FIRST MCAT 28 SECOND 25

  • Thread starter Thread starter deleted516829
  • Start date Start date
Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
The drop in your MCAT basically killed any chance you had at MD...extracurriculars aren't stellar either. You may have a shot at DO.
 
Unfortunately, your chance of getting into a USMD school is essentially nil. Most DO schools will not be too interested in a 3 point drop. Definitely figure out where you've gone wrong and retake once you're consistenly scoring in the 30s (or whatever the new equivalent is).

Edit: typo.
 
Last edited:
100% agree. You would get rejected from my school.

LChristmas said:
Unfortunately your chance of getting into a USMD school is essentially nil. Most DO schools will be too interested in a 3 point drop. Definitely figure out where you've gone wrong and retake once you're consistenly scoring in the 30s (or whatever the new equivalent is).
Click to expand...
 
My condolences, a loss in the family is a terrible thing. You don't realize how adversely it can affect you until you go through it. I too lost my grandmother at the beginning of this year and it was heart breaking considering she played a pivotal role in raising me... That being said I highly suggest getting yourself together and retaking that mcat... If you went from 25-28 then you might have a slight MD shot with a solid DO shot, and in that case most here would again tell you to retake... But 28-25 is a definite retake for MD...
You may try to find some non-clinical ECs too!
Best of luck and again, sorry for your loss.
 
A decent number of schools consider only the last MCAT taken, or only the highest score. Luckily for you, your GPA and extracurriculars look great. I don't think you're out of the running for MD just yet, but you need a GREAT score on the retake (Eg. ~34+). Keep in mind that the new MCAT has more sections, and will likely be more difficult. It will take A LOT of effort to do well.
 
I'm sorry about your grandmother. Under those circumstances it would have been wiser to reschedule your MCAT or to void your score. You're gonna have to retake, man.
 
Yingxin said:
August 2014 MCAT - 28
Janurary 2015 MCAT -25
GPA 3.80
One Research Publication (second author)
Hospital volunteering 125 hours
Shadowing 50 hours
Secretarial position in a club

I'm assuming that I'm screwed over by my second MCAT score. But would there be any MD options at this point?

If I retake yet another MCAT, it would be the new 2015 version MCAT, and I'm not sure how med schools would interpret 2 old scores and one new score from the new version.

Advice is appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...

Schools will regard your score highly if you get a score that's equivalent to a 30+.

What were your breakdowns each time?
 
A 3.8 with excellent research experience isn't dead in the water. You just need to really break the 80th percentile on the new exam. I think you can do this, given that your previous bad score was due to circumstances beyond your control (outside of voiding)
 
Definitely should retake. I agree :/ 28 would be solid for DO, but the drop is bad news
 
wannabeMD38 said:
My condolences, a loss in the family is a terrible thing. You don't realize how adversely it can affect you until you go through it. I too lost my grandmother at the beginning of this year and it was heart breaking considering she played a pivotal role in raising me... That being said I highly suggest getting yourself together and retaking that mcat... If you went from 25-28 then you might have a slight MD shot with a solid DO shot, and in that case most here would again tell you to retake... But 28-25 is a definite retake for MD...
You may try to find some non-clinical ECs too!
Best of luck and again, sorry for your loss.
Click to expand...


Hi! I'm sorry about your grandmother. That's a very difficult thing to experience.
I'm definitely going to buckle down this summer for some MCAT studying. Given that I'm going to graduate this spring, I may sign up for a Princeton course to give me some good help, hopefully.
 
Yingxin said:
August 2014 MCAT - 28
Janurary 2015 MCAT -25
GPA 3.80
One Research Publication (second author)
Hospital volunteering 125 hours
Shadowing 50 hours
Secretarial position in a club

I'm assuming that I'm screwed over by my second MCAT score. But would there be any MD options at this point?

If I retake yet another MCAT, it would be the new 2015 version MCAT, and I'm not sure how med schools would interpret 2 old scores and one new score from the new version.

