25 MCAT that bad?

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SurgicalDOorMD

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I know in the grand scheme of things it's terrible. But I scored 10s in both VR and BS subsections. I hate physics, so I did poorly on the PS section (5).

How is this unbalanced score look upon by adcoms? I already have an acceptance to a great DO school, since the rest of my app was pretty good. I'm just wondering why one subsection makes me a terrible applicant.

Any insight is appreciated.
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If anything, the section to do poorly on is verbal, since you can't really prepare for it (or so everyone says). I think adcoms give some leeway when it comes to unbalanced scores and the verbal section (as low as 7 would be my best guess). There's really no excuse for doing poorly on the science sections. "I hate physics" is not a legitimate reason for not adequately preparing for the PS section.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I know in the grand scheme of things it's terrible. But I scored 10s in both VR and BS subsections. I hate physics, so I did poorly on the PS section (5).

How is this unbalanced score look upon by adcoms? I already have an acceptance to a great DO school, since the rest of my app was pretty good. I'm just wondering why one subsection makes me a terrible applicant.

Any insight is appreciated.
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I'm sure you can do better at it if you force yourself to study the PS section materials, and why are you worried, you already got an acceptance to a DO school. That's awesome!
 
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Doctor Strange said:
"I hate physics" is not a legitimate reason for not adequately preparing for the PS section.
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OP, this is what stood out to me as well. What did you get in Physics and Chemistry grades-wise? Because there's no excuse from an adcom's perspective to get a 5 in the PS section, especially when they have thousands of applicants who have gotten 10+.
 
SyrianHero said:
I'm sure you can do better at it if you force yourself to study the PS section materials, and why are you worried, you already got an acceptance to a DO school. That's awesome!
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Not sure why OP is worried if he got accepted.
 
well the reason the 5 makes you look bad is because it is bad. it's well below average and suggests a deficiency in your knowledge or your ability to either learn material or prepare adequately for an exam.

but it's all moot at this point.
 
Why did you ask this question then lol?
 
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ur2l8 said:
Why did you ask this question then lol?
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Again, just curious. Maybe it will help someone in the future. Obviously my choices were limited with a 5 subscore. But I don't think it will affect my success in med school. It is just one section after all.

The whole numbers thing is baffling to me. I understand that those numbers are the only way adcoms can compare us, but it still sucks.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I know in the grand scheme of things it's terrible. But I scored 10s in both VR and BS subsections. I hate physics, so I did poorly on the PS section (5).

How is this unbalanced score look upon by adcoms? I already have an acceptance to a great DO school, since the rest of my app was pretty good. I'm just wondering why one subsection makes me a terrible applicant.

Any insight is appreciated.
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Too lazy to check out percentiles but it's more so what your percentile is at for that section and the overall MCAT than the score itself... eg. 5 on PS is what like 20th percentile? That is pretty bad any way you look at it. Like 80% of the people who took the test scored better than you. But congrats on your acceptance!

EDIT: ok I looked b/c I was curious. A 5 on PS is less than the 12th percentile for all test-takers this past year.
 
cinamin said:
Too lazy to check out percentiles but it's more so what your percentile is at for that section and the overall MCAT than the score itself... eg. 5 on PS is what like 20th percentile? That is pretty bad any way you look at it. Like 80% of the people who took the test scored better than you. But congrats on your acceptance!

EDIT: ok I looked b/c I was curious. A 5 on PS is less than the 12th percentile for all test-takers this past year.
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Wow. I hadn't thought to look at it, but that's terrible.

I guess my original thought was, since I scored decent on the other two sections, It may offset the low PS. Now I see that it doesn't matter since I have a subscore of less than, say, 7.

Oh well! Like I said, I never have to see it again!
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I know in the grand scheme of things it's terrible. But I scored 10s in both VR and BS subsections. I hate physics, so I did poorly on the PS section (5).

How is this unbalanced score look upon by adcoms? I already have an acceptance to a great DO school, since the rest of my app was pretty good. I'm just wondering why one subsection makes me a terrible applicant.

Any insight is appreciated.
Click to expand...

edit: My post was irrelevant because OP was accepted to a school, so I deleted it.

Why did you make this post? Yes, your score in Physics was real bad, but it doesn't take a genius to look at the percentiles...
 
In a week's time, this thread will be buried under pages of neuroticism and the idea that someone could feasibly get in with a 25 will have been a forum rumor.
 
OP - Yes, 5 is a VERY bad score for any subsection. But you got accepted, so apparently some part of your application stood out. Congratulations.:thumbup:



PS. Try to get rid of the "I hate physics" mindset. When you start at med school, you will have to do your best in every subject, regardless of how much you like it. You can't just say "I hate physiology." That will lead to a poor step1 score, which could haunt you for a lot longer than a bad MCAT score.
 
