4.0 GPA/496 MCAT/Please help me make DO school list.

[Dr.Docta]

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Hello everyone, I've been dreading to post this because I just got my MCAT scores back today.
On the practice test I was scoring between 502-506. I open up my results and bam 496.
So I"m trying to think of all my options at the moment, and I was hoping you guys could help.
Here are my stats and EC:

Live in Florida
Puerto Rican (bilingual)
Female 22 yrs old
Science and cumulative GPA: 4.0
MCAT: 496 123/123/124/126

Experiences:
Shadowing
General surgery: ~100 hrs
Anesthesiology: ~ 50 hrs
Plastic Surgery: ~65 hrs

Research
1 year working on a research project that was presented at a symposium (poster and 1st author)

Clinical volunteering
hospice: ~125

Non-clinical volunteering
Youth soccer coach: ~150 hrs
florida special olympics: ~187 hrs

Jobs:
Tutoring Biology 1 and 2: 1 year
Resident Assistant: 2 years (huge leadership role on my campus)

Hobbies:
Played for my school's women's soccer team (full-ride) Division 2

Please let me know what schools I should apply to (DO/MD) or if it would be a complete waste because of my MCAT.
Thank you!!

 

[ElCucuy]

I'll be the first of everybody else that is gonna advise you to retake the MCAT. I see that your are an URM. Honestly, 505ish will put state side MD and all the DO schools in reach. Your MCAT is also not imbalanced...there is room to improve in every section which is overall a good thing!

 

[DelayedGratification]

I would apply to all MD schools in Puerto Rico and DO.
I would also retake MCAT

 

[Dr.Docta]

I'll be the first of everybody else that is gonna advise you to retake the MCAT. I see that your are an URM. Honestly, 505ish will put state side MD and all the DO schools in reach. Your MCAT is also not imbalanced...there is room to improve in every section which is overall a good thing!

Thank you! I definitely think I should retake it as well, but I really wanted to see if I have a slight chance even without taking it. I just recently started a full time job so now I'm trying to avoid retaking the MCAT even though I know I shouldn't ):
But again thank you for your advice!!

 

[Dr.Docta]

I would apply to all MD schools in Puerto Rico and DO.
I would also retake MCAT

Do you think with the MCAT I have now, I would have a chance to get into the PR schools? And what DO schools should I be applying to?
I'm still battling whether or not I should retake the MCAT, just because of a new job. But if it's my only option, I will do it.

 

[ElCucuy]

Thank you! I definitely think I should retake it as well, but I really wanted to see if I have a slight chance even without taking it. I just recently started a full time job so now I'm trying to avoid retaking the MCAT even though I know I shouldn't ):
But again thank you for your advice!!

No problem. I have seen people with similar stats to yours apply and they sometimes get 1 or 2 II usually late in the cycle, but it always comes back to the fact that adcoms want to see you prove that you can handle MCAT. With 3/4 sub-scores below the 50% percentile of all test takers, it'd be hard to get past that. I went from the same score of 496 to low 500s in my second attempt without much more content review, but simply 5x the practice questions than the first time. Familiarity with how the test is written is enough to most likely get you where you need. Good luck!

 

[Dr.Docta]

No problem. I have seen people with similar stats to yours apply and they sometimes get 1 or 2 II usually late in the cycle, but it always comes back to the fact that adcoms want to see you prove that you can handle MCAT. With 3/4 sub-scores below the 50% percentile of all test takers, it'd be hard to get past that. I went from the same score of 496 to low 500s in my second attempt without much more content review, but simply 5x the practice questions than the first time. Familiarity with how the test is written is enough to most likely get you where you need. Good luck!

Darn, yeah I guess my best bet would be to retake. I just don't want to sit through that damn test again haha. Thank you for your help and advice it was much needed since i'm over here freaking out!

 

[darknecrosforte]

You will want to focus on a retake because getting accepted without addressing your weakness with standardized exams will be much harder after 2nd year (and with med school loans). It is better to risk a retake and delay a year than to get accepted and have to deal with the same problem for Step 1. You'll probably do better on a retake if you mostly work on CARS.

Focusing on CARS-related skills like eliminating unlikely answers due to wording, passage reading, and answer prioritization should be able to raise all of your scores since doing poorly on multiple sections makes knowledge deficits less likely. If you tried to cram chem or bio content without dealing with the universal problems, your improvement may not be as much due to your limited time to study.

Try to identify other specific problems you may have such as tendencies to switch from correct answers to incorrect ones on a quick pass after each block (especially if you suffer from anxiety) or if fatigue affects your performance dramatically. You may also consistently get baited by the second-best answer due to careless reading or missing key words. Many of these issues are addressed in the Exam Krackers Reasoning skills book (~$30 new, ~$20 used).

 

[fldoctorgirl]

You should retake. With a 4.0, you have so much greater potential than ending up at some new DO school that was just opened 2 years ago. Bust your butt, and if you score 505+ you have a shot at most any DO school you'd like and probably some of the state MDs too-- Florida schools love PRs and other people from Hispanic nationalities!

 

[Dr.Docta]

You will want to focus on a retake because getting accepted without addressing your weakness with standardized exams will be much harder after 2nd year (and with med school loans). It is better to risk a retake and delay a year than to get accepted and have to deal with the same problem for Step 1. You'll probably do better on a retake if you mostly work on CARS.

