In Need of Advice, Subpar MCAT Score Received Today

[effjay]

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[MMADoc]

When are you applying?

 

[effjay]

When are you applying?

Applying for this cycle, hopefully submitting AMCAS in the next 7-10 days.

 

[IwannabeDrP]

Definitely apply! 31 is a good score, and your GPA is just fine. Your ECs are comprehensive too. As long as you interview well, I'd say you stand a real good chance at being accepted to an MD school

 

[effjay]

Definitely apply! 31 is a good score, and your GPA is just fine. Your ECs are comprehensive too. As long as you interview well, I'd say you stand a real good chance at being accepted to an MD school

IwannabeDrP, I really appreciate the comment. Just curious, any experience with some of these schools? Any comparable stats that you are aware of? Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

[effjay]

Anyone else? Sorry for the bump.

 

[IwannabeDrP]

I don't have experience with NY schools as I focused in more on Illinois, but with your stats (3.67 cGPA and 31 MCAT) you stand a 72% chance of being accepted somewhere. Those are good odds!

If your willing to spread the net a bit, I've seen some lists from put out by Catalystik and the following would be reasonable given your GPA, MCAT, and ECs.

Loyola, RFU, UKentucky, Creighton, Albany, SUNY Downstate, Hofstra (new), Jefferson, MCW, UIllinois, Wayne, Buffalo, Toledo, UNebraska, Drexel, Temple, Vermont, Arizona, GWU, FIU, Louisville, Tulane, NYMC, MUSC, SCarolina, Florida Atlantic University (new), Rush, Michigan State, Oakland (new).

As long as your normal, I'd be very surprised if you didn't get some in-state love.

 

[effjay]

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[IwannabeDrP]

"I had an IA situation as a freshman undergrad first semester student, being in a room with alcohol. Though I didn't consume, I was still in the presence of it within the dorm, so I got written up for a campus violation. To make a long story short, on my AMCAS, I did include an explanation of why I made the choice to stay, what I realized by my choice, and how I found a way to change my approach to the college experience immediately after this incident first semester."

Ah didn't see that..... Where on your AMCAS did you address it? Was it in the part where it said,"have you been subject to IA, yadayada"? Or did you address it in your PS? Are you positive it is on your official record?

If you werent even drinking, and you made this explicitly clear, it shouldn't be a big problem. Granted, a small red flag is nonetheless a red flag, and there are a lot of applicants with your stats. I feel for you though - i've been in a lot worse of situations when I was younger and immature, and thankfully wasn't caught. We all do stupid **** when we're young

 

[flatearth22]

If you don't get accepted it won't be your MCAT score that kept you out but rather something else in your application as you scored about median for accepted students and hit at least a 10 on all subsections (now if you had gotten a 7 or an 8 in one section that might warrant a retake) .

Your IA shouldn't be THAT big a deal as long as you explain it. Although I could imagine if there was another applicant with identical stats and PS and LOR's as you but with no IA they might give the nod to him/her...but that isn't something you can control.

What were you averaging on your AAMC FL's? If you were consistently getting 35's and 36's and you just had a bad day on the real deal then it might be worth it to retake. Otherwise submit early and, more importantly, be complete early (secondaries and LOR's received).

Good luck!

 

[effjay]

Ah didn't see that..... Where on your AMCAS did you address it? Was it in the part where it said,"have you been subject to IA, yadayada"? Or did you address it in your PS? Are you positive it is on your official record?

If you werent even drinking, and you made this explicitly clear, it shouldn't be a big problem. Granted, a small red flag is nonetheless a red flag, and there are a lot of applicants with your stats. I feel for you though - i've been in a lot worse of situations when I was younger and immature, and thankfully wasn't caught. We all do stupid **** when we're young

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[Swiss Medical]

Stats:
At Cornell, just finished 3rd year.
AMCAS Cumulative GPA: 3.67
AMCAS Science GPA: 3.60
AMCAS Non-Science GPA: 3.94
MCAT: 31O | P11/V10/B10 (Should I retake?)
Did about 700 hours of clinical research at Weill Cornell helping with study on atrial fibrillation surgical repair procedure called Cox-Maze.
A semester of lab research studying memory consolidation and discrimination in mice.
Student Advisor (RA-type) position in dormitory for year, second year beginning this upcoming fall.
80 hours as Emergency Dept Volunteer at local hospital, serving as research intern for clinical research.
Teaching Assistant for Biochem.
Week-Long Externship at LIJ Shadowing GI's.
Tech Chair for two clubs (one premed, one honors).
Typical office job for approx. 40 hours.