Spinach Dip said:
OP - Yes, 5 is a VERY bad score for any subsection. But you got accepted, so apparently some part of your application stood out. Congratulations.:thumbup:



PS. Try to get rid of the "I hate physics" mindset. When you start at med school, you will have to do your best in every subject, regardless of how much you like it. You can't just say "I hate physiology." That will lead to a poor step1 score, which could haunt you for a lot longer than a bad MCAT score.
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Let me clarify. The I hate physics attitude was in college. I've since gotten over that, and improved study skills. I have no reservations about my future.

And yes, I was accepted. It was at a DO school because MD schools like numbers. Thank god I got a chance somewhere.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
Let me clarify. The I hate physics attitude was in college. I've since gotten over that, and improved study skills. I have no reservations about my future.
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In that case, I wish you the best of luck. :thumbup:
 
25 pretty much sinks your application for MD schools.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
Let me clarify. The I hate physics attitude was in college. I've since gotten over that, and improved study skills. I have no reservations about my future.

And yes, I was accepted. It was at a DO school because MD schools like numbers. Thank god I got a chance somewhere.
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No, MD schools like the most qualified applicants. A 5 in PS makes you a less-than-most-qualified applicant.


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gettheleadout said:
No, MD schools like the most qualified applicants. A 5 in PS makes you a less-than-most-qualified applicant.


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That would infer that DO schools do not like the most qualified.

And I agree, at a MD school, I'm not most qualified because of that one subsection.

I did not start this thread for ANOTHER MD DO debate. The degrees are equal as far as I'm concerned.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
That would infer that DO schools do not like the most qualified.

And I agree, at a MD school, I'm not most qualified because of that one subsection.

I did not start this thread for ANOTHER MD DO debate. The degrees are equal as far as I'm concerned.
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I've said nothing about the degrees. The most qualified applicants apply to, are accepted at, and attend primarily MD schools. DO schools neither expect nor enroll the most qualified applicants.

Edit: And it wouldn't "infer" anything. A statement can imply something and you infer something from it.

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SurgicalDOorMD said:
Let me clarify. The I hate physics attitude was in college. I've since gotten over that, and improved study skills. I have no reservations about my future.

And yes, I was accepted. It was at a DO school because MD schools like numbers. Thank god I got a chance somewhere.
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Sounds like sour grapes
 
gettheleadout said:
I've said nothing about the degrees. The most qualified applicants apply to, are accepted at, and attend primarily MD schools. DO schools neither expect nor enroll the most qualified applicants.

Edit: And it wouldn't "infer" anything. A statement can imply something and you infer something from it.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile
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Sorry for the misuse of the word then.

While I think it's unfair to say DO schools don't enroll the most qualified applicants is insulting, I see your point and can't argue.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
Sorry for the misuse of the word then.

While I think it's unfair to say DO schools don't enroll the most qualified applicants is insulting, I see your point and can't argue.
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Unfair how? It's no more unfair or insulting than for you to boil the entire MD applicant evaluation process down to "MD schools like numbers" just because they didn't accept your 20th percentile PS score.
 
surgicaldoormd said:
not at all.
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ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357107213.802922.jpg
 
gettheleadout said:
Unfair how? It's no more unfair or insulting than for you to boil the entire MD applicant evaluation process down to "MD schools like numbers" just because they didn't accept your 20th percentile PS score.
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I say that simply because the director of admissions at my state MD school said, and I quote, "A 5 in PS will moat likely keep you out. you have a great application overall. You should apply DO since they are not such sticklers for the numbers." It's no secret MD schools like numbers. Don't know why you're so offended.

And I think someone said it was like 12th percentile. Lol.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I say that simply because the director of admissions at my state MD school said, and I quote, "A 5 in PS will moat likely keep you out. you have a great application overall. You should apply DO since they are not such sticklers for the numbers." It's no secret MD schools like numbers. Don't know why you're so offended.

And I think someone said it was like 12th percentile. Lol.
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Yeah, apparently it is 12th lol. My point is that MD schools get tons of applicants with equally as good or better "overall applications" as yours AND they have better MCAT scores. It's not that they're choosing someone who has a higher MCAT but nothing else better over you, it's that as a whole their accepted students have both higher MCAT's and applications that are strong "overall."

The idea that DO schools look "holistically" at an applicant and MD schools only want people with good stats and don't care about anything else is so wrong...
 
gettheleadout said:
Yeah, apparently it is 12th lol. My point is that MD schools get tons of applicants with equally as good or better "overall applications" as yours AND they have better MCAT scores. It's not that they're choosing someone who has a higher MCAT but nothing else better over you, it's that as a whole their accepted students have both higher MCAT's and applications that are strong "overall."

