a good applicant accepted. (By the way, you're extracurriculars may not look amazing on SDN but they're pretty stellar). The important thing there is you have to tie them into a common theme or story rather than just listing them but I get it, on SDN it saves time. So anyways, you might want to consider the other 4 M.D schools in the state with slightly lower standards. Then again, I'm not saying UM is a no-no because med schools look for different kinds of students and you might be what they're looking for in a certain area. I just recommend you consider Oakland University, MSU CHM, WSUSOM, and Central in addition to Michigan(and I think you said you only wanted MD but there's MSUCOM, a premiere DO school to consider too).

As for the MCAT, I would not retake if I were you but if you were deadset on it I'd recommend you start preparing ASAP (you've already been off of it for a month). If you used TPR, buy TBR, etc. etc...look at SN2'ed's thing pretty much...I will probably be in the same boat as you in 2-3 days. Then, I would recommend like February/March as a test date giving you about 4 months variant of SN2's plan. JUST MAKE SURE YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS THOUGH. This could be risky though because you could do even worse and many school's consider the recent scores. As you saw with verbal, you are prone to surprisingly lower performances than usual so I'd definitely take that into your consideration.


Overall, in conclusion, I don't think you need to retake the MCAT even though you verbal is a bit disappointing. As for your GPA adcoms will see your GPA spike but it won't qualify your GPA or give you an edge. I think you will still get into some MD school so don't worry. Apply broadly and early. Also, shape your ECs into a story if you haven't already done so.

Hope that helped!

 

[Redpancreas]

Well, here's my opinion.

A GPA is a GPA. I think upward trends are considered but I think an applicant would be better off with a 3.6 an a downward trend (not a huge one though) rather than having an upward trend with a 3.5. Basically what the upward trend does it prove you are a legitimate student with potential but it won't move you past those with high GPAs. That's why it's important to do well on the MCAT. Now, I know, you think you did horrible. Admittedly, an 8 in Verbal is not what Adcoms like to see but on the bright side, it's usually the 7's I hear that warrant a retake and if you are getting a 29 (so close to a 30) I think you still have a good shot at many MD schools. Now with a superficial glance at your schools I have a few suggestions. I'm a Michigan Resident and I noticed the only Mich. school you have is my dream (far-reach) school (University of Michigan). This school LOVES the high MCAT and the high GPA. It's a top tier medical school. Usually it's a 34-35 average as well as a 3.8 that gets a good applicant accepted. (By the way, you're extracurriculars may not look amazing on SDN but they're pretty stellar). The important thing there is you have to tie them into a common theme or story rather than just listing them but I get it, on SDN it saves time. So anyways, you might want to consider the other 4 M.D schools in the state with slightly lower standards. Then again, I'm not saying UM is a no-no because med schools look for different kinds of students and you might be what they're looking for in a certain area. I just recommend you consider Oakland University, MSU CHM, WSUSOM, and Central in addition to Michigan(and I think you said you only wanted MD but there's MSUCOM, a premiere DO school to consider too).

As for the MCAT, I would not retake if I were you but if you were deadset on it I'd recommend you start preparing ASAP (you've already been off of it for a month). If you used TPR, buy TBR, etc. etc...look at SN2'ed's thing pretty much...I will probably be in the same boat as you in 2-3 days. Then, I would recommend like February/March as a test date giving you about 4 months variant of SN2's plan. JUST MAKE SURE YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS THOUGH. This could be risky though because you could do even worse and many school's consider the recent scores. As you saw with verbal, you are prone to surprisingly lower performances than usual so I'd definitely take that into your consideration.


Overall, in conclusion, I don't think you need to retake the MCAT even though you verbal is a bit disappointing. As for your GPA adcoms will see your GPA spike but it won't qualify your GPA or give you an edge. I think you will still get into some MD school so don't worry. Apply broadly and early. Also, shape your ECs into a story if you haven't already done so.

Hope that helped!

Oh and of course that volunteering at the hospital counts as clinical! You're fine in that regard! I don't know about the research but it's good that it's research. Shadowing shows that you explored the field so in terms of ECs you're golden so long as you tie it into a story.

