Low VERBAL compared to Science

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ernieraisin

ernieraisin

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First off, congrats to everyone who did well on the April MCAT. Looks like there are quite several of you out there.
Question, I understand that many med schools consider the verbal reasoning section to be the most important. I got the following scores: 8V, 11P, 11B, PW (30P). Do you think my low verbal will hurt my chances? I have a cum GPA of 3.55, a Ph.D. in pharmacology, lots of non-medical related volunteers, good LORs...
Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and good luck to all!
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11,11,7 (29Q) speaking here and I am completely dejected. This is honestly the worst possible score i could have gotten. I was consistently breaking 32-34 on the AAMC and some Kaplan exams. I seriously doubt i am going to retake the mcat. I just refuse to do so. Damn verbal. I just cannot see myself improving much more on the verbal because i know it is not the fact that i cannot read and comprehend well, it is just that i cannot get myself to truly focus and understand those passages. I am almost certain i was at least 1-2 questions away from cracking an 8 on it too. This was always my fate when i took the exams.
 
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I know...what kills me is the fact that I may have been 1 or 2 questions away from one more point. But then again, on the flip side, I may have been one question away from going down. I guess its all perspective, huh? Lots of luck to you!!!
 
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:scared:
ernieraisin said:
First off, congrats to everyone who did well on the April MCAT. Looks like there are quite several of you out there.
Question, I understand that many med schools consider the verbal reasoning section to be the most important. I got the following scores: 8V, 11P, 11B, PW (30P). Do you think my low verbal will hurt my chances? I have a cum GPA of 3.55, a Ph.D. in pharmacology, lots of non-medical related volunteers, good LORs...
Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and good luck to all!
Click to expand...

I'm in a similar situation, with 8V, 14P, 11B, 33Q, so I'm wondering about the same thing. Should I re-take just to try to raise my verbal score? Anyone know the answer to this: do med schools screen out people with 8 or below verbal scores?? :scared:
 
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I am also in a similar situation. 6VR, 13PS, 11BS --> 30M. My composite score is ok but my VR section sucks. Not sure what to do. My GPA is 3.85 though so this might help. Any thoughts will be helpful.
 
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I'm in a similiar situation
PS 12
VR: 8
BS: 13
WS:Q
33Q
 
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people have gotten in with as low as a 3 on verbal. Make sure your GPA from english classes are strong. They can figure out that something went wrong on the MCAT, and that you're not just "kinda slow."
 
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I've also heard that a when verbal is low, they can use WS as a flag simply to see if your communication skills are...well...existent. If your WS is decent it can possibly offset your VR(since you guys have good composite scores), but what do I know I'm just spreading rumors here :p
 
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I am in the same boat:
8V 11BS 12PS. I was getting all 10s on the AAMC verbals. What the hell? Anyway I have As in my english classes..I have As in my philosophy minor and get this...an R on the writting sample. I hate verbal mostly becuase it doesn't test anything. I understand the passages, but I always get stuck between two answer choices, and because of time limitations, I can't sit and debate all day, which means I probably always chose the "trap" answer. Philosophy make you over-analytical. I think I have good critical thinking skills, reading comprehension skills and communction skills based on the many other aspects of my academic career. I hope things of this nature help Adcoms look past a fluke 8 on the MCAT. I feel everyones pain.
 
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Seems like a lot of people had disappointing verbal scores. I was getting consistent 11s and 12s on practice tests (AAMC, EK), but ended up with a 9 on the real thing. My cumulative score is above 30 though, so I'm not going to bother to retake.
 
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I know one person get 6 and another one got 7 on verbal, and both of them got into a medical school. You guys can as well.
 
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Your stats are fine. You're right at the average for matriculants. You have an unique background because 1) you're a non-traditional applicant and 2) you have a PhD in Pharm. The 8 on verbal will hinder your application, but it will in no way eliminate you from medical school.

Apply early to a wide range of schools and , take advantage of your background. You'll be ok.




ernieraisin said:
First off, congrats to everyone who did well on the April MCAT. Looks like there are quite several of you out there.
Question, I understand that many med schools consider the verbal reasoning section to be the most important. I got the following scores: 8V, 11P, 11B, PW (30P). Do you think my low verbal will hurt my chances? I have a cum GPA of 3.55, a Ph.D. in pharmacology, lots of non-medical related volunteers, good LORs...
Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and good luck to all!
Click to expand...
 
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Yeah, I was curious what my 9 in verbal would say with a 15 in PS and a 13 in BS. I ended up getting a 37P so I'm not saying that I'm afraid that I wont get in, just that I think this distribution of points is probably the worst combo for a 37 score. ( don't be sticklers and say "no a 15 7 15 would be worse") You know what I mean. The reason I post is to see if anyone has any hearsay on whether it is bad to have this spread or not?
 
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OwnageMobile said:
Yeah, I was curious what my 9 in verbal would say with a 15 in PS and a 13 in BS. I ended up getting a 37P so I'm not saying that I'm afraid that I wont get in, just that I think this distribution of points is probably the worst combo for a 37 score. ( don't be sticklers and say "no a 15 7 15 would be worse") You know what I mean. The reason I post is to see if anyone has any hearsay on whether it is bad to have this spread or not?
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you may not be able to get into Harvard.... ;) ;)
 
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lealf-ye said:
you may not be able to get into Harvard.... ;) ;)
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;) Exactly.

9 is by no means a horrible score and the fact that you made a 37 gives you no right to complain...
 
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safeflower said:
;) Exactly.

9 is by no means a horrible score and the fact that you made a 37 gives you no right to complain...
Click to expand...

You see, this is exactly the post I was trying to avoid. Im not complaining. Just looking for information as we all do on this forum. :mad:
 
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