High GPA, Low MCAT Please help!

[dnielkng]

---

Members do not see this ad.

3.77 GPA from Berkeley, but 30Q mcat with a low verbal at 11, 8, 11.

I am in the process of applying at the moment, but for those of you who had previous experience or know of any previous experiences of this case, do you think I should include reasons for the low mcat score in my written applications (primary/secondary)?

Especially some secondaries for some schools have questions asking to talk about things in my application that would "concern the admissions board."

Or is it better to just leave that until potential interviews if they ask or to bring it up then?

My main priority is to get an interview at the moment so was wondering if I should talk about it in my written applications.

Btw, my reason is that I was overconfident in my ability to balance and study for the test. I self-studied (no prep course) while taking courses, doing research, volunteering at a hospital, working with a child as a mentor, and carrying out duties in a student organization as a teaching assistant. Also, I took the mcat late last semester so I didn't have too many opportunities to retake the test prior to submitting my primaries.

Any advice is sincerely appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

[ShenanigansMD]

I would let them bring it up, unless they ask specifically about your academic record. I would think they get this explanation a lot, and I don't mean to say you don't have valid reasons, they just get used to this kind of explanation.

If you have something more interesting to say, write about that.

 

[Iso4ane]

I would let them bring it up, unless they ask specifically about your academic record. I would think they get this explanation a lot, and I don't mean to say you don't have valid reasons, they just get used to this kind of explanation.

If you have something more interesting to say, write about that.

30's not low low, but is definitely not at the level of top tier schools

 

[dnielkng]

Yeah I know, I applied to mid-low range schools to maximize my chances. I feel that there are plenty of great primary care programs out there that are not of the supposed "top tier" schools.

Anyway, so if a question specifically asks to talk about something that might be of concern to the admissions officers, then I should avoid the topic of my MCAT score?

I feel like nothing else from my application really compares to that though. It's like the elephant in the room..

 

[dnielkng]

The thing I'm afraid of is that they might think 1) I didn't study a lot. 2) I prioritized other things over the MCAT. And I'm sure both of those things are both really bad.

But those things are definitely not true, I studied a lot for a long time, but it was just really spread out and I would have to take breaks sometimes during midterm/finals weeks. And self-studying, I studied a bit wrong in that I didn't actively memorize as much as I should have and I didn't have the full-focus, concentrated time period that most students have.