Am I good?

[BigRedStress]

Hey all,... here is where I finally stand:
3.44 Biochem major from Cornell
8,11,Q,11 = 30 MCAT (English is actually my second language, I gre up in a bilingual household with hindi as my primary language - which is what im putting in my amcas and what one of my recommenders said in his letter)
I have a good 3 years of solid research with about 4 publications. I want to go to a medschool in a city.
should i retake the mcat? I really do not want to.
finally, am i a comp. applicant for any md-phd programs?

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[relatively prime]

Well, I personally think that an 8 in verbal is really awesome for someone who has English as a second language! However, I'm not sure how medical schools will feel about it. To my knowledge MD/phD is even more competitive than straight MD. If I were you I would retake and try to boost that verbal. But it's up to you. Just make sure that if you don't retake... your PS is really really good. I think you have a chance with an 8 in verbal... but not a good chance.

Just my take on the situation...

Good luck

 

[efex101]

I disagree with the above poster, if English is your second language a VR of 8 is pretty good and I would not retake the MCAT. Many Americans do not get an 8 in VR so I think that you are doing great. Your best bet to see if you are competitive for mudphud is to call the schools that you are interested in and explain your situation.

 

[Mr. H]

So were born in the US and your parents were first time immigrants? When did you start learning English, in pre-school/kindergarten? Just wondering, because I grew up in a bilingual household, and didn't learn English until I started going to school. BUT, I still consider English my primary language...

 

[relatively prime]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by efex101:
•...Many Americans do not get an 8 in VR so I think that you are doing great...•••••"Many Americans"?!?! This guy IS an American.

Anyway... I think a lot of people on this board grossly underestimate how competitive medical school admission is these days... especially for students who are ethnically Asian. In fact, this year AMCAS is expecting there to be more applicants to medical school than there have been in the past 5 years.

If you want to have a good chance, you need to retake. Especially since you're ethnically Indian!! I personally know many Indians who have English as a second language who have earned 9+ scores in verbal. Medical school admittance is just harder for Asian students, and especially for Indian students. The reason is because they are so well represented in the medical field.. and there are so many applying that have great stats and great ECs and recs, etc. Basically, you're competing with some of the best applicants.

I'm not trying to be mean or discouraging here, I just think that if you really want to secure your chances, you should retake.... especially since your science scores aren't that high.

But you do have ~a~ chance of getting in somewhere with your stats... it just depends on how safe you want to be.

Good luck

 

[Big_Poppa DDS]

I would bet anything that he will get in without retaking

 

[BigRedStress]

well i was born in india and came tothe US with my family, i didnt start learning english until i went to school, and not I'm fluent in it and do not speak hindi too much anymore, but nonethelss im sure that the changing of languages made my english no the best. i only got a 630 on my SAT verbal after studying for a year. I studied for well over a year for the mcat, and got an 8. I psyched about that score. I just hope med schools will understand...
do you guys think i should not put hindi as my primary language? if not, how do i tell them about this? i'm all nervous now....

 

[efex101]

I assumed that he was not American when he stated that English was his second language..

 

[Tweetie_bird]

ok guys, I am getting conflicting information from various posters.

I too, was born and brought up in India till I was 15 and I didn't learn english till i was in school. My transcript says that my primary language is Gujarati. I got a 7 on verbal, Q on essay, and most of you have asked me to retake it. I am not sure on what to do....I see conflicting opinions.

More opinions here, the better, so could you please fill me in??
Thanks,
Tweetie

 

[Vader]

30 is a good composite score that makes you competitive for medical school admissions. Your science scores are very good. Only retake the MCAT if you feel you can do significantly better (i.e. at least 3 or 4 points). If not, then I would stick with the 30 and explain the language barrier in your personal statement. Apply to a range of programs (there is no such thing as a "safety school") and make sure ALL aspects of the application are high quality. Don't underestimate the importance of the complete package.

As for MD/PhD admissions, your MCATs would be below average, but you can make up for it by counterbalancing with strengths in other areas, especially letters of recommendation and your research experience.

Hope this helps.

 

[Beoz]

Well I was born and raised here in the US by my Indian parents, Gujrati was the first language I learned but . . . I learned English immeadiately afterwards. So am I technically an ESL student? I've never thought about this before, and can it be used to my advantage? I don't want to be a dick and milk the system.

 

[Mudd]

Look at the data!!! An 8-11-11 is a score that will open doors, escpecially with 4 publications to back it up. As for MSTP being harder than straight MD, that's variable with schools. The 4 pubs will more than make up for any issues with an 8 in verbal. No matter what language background someone comes from, 8 is still the median. With two 11s, you'd be foolish to waste time repeating the exam.

Stengthen the other aspects of your application with that time.

 

[bruinkid]

chemistry boy-
what do you think of 7 verbal with double digit science scores? Plus a 3.75 science and non science gpa?

 

[jot]

i honestly don't think that adcoms will be too sympathetic to indians with low verbal scores even if hindi,punjabi, gujrati, urdu, tamil, taligu etc... were their first languages, and then immigrated to the us at any point. i grew up in a quadralingual household (punjabi/hindi, kiswahili (east african language), dutch and english), but put english as my first language, and didn't include kiswahili and dutch beacuse i can only use them at a rudimentary level these days (sad). i can pm you if you want to know why i have the aforementioned opinion.
-jot

 

[relatively prime]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by jot:
•i honestly don't think that adcoms will be too sympathetic to indians with low verbal scores even if hindi,punjabi, gujrati, urdu, tamil, taligu etc... were their first languages, and then immigrated to the us at any point. i grew up in a quadralingual household (punjabi/hindi, kiswahili (east african language), dutch and english), but put english as my first language, and didn't include kiswahili and dutch beacuse i can only use them at a rudimentary level these days (sad). i can pm you if you want to know why i have the aforementioned opinion.
-jot•••••I think this is really sad, but probably true... unfortunately. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[Resident Alien]

I had an 8 verbal too, but i attribute it more to test-day screwup than to english being my second language. I learned the language concurrently with urdu, arabic, and punjabi. I really dont care now...im off to med school!!

 

[Hendooneh]

Just curious bigredstress, but how old were you when you "started school" and learned english? I came to the U.S. when I was 12 not speaking a single word of english and never spoke any english at home but I scored 11 on my MCAT verbal. I am not saying this to put you down in any fashion what so ever but I think if you told the adcom that the reason you have an 8 is because english is your second language and they read the rest of your application and it says you started kindergarden in the u.s. that would just make you look weaker for still considering english your second language.