Does an "L" ruin your chances?

[A Brandsdorfer]

I currently have a 3.95 GPA with a 4.0 science GPA and I got a 33 on my MCAT (9 VR, 11 BS, 13 PS) but I also received an "L" on the writing section. I have a number of EC's (EMT, volunteer at hospital, on exec board of my fraternity...), I'm a NY resident, and I'm not looking to go for any IV schools, any medical school would be great. Will this L hinder my acceptance to a school/ should I retake the whole exam?

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[MilkmanAl]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Unless you get a J or K, the writing section is almost universally ignored. It's possible that some school somewhere will fault you for getting an L (those intravenous schools are really picky sometimes), but with a 3.95/33, you're going to be fine.

 

[ThaliaNox]

Totally don't sweat a writing score. Schools judge your writing ability based on your application essays. The scoring on that section is so wacko that it is impossible to interpret... hense schools having averages around P and ranges from J-T... in other words, all across the spectrum.

 

[J ROD]

There's a writing section.....

there's your answer....dont matter...unless you are Canadian.

 

[A Brandsdorfer]

awesome, thank you all for your quick responses, this really is taking a lot of pressure off me.

 

[J ROD]

awesome, thank you all for your quick responses, this really is taking a lot of pressure off me.

the pressure of that WS is a female dog!!

 

[jpatel]

I have received an L on writing as well with 31 MCAT. I seriously dont know how they grade this ****. Anyways, I bought MSAR and bottom 10th percentile for almost all schools is M. L is not even included. + only 200/1800 applicants got in as L. How do u guys intrepret this

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'd say that the majority of people who get an L also have a craptastic MCAT score to go with it.

 

[teenmachinery1]

Does L stand for lucy or larry? I forget.

Either one should be fine.

 

[Morsetlis]

I'd say that the majority of people who get an L also have a craptastic MCAT score to go with it.

I think it took only a single day of coaching on the writing section for me to get an amazing score on it. The trick is simple: Have a few "references" to quote/draw from (I use Inferno, Decameron, and House MD), keep updated on news, and write about 10 mini-essays on medical ethics and personal struggles. Draw from your own personal statement. Voila.

 

[J ROD]

I wrote a couple of sentences and used the rest of the time as another break before BS section.

 

[MDMBS]

I have received an L on writing as well with 31 MCAT. I seriously dont know how they grade this ****. Anyways, I bought MSAR and bottom 10th percentile for almost all schools is M. L is not even included. + only 200/1800 applicants got in as L. How do u guys intrepret this

Unless my memory fails me, I remember something quite different from the MSAR. I'm pretty sure the writing section shows a Bimodal distribution for students being accepted graphed by writing score. This directly means that a high percentage of students with ~L scores are accepted. This indirectly proves the irrelevance of the writing section score.

 

[Morsetlis]

"bimodal distribution" is also known as "disruptive selection" in biology ;p