Does Writing Sample Matter

[Wildebeast]

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Hello,

I was wondering if writing sample matters very much...especially if it is an extreme score, like a T.

 

[SearsTower]

ha-ha, no one answered u.

 

[AggieJohn]

Someone posted earlier, and I can't remember the name, that they scored well and got a T in the writing section, but later was asked by an interviewer what "the letter beside your score means."

 

[frostynorthwind]

I have to agree that the T doesn't seem to matter very much, however, I had a few of my recommenders comment on my demonstrated verbal reasoning ability. Both specifically commented on the disparities between an 8 in VR and my T on the writing sample, so even if the adcoms didn't "know what that letter beside my score" meant, they read about it in my LORs...

 

[JustR]

Hello,

I was wondering if writing sample matters very much...especially if it is an extreme score, like a T.

Writing sample shows your writing credibility? How much you can write within an hour? Are you able to develop coherent ideas and able to synthesis in a coherent manner within an hour or not? As from what I have known T is the best letter grade while J is the lowest grade you can get on a writing sample. But, don’t you fear about getting a low score on a writing sample, I think it comes into consideration when two applications with the same criteria are tied. Then the writing sample becomes the matter of sprinkling your application a little. Or else, don’t worry too much about the writing sample letter grade.

 

[doctorJP]

Writing sample shows your writing credibility? How much you can write within an hour? Are you able to develop coherent ideas and able to synthesis in a coherent manner within an hour or not? As from what I have known T is the best letter grade while J is the lowest grade you can get on a writing sample. But, don’t you fear about getting a low score on a writing sample, I think it comes into consideration when two applications with the same criteria are tied. Then the writing sample becomes the matter of sprinkling your application a little. Or else, don’t worry too much about the writing sample letter grade.

On that note, how much can I write in an hour? What does reading through a bunch of passages quickly and answering a ridiculous amount of questions ascertain about my abilities? Its not that I don't understand the questions, its that I don't have enough time to thoroughly read through each passage and grasp all concepts. Give people enough time and they could probably prove the existence of God (and no that is not the ontological proof proposed by Kurt Godel). The writing sample is the same as the other sections of the MCAT, so if you are going to say something about the time limit, I think it should be directly applied to all sections of the MCAT.

I wonder if the MCAT really measures our ability to understand concepts presented in their passages for VR, BS, and PS under strict timelines. Now I would be impressed if you had passages from 18th english or Shakespeare and were asked to interpret them, or maybe some of the works of Richard Feynman or John Wheeler, now that would measure a persons level of comprehension, critical thinking, and analytical thinking.

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

i don't know if the writing sample is considered important by admissions committees. think of it this way, however: suppose you're an attending, and you're working the graveyard shift. a resident hands you a report on a patient. it is your responsibility to see that this patient doesn't die. imagine that the report the resident gives you is so bad, that it would score a "J" on the writing sample. it says things such as "patient seems sad." obviously, that is not preferable to a report that would score a "T," which might say something more meaningful that could help save the patient's life.

so even if the writing sample isn't considered important by stuffy bureaucrats on admissions committees, it's perhaps the only important section for that poor graveyard shift attending! ha ha