Re-applicant chances? 3.9 GPA, 26 MCAT

[PsychoPass987]

Hello all.

I am a graduate from a college in Massachusetts. I previously applied last year for fall 2014 admission, but I did not receive any interviews probably because I sent the primaries in late August, had a low MCAT score, and did not apply broadly enough. Therefore, I am planning on applying this cycle for fall 2015 admission. I was wondering what would be my chances for MD given my stats and activities. (List of schools are below.)

I haven't submitted my primary application yet, but will do so around July 20.

cGPA: 3.89 sGPA: 3.91 (ORM Massachusetts Resident from a Massachusetts College)

MCAT: (PS: 10/V: 7/BS: 9) = 26
(will be re-taking the MCAT July 24th, expecting at least 32-33 based on my AAMC FL averages)

ECs:

4 years in chess club (was chess club president for 1 year)
1 semester of chemistry research (~60 hours)
2 years of biochemistry research (1000+ hours, no publications, a few posters and presentations, culminated with an honors thesis)
1 summer of biology research as part of an REU program (~400-500 hours, a poster and presentation)
TA for 1 semester in a biochemistry course (~75 hours)

Clinical Experience
~150 hours volunteering (combination of work in the ER and patient escort from 2 different hospitals)
~20 hours shadowing in the ER

I will also have 3 strong LORs from my biochemistry research professor, a biochemistry laboratory professor, and the professor whom I did my TA for.



List of Schools I will be Applying:
I will be considered a first time applicant in some of these schools (marked by an asterisk).

Tufts
Boston University
University of Massachusetts
Quinnipiac
Brown
Albany
Albert Einstein*
NY Medical College
University of Rochester
University of Vermont*
Drexel
Penn State*
Temple*
Indiana*
Dartmouth*

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[el_duderino]

With that MCAT, chances are virtually zero unless you're a URM. Weak ECs. Apply broadly to DO as well.

 

[zzxxzz]

Rochester, Einstein, Tufts, Boston, Dartmouth with a 26? Don't bother unless you actually get a 33+ on your retake.

 

[Dentalogist]

urm will help

 

[gyngyn]

I don't see any MD schools where your chances of an interview rise to fair. This would be a good time to shadow a DO and focus on AACOMAS.

 

[PremedToronto]

Hello all.

I am a graduate from a college in Massachusetts. I previously applied last year for fall 2014 admission, but I did not receive any interviews probably because I sent the primaries in late August, had a low MCAT score, and did not apply broadly enough. Therefore, I am planning on applying this cycle for fall 2015 admission. I was wondering what would be my chances for MD given my stats and activities. (List of schools are below.)

I haven't submitted my primary application yet, but will do so around July 20.

cGPA: 3.89 sGPA: 3.91 (ORM Massachusetts Resident from a Massachusetts College)

MCAT: (PS: 10/V: 7/BS: 9) = 26
(will be re-taking the MCAT July 24th, expecting at least 32-33 based on my AAMC FL averages)

ECs:

4 years in chess club (was chess club president for 1 year)
1 semester of chemistry research (~60 hours)
2 years of biochemistry research (1000+ hours, no publications, a few posters and presentations, culminated with an honors thesis)
1 summer of biology research as part of an REU program (~400-500 hours, a poster and presentation)
TA for 1 semester in a biochemistry course (~75 hours)

Clinical Experience
~150 hours volunteering (combination of work in the ER and patient escort from 2 different hospitals)
~20 hours shadowing in the ER

I will also have 3 strong LORs from my biochemistry research professor, a biochemistry laboratory professor, and the professor whom I did my TA for.



List of Schools I will be Applying:
I will be considered a first time applicant in some of these schools (marked by an asterisk).

Tufts
Boston University
University of Massachusetts
Quinnipiac
Brown
Albany
Albert Einstein*
NY Medical College
University of Rochester
University of Vermont*
Drexel
Penn State*
Temple*
Indiana*
Dartmouth*

I guess I might be in your boat. I will be applying with a 4.0 from Canada and my first MCAT last year was 27 (9PS-8VR-10BS). I retook the MCAT in June this year and got a 32 (11PS-8VR-13BS). The 8 has me extremely frustrated to the point where I don't know if I should retake or not. I hope the retake for you goes much more smoothly.

 

[PsychoPass987]

I don't see any MD schools where your chances of an interview rise to fair. This would be a good time to shadow a DO and focus on AACOMAS.

