MD 501, but GPA 3.95

[nathan_4]

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[gyngyn]

I can think of three schools where you can get an interview now and depending on your state there may be more.

 

[nathan_4]

I can think of three schools where you can get an interview now and depending on your state there may be more.

What schools and what makes you think that?

 

[gyngyn]

What schools and what makes you think that?

The HBCU's. I see the results of applications every year.

 

[efle]

The common wisdom is "don't retake a highly competitive score, and don't retake a borderline score unless you have a good reason to expect marked improvement"

You dropped 12 points from your scored practice to actual, I'd say a retake is justified. Getting a 513 moves you from HBCU worth a shot, to top 20s worth a shot

 

[nathan_4]

The HBCU's. I see the results of applications every year.

I'm from CT, and I don't know of many HBCU's in state. However that's an interesting point. Still worried my score might a bit too unbalanced however.

The common wisdom is "don't retake a highly competitive score, and don't retake a borderline score unless you have a good reason to expect marked improvement"

You dropped 12 points from your scored practice to actual, I'd say a retake is justified. Getting a 513 moves you from HBCU worth a shot, to top 20s worth a shot

Good point, I hope I can do better. What would you say would be a reasonable MCAT score based on my other merits?

 

[efle]

Good point, I hope I can do better. What would you say would be a reasonable MCAT score based on my other merits?

The HBUs (Howard, Morehouse, and Meharry IIRC) aren't state schools! They're private. Being from CT means you have a new local school (Netter) and a very instate-favoring public school.

I wouldn't think of it in terms of "what do I need to score". I'd think of it as "my score is nowhere near representative based on all my practice exams."

Did you feel extremely nervous on test day or have any other new variables, like illness? If you proctored the AAMC practice exam to yourself under test conditions, a 12 point drop is just too much to be bad luck/chance. Your CARS dropped from 83rd to 25th percentile! If I were you I'd say a retake is absolutely the right move, and start figuring out what went wrong.

 

[nathan_4]

The HBUs (Howard, Morehouse, and Meharry IIRC) aren't state schools! They're private. Being from CT means you have a new local school (Netter) and a very instate-favoring public school.

thanks!

Did you feel extremely nervous on test day or have any other new variables, like illness? If you proctored the AAMC practice exam to yourself under test conditions, a 12 point drop is just too much to be bad luck/chance. Your CARS dropped from 83rd to 25th percentile! If I were you I'd say a retake is absolutely the right move, and start figuring out what went wrong.

ok!

 

[cke11]

Did you have any test taking anxiety? The CARS is really really low compared to the AAMC scored and that CARS section is one of the hardest out there. If you look on the practice tests vs. real scored excel sheet floating around somewhere on this website, people that scored 510+ on NS did much much better on the real exam. Did you feel overwhelmed or anything during your exam?

 

[efle]

Yes the drop is CARS is definitely the hardest part for me... no idea what happened there. Frustrating that my two science subjects not bad and then the psych and cars sections are the ones struggling lol. Does anybody have any experience taking the exam in January (aka having only 1.5 months to study?)

It completely depends on how much you can study per day for those 6 weeks. Myself and several of my friends studied ~8 weeks over summer and felt fully prepared, but we had only part-time research/class/work competing with our study time. If you can clear your schedule enough to study, say, 25 hours per week, then you should be able to prepare in 6 (especially since you've already gone through the studying once before )

 

[nathan_4]

It completely depends on how much you can study per day for those 6 weeks. Myself and several of my friends studied ~8 weeks over summer and felt fully prepared, but we had only part-time research/class/work competing with our study time. If you can clear your schedule enough to study, say, 25 hours per week, then you should be able to prepare in 6 (especially since you've already gone through the studying once before )

ok!

 

[efle]

That's true and hopefully I can work around that issue. Any advice for picking up CARS?

Only to simulate test conditions for yourself on some more practice tests/passages. You were already performing great. Just need to actually perform at your best on test day!

really just trying to make myself feel less crappy lol

For AA the 3.8-4.0 GPA / 24-26 MCAT has an acceptance rate of 84%, which is about the same as the 3.8-4.0 GPA / 33-35 MCAT bin for applicants overall. There is a very, very good chance you've already done enough to be a doctor. It's just a question of performing at your usual level on a retake so that you jump to very, very good chance you have one of the best possible educations and all the opportunities that come with that!