How important is the writing section on the MCAT?

[tostra]

Well the dreaded MCAT scores have finally arrived!!!! However, the result is not at all what I had hoped for

(10-V,9-P, 10-B, J) My question is how bad will that "J"

on the writing sample hurt my chances? I am not at all illiterate, just a bad day I guess. I know the rest of my scores are nothing to write home about either, but from what I gather from previous posts they're not bad enough to exclude me from a realistic shot at getting in (I hope!!). The rest of my stats are as follows: 3.78 GPA, 3.91 SCI GPA, tons of research, some volunteering, and about a year of clinical exp working with physical therapists in an inpatient setting. Bottom line, should I bite the bullet and retake the MCAT in Aug or give it a shot with my current status? Thanks in advance to all those that reply!!!

[This message has been edited by tostra (edited 06-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by tostra (edited 07-06-2000).]

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[tostra]

C'mon people certainly someone has an opinion or advice on the above post. Please help a guy out.

Thanks!!!!

 

[PimplePopperMD]

I must confess that I don't recall how the writing sample is scored (J-T?)...
But I am sure that I'm not alone in this deficiency. In fact, a classmate got the lowest writing score (he seems to think that it may have been lost or something), and during the interview, was congratulated, because the committee seemed to think that it was one of the highest scores.
Moral: Nobody knows, and I suspect that nobody cares. If they do, it will be addressed in the interview, and you can tell them that you are indeed literate, and you just finished reading Ayn Rand's ?tlas Shrugged, and thought it a bit pedantic.

Best of luck.

 

[Pepe]

I wouldn't worry about it. I don't remember the scoring system either but as long as it isn't rock bottom no one seems to care. Speaking of scoring what would be wrong with A-F? The rub of the whole MCAT thing is it is the essay that takes so long to grade, but it is the least important thing out of your whole application at least as far as I am concerned. It looks like you are in line for some interviews though so good luck

 

[dlbruch]

Tostra- I scored 30 on the MCAT with an N on the writing sample, which is not particularly good. It was never mentioned in my interview, so I tend to think it is not much of a factor in admissions.

 

[tostra]

Thanks all for the reply!!! This perhaps may shed a little more light on the issue. For those that don't remember, the writing sample is graded from J-T, meaning my score of "J" is rock bottom!! I would love to believe, it doesn't matter, and if anyone has any testimonial that it truly doesn't matter I would love to hear about it.

Thanks!!!

 

[WishUponAStar]

Hey,

I have a 27 N. I'm planning on getting accepted into an osteopathic school this time around. Sure it isn't a J, but its still not all that great. I think the median is an O. The dean of admission's at one major osteopath school didn't even glance at the writing score when I had a conference with him.

I would apply to all the private D.O. schools in the U.S. AND your state D.O. school(s). You're bound to get accepted to at least one of them. I hope you don't mind traveling away.

W.

 

[jcollings]

I have a friend who is a third year at UT Houston. He was a student on the admissions commitee there last year. He said they didn't even look at writing sample scores. Prior to interview, only ps, bs, v, gpas, and letters of rec. were examined.

 

[tostra]

Thanks all, I think I may ride it out and apply anyways. You know, anything to avoid having to take that damn test again....YUCK!!