The main concern for me has been the MCAT, which I will be taking again 2 weeks from now. Assuming that I get a 33+ on the MCAT, would my chances at landing MD interviews be good?

 

[PsychoPass987]

I guess I might be in your boat. I will be applying with a 4.0 from Canada and my first MCAT last year was 27 (9PS-8VR-10BS). I retook the MCAT in June this year and got a 32 (11PS-8VR-13BS). The 8 has me extremely frustrated to the point where I don't know if I should retake or not. I hope the retake for you goes much more smoothly.

Thanks. I think part of the reason why I got a lower score last year was because I did not allocate enough time to actually prepping for the exam. This time, I spent almost 2 months to consistently prepare for the exam, so I feel confident that I can score higher. Of course, I'm also a little nervous because verbal has also been my Achilles' heel, but hopefully, it won't be too bad.

 

[Faha]

If your new MCAT score is over 30 you should receive some interviews. You already know from last year that you will receive no interviews with a MCAT of 26 so your opportunities for interviews entirely hinges on your new MCAT score. Since you do not know if you will actually score above 30 you need a backup plan and that would be to apply to at least 10 DO schools, where you would be competitive with a MCAT of 26 because of your high GPA. Your school list is good but Indiana accepts few OOS residents. You could add a few more schools such as Jefferson, Oakland Beaumont, Western Michigan, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, St. Louis, George Washington, and Georgetown where a MCAT in the low 30's with your GPA would you would have a chance for an interview.

 

[candbgirl]

OP why did you wait so long to retake the MCAT? You won't be verified this year until late August and by the time your secondaries are done it will be well into September. What have you done to improve your app from last year? I really think you should focus on DO now and when you get your new MCAT back if it has risen by + 5 or 6 points you can look at MD schools. Don't put all your hopes on huge gain in MCAT scores and ignore the very real opportunity DO schools offer.

 

[Catalystik]

Before wasting application dollars on those reachier schools, even if you score a 36 on your retake, I suggest you check to be sure those schools aren't going to average your two scores for their interview determinations. As a well-know adcomm on these forums has said, "the MCAT, like herpes, is forever. We will always be able to see your scores."

Also, you might consider beefing up your sparse shadowing hours and looking into nonmedical community service (which would particularly appeal to schools like Loyola and Georgetown) to strengthen your ECs.

 

[PsychoPass987]

OP why did you wait so long to retake the MCAT? You won't be verified this year until late August and by the time your secondaries are done it will be well into September. What have you done to improve your app from last year? I really think you should focus on DO now and when you get your new MCAT back if it has risen by + 5 or 6 points you can look at MD schools. Don't put all your hopes on huge gain in MCAT scores and ignore the very real opportunity DO schools offer.

I realized from last year that I did not put nearly as much time on MCAT prep as I would have liked, because I was also balancing a 40+ hour work week in research as part of the REU program. Furthermore, I was taking a full courseload to complete my major, a few minors, and culminating courses as part of the honors program of my college during senior year; therefore, I did not have sufficient time to do actual MCAT prep. So after graduation, I decided to dedicate at least 1.5-2 months of MCAT practice before taking it again to increase my chances of a 33+ on the exam. In the end, I figured that applying in July and having a better MCAT score would strengthen my application more than applying early on June. Not to mention, I also wanted to spend quality time to spruce up my personal statements and application.

 

[PsychoPass987]

Before wasting application dollars on those reachier schools, even if you score a 36 on your retake, I suggest you check to be sure those schools aren't going to average your two scores for their interview determinations. As a well-know adcomm on these forums has said, "the MCAT, like herpes, is forever. We will always be able to see your scores."

Also, you might consider beefing up your sparse shadowing hours and looking into nonmedical community service (which would particularly appeal to schools like Loyola and Georgetown) to strengthen your ECs.

Thanks for the info. I am well aware that most schools look at the most recent score for comparison rather than average, but will check to be sure. I am somewhat concerned that adcoms won't overlook the 26 even if my MCAT score is substantially higher (33+).

In the meantime, I am volunteering around the hospital, but will try to see if I can increase shadowing hours and such.

 

[ridethecliche]

Before wasting application dollars on those reachier schools, even if you score a 36 on your retake, I suggest you check to be sure those schools aren't going to average your two scores for their interview determinations. As a well-know adcomm on these forums has said, "the MCAT, like herpes, is forever. We will always be able to see your scores."