The idea that DO schools look "holistically" at an applicant and MD schools only want people with good stats and don't care about anything else is so wrong...
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Like I said, I get it. But I think that if my app was up against an app with ECs and experience that was less desirable than mine, but with a better MCAT, they would be better off. Half the posts on SDN wouldn't exist if numbers weren't so important to MD schools.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
Like I said, I get it. But I think that if my app was up against an app with ECs and experience that was less desirable than mine, but with a better MCAT, they would be better off. Half the posts on SDN wouldn't exist if numbers weren't so important to MD schools.
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Well honestly, numbers are more important anyway as they should be. The whole point of the MCAT is to predict success in med school, namely likelihood of passing the boards. I recall seeing a study that showed that above 27 it didn't really matter as everyone would pass, but if you can't pass the boards there's no point in investing several years of teaching and a spot in a limited size class in a given applicant.

Every school would rather have the candidate more likely to actually make it to practice than the one who accomplished more in undergrad outside of academics but hasn't demonstrated sufficient academic prowess.
 
gettheleadout said:
Well honestly, numbers are more important anyway as they should be. The whole point of the MCAT is to predict success in med school, namely likelihood of passing the boards. I recall seeing a study that showed that above 27 it didn't really matter as everyone would pass, but if you can't pass the boards there's no point in investing several years of teaching and a spot in a limited size class in a given applicant.

Every school would rather have the candidate more likely to actually make it to practice than the one who accomplished more in undergrad outside of academics but hasn't demonstrated sufficient academic prowess.
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I'm too tired to look up studies, so I'm not getting into that. I think, however, that there are so many more factors than an MCAT score that predicts success.

And that MCAT doesn't show my academic "prowess". It only showed that I don't know physics an gen chem enough to get a higher score. My academics, including my lead author publication, speak for themselves.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I'm too tired to look up studies, so I'm not getting into that. I think, however, that there are so many more factors than an MCAT score that predicts success.

And that MCAT doesn't show my academic "prowess". It only showed that I don't know physics an gen chem enough to get a higher score. My academics, including my lead author publication, speak for themselves.
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Aggregated, they aren't going to give a damn about your lead author publication with a 25 MCAT score, mate. Also, your mcat score also showed that you don't have much prowess for VR or BS either (10's aren't special).

Frankly, I'm SHOCKED that you got an acceptance to a DO school with a 5 in PS.

All that said, congrats just the same!
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I'm too tired to look up studies, so I'm not getting into that. I think, however, that there are so many more factors than an MCAT score that predicts success.

And that MCAT doesn't show my academic "prowess". It only showed that I don't know physics an gen chem enough to get a higher score. My academics, including my lead author publication, speak for themselves.
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If you can't understand basic chem and physics enough to get a halfway decent score then I think that says something about your academic prowess (or lack of it). Good job on being lucky enough to join a productive lab and being placed on a productive project though.
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I'm too tired to look up studies, so I'm not getting into that. I think, however, that there are so many more factors than an MCAT score that predicts success.

And that MCAT doesn't show my academic "prowess". It only showed that I don't know physics an gen chem enough to get a higher score. My academics, including my lead author publication, speak for themselves.
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What do you think speaks more to your ability to score well amongst a group of qualified peers on an exam that doubtless contains material you won't be interested in?
 
SurgicalDOorMD said:
I know in the grand scheme of things it's terrible. But I scored 10s in both VR and BS subsections. I hate physics, so I did poorly on the PS section (5).

How is this unbalanced score look upon by adcoms? I already have an acceptance to a great DO school, since the rest of my app was pretty good. I'm just wondering why one subsection makes me a terrible applicant.

Any insight is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Quit fussing...You already have one acceptance... I have over 100k in my banking account right now and if any school want that money to give me a spot, I' ll be happy to surrender it.
 
Temperature101 said:
Quit fussing...You already have one acceptance... I have over 100k in my banking account right now and if any school want that money to give me a spot, I' ll be happy to surrender it.
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Dear Temperature101,

We wish to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Blais School of Medicine! Please make a admissions deposit of 100k within two weeks to hold your seat.

Sincerely yours,

Blais
Dean of Admissions
 
Blais said:
Dear Temperature101,

We wish to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Blais School of Medicine! Please make a admissions deposit of 100k within two weeks to hold your seat.

Sincerely yours,

Blais
Dean of Admissions
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Lol
 
Blais said:
Dear Temperature101,

We wish to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Blais School of Medicine! Please make a admissions deposit of 100k within two weeks to hold your seat.

Sincerely yours,

Blais
Dean of Admissions
Click to expand...

+1..You got the sarcasm.
 
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