Bombing the retake ...

[krazykyleman]

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I just got my January MCAT score and overall my score dropped by 2 points. Within the individual distributions, however, the verbal section was the only one to decrease. My physical sciences actually increased and the biological sciences and writing sections remained the same. How bad will this overall drop look to medical schools? I know that some schools require full score disclosures and others allow you to select which scores you want to submit. For the schools not requiring full disclosure, should I only submit my original score (the highest one overall)? Should I consider taking the MCAT for a third time to see if I can improve? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[RSAgator]

well without knowing your scores no one can really give you much advice. However, I think it's safe to assume that you retook it because you weren't happy with your first score. That being the case, you must be less happy with this newer score, so I don't really see why you wouldn't take it again. The advice for someone with a 32 dropping to a 30 would be very different than that of a 30 to a 28. Say you retook your test because you thought that with the score you had, med schools may be hesitant to accept you because they would think you couldn't handle the workload. So you took it again hoping to get a score that would eliminate those doubts. You now scored lower, which only confirms that suspicion. If your previous score made you borderline, but your current score puts you at the bottom of the pile, I would retake it. If your new score is still borderline, I would maybe just apply broadly.

 

[ComicBookDude]

It's hard to know what to say without knowing your actual score and GPA.

If you scored above 30 both times and have a 3.6+ GPA, definitely do not retake, especially if you got 8+ both times in VR. Had you gotten a different test form, you could have very well gone up by two points. Remember, luck does play a role in your score (especially in verbal) and I'm sure most medical schools are aware of this.

If your verbal is 7 or below, I would retake just to prove that you Jan drop was a fluke.