Also, you might consider beefing up your sparse shadowing hours and looking into nonmedical community service (which would particularly appeal to schools like Loyola and Georgetown) to strengthen your ECs.

Seriously? That's so bizarre. If an applicant improves by like 10 points on a retest, then that means that something went really wrong on the first test day or that they prepared MUCH better the second time around. Averaging those two numbers is silly. I can understand averaging a score that's 2-3 apart, but if it's a 3+ improvement, then that's a pretty significant difference.

But I guess that's why it's all a crapshoot anyway.

 

[gyngyn]

Seriously? That's so bizarre. If an applicant improves by like 10 points on a retest, then that means that something went really wrong on the first test day or that they prepared MUCH better the second time around. Averaging those two numbers is silly. I can understand averaging a score that's 2-3 apart, but if it's a 3+ improvement, then that's a pretty significant difference.

But I guess that's why it's all a crapshoot anyway.

This is actually what the AAMC recommends. Individual committee members are quite idiosyncratic in their interpretation, though.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

Seriously? That's so bizarre. If an applicant improves by like 10 points on a retest, then that means that something went really wrong on the first test day or that they prepared MUCH better the second time around. Averaging those two numbers is silly. I can understand averaging a score that's 2-3 apart, but if it's a 3+ improvement, then that's a pretty significant difference.

But I guess that's why it's all a crapshoot anyway.

Lets say the first score is a 25 and the second score is a 35. How is there any way to know which is indicative of true performance? Maybe they have a PhD in a subject that was exclusively tested on the 35, or maybe they were really sick on the first test day. Maybe they completely guessed and got lucky with the 35, and unlucky with the 25. There's just no way to know that without more information, thus averaging. There is also the question as to how wise it is to take likely the most important test of your life up to that point without adequate preparation. So, I wouldn't go so far as to say "silly." Harsh, maybe, but AdComs have the luxury of judging harshly.

 

[ridethecliche]

I guess it depends on how much time has passed between the two tests. If it were a few months and even a year (which is the case for me), I suppose that's very different than someone that waited 2+ years and then retook it.

Also, ahstern, if one thing was significantly tested on the exam then that's a fault of the AAMC. I'm pretty sure they don't favor one sub-topic heavily on the test for that exact reason. The fact that people don't know what a retake score 'means' so to speak is bizarre. Though, like gyngyn said it probably evens out since everyone (even at the same school) treats things differently.

Oh well. It is what it is. That's the crapshoot part, hah.

 

[Catalystik]

Averaging those two numbers is silly.

From this link you can access the research article on which the recommendation is based: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=11159086

 

[ridethecliche]

That's great. I'm not sure if the article does this, but from reading the abstract they didn't look at the difference that the spread of the retake took into account. I'd like to see that information. I'd honestly love to play with that data.

I'd reanalyze it as such:

-Throw out the data for students who score worse on a retake. This doesn't bode well and med schools tend to look down upon it anyway so lets ignore it for the analysis as it's probably a 'special case'.
-Look at the difference in improvement between the first test and the retakes.
-Compare the correlation between the average score and the 'better' score.

Reanalyze using pearson correlation to see how the new score as well as the 'improvement' correlate to USMLE scores. Perhaps a 2-way anova or such would be required to see the new high score in comparison with the amount of improvement, i.e. going from a 28 to a 34 or a 30 to a 34, are they the same thing with regards to USMLE performance?

Maybe it'll turn up nothing, but I've analyzed data for enough studies to know that different methods of analysis can show different things. Besides, we're more interested in the persons that improve right? Doing worse on a retake doesn't look good for admissions anyway.

I'll pull up the full article at work tomorrow if I get access. I'd like to play with this data anyway. I'm not sure if the AAMC releases deidentified datasets, but I'd be up to play with this one. It'd probably take me a day or two to run the analysis.

The original study assumes that going from a 28 to a 34 and a 30 to a 32 mean the same thing. I disagree.

TLDR: The cited study is overly simplistic.

 

[Goro]

100% agree. 26 is a non-starter for MD schools, and with DO schools, skip TUCOM-CA and -NY, and CCOM.

With that MCAT, chances are virtually zero unless you're a URM. Weak ECs. Apply broadly to DO as well.