 

[Redpancreas]

Hey guys I would appreciate some words of encouragement right now, I'm really bummed about my MCAT score. Here is my info:

Indiana resident (with significant ties to Illinois), non-URM

MCAT- PS:11 VR: 8 BS: 10 Total: 29 O
GPA: cGPA: 3.57 sGPA: 3.47 (with an EXTREME upward trend, see below)

-200 hrs volunteering at 2 different hospitals over the span of 2 years.
-Shadowing experience
-Independent Research at school as well as a summer REU program at a good university.
-Biology Lab TA
-Work Experience in Industry
-Musician, member of school bands, recreational bands and instructor.
-Member of school's chemistry club
-Other good ECs
-Doing research at a med school next year

My committee letter will contain plenty of good LORs and I believe I have a good PS.

I am just upset because I know that with my GPA being a little bit lower than I would like it, that I needed a higher MCAT score and I screwed up the VR section! I had been getting 11s on all my practice tests on verbal!

At this point I just want to get into ANY ALLOPATHIC MED SCHOOL! The schools I was considering applying to include,

-Indiana (IS)
-Rush, Illinois, Loyola, RFU
-Case Western
-Michigan
-Georgetown
-BU, Tufts
-SUNY-downstate, Hofstra, Einstein

I had more reach schools (NW, U of C) but now I think they aren't possible anymore. I'm really down right now. Should I retake my MCAT?

Here is my science GPA upward trend:
First two years:
Gen Chem I, II----- B+, B
Calc I, II, III-------- C, C+, B-
Orgo I, II------------ B, B
Orgo Lab------------ B+, A
Linear Algebra----- A-

Last Two Years:
Bio I, II, Labs------ A, A, A, A
Biochem, Lab------ A, A
Analytical Chem--- A
Physics I,II Labs------ A, A, A, A
Physical Chem I,II--- A-, A-

WOAH,

sorry didn't see your 35L. It changes the ballgame. Definitely apply broadly and make sure your ECs are strong but ya, you're definitely competitive for the upper tier schools out there! Sorry for the 3 posts and good luck!

 

[Irish Football]

WOAH,

sorry didn't see your 35L. It changes the ballgame. Definitely apply broadly and make sure your ECs are strong but ya, you're definitely competitive for the upper tier schools out there! Sorry for the 3 posts and good luck!

haha, no problem, I appreciate the input!

EDIT: Everyone is telling me, "oh yeah, now you're competitive with your 35," but as of now I've only gotten one II, and that makes me very nervous. I know, I know, I have to keep waiting, it's early, blah blah, but I just can't help it, I'M STILL NERVOUS LIKE CRAZY RIGHT NOW!

 

[waterpolo480586]

While people say that the writing score is virtually meaningless, I know that at least a few schools will really take a hard look at students who get and M or below on the writing section, really analyzing their PS and looking fo indications that the student can write and communicate effectively. If you had a LOR from an writing prof who can say that you are a decent writer that may help your app tremendously.

 

[Irish Football]

While people say that the writing score is virtually meaningless, I know that at least a few schools will really take a hard look at students who get and M or below on the writing section, really analyzing their PS and looking fo indications that the student can write and communicate effectively. If you had a LOR from an writing prof who can say that you are a decent writer that may help your app tremendously.

I basically didn't try on the writing section because I heard, as you said, that med schools don't care about it. So I spent about 5 minutes of the time writing each essay and used the remaining time for a break to prepare myself for the BS section.

Since I got an "O" on my first MCAT, shouldn't the schools see that I can obviously put a sentence together? I also did well in all of my English classes in college and I believe that my PS and secondary essays are well-written. I really don't see why a school might think that I have a writing problem, and instead, I think that any school that probes deeper will realize that my MCAT writing section was some type of fluke, which it was.

My pre-health adviser told me straight up that my "L" will not matter AT ALL, and that medical schools do not care one bit. That's why they're removing the writing section soon right?

I'm hoping that my above reasoning is correct, and isn't just "wishful thinking."

I appreciate the input though.

 

[tarheel1408]

I basically didn't try on the writing section because I heard, as you said, that med schools don't care about it. So I spent about 5 minutes of the time writing each essay and used the remaining time for a break to prepare myself for the BS section.