Schools of Interest:
Stony Brook University - School of Medicine
SUNY at Buffalo Medical School
SUNY Upstate Medical University
State University of New York Downstate Medical Cen
Tufts University School of Medicine
New York University......3.83gpa/sgpa (matr.)
Mount Sinai School of Medicine 3.6s/gpa
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Den
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Dartmouth Medical School
New York Medical College
Hofstra University School of Medicine

Something worth mentioning: I had an IA situation as a freshman undergrad first semester student, being in a room with alcohol. Though I didn't consume, I was still in the presence of it within the dorm, so I got written up for a campus violation. To make a long story short, on my AMCAS, I did include an explanation of why I made the choice to stay, what I realized by my choice, and how I found a way to change my approach to the college experience immediately after this incident first semester.

Any comments/criticism welcome.

Yea, you see the schools I highlighted above might be reach schools. For example, Sinai and Yeshiva have about a 34.6 median mcat score for accepted applicants. Your gpa is fine, but I am not sure of the cut-off for most of these schools. However, i would advise you to strap on albany medical college on your list. Your stats are an excellent fit for the school. hmm...Most of the SUNYs have an avg gpa of 3.7 and an mcat of 10.3P...

O look.... You went to Cornell..I kinda overlooked that.....I am not sure how that will help...

Good luck.

 

[effjay]

I appreciate it Swiss Medical. Thanks for your words of advice. Definitely will consider it as I reshuffle my list of schools to apply to.

Any thoughts on Stony Med? That's a target for me, particularly because of costs. Realistic option or nay?

 

[flatearth22]

I appreciate it Swiss Medical. Thanks for your words of advice. Definitely will consider it as I reshuffle my list of schools to apply to.

Any thoughts on Stony Med? That's a target for me, particularly because of costs. Realistic option or nay?

Stony's GPA is a little higher than yours (like 3.75 or so) and their MCAT is higher as well (33). I think coming from Cornell will help though, despite what many premeds on SDN think about all UG's being looked at the same. Adcoms will give you a slight GPA boost.

 

[Swiss Medical]

Stony's GPA is a little higher than yours (like 3.75 or so) and their MCAT is higher as well (33). I think coming from Cornell will help though, despite what many premeds on SDN think about all UG's being looked at the same. Adcoms will give you a slight GPA boost.

Yea, you are in good shape to me.

-You came from a respectable undergraduate school.
-Good gpa and mcat
-I think you should get secondaries for all of them (most of these schools screen at 3.5, 32)

BUT regardless of what I said, you should still apply to all of them.....

 

[LegendaryPunk]

Thanks once again for the post bud, I really appreciate your input. Any thoughts on how much an IA incident first semester freshman year would affect those chances you mentioned? Would that significantly make me 'not normal'?

I can't find the topic off-hand, but I remember reading a comment from LizzyM saying that as long as it is not a serious (i.e. criminal / go to jail) alcohol violation and there have been no repeat offenses, most adcoms won't give it a second thought.

Just remember that at one point they were human too

 

[effjay]

Thanks for all the feedback. Means a great deal to me guys.

I had included these reach schools on my AMCAS:

Weill Cornell
Columbia P&S
Duke
Johns Hopkins

But it seems like they're all crapshoots and maybe I should shoot for some other OOS's as IwannabeDrP said:

"Loyola, RFU, UKentucky, Creighton, Albany, SUNY Downstate, Hofstra (new), Jefferson, MCW, UIllinois, Wayne, Buffalo, Toledo, UNebraska, Drexel, Temple, Vermont, Arizona, GWU, FIU, Louisville, Tulane, NYMC, MUSC, SCarolina, Florida Atlantic University (new), Rush, Michigan State, Oakland (new)."

I figured I'd keep Weill in the list because I spent a good deal of time doing clinical research there and one of my LORs are from a surgeon teaching there and working at its associated NYPH.