Advice is appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...
apply to DO schools--you'll definitely get in somewhere with those numbers. and sorry to hear about your grandmother--hope youre doing well.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
apply to DO schools--you'll definitely get in somewhere with those numbers. and sorry to hear about your grandmother--hope youre doing well.
Click to expand...
If disagree. A 3 point drop, especially to below most averages, would really hurt and I don't think he'll definitely get in.
DO schools also don't care about research as much as MD schools.
 
samac said:
If disagree. A 3 point drop, especially to below most averages, would really hurt and I don't think he'll definitely get in.
Click to expand...
wrong. a 25 mcat is above or equal to most DO school averages: http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm
although his 28 -> 25 mcat is not ideal, it will not "really hurt"

samac said:
DO schools also don't care about research as much as MD schools.
Click to expand...
this isn't even a fact--its just your opinion (and a pretty irrelevant one, at that). the OP's research can only help and most certainly will not hurt him/her
 
samac said:
DO schools also don't care about research as much as MD schools.
Click to expand...

This depends completely on the school.... some MD schools value community service, leadership, etc over research and some DO schools value research over community service, leadership, etc.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
wrong. a 25 mcat is above or equal to most DO school averages: http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm
although his 28 -> 25 mcat is not ideal, it will not "really hurt"


this isn't even a fact--its just your opinion (and a pretty irrelevant one, at that). the OP's research can only help and most certainly will not hurt him/her
Click to expand...
I definitely think it will hurt to have a 3 point drop but you can think what you want. He would stand a chance at newer DO schools, but I don't think he'd stand a chance at those who are more established.
And I definitely wasn't trying to say his research would hurt! I guess I worded that poorly. Research just tended to be an additive. Some DO schools don't even have any research opportunities, and they sell it as caring more about training practitioners, not researchers. I think that's blowing smoke and an excuse for not having it, but in no DO interview did we discuss my 4 years of research, but we did in my MD interview.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
wrong. a 25 mcat is above or equal to most DO school averages: http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm
although his 28 -> 25 mcat is not ideal, it will not "really hurt"


this isn't even a fact--its just your opinion (and a pretty irrelevant one, at that). the OP's research can only help and most certainly will not hurt him/her
Click to expand...

@Goro works with one of the DO schools and says "100% agree. You would get rejected from my school."

I think his opinion is valid in that it's definitely a red flag. Not saying it's impossible but I think the auto-reject button might get triggered in a couple of places.
 
I'm just wondering why you decided to retake in the first place? Cited from AAMC graphs, unless you were Asian with your stats you had a 50/50 (granted, not great ) chance at MD schools and you live in Florida. You also had an excellent shot at DO schools. Now that you've put yourself in a rut, all you can really do is apply DO and/or retake the MCAT. Good luck to you, and sorry about your loss!
 
palatopharyngeus said:
wrong. a 25 mcat is above or equal to most DO school averages: http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm
although his 28 -> 25 mcat is not ideal, it will not "really hurt"

this isn't even a fact--its just your opinion (and a pretty irrelevant one, at that). the OP's research can only help and most certainly will not hurt him/her
Click to expand...

Those stats are almost 10 years old.

The Touro DO schools are at 30 and MWU-AZCOM doesn't even interview a majority of applicants <27 until the very end of the season.

His instate schools are LECOM-B and NOVA. Both had an average of 28 when I applied.
 
palatopharyngeus said:
wrong. a 25 mcat is above or equal to most DO school averages: http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/ranmcat.htm
although his 28 -> 25 mcat is not ideal, it will not "really hurt"


this isn't even a fact--its just your opinion (and a pretty irrelevant one, at that). the OP's research can only help and most certainly will not hurt him/her
Click to expand...
Wrong. Last year, the average MCAT for DO matriculants was 27.21 +/- 3.13, the average GPA was 3.53 +/- 26, and the average sGPA was 3.46 +/- .29. Use current data and from good sources in the future.

http://www.aacom.org/reports-programs-initiatives/aacom-reports/matriculants
 
Props to reviving such an old thread to give an update. that first score of a 28 is going to really be hard to overcome because a 507 is only a 1-2 pt increase. I wish you the best of luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
  • Question Question
Retaking MCAT on 6/28, should I submit secondaries before or after getting new score?
Replies
12
Views
2K
LindaAccepted
LindaAccepted
D
First B
Replies
9
Views
831
2026PreMed
2026PreMed
kaytea
Second look dilemma
Replies
3
Views
1K
AJS59
AJS59
Mr.Smile12
SDN Article: 25 Best Pieces of Advice
Replies
0
Views
482
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Mother Teresa
Haven't heard back from 20/28 schools
Replies
6
Views
2K
LindaAccepted
LindaAccepted
Top