What are my chances? Low MCAT score

[BlackRose88]

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[Eccesignum]

It is very very late to be submitting a primary, as it'll take a month or so just to get verified. Your secondaries wouldn't be going in until November (I hope you intend to apply to more than just your state school). Questionable judgement even if your MCAT were higher.

Plus you also say your clinical experience is lacking, which I would be afraid would slam the door.

My personal advice would be to plan to apply next year. Slow down and figure out what went wrong on your MCAT, address it. Put some time into more clinical experience and anything else you feel might be lacking. A stronger application with that high GPA would put you in an excellent position for many schools if you submitted nice and early next year.

Disclaimer: Opinion of a fellow pre-med.

Edit: @Goro might have helpful input about whether it's worth going for DO with this, given their cycle is a bit longer.

 

[gyngyn]

If you are African American, apply to the HBCU's and your public state schools.

 

[BlackRose88]

Thank you! Yes I do plan to apply to more. If I end up waiting another year I will definitely be applying to DO schools as well.

I am Hispanic @gyngyn

 

[gyngyn]

I am Hispanic @gyngyn

Which Hispanic community?
Language skills?
Community service?

 

[BlackRose88]

I am Mexican-American, speak three languages, and my volunteer work has been primarily in hospice and serving as a teacher for my church, I've shadowed a few doctors, and have other non clinical volunteer work. Like I said, I worked most of my college years and I guess I kept putting volunteer work aside in order to have more time to study and once I became pregnant it became increasingly difficult to do more of it. I'm currently working in a community clinic but my job isn't clinical; my work involves helping low income families and those who are uninsured get medical care through our sliding scale discounts. I plan to shadow some of our doctors and possibly start volunteering at my local hospital!

Is it really a bad thing to be a reapplicant? @gyngyn My adviser recommended that I go ahead and submit my application and I feel like I'd be ok with reapplying if it comes down to that, as well as retaking the MCAT.

 

[gyngyn]

I am Mexican-American, speak three languages, and my volunteer work has been primarily in hospice and serving as a teacher for my church, I've shadowed a few doctors, and have other non clinical volunteer work. Like I said, I worked most of my college years and I guess I kept putting volunteer work aside in order to have more time to study and once I became pregnant it became increasingly difficult to do more of it. I'm currently working in a community clinic but my job isn't clinical; my work involves helping low income families and those who are uninsured get medical care through our sliding scale discounts. I plan to shadow some of our doctors and possibly start volunteering at my local hospital!

Is it really a bad thing to be a reapplicant? @gyngyn My adviser recommended that I go ahead and submit my application and I feel like I'd be ok with reapplying if it comes down to that, as well as retaking the MCAT.

Every so often I see someone get in with a 24 MCAT in your circumstances, but I also see a lot of failed applications at this MCAT score. Your best chance is always a strong first application. You would have an excellent chance at a scholarship (at least in CA) with 508 or 509. It's a shame to become a re-applicant if you think there is any chance at all that you might be able to get these scores with more or better studying...

 

[GreenDuck12]

It sounds like you had a lot on your plate when you were preparing for the MCAT the first go around. My question for you is, if you were to redo the prep and retake the test, do you think you would earn a higher score? If yes, why not hold off until the next cycle? While you may be able to submit your application before the deadline, admissions decisions are rolling which means while your instate school may accept 70% of applicants, only a very small percentage may be open at this point.

If I were in your shoes, I would go back and retake the MCAT to try and earn a higher score to: 1. give myself the best shot at getting admitted to medical school, 2. give myself the best shot at earning scholarship money, 3. get into the best school possible.

Hello everyone,
I just received my mcat score and it was not good, it got a 499 This was my first try and I think my biggest problem was that I did not practice enough. I begin to study for it in mid May; I was studying 4-5 hours a day that way I could get through all the material and start working on some practice tests but then at the end of June I got a full time job and this really took a toll on the time I had left to study for the mcat, mainly because I also have a one year old around that keeps me busy.
I graduated this May with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a French minor. My cGPA is a 3.8+ and I am an URM. I spent the majority of my college years working either part-time or full-time, so I do not have a lot of clinical experience.
I also realize that it is really late to submit an application but since my test was scheduled in September I did not have the option of applying early. But now I'm afraid to submit my application with such a low score... what would some of you recommend? Should I wait another year and retake the exam or should I take a chance an submit my app now? My instate med school has a really high acceptance for instate students (~70%) but of course that means little with a poor application. Any feedback would be deeply appreciated!!

 

[BlackRose88]

It sounds like you had a lot on your plate when you were preparing for the MCAT the first go around. My question for you is, if you were to redo the prep and retake the test, do you think you would earn a higher score? If yes, why not hold off until the next cycle? While you may be able to submit your application before the deadline, admissions decisions are rolling which means while your instate school may accept 70% of applicants, only a very small percentage may be open at this point.

If I were in your shoes, I would go back and retake the MCAT to try and earn a higher score to: 1. give myself the best shot at getting admitted to medical school, 2. give myself the best shot at earning scholarship money, 3. get into the best school possible.

Thank you! Yes I do think I would do much better; my biggest problem was that I had practically no practice :/ I took one practice exam and did a few other passages here and there but that's about it. I just ran out of time!!

I really appreciate everyone's feedback I'm going to take a leap and submit and if don't get any acceptances I'm ok with reapplying and retaking the mcat, as well as adding on to my clinical experience. I would also consider DO schools

 

[Goro]

Apply broadly to DO schools.

Thank you! Yes I do think I would do much better; my biggest problem was that I had practically no practice :/ I took one practice exam and did a few other passages here and there but that's about it. I just ran out of time!!

I really appreciate everyone's feedback I'm going to take a leap and submit and if don't get any acceptances I'm ok with reapplying and retaking the mcat, as well as adding on to my clinical experience. I would also consider DO schools

 

[GrapesofRath]

If you didn't practice enough by your own admission retake and wait until next cycle. You could perhaps squeeze a DO acceptance this cycle or luck out with an MD acceptance; or you could wait a year and properly study with fair odds that you can definitely do better. Even a 506 or so on the retake and we are likely having a far different discussion about your chances. And like gyngyn talked about its not just about an acceptance, it's also about a scholarship for you. One way to look at this is it could potentially be a move that saves you well over 100k(emphasis on potentially).

From your tone and what you are saying it sounds like you don't mind waiting until next cycle so in that case I think you'll help yourself considerably waiting a year.