Are there any US Med Schools that have a high CARS cutoff?

[BrainFlakes]

I'm sorry if this is being neurotic, but for the MCAT, my subsection scores were (131,127,131,131). I'm obviously very happy with this score but I was looking through MSAR and noticed that my CARS section was at the 10th percentiles for accepted students for some schools. I was wondering if I would, in any way, be negatively affected for doing poorly in CARS at any US med school

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[Dr. Stalker]

I'm sorry if this is being neurotic, but for the MCAT, my subsection scores were (131,127,131,131). I'm obviously very happy with this score but I was looking through MSAR and noticed that my CARS section was at the 10th percentiles for accepted students for some schools. I was wondering if I would, in any way, be negatively affected for doing poorly in CARS at any US med school

The stat ***** schools probably have a cutoff of below 128; U penn, Wash U, NYU come to mind.

However, given your other sub section scores, I don't see a 127 earning you a pre-interview reject. If those schools do reject you pre-interview, it isn't (entirely) because of the verbal score.

 

[BrainFlakes]

Damn, languages were never my strong suit. Ah well, there isn't much I can do about it I guess

 

[DBC03]

The stat ***** schools probably have a cutoff of below 128; U penn, Wash U, NYU come to mind.

However, given your other sub section scores, I don't see a 127 earning you a pre-interview reject. If those schools do reject you pre-interview, it isn't (entirely) because of the verbal score.

Just looked up WashU on the online MSAR and if you change MCAT to "matriculated students" it shows the 10th percentile as a 127. I noticed that all of the very top schools have lower CARS scores than any other section.

I'm feeling your pain as that was my lowest score as well.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Damn, languages were never my strong suit. Ah well, there isn't much I can do about it I guess

Haha, my friend you're in a great spot; you're fighting for a chance at the best medical schools in the country/world! Trust me when I say I bet almost all (99.9%) of SDNers would kill to have your problem . Best of luck in the application cycle.

 

[Lawpy]

There are people who get into WashU/NYU/Penn with a 126-127. Maybe even 125 but not too sure on that. CARS is the unique section that is the hardest to study for, mostly based on innate and long-term reading ability, and it's the most variable section. This is why CARS has the lowest 10th percentile of all subsections for all schools.

As long as you don't pin your hopes into a particular school and you apply smartly with a good list, you will be fine.

 

[BrainFlakes]

Thanks guys. I recently decided to take a gap year so I was thinking of stuff I needed to do during senior year to improve my application before the next cycle. I knew my GPA was fairly high as was my MCAT so I was glad that I didn't have to worry about those but I got a little worried when I went on MSAR again. I'm glad I still have a shot at the top schools if I fix my EC's and LOR's.