517 with a 126 CARS

[mattns]

hey this is not a trolling post. i hope no one is offended...

my score distribution:
129/126/131/131

should i be retaking this? i'm trying to get into mac, ubc, queens, mcgill, ottawa, or toronto.

i'm currently doing a 2yr BSc to uo my GPA, and have a BSc in nursing.

I'm just concerned about my CARS score. i'm not even sure i'm capable of doing better on CARS to be honest. It's always been an issue for me.

As a Canadian, would you guys retake this?

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[Ad2b]

Grats on the great score! Seems to me, I read on reddit that a 127 CARS for Canadians is lethal. Have you researched there?

 

[mattns]

Grats on the great score! Seems to me, I read on reddit that a 127 CARS for Canadians is lethal. Have you researched there?

nooo i have zero research under my belt

 

[Zenabi90]

nooo i have zero research under my belt

I think he meant, have you researched what the CARS requirements are for the Canadian schools?

Personally I would consider it. I would give up a 129/126/131/131:517 for a 129/129/129/129:516 or even a 129/128/129/129:515. It's still 90th percentile. But that would ONLY be if you found Canadian medical schools so averse to a 126 on CARS.

Remember scores like 132/131/130 have a tendency to "regress to the mean" after a retake. Scores that high differ by only one or a few points on this exam, and any number of negative conditions can cause such a high score to drop, sometimes drastically.

Sorry for the long post, but I would really make it a point to personally call each school's adcom and see what their opinion is on a CARS subscore. I'll leave a quoted post below from a separate thread regarding a low C/P on a 521. I figure if a top school says no lower than 126, then for the rest of them, 126 should be fine as a cutoff.

Don't worry at all! You're fine even for the most competitive places.

LizzyM is an adcom at a top school that highly values the MCAT. She said for them they want 3 subsections above 130, and one other section that's no lower than 126.

So you are good to go!

Enjoy the cycle

 

[Ad2b]

@Zenabi90 ... imma she but you are sort of right, I asked if Matt had researched the Canadians who post on reddit under/mcat - I think 127 is the cut off/auto reject for Canadian medical schools; I see a lot of concern there with a 126 CARS.

LizzyM is good for US, not sure it can be used for Canadian schools... maybe she'll chime in.

 

[Zenabi90]

@Zenabi90 ... imma she

My sincerest apologies. Raised with "he" as the default anonymous pronoun, I'm still working on erasing that particular gender bias.