does ANY school look or use the writing sample??

[Dr. Wall$treet]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

man as pitiful as it is my best part of my mcat was a R in the writing. .it ws like 93rd percentile or something.. is that good for anythnign.. any school.. any freakin thing!!!! must be some odd school that appreciates a good score in the WS??

 

[lola]

if i were on an adcom, it might make me more accepting of a not so hot verbal score. other than that, i don't think it means much. i'd imagine different schools use the writing sample in different ways.

 

[lola]

moleculo uses his finger to pick his nose.

 

[jkway]

I think canadian med schools are the only ones that really care about it. Some of them actually factor it iin as a certain percentage of a final score when evaluating you. I've never heard of any US schools caring about it.

 

[marakah2]

i have heard that mayo requests a copy of the essays from the MCAT people

 

[Dr. Wall$treet]

well i would say hell ya cause i applied to mayo but if they actually read them.. man i just went offff about somem life issues that i may nto want them reading haha.. it scored well but as for the content. taht could be a def. negative on my apps. Man i started this process so glad they ddint score that **** and now im mad that they dont! ohhhhh well, maybe some adcom will see it and give me mercy for my lackluster 8 on the verbal

 

[doctamon]

Scary part is, I scored an S on my essay (by far the best score on my MCAT) and, as I recall, they were two of the worst essays I've ever seen (written by anybody) in my life. Oh Well!

 

[Sweet Tea]

Originally posted by doctamon
Scary part is, I scored an S on my essay (by far the best score on my MCAT) and, as I recall, they were two of the worst essays I've ever seen (written by anybody) in my life. Oh Well!

haha!! I got an R on the writing sample, and they were just about the worst essays I've ever written. I was trying to quote somebody in one of the essays, but I couldn't remember who said the quote. I ended up writing "The name of the author escapes me at the moment, but they said 'blah blah...'"

 

[Curci]

My writing section was incompatible with my verbal score too, but it was the other way around (verbal higher than writing.) This is also inconsistent with my background since I'm an English minor. 🙄 One interviewer commented on this. She said, "You know, we see this kind of thing all of the time. I don't know how they score the writing, but the scores seem to vary so widely that we don't really pay attention to that section at all. It was certainly a good idea, but it's really poorly executed."

So, this one interviewer at this one medical school seems to agree with the popular opinion that the writing section does nothing but delay processing of MCAT scores. I don't think that all of the schools completely dismiss the writing score, though.

 

[xaelia]

I don't think the writing score means anything unless you did exceptionally well (S or T) or exceptionally poorly (I don't even know how low it goes). An adcom at Pittsburgh noticed it, but only in the context that she really liked my personal statement and I had mentioned I liked to do creative writing in my free time - she's like, "aha, 12 on the Verbal...oh! and an S in the writing. Very good!"

I'd swap my 96th percentile from the writing sample with my 65th-80th percentile on Biological Sciences any day of the week....

 

[neuropsych]

One of my Kaplan MCAT instructors told me that the people who actually score the Writing Sample only spend a few seconds skimming each essay. She said to write a few impressive sentences with some "big words" at the beginning of each paragraph and fill the rest will sentences related to the opening sentence. I used this method and got an "S."

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by lola
moleculo uses his finger to pick his nose.

so what do you use.....? 😉

 

[lola]

i don't ever pick my nose 😉
doesn't woody look like he's picking his nose? ha ha ha ha ha

 

[kreno]

Yale must care because their average essay score is up there... around an R i think. I don't remember specifically - it's at their website... but their average essay scores are very high. therefore, they care.

 

[tBw]

Originally posted by kreno
Yale must care because their average essay score is up there... around an R i think. I don't remember specifically - it's at their website... but their average essay scores are very high. therefore, they care.

Maybe Yale doesn't look at the writing, it just ends up high because the people they accept tend to be high test scorers in the other sections - I don't know if theres a general correlation between sections (obviously there are many exceptions but it wouldn't surprise me if the overall pattern was correlated)

 

[JlazyMD]

I scored a 10B 12P 11V K - K is like 2 to 5th percentile.

