I got an S for my Writing Sample, which puts me up in the 96-99 percentile for that section, but my Verbal Reasoning is only decent (<10). Do schools put much emphasis on writing sample at all? What do you think?
How important is the Writing Sample score?
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I did well in writing as well, but horrible in VR. I dont quite understand the purpose of the VR section. To me, this section is like the analogies that used to be on the SAT, but I still practices a lot for the VR section and it did not show.
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A good WS score won't make up for a lower VR score. Schools don't care about the WS because they don't get to see what you wrote. The VR score and your essays are all they look at. From personal experience: At all of my interviews so far, at least one interviewer commented on how well written my essays were, while no one has mentioned my M. BTW, an M is like the 25th percentile.
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Long Dong said:
Agree. An adcom member told me that they only look at the writing sample section if the letter score is "unusually low". Otherwise it doesn't count for much.
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My Kaplan instructor mentioned that there are a few schools that value the writing sample score. But by enlarge most schools do not give it significant weight. The problem, from my understanding, is that the writing sample score does not correlate to medical school/boards success, while the other MCAT sections are a pretty good predictor of later success.
BTW, I don't think schools completely ignore it, although I wouldn't be surprised if some do. But it's given very little weight.
I too am not sure why the writing sample exists.
BTW, I don't think schools completely ignore it, although I wouldn't be surprised if some do. But it's given very little weight.
I too am not sure why the writing sample exists.
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The writing sample is graded from 2-12 numerically (1 point for each essay is the worst score you can get; 6 for each is the best). The fact that this score is then not represented numerically immediately suggests to me that the AAMC does not want the writing sample to be considered as important as the rest of the test. If they wanted it to be equally important, they'd have kept it as a numerical score. If they wanted it to be just a bit less important, they'd have scored it from A (= 2 points) to K (= 12 points). However, the fact that it runs from J - T indicates to me that they just don't want it to matter all that much (as it's more difficult to interpret).
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thegenius said:
I think its purpose is to wear students down before the biology section. AAMC is so evil.
To the OP: I don't think it is important at all in the US. However, some if not most schools in Canada have strict cutoffs for the writing sample; failure to meet them will automatically disqualify your application regardless of how stellar it may be. Canadian schools are also evil.
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desiredusername said:
That's true in some good science fiction I'm currently reading. In my branch, making that mistake as a trainee will prompt a particularly strenuous exercise named "gender benders" while you chant, "Ma'am, you're a ma'am not a sir, 1 ma'am. Ma'am, you're a ma'am not a sir, 2 ma'am...." Outside of training it will just get you looked at as a *****.
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desiredusername said:
No it's not! It's "by enlarge" when you've had 2 glasses of wine.
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Ha ha! I was just giving you hard time. When you use a name like "thegenius" you're asking for smart ass comments. I'll stop busting your chops now.thegenius said:
