Best Scores From Multiple MCAT Scores Vs. Best Set of Scores??

[GoBlue2004]

Does anyone know which medical schools take the best scores from separate MCAT sections vs. those schools that take the best set of scores?
For example, if I took the MCAT twice and the first time I got PS11 VR 6 BS 11 and the next time I got a PS10 VR11 BS10 are there schools that would consider my overall score to be PS11 VR11 BS11???

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[medstylee]

Some schools average the two most recent scores together; some schools take just the higher scoring test; some schools take just the most recent test; some schools (very few) take your best individual scores from the most recent two tests, e.g. your 11,11,11. That's been my experience.

good luck.

 

[Amy B]

I have never heard of a school that will pick and chose the best scores and combine them and have never heard of any that average the scores. Universities do that with the SAT. Which schools do that?

I have only heard of schools that look at new scores and compare them to your old scores. I took the MCAT twice and during every single interview all they did was compare the two and ask how I prepared differently the second time in order to have gotten the higher scores.

 

[GoBlue2004]

I have never heard of a school that will pick and chose the best scores and combine them and have never heard of any that average the scores. Universities do that with the SAT. Which schools do that?

I have only heard of schools that look at new scores and compare them to your old scores. I took the MCAT twice and during every single interview all they did was compare the two and ask how I prepared differently the second time in order to have gotten the higher scores.

Tufts will take the best of each section and I believe Wisconsin will take the best scores from the 2 most recent MCAT scores. I was just wondering if there are other schools that uniquely evaluate the scores...I think the majority of the schools look at the best set and compare to how you did in the past.

 

[good_faith]

Tufts will take the best of each section and I believe Wisconsin will take the best scores from the 2 most recent MCAT scores. I was just wondering if there are other schools that uniquely evaluate the scores...I think the majority of the schools look at the best set and compare to how you did in the past.

Good thread. Any other school?

 

[jlee9531]

except for the rare exceptions like tufts and wisconsin...

basically all schools take your best score or average them.

 

[G0S2]

UMass Medical School

 

[good_faith]

UMass Medical School

But they only take Massachusetts residence

 

[Alexander99]

I think for the most part, schools take your best score. I think if you didn't do that great the first time around (<30) and somehow got mid 30's the next time around, I don't think they average out your scores and now you're just on par with someone that got a 30-31.

 

[ad_sharp]

I think that many schools do this differently. In my state, OU only looks at the most recent MCAT while OSU looks at the highest. I have heard that other schools take the highest from each individual section and that others average the scores. You just need to contact the schools that you're interested in to see how they do it.

What I want to know is this......If a school takes the highest section score from multiple MCATs is this reflected in their school's average MCAT score statistics? This would definately give these schools an unfair advantage when compare to those that take the most recent or highest score only.

 

[GATORade]

I found this old thread to be very interesting. Does anyone have any new input on this matter?

 

[panda]

except for the rare exceptions like tufts and wisconsin...

basically all schools take your best score or average them.

In that case, would it be better to just withhold your old score if you did well the second time?

 

[GATORade]

I don?t think it?s possible to withhold your old scores unless they were taken prior to 2001. I could be wrong though.

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

Albany: the best set of scores
Baylor: most recent scores weighed heavily
Boston: the best set of scores
Case: most recent set of scores
Columbia: most recent scores weighed most heavily
Cornell: the best score
Creighton: the best set of scores
Drexel: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Duke: the most recent set of scores generally considered
E. Carolina: the most recent set of scores generally considered
EVMS: the best set of scores weighed most heavily
Emory: the best set of scores typically weighed most heavily
Finch: the most recent set of scores
George Washington: all sets of scores
Georgetown: all sets of scores
Indiana: the most recent scores
Jefferson: the most recent score
Loma Linda: all sets of scores

I will keep on posting...

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

Louisiana at New Orleans: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Louisiana at Shreveport: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Loyola: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Marshall: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Medical College of Ohio: the best set of scores weighed most heavily
Medical College of Wisconsin: the best score in each section from last 2 tests
South Carolina: the best set of scores
Meharry: all sets of scores
MSU: the most recent set of scores
Morehouse: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
NYMC: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
NYU: the best set of scores

...