 

[effjay]

Just out of curiosity, is a PS11/V10/B10 a balanced-enough score for matriculation? Although I know a 31O isn't a fairly high score, does the balance in my three subjections somewhat counteract the low score and make me noteworthy to some of the aforementioned schools?

Most of the schools I've been looking at -- and some of the ones that Catalystik has mentioned in other threads -- seem to have higher median/average MCAT scores (~32-33) so would a retake be necessary given this balance?

 

[Whatyousay]

I had been averaging about a 31-32, so I guess it was right around target. I wasn't sure if the 31 with the IA would be too much of a damage to my overall application.

Just out of curiosity, is a PS11/V10/B10 a balanced-enough score for matriculation? Although I know a 31O isn't a fairly high score, does the balance in my three subjections somewhat counteract the low score and make me noteworthy to some of the aforementioned schools?

Most of the schools I've been looking at -- and some of the ones that Catalystik has mentioned in other threads -- seem to have higher median/average MCAT scores (~32-33) so would a retake be necessary given this balance?

If you hadn't been scoring significantly higher on your practice tests, I'm not sure what you'll accomplish with a retake.

If you retake and make the same score, you'll have delayed submitting your application (you can verify your app before then, but schools won't evaluate you until they see your final MCAT score) for nothing, which can only hurt you at the end of the day.

 

[Iswhatis]

Dude, relax. Don't be so neurotic. You have numbers to get interviews. What you do with those is up to you, but breaking free of this 31 MCAT doom and gloom should be a priority before you freak out your interviewer.

 

[SteveJMarist]

I have similar stats, and it saddens me that you see them as subpar . I agree with the above posts- I think applicants like you and I have a shot.

 

[Swiss Medical]

I have similar stats, and it saddens me that you see them as subpar . I agree with the above posts- I think applicants like you and I have a shot.

You mean like the Mavericks last night..!!!

You guys have way more than a shot. Just don't only apply to those upper-tier reach schools...apply to safe ones too...

 

[SteveJMarist]

You mean like the Mavericks last night..!!!

You guys have way more than a shot. Just don't only apply to those upper-tier reach schools...apply to safe ones too...

Haha I hope we do as well as the Mavericks have up to this point. I'm applying to very few upper-tier schools myself. Only two, really. 32 reasonable ones!

My ECs are lighter than his, but I am a non-trad with interesting work experience.

 

[effjay]

Dude, relax. Don't be so neurotic. You have numbers to get interviews. What you do with those is up to you, but breaking free of this 31 MCAT doom and gloom should be a priority before you freak out your interviewer.

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[effjay]

I have similar stats, and it saddens me that you see them as subpar . I agree with the above posts- I think applicants like you and I have a shot.

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[effjay]

And yes -- let's go Mavs! Dirk and Terry have been incredible.

 

[effjay]

Sorry for the multiple posts -- Didn't want to make multiple threads regarding my questions about MCAT and AMCAS app. For the Work/Activities section, would you recommend only listing experiences accumulated during my 4 college years? Even if impressionable premed experiences occurred during HS as well? And are we expected to come up with our own "Experience Name" for each?

 

[PressPforPi]

Sorry for the multiple posts -- Didn't want to make multiple threads regarding my questions about MCAT and AMCAS app. For the Work/Activities section, would you recommend only listing experiences accumulated during my 4 college years? Even if impressionable premed experiences occurred during HS as well? And are we expected to come up with our own "Experience Name" for each?

Only mention high school activities if you continued them in college.

Yes, just provide a decent description and your role in said activity.

 

[SteveJMarist]

SJM, I've been following you since you got your score back from the 4/16 MCAT. Like I mentioned in my post above this, I was worried how a 31 + IA would mess with my app. But I actually wanted to get in touch with you because of the similarity in our scores. I guess "subpar" was the wrong use of words.

Yea, I can see your concern for some of those top-tier schools, but we're def competitive at the average schools. We may be "subpar" for your SDN superstar, but compared to most premeds, we're in pretty good shape I think. BTW we have almost identical scores- mine was an 11, 10, 10 as well but I got a Q on the writing. I do think that all of our scores being a 10+ will definitely help. According to Georgetown, "anyone with a 10+ in every section is considered highly competitive", so schools of that caliber are interested in what we have to offer.

Sorry for the rambling. That is me just being optimistic about both of our stats. I wish you luck.