Advice Needed- Retaking a 511

[611futuredoctor]

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Hi! I scored a 511 (128 125 129 129) on my first MCAT attempt in January. I have a 3.98 GPA but am aiming for an MD school. Thinking about retaking but wanted advice on anyone who has retaken a 511 if it's worth it or if I should just keep this score. I have 500 hours as a medical assistant, around 600 hours in clinical volunteering, 400 hours non clinical volunteering, EMT license, 65 shadowing hours, and around 800 research hours. Every advisor has told me that a low CARs can be a red flag so looking for advice.

 

[ecobio]

511 plus that stellar GPA makes you a great candidate for schools. I would focus instead on continuing your awesome ECs and thinking about how you want to frame your application.

 

[pinkbowbunny]

Not me, but I know someone who retook a 511 and scored 511 again. The only difference was that he told me his second score was more balanced than the first.
I personally would not recommend retaking unless you are sure that you can score significantly higher. Is the 511 consistent with what you were scoring on your FLs?

 

[account]

I wouldn't retake. Your MCAT is not prohibitive of you getting into an MD school and the remainder of the application is spot on for medical school. No reason to risk doing worse and not getting into a med school.

If your CARs score was the same as the remainder of your sections you would have a 514-515 and admissions committees would not view you differently.

 

[medadmirer]

I concur with the other suggestions mentioned earlier.

AAMC has published the 2024 FACTS: Applications and Matriculants Data accessible via this link, 2024 FACTS: Applicants and Matriculants Data, covering the years 2022-2023 through 2024-2025.

When you examine Table A-23, which presents MCAT Scores and GPAs, you will see an Acceptance Rate of 69.6% in your case. Additionally, from Tables A-16 and A-17, the average MCAT score for accepted applicants is 511.

I was surprised to discover that some medical schools in the US also admit applicants who have a GPA lower than 3.0, as illustrated below:

If you believe you can achieve a higher score and aspire to get into prestigious medical schools, pursue that goal..