if you don't mind me asking, what's your stats likelike? did you apply broadly? the reason for non-acceptance was primarily because of mcat score? that verbal score is awesome!
good luck! i just took mine on june 5th.
I applied to 13 MD programs and no DO's. I was on the waitlist at the University of Utah up until last Tuesday. My GPA wasn't very good but I was banking on my EC's getting me through (which, with all modesty, I feel are pretty darn stellar. Apparently Utah agreed enough to keep me around on the wait list til last week.) I applied with a 3.42 overall GPA and a 3.3 Science GPA. Yep, low GPA, due to me putting my collegiate energies into the aforementioned EC's.
This year following a solid final year of college (4.0 both semesters!) I'm applying with a calculated AMCAS cumulative GPA of 3.51 and science GPA of 3.46.
I attribute no acceptance to a low GPA and a rather meh MCAT score that didn't pull the academic side of things up for me. I also attribute it to late applying as AMCAS was really really backed up last year; I submitted July 13, and it was processed September 6... Yea. AMCAS said they would let all the medical schools know about the back log of applications but according to several conversations that I had with other students who didn't get in this year, this didn't seem to have much effect on most schools in their selection process. Secondaries from the schools didn't arrive until the second and third weeks of September. Given my low GPA I needed to apply earlier on.
Welcome! Question - do you think applying late-ish had anything to do with you not getting in. Though there's nothing I can do about it now, I was always a little worried that getting back my scores on August 15th would be a little late.
Another question - how did you prepare last time, how long did you prepare, what was the trajectory of your practice tests (did your scores go up throughout preparation or not really), and finally did your real MCAT score match the average of your practice tests? Thanks!
Concerning getting your scores back in mid August: you can still get your transcripts and application in early (which is what I'm doing)- this will be helpful because the application verification process can take several weeks. When you get your scores back you can add more schools to your AMCAS list of schools with relative ease.
In retrospect, I didn't put anywhere near as much time into MCAT prep as I should have. My original plan was to finish school in April and then take the MCAT in May. I did zero MCAT prep during the spring semester so I bumped my date to July 2. I decided to take the first block of summer semester as well because my academic curriculum dictated the need for this. Therefore, I had May and June for summer classes, the primary application, and some MCAT time. My study materials were mostly just AAMC practice tests and a few Khan academy videos. Moral of the story, I did not devote the appropriate time to the MCAT which is reflected in my score.
This time around I'll probably borrow a buddy's Kaplan books and look for some practice tests. And I have a bit more time this time around to prepare!
I took all of the AAMC practice tests available, and I mixed the order of when I took them so that I took them in this order:
AAMC 3- 25 (8, 8, 9)
AAMC 8- 23 (7, 8, 8) (I was pretty discouraged after this test!)
AAMC 4- 27 (8, 9, 10)
AAMC 5- 29 (10, 9, 10)
AAMC 9- 28 (8, 10, 10)
AAMC 11- 29 (8,10,11)
AAMC 10- 32 (9, 10, 13)
AAMC 7- 33 (11, 11, 11)
My mean avg. was a 28.25 (PS 8.6, VR 9.4, BS 10.3) and the median avg. was a 28.5. Actual was a 29 (PS 9, VR 11, BS 9).
I felt like AAMC practice test 11 was the most accurate compared to the real thing, ESPECIALLY the Bio section, it felt very similar for me. I absolutely choked on the BS section on the real test, hence the 9 I scored. I hope that this information helps a bit!
Even though you aren't at your target yet, your consistency shows you don't have gapping holes in your content which is certainly a good thing. I hear you on the slow thing so at this point, I'm not much help with tips.
