Do some med schools put more emphasis on certain MCAT subsections over others?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

---

Members do not see this ad.

My CARS and P/S scores are much higher than my C/P and B/B. Will I be at a disadvantage or advantage at some schools compared to someone who scored the opposite?

 

[MCATISEZ]

It's seems like some do from MSAR because I've seen some schools where the gap between the 10th and 90th percentiles being rather large. But I'm not sure.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[efle]

How lopsided are we talking? Unfortunately sounds like you'd be a little disadvantaged - usually Verbal/CARS gets a little more slack than the physical and bio science sections.

For any interested, what I describe above also makes sense when you look at data on MCAT predictive power for the step 1, since the hard sciences had much better r

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

@efle My C/P and B/B combined are 9 points lower than my CARS and Psych/Soc combined. My Psych/Soc is the highest. Does that count for anything? Unfortunatly I've heard that some med schools don't care too much about psych at all.

 

[md-2020]

The more pertinent question is how high is your overall score? 95th percentile (516ish) and above, that difference won't matter much b/c your P/S & CARS would be pushing 131/132. If 508, more of an issue.

 

[ADSigMel]

Following, because I'm in the same boat and have been thinking about this as well. My science section scores were both 127, with 132 in CARS and 130 in psych/soc. Nothing to do about it now, as I'm obviously not going to re-take a 516 - but I have wondered if my 516 is really evaluated as more of a 508-ish because of science scores being more heavily weighted by medical schools.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[efle]

@efle My C/P and B/B combined are 9 points lower than my CARS and Psych/Soc combined. My Psych/Soc is the highest. Does that count for anything? Unfortunatly I've heard that some med schools don't care too much about psych at all.

I have the same thought as md-2020. 132/131 and 127/127 is a 9 point gap, but still solid in the hard sciences. Something like 129/128 and 124/124 is the same gap but a bigger issue.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

The answer to your specific question is definitely NO. You will not be at a advantage/disadvantage compared to someone else as that kind of analysis is not done. You will be evaluated on your overall academic record and from BCPM, GPA, grade trends, additional work, MCAT scores (sub sections) and likely given an overall academic metric as a score or point or more generally as a classification from outstanding, excellent, above average, average, below average, subpar, unqualified or a similar array. All aspects of your app will be evaluated in a similar way. These will then be added and become primarily your review and interview priority . Direct comparison is never done

Let me put it this way. Would it have been better if I had the same overall score but my C/P and B/B scores and my CARS and P/S scores switched places? My overall score is near the median for most schools.