Does Mcat Matter During Residency?

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medcurious

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I am wondering if when applying to residency program, one puts his mcat score on his cv or is the mcat not appropriate? Also, for letters of recc, can you ask someone to write one now, knowing u wont be in residency until 3 yrs from now, and then send it out when its time to apply to residency. (because they will probably forget alot about u if 2 or 3 yrs go by and then u ask for one)

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No to both questions.

The MCAT is only for admission to medical school. Program director's could care less if you scored well in physical science, etc.

The LOR should come from someone that knows you as a med student. By far the most common letters come from those attendings whom you rotated with as a third/early fourth year student.

BTW I never put any board scores on my CV either. This type of info is usually submitted separately.

Sounds like you are either an incoming first year or rising second year. It is a good idea to think about what aspects of your CV is important to improve your chances for matching, as well as LOR. Extra curriculars, getting published, and awards are probably the only thing you can do to minimally help your matching success right now. Of course, the most important part is usmle step I score. You should worry about LOR's once you decide on a specialty, which for most is during third year. Good luck with everything.
 
I actually heard of a couple programs in some fields (neurosurg, maybe?) asking for MCAT scores, but it is vanishingly rare. After you get into med school, the only time your MCAT score ever comes up is if you are talking to someone about it.

When you apply to residency they care about different standardized tests (USMLE I and II).

LORs generally need to be written and dated within the year before you apply and interview. Some programs will actually put that comment in their application info. You can go back and get one from someone you worked with previously, if you really want to, but it can't be written 3 years in advance.
 
ENT asks about MCAT and even high school performance, according to our ENT program director. I though th at was silly! He says it gives an idea of your long term performance. Stupid. That was 12 years ago. Screw ENT.

The chairman of my plastics program was interested in my MCAT score. I modeled my CV after the PD's CV. Just the Step 1/2 scores on my CV, listed under "license", which I put just after education. This gives them the immediate information that you passed, or whatever, if you did well and would be interesting to them - saving them the trouble of looking elsewhere for such simple but important information.
 
Thanks alot guys!
 
There were programs in ortho that asked for both MCAT and SAT scores. No joke. You will never fully be able to leave them behind.
 
OSU03 said:
There were programs in ortho that asked for both MCAT and SAT scores. No joke. You will never fully be able to leave them behind.


lol, do they also want to know what your grades were like in elementary school?
 
Some Plastics programs will also ask for MCAT and undergrad grades.

As Pikeville notes, you don't typically put your scores on your CV. Under licenses and exams, I note the dates of passing the USMLEs, but actual scores can be obtained from other sources so no need to mention them here.
 
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