explaining low verbal to med schools

[chintu]

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Hi
I would appreciate if you guys can give me some advice on my situation. I took the mcat last august, scored 11P, 12B, 6V. I am applying this year; The 6V worries me. I am still thinking whether I should take mcat again this aug, i really doubt i would improve any. I am an ESL student, so my premed advisor advised me to explain my english weakness in my personal statement and also to get a teacher to somehow mention in my rec letter that my english communication is good despite that low verbal. I doubt if this will help me being looked favorably by med schools; on the contrary i think it will emphasize in the eyes of ad com that I had a poor verbal score and that english is not my native lang. Just to give some background info about myself, I am a biochem major from UNC Chapel Hill, 3.85 overall, 3.87 sci gpa; decent extracurriculars (rsrch, volunteer, emt, shadow, TA, peer tutor), good LOR. What do you guys suggest I do?

Thanks
chintu

 

[jennie 21]

I'm not an expert, but I think adcoms will cut you some slack on the verbal score if you just recently learned English. How long ago did you move here? It will help you a lot that you are coming from UNC with such a high GPA; UNC is a strong school so the grades you earned there should count for more than if they were from a school nobody had ever heard of. How many English (non-ESL) or other humanities classes have you taken, and what kinds of grades did you earn in them? If you've earned good grades in humanities and other classes with a lot of reading and writing, that should help counteract your verbal score somewhat. That being said, I think your best bet would be to raise your verbal score. Have you taken a prep course such as the Princeton Review? I did and can vouch that those courses really can help, as long as you do your part and put the time in studying. Take a review course, re-take the MCAT, and hopefully you'll bring up your verbal a few points.

 

[deez4life]

hello my desi friend. you know, i've actually got a cousin named chintu... about 6 of them 🙂

anyhoo, if you've had access to english for less than 5 years, you should definitely mention it in your application somewhere. that 6V needs to be explained, regardless of how well you did on the other parts of the mcat. under ordinary conditions, a 6V should warrant a retake for you to be a competitive applicant. if you let adcoms know that you are an ESL student, then the 6V won't be viewed in such a negative light. in fact, you should try and make up for it by communicating well in your personal statement, secondary essays, and interviews.

if you truly believe that english was sufficient enough a barrier to your education and performance on the mcat, then you should additionally address that on your amcas application in the section where they specifically ask, "Was your education disadvantaged in any way?"

seems like you kicked arse at unc, and you've got your ec's and lor's covered. if you think you can improve on your mcat, then take it again; if not, then two 6V's in a row won't help your cause.

good luck 🙂

 

[Catalyst]

I think it's hilarious how often people who are currently applying (*cough*deez4life*cough*) give advice to others who are also applying... shouldn't the ones giving advice be people who've already been through the process? 🙂

Sachin

 

[Creightonite]

Man your stats are VERY good except that VR score. If you want to submit your app ASAP do so explaining your score. However, know that some school would screen apps on computer without really looking into personal statement. You have a risk to be thrown out in the competetive schools. If you can, retake the test in august. Variantions +/- 1 point would not do any good/bad for you in the science sections. But a gain of at least 1 point in VR might mkae a difference.

 

[Creightonite]

BTW, English is my second language too. I got a 6 on MCAT last and did not get in... I am getting a MS right now. Good luck. You have got some good numbers there.

 

[deez4life]

Originally posted by SachinG
I think it's hilarious how often people who are currently applying (*cough*deez4life*cough*) give advice to others who are also applying... shouldn't the ones giving advice be people who've already been through the process? 🙂

Sachin

ah, good to feel the fellow uva love coming through. normally i wouldn't give out extended advice, but judy levine (of examkrackers.com fame) answered the above query in exactly the same way. i just essentially regurgitated it. she gets a lot of queries about ESL and low verbal scores, and she answers prescribes them as above. since she's a previous adcom head director, i think she knows best. 🙂

i'm just dr.-in-training deez trying to help out a fellow brown man who might not know better. shouldn't you be doing the same, sach? after all, you're the one who introduced me to both of these sites. 😉


p.s. CHINTU ---> refer to www.examkrackers.com/forums and then go to "Admissions Roundtable with Judy Levine." you can actually ask her yourself, it's free!!!

 

[medicine2006]

Personally I know adcoms hear a lot of stories about low verbal scores because of english being a second language. I am pretty certain they will give you slack considering the circumstance if they feel that your communication skills are adequate, this is where communicating well during the interview counts!

I used to think that verbal meant a lot to schools but it seems that it means less to them. I know of so many stories of people with below average V score getting into good schools but rarely does a low Bio or physics score.

Heck my college roommate at UCLA got a 7V 15P 14B and some aweful writing sample score and just graduated from Harvard med. Granted his status as a minority must have helped ease the pain of a 7.

I got an 11 on my verbal and 10's on the other two sections and got rejected by 17 schools the first time I applied.

Just glad I'm a second year med student now.

 

[Nakhrewali]

Do all Indos have multiple cousins named Chintu, Bunty, Pinku, Minku, Rinku and Chhotu? haha.. sorry it's late and I found the 6 cousin Chintu comment quite amusing. Happy Studying. 😉