I thought something was wrong, but my friend from college had a 12B 10P 12V K even more wrong.

I'm not sure what the med schools think of all this, though with a 3.5 (3.6 Sci) I've had 5 interviews with schools in the 30-50 range on the USNEWS list, and 1 accept so far (Jeff). So it can't be a total killer. But it may have been a factor at my not interviewing at the 15-30 range schools.

One more thing, when I mentioned my low score to my Tufts interviewer when she asked if there was anything I should clarify on my app, she didn't even know what it was. Tufts apparently doesn't even list the writing score on their file printout of each candidate. Guess I should have kept my mouth shut🙂

 

[xaelia]

They should take it into account:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/research/bibliography/hojat002.htm
Short version: The Writing Sample score is a better indicator of clinical performance than any other section of the MCAT.

 

[wolferman]

Originally posted by xaelia
The Writing Sample score is a better indicator of clinical performance than any other section of the MCAT.

Then apparently, I'm going to be a very average clinician. I got an O.

Ironically, I almost minored in writing during my undergrad. As best as I can figure, time is a big factor in my writing style. Given lots of time I can create decent works, but under the time constraint of 30 mins, all I can manage is average. I should've used more big words.😉

 

[Chieka]

Originally posted by
I think canadian med schools are the only ones that really care about it. Some of them actually factor it iin as a certain percentage of a final score when evaluating you. I've never heard of any US schools caring about it.

At the University of Western Ontario, the writing sample can make or break your app. After you've received and interview, it counts for 12.5% of your final evaluation. Verbal counts for another 12.5% BS and PS don't count at all in the final analysis.

C.

 

[Apollyon]

Damn damn damn!

If I'da only known...

Kaplan coached me to an S, and I grew up just south of Buffalo...I know "O Canada", I can name all the provinces, I speak French, and I know where Kamloops, Moose Jaw, and Thunder Bay are! And forget the Buds - go Habs!

Seriously, though, one residency director was saying how 80% of published research is crap, with a signifigant part being that so many doctors can't write worth a damn.

What a farce. Even so, I guess they have to pay lip service to literacy.

 

[Medici]

The U of Alberta will be using the MCAT writing sample instead of the essay starting next year...

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by xaelia
They should take it into account:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/research/bibliography/hojat002.htm
Short version: The Writing Sample score is a better indicator of clinical performance than any other section of the MCAT.

No, that's not what it says. It says the writing sample has a higher correlation with clinical performance than with any other indicator. The study didn't compare the predictive value of other sections of the MCAT for clinical performance.

 

[xaelia]

Originally posted by Chieka
After you've received and interview, it counts for 12.5% of your final evaluation. Verbal counts for another 12.5% BS and PS don't count at all in the final analysis.

Whoa, they're actually up on their research. In addition to the publication cited above backing up the viability of the writing sample, there's this one that discusses the Verbal score:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/research/bibliography/velos001.htm
Short version: MCAT science scores are better predictors of scores in preclinical examinations than undergraduate science GPA. Verbal scores are a better predictor of preclinical and clinical success in medical school than measures of basic science preparation. Asian-Americans also surprisingly underperform in medical school relative to their qualifications.

As for the actual writing sample section itself...ungh, I wrote two mindless, formulaic essays that simply regurgitated the form I had been taught to answer their double-sided question. I would be embarassed to read them again, but I got a pretty good score....

 

[xaelia]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz
No, that's not what it says. It says the writing sample has a higher correlation with clinical performance than with any other indicator. The study didn't compare the predictive value of other sections of the MCAT for clinical performance.

Hm, I think you're right. I was recalling the other article I had read that was interested in comparing the predictive value of different sections of the MCAT.

 

[Meridian]

They should just cut the bullsh!it about being wellrounded and not even test us on the writing...

 

[Meridian]

actually, nevermind.. it has to do with clinical performance.. or something...

 

[Chieka]

Originally posted by Apollyon
I know "O Canada".

Ah, but do you know it in French? 😉

C.