Focusing on CARS-related skills like eliminating unlikely answers due to wording, passage reading, and answer prioritization should be able to raise all of your scores since doing poorly on multiple sections makes knowledge deficits less likely. If you tried to cram chem or bio content without dealing with the universal problems, your improvement may not be as much due to your limited time to study.

Try to identify other specific problems you may have such as tendencies to switch from correct answers to incorrect ones on a quick pass after each block (especially if you suffer from anxiety) or if fatigue affects your performance dramatically. You may also consistently get baited by the second-best answer due to careless reading or missing key words. Many of these issues are addressed in the Exam Krackers Reasoning skills book (~$30 new, ~$20 used).

Thank you so much, after much thought and everyone's advice, I have decided to take it again in August 🙂
Cars was rough for me, but like everyone is saying there is always room for improvement! Thanks !!

 

[Dr.Docta]

You should retake. With a 4.0, you have so much greater potential than ending up at some new DO school that was just opened 2 years ago. Bust your butt, and if you score 505+ you have a shot at most any DO school you'd like and probably some of the state MDs too-- Florida schools love PRs and other people from Hispanic nationalities!

Thank you so much for this! I'm going to retake it this August! I'm selling myself short if I apply with this MCAT score, I can definetly improve, so that's what i'll do! 🙂

 

[Deecee2DO]

In my opinion, given you are URM and have a 4.0 sGPA and cGPA youd have a shot at a ton of DO programs if you get your MCAT even just above a 500. Get a 505+ and you'd probably be an MD candidate. If you can get a 4.0 gpa in the sciences you can do better than a 496 lets be honest. You have a lot of potential just make a study schedule that fits around your work and retake it. If thousands of other people can do it every year you definitely can you've shown hard work in the rest of your application your only weak point is the MCAT

 

[Dr.Docta]

In my opinion, given you are URM and have a 4.0 sGPA and cGPA youd have a shot at a ton of DO programs if you get your MCAT even just above a 500. Get a 505+ and you'd probably be an MD candidate. If you can get a 4.0 gpa in the sciences you can do better than a 496 lets be honest. You have a lot of potential just make a study schedule that fits around your work and retake it. If thousands of other people can do it every year you definitely can you've shown hard work in the rest of your application your only weak point is the MCAT

You are right. I'm grateful for all of your messages! It's really giving me the motivation crush this test. Nerves got to me on test day, but if i practice more then focus on content then I can definitely raise my score 🙂 Thank you!

 

[Isoval]

I agree with most of the above. Shoot for 505+ and that'll allow you to apply to a wide range of DO and some MD. You can definitely do better than what you have now.

I'm not sure I'd be in the group telling you to apply to PR schools. Although an acceptance is relatively likely, I think this is one of the circumstances where US DO > US MD for a couple of reasons. Do a search to find out why, but they've historically been mediocre-at-best when compared to any MD or DO mainland program.

 

[naway]

Be careful not to overestimate the boost that being URM will give you. I'm PR as well with almost the same GPA (less than 0.05 lower than yours) and a much higher (but still not super remarkable) MCAT. I was waitlisted everywhere on my first cycle. Granted, I am not a great interviewer, but many people on here would have looked at my stats and told me I was a sho-in at most MD schools and definitely my state school. I've had a better cycle this time around, but my only MD acceptance was still from the waitlist, and I still haven't gotten into my state school.

If you can get a 4.0 GPA, you are capable of doing much better on the MCAT. Some people say that GPA doesn't say much about your abilities or potential because the difficulty level at every school is so different, but getting all A's at any school indicates, at a minimum, a strong ability to adapt to a wide range of teaching and testing styles since there isn't really such a thing as a school where all of the professors teach in exactly the same way and exactly on the same level.

Very glad to see you're planning on a retake. I know the thought of having to spend months preparing for that beast of an exam all over again seems dreadful, but you're making the right decision. Best of luck!

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

Thank you so much for this! I'm going to retake it this August! I'm selling myself short if I apply with this MCAT score, I can definetly improve, so that's what i'll do! 🙂

Have you done Khan Academy CARS? Its great and its free! They resemble AAMC the most with apply out of text questions, main point, and author point of view, applying to the text, etc. At least in my opinion. This has helped my CARS score a lot. Also I heard the TPR hyper learning verbal workbook is good too. Might try that for more practice.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Thank you so much for this! I'm going to retake it this August! I'm selling myself short if I apply with this MCAT score, I can definetly improve, so that's what i'll do! 🙂

Your best bet is to use as much of the AAMC material as you can, it closest resembles the actual thing. I would get through all of the material they offer, no question (AAMC Section banks, practice tests, Q packs etc). They cost money but they are worth every penny. EK is great for foundational concepts if you need to understand the basics. Kaplan's practice tests are hard af so if you are scoring lower on those don't be alarmed. When you are taking your practice exams closer to test day you must try and mimic test day as accurately as possible (you wont be able to have coffee sitting by you in the exam so don't drink coffee or have anything to eat during your practice test, only use the bathroom breaks as you would on test day-be honest with yourself). The more you practice like it is test day the less test anxiety you will get on the actual thing and the better you will do.