Great GPA, hopefully above average application, not so good MCAT; what to do?

exi said:

To spare you the MDApps click:

3.93 overall
3.86 science
The usual honor societies
Lots of EC stuff / "unique" stuff, dating back many years
TMDSAS already submitted along with secondaries. Applying to all Texas MD programs, excluding Baylor and Paul Foster.

Problem:
January MCAT: 24S (9 PS / 9 VR / 6 BS)
May MCAT: 25R (7 PS / 9 VR / 9 BS)

I have had one person advise that I wait to see if I score any interviews before retaking the MCAT.

What would you do? I'm surprised that I landed a 25; I knew I did crappy in PS, but I thought for sure the other two sections would have been a bit better.

So, retake in July/August for sure, wait for interviews (invites should go out through mid-late July in Texas) and risk missing a timely third retake of the MCAT, try to score up some additional letters while I'm at it, what? If I notify schools of a pending MCAT retake, then my once-really early application (sent to schools 06/11 - first batch) no longer has that advantage, since they'll wait on pending scores, right?

(And no, I'm not applying to DO schools. Nothing against them, but it's not for me.)

Ugh. $.02 much appreciated.

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HiFi09 said:

Unless you believe you had a major factor (sickness, etc) play into your may 23rd take, I would advise against retaking as quickly as July/Aug. Sure your score might go up, but I would think it would need to go up quite a bit in order to give you a realistic shot at texas md schools.

Based on your scores/ good gpa...it seems to me that you have not mastered the content the mcat tests. I really believe you should be able to hit at least a 29 after content is mastered. You are obviously a good student, so I think there is A LOT of room for improvement with this score. However, given that you have already used one retake, I would suggest taking some time out to focus on nothing other than mcat (at least 6-8 weeks). Try and get the BR Physical science books (they're amazing books but expensive to get). Learn all the bio content cold. Get EK verbal 101 if you havent yet. At this point you need to completely re-evaluate your approach to this test. Really take your time and study your ass off. You will have to withdraw your app and ruin all of your plains, obviously something you did not plan on - it sucks and I'm sorry. But have some confidence and believe that you can beat this test because it is beatable- it just takes time. This is the best advice I think I can give. Good luck with watever you decide to do.

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pianola said:

Yeah, withdrawing is a rather drastic measure at this point.

I do agree you should somehow change your approach to the MCAT but it can most definitely be done in 1-2 months. I assure you. My jump from 32-36 took place over that period. You can definitely go from a 25-30 in that period. No question. Just don't spend much time on SDN is all...pretty much don't do ANYTHING that isn't MCAT. It worked for me...

Keep in mind: Some places will look at your composite scores (i.e. the highest in each section) so in that case, you'd have a 27 total, which people have most DEFINITELY gotten in with.

Also, the usual advice about apply broadly and you're obviously doing well with the "early" part.

Very very best to you, exi.

EDIT: Sometimes a better score on the MCAT comes with a price tag...just something to consider. Unfortunate, but sometimes true...

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pianola said:

Yeah, withdrawing is a rather drastic measure at this point.

I do agree you should somehow change your approach to the MCAT but it can most definitely be done in 1-2 months. I assure you. My jump from 32-36 took place over that period. You can definitely go from a 25-30 in that period. No question. Just don't spend much time on SDN is all...pretty much don't do ANYTHING that isn't MCAT. It worked for me...

Keep in mind: Some places will look at your composite scores (i.e. the highest in each section) so in that case, you'd have a 27 total, which people have most DEFINITELY gotten in with.

Also, the usual advice about apply broadly and you're obviously doing well with the "early" part.

Very very best to you, exi.

EDIT: Sometimes a better score on the MCAT comes with a price tag...just something to consider. Unfortunate, but sometimes true...

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rplyler1 said:

I think that Princetonreview.com has a section that talks about how each school views multiple MCATs. However like everything else on the Princeton Review site, that information might be outdated/ incorrect. From what I have read, not many schools look at composite scores anymore; most of them just look at your most recent score. I went from a 26 to a 34 - check out my mdapplicant profile. Good luck.

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abcabc1 said:

Your MCAT scores present a fairly serious problem. They may not say it, but schools strongly prefer the high MCAT/low GPA combination over high GPA/low MCAT. They may not say this either, but my guess is that it's b/c the MCAT (a standardized test) correlates better with the USMLE (another standardized test) than does undergraduate GPA. It's similar to why a low GPA/high USMLE medical student can still match into a good residency.

The 7-10-08 MCAT is probably full and would not be a good choice anyways. My advice is to apply as is and take the MCAT as soon as you can after August. You have a chance this year but, if it doesn't work out (which is very possible), you'll be a much stronger applicant next year with an improvement in MCAT scores. A rough goal would be 9 in VR and 10 in each of the Science sections.

There's no need to withdraw your applications. Just stick to the six TX schools you applied to and do not add any others for now (as your MCATs are not competitive). The worst that happens is you get rejected, no interview. If that's the case, hopefully you'll have a much stronger MCAT score next year and will not have spent that much time and money applying this year. Good luck!

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pianola said:

Anyway, I have nothing new to say except the usual. You can do it, exi!

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physic said:

I think that you need to spend a significant amount of time to study for the MCAT. With the large numbers of applicants that we are seeing, I don't see your MCATs as competitive (despite your GPA) enough to get an acceptance even with an interview.

My best advice is to take the exam in Spring 2009 after a long summer and fall studying and doing kaplan / princeton questions. You already have two poor MCAT scores and really need to give yourself the best possible chance at increasing your score. What is the hurry?

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