Curiosity killed the cat

[Hi_I'mPaul]

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Yo SDNers,

Just curious what you think of this transformation:
501 -> 504 -> 515 -> MCAT tutor at a well-known company

The first 2 MCATs were in my undergraduate when I was an unprepared noob, but I've got my ish together now, so just curious if this would score me a +1 from an MCAT POV, or if it really doesn't matter. The pay is good, so I am going to do it regardless, just curious about other people's input. Also, it'll help me keep info relevant from MCAT and my SMP so I can't complain about the job itself 🙂

@Goro

 

[Lucca]

Tutoring and teaching are good ECs to have. It’s always hard to say how multiple mcats will be viewed since every school seems to have their own policy, but an improvement like that will obviously help you.

 

[Lawpy]

Nice improvement but no one has any idea how multiple scores are viewed. The interpretation varies by evaluator, adcom, schools etc. Convention is to average all scores as it's the most predictive.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

Hi Paul! (For some reason I really thought that there was a waving emoji in here somewhere) Your increase in score does help your app but like lucca said some schools are kinda weird about multiple retakes. Tutoring people for the MCAT's good, but everyone's kinda doing that so it won't exactly boost your app that much. Your stats look great though so I wouldn't worry all that much.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Generally, you are initially screened at the highest score, though that is changing with the AAMC recommendation to average. However, as has been said above. all that does is get you evaluated and reviewed earlier. The evaluator can make of it what they want, especially in context of your GPA. And saying you got lower score as UG noob doesnt fly as many UGs get utterly fantastic scores on the FIRST try. I will say that I have seen people with large increases after they have become a tutor and just chalked up to being paid to learn the stuff. Even though, you are becoming a tutor after, hope an adcom notices that date when they are reading 10-15-25 applications in 2 days. Multiple MCATs are always minor flag (flag meaning the evaluator will ask "why is that that"

Of course! I understand that I had some maturing to do and some personal problems (self-inflicted) so I cannot change the past, only work on the future. Hence why I went from 501 + 504 with a 3.6 GPA undergrad statistics to a 4.0 in a well-respected SMP and a 515. The MCAT tutoring will be an update on my application, not in work/activities so I do not think that timing will be an issue. Thank you all for your replies, it is much appreciated.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Are you sure?

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Why did you think you needed an SMP? You needed a solid MCAT score

SMP lead to high MCAT fam. I am a non-science major, so more science courses, especially at a basic med school level, were helpful. Plus, the SMP was at the med school that I want to attend so getting those connections will hopefully play to my favor. Also, as I stated, I needed time to mature and this program helped me a lot.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Are you sure?

hahaha yasssss, gold

 

[PreMedMissteps]

you are initially screened at the highest score, though that is changing with the AAMC recommendation to average

Is that because there is a belief that taking multiple MCATs is something that mostly only the more affluent can afford, so averaging retakes is more fair to those who can only afford to take it once?

 

[Lawpy]

Is that because there is a belief that taking multiple MCATs is something that mostly only the more affluent can afford, so averaging retakes is more fair to those who can only afford to take it once?

Averaging is recommended because it's the best predictor of med school performance

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Averaging is recommended because it's the best predictor of med school performance

But past performance does not imply future success. Nor does past failure imply future failure. I'm sure that the average of multiple MCATs may be the best predictor for the average applicant, but I still have my doubts about this measure. Thankfully, med schools use a holistic approach and can see trends in coursework/scores across time. i.e. The applicant of my past (while my GPA and ECs are not bad by any means) is not the applicant I am now--as shown in my recent coursework.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Is that because there is a belief that taking multiple MCATs is something that mostly only the more affluent can afford, so averaging retakes is more fair to those who can only afford to take it once?

Debatable, imo. I do not think this crosses the mind of adcoms, nor should it honestly!

