HELP! need advice for MCAT retake! CA res

[drycorn3]

Hey, so I've posted here before but I just took the MCAT and I probably bombed it. I was getting anywhere from 26-30 on the AAMC practice tests but I'm not confident it went well. I need adivce!!! Should I continue studying now and retake in July??? Or should I wait and see what I get? Would it be too late to apply in August? I was really hoping to apply in June but... On the flip side, should I just wait til the next cycle and really do better on the MCAT.

Some other info that may help. I'm an URM (Hispanic female) in CA. My gpa is 3.94 at state school. I have over 1.5 years of research and over 250 hrs volunteering in hospitals. I just don't know about my lacking performance on the MCAT. I was planning on applying to schools that are "nice" to URMs and some state schools...

ANY advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

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[drycorn3]

ANY advice would help at this point. Just have no idea what to do

 

[aspiringdoc09]

First, calm down and take a deep breath! Exhale! August is not that late if you are only waiting on a score to become complete. You may have done better than you thought on the MCAT.

Options:

Well you can continue to study and sign up for another test date if you feel you need a retake and if you do better then cancel. You'll lose a little bit of money. If you do have to retake, at least you would have been studying and have a test date and site.

I'm not sure about schools that are nice to URMs except HBCUs and PR schools, but I'm pretty sure you need to be aligned with their mission. Most of the schools are required (don't quote me on that) to take a small percent of URMs to increase diversity. Your GPA is great and clinicals look good. Are you applying to MD and DO? The advice on here is to apply early and broadly. Apply to schools you know you will apply to when application opens (as long as application is complete and strong) to get verified. You can add schools later based on your stats. I am taking my MCAT on July 6th, and hope to be complete by August. Try prewriting secondaries to your schools too. I think applying early is great advice if you are an average applicant like me (3.5 cGPA).

People on here tend to be neurotic (I need a 4.0/45T types), so don't get to sucked in but do take what good advice is given and use it (i.e. applying early to a few schools to get verified fast). Technically, the adcoms aren't suppose to look at your application until you post an MCAT score, and if you put in the application that you are taking a later test, then they are suppose to hold off.

 

[drycorn3]

thanks so much! that really helps! i mean yeah the advice here just generally tends to look like "apply early with high MCAT score." I think I'm going take that advice and just register for a July MCAT and decide to retake when I get my score at the end of June. Just studying gain sucks

Any advice on practice tests? I already took all the AAMC ones and didn't really think the Kaplan ones were indicative of a "real" score???

 

[sakhiyat37]

thanks so much! that really helps! i mean yeah the advice here just generally tends to look like "apply early with high MCAT score." I think I'm going take that advice and just register for a July MCAT and decide to retake when I get my score at the end of June. Just studying gain sucks

Any advice on practice tests? I already took all the AAMC ones and didn't really think the Kaplan ones were indicative of a "real" score???

This is my dilemma exactly. My score comes out in 2 weeks ughh

 

[MMPman]

thanks so much! that really helps! i mean yeah the advice here just generally tends to look like "apply early with high MCAT score." I think I'm going take that advice and just register for a July MCAT and decide to retake when I get my score at the end of June. Just studying gain sucks

Any advice on practice tests? I already took all the AAMC ones and didn't really think the Kaplan ones were indicative of a "real" score???

The Berkeley Review. I think they are by far the best non AAMC tests. Plus, my practice scores were pretty indicative of the real thing. My last two Berkeley Review exams were 31 and 33, and my actual score was a 32.

Good luck! Try to relax. A bad score will not kill your chances. My first MCAT attempt was a 22! I retook it and scored a 32. I got 6 MD interviews, with Duke and Mayo being among those.