Chances of getting in?

[JS2525]

Alright, so I am wondering what my chances will be to get into an allopathic school. I have a 4.0 cumulative gpa, paid research at my school with a publication (PI is our med school chair-so solid letter of rec.), and have worked as an ER tech in a big city for 3+ years and lots of extra-curricular activities. My only problem is that I'm worried about the MCAT. I just can't seem to crack it. I have been scoring in the 26-28 range on practice tests which I know is well below a competitive score. Do I have much of a shot at an allopathic school if I score in that range?

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[allantois]

Absolutely. Generally the lower you GPA is the higher MCAT you need and vice versa. If you get 28 on MCAT that is competitive with your GPA and ECs. What's your MCAT breakdown btw and how've you been studying for it?

 

[JS2525]

Thanks for the reply! My most recent was 9ps,7vr,11bs.. I definitely can raise my ps score, but have been struggling with the VR (slower reader).. First, I am worried about the spread as my VR is much lower.. and it's a lower score in general I think.. you have any suggestions?

 

[tmn]

https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/app...mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html

 

[tmn]

Those are your chances. /thread

 

[JS2525]

tmn, are there any specifics that I should pay attention to at particular schools, i.e. how strictly do they enforce MCAT cutoffs? Would the other credentials help to buffer my mcat at all, or no?

 

[tmn]

tmn, are there any specifics that I should pay attention to at particular schools, i.e. how strictly do they enforce MCAT cutoffs? Would the other credentials help to buffer my mcat at all, or no?

I don't know specific mcat cutoffs for specific schools. Better ECs will help mitigate deficiencies in other areas of your app. Still, the two most important criteria are mcat and gpa.

 

[Aerus]

Alright, so I am wondering what my chances will be to get into an allopathic school. I have a 4.0 cumulative gpa, paid research at my school with a publication (PI is our med school chair-so solid letter of rec.), and have worked as an ER tech in a big city for 3+ years and lots of extra-curricular activities. My only problem is that I'm worried about the MCAT. I just can't seem to crack it. I have been scoring in the 26-28 range on practice tests which I know is well below a competitive score. Do I have much of a shot at an allopathic school if I score in that range?

When are you planning on applying?

 

[elprezidente]

Sometimes it simply comes down to your technique. Try out a few different ways of approaching the verbal. I'm not sure how you work through it now, but try skimming the questions before reading the passage, try highlighting key points as you go through, and try anything you can think of; maybe it's your current approach that is slowing you down or causing you to make mistakes. Personally, the best thing that I ever learned was to use key words (therefore, since, because, for example, etc.) to identify what might be important information versus what can be skipped over. If you know how to approach passages and get good at it with practice, you don't always need to read the entire passage, but can sort of skim through it and identify important sentences that answer questions as you go along.

 

[JS2525]

Primary app is done and I take them MCAT on july 12 so I will have everything in mid-August. Hope to start in 2015.

 

[JS2525]

Sometimes it simply comes down to your technique. Try out a few different ways of approaching the verbal. I'm not sure how you work through it now, but try skimming the questions before reading the passage, try highlighting key points as you go through, and try anything you can think of; maybe it's your current approach that is slowing you down or causing you to make mistakes. Personally, the best thing that I ever learned was to use key words (therefore, since, because, for example, etc.) to identify what might be important information versus what can be skipped over. If you know how to approach passages and get good at it with practice, you don't always need to read the entire passage, but can sort of skim through it and identify important sentences that answer questions as you go along.

Yeah, I hope to just continue to practice with EK VR.. What were your credentials, if you don't mind sharing?