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

NEOUCOM: the most recent set of scores
PSU: all sets of scores
Rush: the most recent set of scores weighed heavily
St. Louis: the best set of scores
Southern Illinois: the most recent set of scores
Stanford: the most recent set of scores
Stony Brook: the best set of scores
Downstate: each scores looked at individually from all tests
Texas A&M: the most recent set of scores
Texas Tech: the most recent set of scores weighed most heavily
Tufts: the best scores
Tulane: the best set of scores
NJMS: all sets of scores
RWJ: all sets of scores with heavy consideration on the most recent scores
USUHS: the best set of scores
Buffalo: the best set of scores
Arizona: the best scores

...

 

[panda]

I don?t think it?s possible to withhold your old scores unless they were taken prior to 2001. I could be wrong though.

I believe 2002 was the last year that you had the option to withhold scores, at least I haven't released my Aug 02 scores yet.

 

[panda]

Thanks so much Dr. Chiquita

Where did you find these info?

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

UC Davis: the best scores
UC Irvine: the most recent set of scores
UCSF: the most recent scores
Colorado: the best scores
U Florida: the best set of scores considered heavily
Hawaii: the most recent set of scores
Iowa: all sets of scores
Kansas: the two most recent sets of scores
Kentucky: the most recent set of scores weighed heavily
U Louisville: the most recent set of scores
U Maryland: the best scores
U Mass: the best scores weighed heavily
U Miami: the best set of scores weighed heavily
Minnesota at Minneapolis: the highest set of scores
U Missouri at Columbia: the highest total set of scores
U Nevada: the most recent scores
U North Dakota: the most recent set of scores
U Oklahoma: the most recent set of scores
Rochester: the best set of scores
South Alabama: the most recent scores
South Carolina: the most recent set of scores weighed heavily
South Dakota: the most recent set of scores compared to other scores
South Florida: the best set of scores weighed heavily
U Tennessee at Memphis: all sets of scores
San Antonio: the best set of scores weighed heavily
Galveston: the most recent set of scores
Southwestern: the best set of scores
U Vermont: all sets of scores
U Virginia: the best scores
U Wisconsin: the higher scores from the two most recent scores
Vanderbilt: the most recent set of scores weighed heavily
VCU: the best set of scores
Wayne State: the most recent set of scores weighed heavily
West Virginia: all scores
Wright State: all scores
Yale: the best set of scores
Yeshiva: the best set of scores

All set!

 

[GATORade]

Dr. Chiquita ? I think I love you. One quick question though: when you say best set of scores, do you mean the best scores are taken from each section of multiple test administrations? Or do you mean that the best scores are looked at as a whole. For example, if in 2003 someone scores a 12 9 11, and in 2004 scored a 9 8 12, would the best set of scores be a 12 9 12, or would the best set be a 32. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr. Chiquita]

1st MCAT: 10v, 10p, 10b= 30
2nd MCAT: 9v, 12p, 5b= 26

"the best set of scores"= 30 (you are looking at the best set score out of all the sittings)
"the best scores"= 32 (you are looking at the best scores for each section out of all the sittings)

That's my interpretation. The description is as it is appeared on the book that I am consulting. Since they are distinguishing between "the best score" (singular) versus "the best scores" (plural), there must be a reason.

-J

 

[MedicalDave]

FYI I called Wisconsin School of Medicine to ask about using the best sections from multiple MCATs and a lady said that in the past, members that review applications have considered combined scores but that not all of the members combined the best section scores. She also said that it doesn't necessarily dictate that they will do the same thing this year, but it's possible...
The consensus is that reviewing members will see all of your MCAT scores, so everything will be considered, but you'd be better off with the most recent MCAT with a overall high score.

 

[muhali3]

6yr bump? srsly?

 

[Kaustikos]

6yr bump? srsly?

I love these bumps

 

[orthomyxo]

6yr bump? srsly?

 

[Darthvinder]

Uh these bumps are perfectly acceptable.

When people make new threads on topics already discussed, they get flamed, and when they contribute to old threads, they get flamed.

I'd much rather have a new thread than an old one bumped, but people need to CTFO.

 

[Latuza]

FYI I called Wisconsin School of Medicine to ask about using the best sections from multiple MCATs and a lady said that in the past, members that review applications have considered combined scores but that not all of the members combined the best section scores. She also said that it doesn't necessarily dictate that they will do the same thing this year, but it's possible...
The consensus is that reviewing members will see all of your MCAT scores, so everything will be considered, but you'd be better off with the most recent MCAT with a overall high score.

