Hey SDN family, I was recently interviewed and subsequently rejected by a medical school. This prompted me to think about retaking the MCAT. Stats: s3.09 c3.15 26 (8/8/10).
Furthermore, I was notified by a few schools that I have been put on a pre-interview hold at 3 schools and they "invited me to retake the MCAT." So, I am most likely going to retake but my question is: Should I email them and notify them of my decision to retake? Or should I retake in the shadows and hope they are still planning to throw a decision my way without a new MCAT.
Them "inviting you to retake the MCAT" could very well be a generic thing they send to anyone on pre-interview hold. To give you an idea, when I applied, DO schools that had me on pre-interview hold invited me to consider retaking the MCAT, and I had a mid-30s MCAT score. Others said something general like to consider retaking the MCAT and/or doing a post-bac/SMP (the latter did apply to me).
That said, with a 26, you're not in terrible shape. Your real weak spot is the GPA. If you can bring up your GPA to 3.3/3.4 with course retakes, you'd be in a much better position. Now obviously doing well on a retake (28+) will also improve your chances, but really you're only a little below the DO matriculant MCAT average (with a well balanced score and good bio subsection), but more than a standard deviation below the DO matriculant GPA averages. That's what you should be focusing on.
