3.94 GPA // 33P MCAT // Small public university

[CodeRedDew]

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Hello all,

I attend a small public university on the eastern coast of the United States. I have a 33P MCAT with a 3.94 GPA and I was wondering what would my chances be of landing a medical school spot? I would love to go to school at University of Miami or NYU. Those are my top two choices.

However, the breakdown of my MCAT kind of bothers me (14PS, 12BS, 7VR). What do you guys think I should do?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

It's too bad about your verbal score, I think there are schools that will not consider a 7 verbal. 🙁 Maybe Catakystik can come in and speak more about how your score breakdown will affect your chances. It's strange that your verbal was so low--since you got a 14 and a 12 you clearly don't have a problem with reading comprehension.

 

[unrealplayer]

I think your score is fine. VR is arguably the most important section of the MCAT because it tests your critical thinking immensely. However, 14 and 12 are great scores and your strong GPA reflects your work ethic and capabilities. If you're EC and clinical exposure are strong and you apply early, you have a good shot at landing some interviews.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

What are your ECs? If they are baller, you should be ok. If they are nonexistent you won't get in anywhere.

 

[flodhi1]

With that high of a GPA and Sciences score on the MCAT I think your VR score will be overlooked by some medical schools. As the previous poster stated if you have strong ECs you should be good. By the way according to some researchers the BS and then the PS correlate the most with USMLE step exams. You should read the following article:-

Impact of preadmission variables on USMLE step 1 and step 2 performance
James Kleshinski, Sadik A. Khuder, Joseph I. Shapiro and Jeffrey P. Gold
Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2009, Volume 14, Number 1, Pages 69-78

 

[Catalystik]

Hello all,

I attend a small public university on the eastern coast of the United States. I have a 33P MCAT with a 3.94 GPA and I was wondering what would my chances be of landing a medical school spot? I would love to go to school at University of Miami or NYU. Those are my top two choices.

However, the breakdown of my MCAT kind of bothers me (14PS, 12BS, 7VR). What do you guys think I should do?

Miami, which seems a better fit for your stats, considers VS to be very important, yet they do not state an automatic cutoff: http://admissions.med.miami.edu/questions/mcat-questions

NYU's website isn't even that specific. Why don't you call both and ask about this.

Overall, I agree that the VS of 7 is likely to have a negative impact on your chances, but if you don't feel you can improve on that, there are med schools that don't consider subscores, like EVMS, or that emphasize the composite score more, like Oakland. Why not seek out more like that? Also include UIllinois and Rosalind Franklin which accept a decent number of OOSers and have a lower bottom tenth percentile for VS per the MSAR.

 

[Dartmouth1230]

I had a very similar GPA and MCAT score (albeit, a much more balanced MCAT score), and I'll be going to NYU in August. A 3.94/balanced 33 is good enough to get you an interview at NYU, but your low verbal score will definitely hurt you. I believe that NYU has pretty stringent cut-offs (3.6 GPA, 30 MCAT (their bottom 10th percentile is 30 or 31)). I don't have the MSAR on me, but I think their bottom 10th percentile for Verbal is a 9. If you really have your heart set on NYU, then I would retake the MCAT. Good luck!

 

[vayntraubinator]

UMiami's VR for the bottom 10% is an 8. I think you have the best shot there. They highly emphasize clinical experience and the "why Miami". It's still going to be a long shot because of that VR anywhere you apply. You may need to prepare for a re-take unfortunately