Since I got an "O" on my first MCAT, shouldn't the schools see that I can obviously put a sentence together? I also did well in all of my English classes in college and I believe that my PS and secondary essays are well-written. I really don't see why a school might think that I have a writing problem, and instead, I think that any school that probes deeper will realize that my MCAT writing section was some type of fluke, which it was.

My pre-health adviser told me straight up that my "L" will not matter AT ALL, and that medical schools do not care one bit. That's why they're removing the writing section soon right?

I'm hoping that my above reasoning is correct, and isn't just "wishful thinking."

I appreciate the input though.

Nobody cares about the writing section score.

You have a 35 MCAT - you're going to medical school. Stop worrying.

 

[Irish Football]

Nobody cares about the writing section score.

You have a 35 MCAT - you're going to medical school. Stop worrying.

Thanks. And I don't think I'll stop worrying until I get that first acceptance.

 

[Irish Football]

Just found out I got ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Accepted to Indiana U! Omg. omg!
I thought I'd post in this thread just to put an end to my "story" here. I have come along way from feeling all depressed in my original post on this thread.

All I can say is that it is an amazing feeling, four years of stress and worrying has been lifted off of my shoulders. Thank you IU, I love you! I am grateful to everyone who has helped me along this amazing journey, including all of you on SDN who have provided me with encouragement and advice, especially when I was feeling down here on this thread. I don't want to sound too mushy, but I am very emotional right now. There were so many nights I spent lying in bed doubting whether I would get into medical school, and now it's all over. Wow.

Still can't believe it. Still in shock. I'm going to be a doctor!

 

[airfilder992]

Just wanted to update everyone. I retook my MCAT in July and today I received my score,

PS: 14
VR: 10
BS: 11
Total: 35L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who convinced me to retake the MCAT! This is the happiest day of my life! You think my chances are better now?

how did you do it what course did you take and books did you use if you dont mind me asking = D

 

[ribbondino]

Just found out I got ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Accepted to Indiana U! Omg. omg!
I thought I'd post in this thread just to put an end to my "story" here. I have come along way from feeling all depressed in my original post on this thread.

All I can say is that it is an amazing feeling, four years of stress and worrying has been lifted off of my shoulders. Thank you IU, I love you! I am grateful to everyone who has helped me along this amazing journey, including all of you on SDN who have provided me with encouragement and advice, especially when I was feeling down here on this thread. I don't want to sound too mushy, but I am very emotional right now. There were so many nights I spent lying in bed doubting whether I would get into medical school, and now it's all over. Wow.

Still can't believe it. Still in shock. I'm going to be a doctor!

CONGRAAAAAAAAAAATS!!! I will be applying to Indiana as well. I bet you feel on top of the world right now

Oh yeah, and what DID you use to study for the 35L???
Again, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be sure to let everyone know if you get accepted anywhere else also!

 

[Moosepig]

Congratulations!

 

[aspiringdoc09]

I've seen your posts here and there. Congrats dude! Your avatar is perfect for your situation.

 

[Eiot]

Yo that's a beastly upward trend. Respek.

 

[angemon89]

Congrats!

 

[lobo.solo]

Congratulations dude, you deserve this!!!!

 

[cheechootrain]

Congrats! I knew you could do it!

 

[Irish Football]

Thanks guys!!

For those who were wondering what I used to improve my MCAT score, I used EK101 and TBR for verbal, doing seven passages (equivalent to one full-length) every day for a month. I think I got the 14 in PS because I majored in chemistry and physics is also a strong topic for me, I was actually dissappointed in my 11 in PS the first time, I think the 11 was really the fluke. I used EK for all of the science stuff (PS & BS), and other than that I don't really have any other advice.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Thanks guys!!

For those who were wondering what I used to improve my MCAT score, I used EK101 and TBR for verbal, doing seven passages (equivalent to one full-length) every day for a month. I think I got the 14 in PS because I majored in chemistry and physics is also a strong topic for me, I was actually dissappointed in my 11 in PS the first time, I think the 11 was really the fluke. I used EK for all of the science stuff (PS & BS), and other than that I don't really have any other advice.

I have a question. During your interview, did people share any stats, and did you get a feel for what IU is looking for in In state applications numberswise vs out of state? Is it one of those really lenient state schools where a 28+ and 3.5+ can get your foot in the door or is it tougher. Obviously your Mcat helped you a ton, but what about people in the 3.4ish science/c to 28 ish range?