Thanks for the update on their policy!

I expect more and more med schools will gravitate toward weighing the most recent score most heavily.

 

[BearDownAZ]

When people make new threads on topics already discussed, they get flamed, and when they contribute to old threads, they get flamed.

So true.

 

[LaurenMCAT]

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but I get tons of questions about it in class.

Here's what the AAMC says in their Journal of Academic Medicine:
http://journals.lww.com/academicmed...f_Four_Approaches_of_Using_Repeaters_.19.aspx

Basically, there are 4 different ways of getting one aggregate MCAT scores from multiple testings, but the BEST method (the one that correlates most highly with Step 1 USMLE scores) is to take a straight-up average.

Expect that most medical schools will, if they haven't already, be using this approach.
(Interestingly enough, this is how law schools evaluate multiple LSAT scores!)

 

[jjj2022]

That's interesting that you're a Kaplan employee...
Tell me, how much does Kaplan make from JUST the MCAT courses?

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but I get tons of questions about it in class.

Here's what the AAMC says in their Journal of Academic Medicine:
http://journals.lww.com/academicmed...f_Four_Approaches_of_Using_Repeaters_.19.aspx

Basically, there are 4 different ways of getting one aggregate MCAT scores from multiple testings, but the BEST method (the one that correlates most highly with Step 1 USMLE scores) is to take a straight-up average.

Expect that most medical schools will, if they haven't already, be using this approach.
(Interestingly enough, this is how law schools evaluate multiple LSAT scores!)

 

[LizzyM]

I know this is a REALLY old thread, but I get tons of questions about it in class.

Here's what the AAMC says in their Journal of Academic Medicine:
http://journals.lww.com/academicmed...f_Four_Approaches_of_Using_Repeaters_.19.aspx

Basically, there are 4 different ways of getting one aggregate MCAT scores from multiple testings, but the BEST method (the one that correlates most highly with Step 1 USMLE scores) is to take a straight-up average.

Expect that most medical schools will, if they haven't already, be using this approach.
(Interestingly enough, this is how law schools evaluate multiple LSAT scores!)

My (undisclosed) school will start using an average of all scores this year. Some of us used that last year but it wasn't universal and some used most recent instead.

 

[Whatyousay]

My (undisclosed) school will start using an average of all scores this year. Some of us used that last year but it wasn't universal and some used most recent instead.

Is this something that most schools are moving towards (to the best of your knowledge), or does this apply to your school only?


Also:

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

[LizzyM]

Well, the paper came out in Academic Medicine (not the Journal of Academic Medicine) in October 2010 so schools may not have changed things in mid-stream last season but this year there is no reason not to use the best evidence in one's approach to multiple scores.

 

[Big Dog]

...lsat scores; only a couple of top ones still maintain that practice, and they will waive it if you give them a good excuse for the lower score.

Law schools are numbers-driven to the max. They report highest LSAT score to USNews (which drives their rankings).

(Yes, I realize this is off point. But was just responding to Lauren's post from last year.)

 

[flatearth22]

If a school averages the scores when assessing their applicants, do they also have to use the average score of each applicant when reporting in MSAR or their school website ?

ie - student gets 27 and 33 and gets accepted...do they use 30 or 33 when calculating their class mean, median, etc?

It would seem fair that if a school averages an applicant's score that they should also report the average. Otherwise that would be "punishing" a student for a low set of scores by averaging them, but then "rewarding" themselves by not including the lower score when assessing their own class.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

My (undisclosed) school will start using an average of all scores this year. Some of us used that last year but it wasn't universal and some used most recent instead.

will your school let applicants know this is their method on their website? this issues seems to be one where information isn't readily available for a lot of schools.

 

[sexycani]

i think this is ridiculous...i mean this basically suggests that theres no point of retaking the MCAT, unless you can improve 10 points to show a 5 point increase....how dumb
i really dont think schools will turn a blind eye to the new, composite score....

 

[flatearth22]

i think this is ridiculous...i mean this basically suggests that theres no point of retaking the MCAT, unless you can improve 10 points to show a 5 point increase....how dumb
i really dont think schools will turn a blind eye to the new, composite score....

