Holy cow! Geffen?! Nice man, congrats!
Lol 508-512 certainly isn't average, it's the 80th-90th percentile
Yeah I get that, but when someone calls a 512 "average," it perpetuates the common myth that people should retake scores that are around the 90th percentile, which is a dangerous idea. There are about a billion threads on SDN of people asking if they should retake solid scores, and the answer is almost always no. Just trying to prevent that misconception.
URM? Veteran status? Peace Corps? Fullbright scholar?
I'm black, took one gap year, and I don't fit any of the others you listed.
Congrats but I do think your situation is a little different as a URM; you are right not to have listened to this thread lol.
I don't think my situation is any different. Being URM makes no difference when you have people with the same stats than me or better with no acceptances. That's why I say school choice matters. I applied to schools that fit my own life goals and philosophies. I didn't apply blindly and assume that all that matters is my mcat score. It happens time and time again. Applicants with 515+ mcat scores that receive no interviews and have to reapply because they picked a bad list. The only reason i say this is that no one else that is URM is made to feel bad about their acceptance because of their status. 🙂
Being URM does make a difference. Id refer you to the infamous AAMC Table 24.
It wasn't a slug to the countless
This isn't a slug at all to the countless number URMs, myself including, that have worked hard to get to where they are.
They stated that they were happy they didn't listen to people in this thread because of their success, which is great.
Can't see something that's not there
To be fair, we can all agree that it would be unwise for an ORM applicant with a 500 to only apply to nine MD schools and no DO schools. So it is important to state things like URM/veteran status when posting in threads that are directly linking stats to application success, because they make a difference.
I acknowledge that applying with a 500 is risky but I took that risk knowing my potential and what I can bring to a medical school. But I also think people need to be mindful of using the URM status or even the veteran status as the ONLY reason why someone is offered acceptance to a med school. I can acknowledge at this point in education race matters, but to make it seem like it is impossible to get in with one blemish (a 500 mcat score) on your application is absurd and down right discouraging. If I listened to this thread I would have waited and retook the mcat for a 3rd time which I know would have done more harm than good. But at the end of the day no one can tell you the best time to apply. That's up to the applicant
I'm definitely not saying it's impossible, because clearly it's possible if your application has other strong factors. The purpose of this thread was to directly link MCAT to success, and I personally find it helpful to include that I was ORM when I posted so that people can compare themselves to me if they are in a similar position.