Basically, what would be the bare minimum for In state student and for out of state to have a realistic shot at being accepted to IU?

 

[Irish Football]

I have a question. During your interview, did people share any stats, and did you get a feel for what IU is looking for in In state applications numberswise vs out of state? Is it one of those really lenient state schools where a 28+ and 3.5+ can get your foot in the door or is it tougher. Obviously your Mcat helped you a ton, but what about people in the 3.4ish science/c to 28 ish range?

Basically, what would be the bare minimum for In state student and for out of state to have a realistic shot at being accepted to IU?

I can't give you answer to what the "bare minimum" for IS applicants. sorry. I didn't get any information from my interview day, but from everything I've heard about IU, a 28 can definitely get you "in the door" if you're in-state. Look at their minimum MCAT for ISers, 26. That said, I imagine that someone with a lower MCAT would need a higher GPA, and vice versa.

According to the MSAR (which doesn't distinguish between IS and OOS for gpa/mcat data), the 10thpercentile numbers for IU were 3.31 sGPA and 3.44 cGPA, along with 27 MCAT. So that's probably the best guess as to what "the minimum numbers" are for IU.

IU also interviews A LOT of ISers, so I imagine 28+ and 3.5+ would get you an interview, just not necessarily an acceptance. At my interview I was surprised by how many people I met who were rejected from IU last year and who were re-applying this year. So IU definitely rejects plenty of IS applicants as well.

Hope this helps, I'm not sure if I answered your question or not.

Are you applying next year? This year? What are your stats?

 

[MusicalMed]

Man, you are an inspiration. Keep up the great work!

 

[Irish Football]

Man, you are an inspiration. Keep up the great work!

Thanks!

 

[Dires]

Congrats Irish! But... I miss your neurotic posts already. Couldn't you just wait for the rest of us to get into medical school?

 

[Irish Football]

Congrats Irish! But... I miss your neurotic posts already. Couldn't you just wait for the rest of us to get into medical school?

Oh believe me, there is PLENTY more neuroticism to come. After a few days of the shock of my acceptance wearing off, I noticed that I've started to stress again about why I've only gotten ONE interview. I want more, haha. I think it's just my personality.

(seriously though, I am extremely appreciative and grateful for my acceptance. That said, it would be nice to have a few more too.)

 

[Irish Football]

It has now been over 3 months since I got my 35, and I have still yet to receive a single interview since I received that score. Scratching my head...

EDIT: I was already complete at most schools when I got the 35, they were just waiting for the new score to come in.

 

[red doctober]

Just throwing out possibilities, not a knock on you or anything:

Slightly lower GPA
35 is awesome, but slightly unbalanced
Cookie-cutter ECs
Possible red flag in PS/secondaries
Lackluster PS
Cautious LOR
Not a good fit for schools applied to
Adcoms swamped with tons of highly qualified apps

You have an acceptance already, many people would kill for that right now.

 

[Irish Football]

Just throwing out possibilities, not a knock on you or anything:

Slightly lower GPA
35 is awesome, but slightly unbalanced
Cookie-cutter ECs
Possible red flag in PS/secondaries
Lackluster PS
Cautious LOR
Not a good fit for schools applied to
Adcoms swamped with tons of highly qualified apps

You have an acceptance already, many people would kill for that right now.

I appreciate the response. Just to address some of what you mentioned,
Slightly lower GPA --- I understand this completely. My GPA is still within range of a bunch of schools I applied to though, and if you look earlier in the thread, I have a significant upward trend. I didn't think it would hinder me to this degree, that's all.
35 is awesome, but slightly unbalanced --- It's hard to "balance" a 14 in PS lol.
Cookie-cutter ECs --- I agree to some extent (I have some unique activities that I haven't explained in detail here). But still, many applicants with cookie cutter ECS get more than 1 II, right?
Possible red flag in PS/secondaries --- not that I know of (although I know I'm biased )
Lackluster PS --- Possible I guess
Cautious LOR --- I haven't seen my LORs, but my pre-health adviser sent a committee packet and said my LORs are all good.
Not a good fit for schools applied to --- This may be the case. I hope not, but it's starting to look that way.
Adcoms swamped with tons of highly qualified apps --- Let's go with that, haha.