 

[Goro]

Yo SDNers,

Just curious what you think of this transformation:
501 -> 504 -> 515 -> MCAT tutor at a well-known company

The first 2 MCATs were in my undergraduate when I was an unprepared noob, but I've got my ish together now, so just curious if this would score me a +1 from an MCAT POV, or if it really doesn't matter. The pay is good, so I am going to do it regardless, just curious about other people's input. Also, it'll help me keep info relevant from MCAT and my SMP so I can't complain about the job itself 🙂

@Goro

Even with 3 MCAT, a 515 is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Even with 3 MCAT, a 515 is nothing to sneeze at.

Agreed, but I flipped out when I saw the score, so it is "sneeze-able" to me! I guess my question refers more to whether or not tutoring would have any sway against my past performance and more to my most recent performance. The first two mcats were back in early 2016 and 2017. My most recent was in 5/2018. A lot of time between then and now, and a lot of growth has occurred. If being an MCAT tutor at a big company won't matter to adcoms much, I'm fine with it. I was just looking for feedback if it did matter or not. I also understand that teaching in general looks good.

 

[Lawpy]

But past performance does not imply future success. Nor does past failure imply future failure. I'm sure that the average of multiple MCATs may be the best predictor for the average applicant, but I still have my doubts about this measure. Thankfully, med schools use a holistic approach and can see trends in coursework/scores across time. i.e. The applicant of my past (while my GPA and ECs are not bad by any means) is not the applicant I am now--as shown in my recent coursework.

Ultimately, adcoms are free decide how to interpret multiple scores. That doesn't matter if the entire application is strong enough to get acceptances.

 

[Goro]

Agreed, but I flipped out when I saw the score, so it is "sneeze-able" to me! I guess my question refers more to whether or not tutoring would have any sway against my past performance and more to my most recent performance. The first two mcats were back in early 2016 and 2017. My most recent was in 5/2018. A lot of time between then and now, and a lot of growth has occurred. If being an MCAT tutor at a big company won't matter to adcoms much, I'm fine with it. I was just looking for feedback if it did matter or not. I also understand that teaching in general looks good.

Unless you're tutoring poor students, it's an activity that means little to me. Are you worried that an interviewer or screener might say,"Big deal 515. S/he's a tutor for MCAT"?

That's not going to happen.

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Unless you're tutoring poor students, it's an activity that means little to me. Are you worried that an interviewer or screener might say,"Big deal 515. S/he's a tutor for MCAT"?

That's not going to happen.

No, I have 300+ hours tutoring underserved students so that isn't an issue. I was hoping an adcom may say "Oh, this kid had problems with the MCAT in undergrad and he is actively trying to improve by getting a 515 and is now tutoring in the exam that he struggled in before."

 

[Goro]

No, I have 300+ hours tutoring underserved students so that isn't an issue. I was hoping an adcom may say "Oh, this kid had problems with the MCAT in undergrad and he is actively trying to improve by getting a 515 and is now tutoring in the exam that he struggled in before."

Nobody thinks this way!!!!

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

Nobody thinks this way!!!!

Seems like a more than reasonable line of thinking (hence the question lol), but to each their own! Thanks for your input.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

What was the amount of time between the first two and the 515?

 

[Hi_I'mPaul]

What was the amount of time between the first two and the 515?

Somewhere around January 2016 and March 2017 for the first two (essentially Junior/Senior year of college), and May 2018 (during grad program) for 515. Also, MCAT tutoring will start within the next month, so September 2018.

 

[Doctor-S]

Whew ... I'm just GLAD the title of this thread has nothing to do with cats getting killed ... yanno ... a lot of us own cats! 😀

 

[gyngyn]

Whew ... I'm just GLAD the title of this thread has nothing to do with cats getting killed ... yanno ... a lot of us own cats! 😀

What a beauty!

 

[non-trad-sad-man]

Do score expiration retakes count the same (averaging, etc)? Neither of my scores were poor anyway, but there was a pretty large improvement.

 

[gyngyn]

Do score expiration retakes count the same (averaging, etc)? Neither of my scores were poor anyway, but there was a pretty large improvement.

Yes.