Med schools need to pick the students who they best think can succeed. If peer-reviewed statistical analysis shows that averaging the MCAT best predicts board success then that's they way they have to go. http://journals.lww.com/academicmed...f_Four_Approaches_of_Using_Repeaters_.19.aspx

I just hope they also report their scores as such - (ie - if a student got a 25 and 35 and you accept them but your policy is to average MCAT scores of ALL applicants then report that student's MCAT as 30, not 35.)

 

[startswithb]

Well, I just would've had to have taken the MCAT 4 more times to get my average up, in addition to my composite.



Pre-allo is so much easier to read once you're accepted.

 

[neelie88]

Help!! I just got my scores, and I got a 29: PS 10 V: 8 BS: 11, and last time I got a 30: PS:13 V:7 BS:10... If I take the best scores, I get a 32, but average, I get 29.5.

I was going to apply this cycle, but not I'm not so sure. Advice please?

 

[flatearth22]

Help!! I just got my scores, and I got a 29: PS 10 V: 8 BS: 11, and last time I got a 30: PS:13 V:7 BS:10... If I take the best scores, I get a 32, but average, I get 29.5.

I was going to apply this cycle, but not I'm not so sure. Advice please?

What's your GPA, EC's, state residence?

 

[neelie88]

...

 

[flatearth22]

GPA 3.4, science 3.3 (started out doing engineering, quit in the middle), ECs are a bit weak but I have a lot of research and publications. My state residence is California.

You don't have a good chance at MD schools if you apply this cycle...only DO schools.

Might want to take a year or two off and take postbac classes and get your GPA to 3.5/3.4 as well as beef up your EC's (clinical + nonclinical volunteering, leadership) while studying like mad for an MCAT retake.

With a 3.5/3.4 and a 33+ MCAT (single sitting) as well as your research and new EC's you would stand a decent shot at an MD school. So few schools use the "superset" scores that it's pretty much worthless.

 

[neelie88]

Well, I graduated in 2010, so I will already be taking two years off. Its seems there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything, while working a full time job...

 

[flatearth22]

Well, I graduated in 2010, so I will already be taking two years off. Its seems there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything, while working a full time job...

Unfortunately med schools aren't too forgiving. You need clinical experience because it shows your interest in medicine and you need volunteering (clinical or nonclinical) because it shows that you care about providing service to others (a big part of medicine). It's just one of the hoops that you have to jump through. Think of it as no different than taking your pre-reqs or the MCAT.

 

[neelie88]

Unfortunately med schools aren't too forgiving. You need clinical experience because it shows your interest in medicine and you need volunteering (clinical or nonclinical) because it shows that you care about providing service to others (a big part of medicine). It's just one of the hoops that you have to jump through. Think of it as no different than taking your pre-reqs or the MCAT.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I definitely do need to do more volunteering and such. From talking to my adviser, I didn't think my chances were that dire, but it seems so. Would applying anyway, just for the sake of it hurt my chances later?

 

[flatearth22]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I definitely do need to do more volunteering and such. From talking to my adviser, I didn't think my chances were that dire, but it seems so. Would applying anyway, just for the sake of it hurt my chances later?

Being a re-applicant is a disadvantage because med schools already know that you have been rejected and are expecting more. Your best chance of getting in is the first time you apply so make it count.

Also are you a URM and/or do you have a hook (extremely impressive EC like being a Rhodes Scholar or high impact first author on major journal or something). Disregard everything I've said if that is the case...lol.

 

[SisterDisco08]

Being a re-applicant is a disadvantage because med schools already know that you have been rejected and are expecting more. Your best chance of getting in is the first time you apply so make it count.

Also are you a URM and/or do you have a hook (extremely impressive EC like being a Rhodes Scholar or high impact first author on major journal or something). Disregard everything I've said if that is the case...lol.

That's false....I've been meeting with multiple AdComs for the past two weeks and ALL of them have said that reapplicants have a better chance, if they have improved their app... Also, consider the following: each year ~40% of applicants matriculate somewhere. Applicants and reapplicants make up that ~40%, because that means ~60% of the applicants from the previous year didn't get in. That means the statistic on first-time applicants getting in each year is probably closer to ~30% or (likely) even lower. In a lot of cases, there are specific things that schools interested in you might want you to do for a year before they are comfortable in admitting you (especially if you are a young BS/BA grad). Words straight from multiple AdComs.

 

[tengoku14]

Is Dr. Chiquita's info still correct?

 

[Whatyousay]

Is Dr. Chiquita's info still correct?

I'm guessing it's dated based on what LizzyM said.