I don't want to make it seem like I'm delusional and can't find fault with anything in my application, but I am genuinely surprised with the lack of interest from schools so far.

I appreciate your help though, any other suggested reasons as to why I'm not getting any love from any school other than my state school?

 

[1289]

i'd say you just applied to a small number of schools, and ones that either: a) are reach schools for you (don't mean to offend you by that, nearly every school i applied to was "reach" haha) or b) interview very few people, and are looking for something very specific ie Rush - less than 200 interviews out of 8000 OOSers. i'd be surprised if you didn't end up getting an interview from MCW, or RFU though.

 

[Irish Football]

i'd say you just applied to a small number of schools, and ones that either: a) are reach schools for you (don't mean to offend you by that, nearly every school i applied to was "reach" haha) or b) interview very few people, and are looking for something very specific ie Rush - less than 200 interviews out of 8000 OOSers. i'd be surprised if you didn't end up getting an interview from MCW, or RFU though.

Yeah, that makes sense. See, with me, location is significant. It may seem like I am unhappy with my acceptance at Indiana, but at the end of the day I would love at least one acceptance in IL, IN, and NY, to choose from. I have significant reasons for wanting to live in each of these places. So I'm not one of these applicants looking for 10+ acceptances, I just want that one IL school and possibly a NY school as well to choose from. This is also why I didn't apply to more schools. I have really placed all my eggs in the IL/NY basket.

ANY news from Loyola, Rush, N'Western, or RFU would be amazing!!!

 

[1289]

Yeah, that makes sense. See, with me, location is significant. It may seem like I am unhappy with my acceptance at Indiana, but at the end of the day I would love at least one acceptance in IL, IN, and NY, to choose from. I have significant reasons for wanting to live in each of these places. So I'm not one of these applicants looking for 10+ acceptances, I just want that one IL school and possibly a NY school as well to choose from. This is also why I didn't apply to more schools. I have really placed all my eggs in the IL/NY basket.

ANY news from Loyola, Rush, N'Western, or RFU would be amazing!!!

definitely understand this. Good luck! I hope you end up hearing from more

 

[Gauss44]

MCAT- PS:11 VR: 8 BS: 10 Total: 29 O
...I screwed up the VR section! I had been getting 11s on all my practice tests on verbal!

We might have had the exact same test. I was also averaging 10's and 11's in verbal reasoning, took the real MCAT in September, and somehow got an 8.

Practice tests predicted all of my other scores accurately, within a point.

 

[premed159]

We might have had the exact same test. I was also averaging 10's and 11's in verbal reasoning, took the real MCAT in September, and somehow got an 8.

Practice tests predicted all of my other scores accurately, within a point.

It was the opposite for me. I was getting 8-9 on Kaplan and AAMC practice tests. Then I got an 11 on the real MCAT in September.

EDIT: In verbal, that is.

 

[Irish Football]

It has now been over 3 months since I got my 35, and I have still yet to receive a single interview since I received that score. Scratching my head...

EDIT: I was already complete at most schools when I got the 35, they were just waiting for the new score to come in.

Now been 4 months since my 35, and still no interviews since I got that score.

 

[roboflytrap]

Props on your grade in P-chem. I'm in it right now. :/ Almost done though!

 

[AnthonyBourdain]

Hey Irish


What are your non-clinical community service ECs? Rush really seemed like a great place for a bleeding heart to thrive and they seemed to look for people that fit that mold.

 

[Irish Football]

Hey Irish,
I've interviewed at some of the schools you are aiming for.
I've noticed that most of the people I've interviewed with have had a lot of non-medical community service. I think volunteering in something that you enjoy but you think won't necessarily look good on a med school app actually is a positive and something unique schools look for. They are looking for a bleeding heart and to create an environment where students can be idealistic without being ridiculed for it by cynics.


What are your non-clinical community service? Rush really seemed like a great place for a bleeding heart to thrive and they seemed to look for people that fit that mold.

Hey, yeah I do have non-clinical community service on my application. I listed two of these such experiences in my AMCAS. I don't know if they would qualify me as someone with a "bleeding heart" or not, but that component of my application is definitely there.

 

[AnthonyBourdain]

I don't know then.

Good luck man, hope they get back to you.

