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Thanks.
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Hi y'all. My stats are: 3.5 sgpa [strong upward trend, 3.9 for ~70 credits], 3.6 cgpa, and between a 34 and 35 on the new MCAT. My ECs are good: years of bench and clinical research, 999+ community service hours and physician shadowing, multiple leadership positions. 7 strong LOR and master's degree is almost complete.Unfortunately, I have a 24 on the old MCAT from 2 years ago. How damaging is that 24? I have gotten 3 interviews, but from schools that are quite far away...was hoping to do better with my home state, NY [schools such as downstate, upstate, hofstra, buffalo]. I know it is still early, and that patience is a virtue, I'm just...wondering how adcoms would look at that 24.
Thanks.
Many would suggest to average your two scores for a rough idea of where you stand, so around 30 in this case.
It's highly school specific though, as some will take only your highest score, some will take your most recent score, some will average, some will aggregate the best subsections, etc. In my experience this information is rarely given outright, but you might want to verify the websites/call admission offices of the schools you are interested in anyway.
I don't specifically know about NY.
Good luck!
Hi y'all. My stats are: 3.5 sgpa [strong upward trend, 3.9 for ~70 credits], 3.6 cgpa, and between a 34 and 35 on the new MCAT. My ECs are good: years of bench and clinical research, 999+ community service hours and physician shadowing, multiple leadership positions. 7 strong LOR and master's degree is almost complete.Unfortunately, I have a 24 on the old MCAT from 2 years ago. How damaging is that 24? I have gotten 3 interviews, but from schools that are quite far away...was hoping to do better with my home state, NY [schools such as downstate, upstate, hofstra, buffalo]. I know it is still early, and that patience is a virtue, I'm just...wondering how adcoms would look at that 24.
Thanks.
For schools that average, like mine, it will hurt you, but not lethally if you can pull a 34-35.
Many schools "say" they superscore or take the most recent/best score, but AAMC (the MCAT people) suggest that scores be averaged, and you never know how any individual screeners or interviewers will view the old exam.
If you pull a 35, I'll give you advice on schools as if the 35 is the only score. Good luck!
I had a 26 on my first MCAT in 2013 and a 34 on an MCAT in 2014, which would average to a 30. I have 5 interviews already. If the MDAPPS ever gets linked back, check out the schools I applied to and where I have interviews. I don't think many schools average, lots take the most recent. Good luck to you.Hi y'all. My stats are: 3.5 sgpa [strong upward trend, 3.9 for ~70 credits], 3.6 cgpa, and between a 34 and 35 on the new MCAT. My ECs are good: years of bench and clinical research, 999+ community service hours and physician shadowing, multiple leadership positions. 7 strong LOR and master's degree is almost complete.Unfortunately, I have a 24 on the old MCAT from 2 years ago. How damaging is that 24? I have gotten 3 interviews, but from schools that are quite far away...was hoping to do better with my home state, NY [schools such as downstate, upstate, hofstra, buffalo]. I know it is still early, and that patience is a virtue, I'm just...wondering how adcoms would look at that 24.
Thanks.
I agree with averaging like or identical tests, but how can your school average the old and the new MCAT? The AAMC has blatantly stated that they are not the same exam, and that all changes were made with the intent of differentiating the two. They added extra questions to improve the validity of individual scores, used a new scoring scale (they said this was done on purpose so people don't try to compare the two), and stated that the new 500 is very telling of one successfully passing their boards (based on their own empirical research).
To take the percentiles of the two and average them when 25% of one exam doesn't even exist in the other is not very wise IMO. Obviously it's cool taking a look at the two and weighing them based how the school values each exam, but to say hey let's just meet in the middle of the two and say this is what you're made of is far from being objective.
Does averaging/superscoring etc. still apply even with the new MCAT taken into account (one old and one new to make it simple)? I thought the two exams were of different types, so adcoms would probably look at overall percentiles and compare them in parallel, rather than engaging in various metrics.
Yes; we just use percentiles.
I agree with averaging like or identical tests, but how can your school average the old and the new MCAT? The AAMC has blatantly stated that they are not the same exam, and that all changes were made with the intent of differentiating the two. They added extra questions to improve the validity of individual scores, used a new scoring scale (they said this was done on purpose so people don't try to compare the two), and stated that the new 500 is very telling of one successfully passing their boards (based on their own empirical research).
This is my entire issue with the AAMC's "good will" with saying schools should be more holistic in their screening. It is never going to happen. Simple supply and demand economics - schools will keep taking the best students (which often translates to highest GPA/MCAT) because they can. Unfortunately I think the AAMC ultimately failed to change the process.
Good will/holistic policy won't work for reasons you mentioned, but if schools are interested in boosting their stat averages, it only does them service by taking the highest/recent MCAT score. Here, it would be the 2015 MCAT score, which is great since that is what the AAMC wanted to focus as well; otherwise, there is zero reason to change the exam in the first place.
the issue is that the AAMC claims to have reworked the exam to get away from focusing on high numbers.
I like the idea of a HP/P/F MCAT (or even just P/F). Ultimately, the purpose of the MCAT is to determine if you can take a gigantic standardized test. It is to provide a measure of standardization between schools with wildly disparate grading scales for GPA. Because of this, it makes sense to answer the question about standardized tests with a "yes/no" binary answer. Schools would focus more on the attributes that make someone an ideal physician than simple test scores.