 

[Irish Football]

Props on your grade in P-chem. I'm in it right now. :/ Almost done though!

Thanks. It is definitely a tough class. Good luck!

It's actually kind of funny, my pre-med adviser said that my science GPA won't be treated as having an upward trend by medical schools because even though my sGPA freshman-senior year was 2.7-3.3-4.0, my senior sGPA was 3.87 because I took physics and pchem and I got A-'s in P-chem! As if having an A- in P-chem is a source of "concern" for med schools! Crazy, right?

 

[Irish Football]

Time for my monthly check-in.

It has now been over 5 months since I got my 35 on my MCAT and I have not gotten a SINGLE interview invite since then (I got the II from Indiana after my 29 but before my 35 was available).

I know the 29 is still on my record and that my GPA is slightly lowish, but still, with every month that goes by I am shocked that I haven't heard anything else. I am thrilled to have gotten an acceptance, but just thinking back to how excited I was when I got my 35 and how I saw so many schools' names flashing before my eyes, I'm beginning to think that it was all just a wishful dream and that me getting the 35 really made no difference since the rest of my application must be unsalvageable. I'm not talking about my one state school who was interested in me even before my 35, I'm talking about all the other schools. It's as if that score, which I know is very very good, didn't even matter.

Rant over, thanks for listening.

 

[brianphu53]

.

 

[Irish Football]

Hey Irish,

Did you apply with the 29 and then updated your new 35 mcat score? Do you just update via amcas?

I applied initially very early with my 29 and then updated AMCAS in July as soon as I decided to take it again. I then verified with all schools that they received my 35 score. So bottom line yes they should have both scores.

 

[brianphu53]

.

 

[SOMBound13]

Time for my monthly check-in.

It has now been over 5 months since I got my 35 on my MCAT and I have not gotten a SINGLE interview invite since then (I got the II from Indiana after my 29 but before my 35 was available).

I know the 29 is still on my record and that my GPA is slightly lowish, but still, with every month that goes by I am shocked that I haven't heard anything else. I am thrilled to have gotten an acceptance, but just thinking back to how excited I was when I got my 35 and how I saw so many schools' names flashing before my eyes, I'm beginning to think that it was all just a wishful dream and that me getting the 35 really made no difference since the rest of my application must be unsalvageable. I'm not talking about my one state school who was interested in me even before my 35, I'm talking about all the other schools. It's as if that score, which I know is very very good, didn't even matter.

Rant over, thanks for listening.

I've been following your journey. I was so impressed by the increase of your MCAT score that I kicked myself for not doing the same.

While you may think retesting made no difference, it may have made a diference in your acceptance. With only the 29, Indiana probably wouldn't have accepted you so early (or at all). So, while you may feel that your new 35 hasn't done you any good, it may be the reason that you've been able to relax a bit since you received that acceptance.

And, who knows, that 35 might get you a merit award from Indiana.

I'm guessing that your GPA is still the issue. While you may still be within the GPA range for your schools, you may not be within the range for a white male without some hook.

 

[TwinsFan]

One thought to consider is that while the 35 looks great maybe more schools than we think average the scores. They do the same with our other academic metric, gpa, so why just take our best or most recent MCAT without considering every time we sat for the exam?

 

[saveourpens]

As far as I know only Jefferson averages MCAT scores. Rudy, it's probably rare for someone to get one interview and one acceptance. I'd assume most people with 1 invite are wait listed or rejected for the same reason that they're not getting other invites. I know I'd be ecstatic with your acceptance right now.

 

[HelpingHandz]

I think it might be pertinent to post on this thread; I've received a considerable merit scholarship to an OOS school having a 29 MCAT score (unbalanced too- not proud of it). All is not lost with sub 30 scores.

 

[Irish Football]

Appreciate the responses guys. I am definitely grateful and happy about my acceptance.

It's just with the way things have turned out so far for me, I would tell future applicants that if someone gets a lower MCAT score the first time, then even an amazing retake won't help to the point of giving them plenty of new opportunities to get into more and better schools, rather it might help to barely get them in somewhere, most likely an average school. This has been my experience. Apparently I was way too ecstatic to receive my score of 35. That 29 is still on my record and combined with a lower GPA (despite a SIGNIFICANT upward trend) it is still being held against me. It's really a shame.