International student, 516 MCAT, 3.99 cgpa (also should I retake MCAT?)

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Faha said:
You do not need to retake the MCAT. You should receive interviews from your list.
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Thank you! Do you have any suggestions about what other schools I should apply to or what schools I should take off from the list? Also, do you think I should apply to DO schools? (although I do prefer MD)
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thank you! Do you have any suggestions about what other schools I should apply to or what schools I should take off from the list? Also, do you think I should apply to DO schools? (although I do prefer MD)
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Remove the schools that matriculated 2 or fewer internationals. They are likely to be internal candidates.
 
gyngyn said:
Remove the schools that matriculated 2 or fewer internationals. They are likely to be internal candidates.
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Thank you! I checked the MSAR and I think I will remove Wayne state (mostly/only accept Canadians) and maybe Rochester and Uchi, although my advisor encouraged me to apply to Uchi as she said they accept internationals...

Also do you think my MCAT is not competitive for those schools or my gpa and EC can make up the MCAT a little bit? It's just because about half of the schools on the list have a median MCAT higher than 516.
 
@Goro @LizzyM Saw a lot of people doing this...I would really appreciate more insights from you, especially about whether I'd better to retake MCAT or I would have a chance with this score as an international student. I heard a mixed opinions on this, especially my school's premed advisor suggested me to retake
 
Goro said:
Do NOT retake!!!!!
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Thanks for the reply! Do you think I would really have a chance for MD since I am international also Asian? I am not trying to convince myself for a retake (it's so hard to improve cars) but I really need some honest prediction for my chances...
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thanks for the reply! Do you think I would really have a chance for MD since I am international also Asian? I am not trying to convince myself for a retake (it's so hard to improve cars) but I really need some honest prediction for my chances...
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A chance. Yes.
 
Also would love to hear feedback from @gonnif
Do you think given that I am international, would I have a (good) chance to get into a MD program or I should retake a 516 for a 520+? (saw your reply in another post and you seem to have interesting opinions!)
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Do you think it would be a relatively good chance or close to slim (sorry for being neurotic)? Also, what would you suggest about my school list or my app in general?
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Chances are always slim for international students. Your school list should have those schools that accepted more than 1 or two students from outside the US
 
What were your practice MCAT scores? If you were consistently scoring 518+ (particularly with an improvement in CARS), I think it might be worth retaking.

If you have a 3.98 sGPA / 3.99 cGPA at a T20 University, it would not be out-of-line to think you have not reached your 'upper limit' for the MCAT. If you always struggled with CARS, however, you might be better off focusing on other aspects of your application.
 
ForgetfulDemon said:
What were your practice MCAT scores? If you were consistently scoring 518+ (particularly with an improvement in CARS), I think it might be worth retaking.

If you have a 3.98 sGPA / 3.99 cGPA at a T20 University, it would not be out-of-line to think you have not reached your 'upper limit' for the MCAT. If you always struggled with CARS, however, you might be better off focusing on other aspects of your application.
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The practice scores for the first MCAT were not high-my highest was a 518. I haven't done any practice test for the retake yet, but have only focused on CARS for half a month and saw minimal to no improvement...(I used TPR CARS book and UWorld)
My preparation for the first MCAT was not great, I did not even finish the AAMC materials and I thought about voiding, but my advisor convinced me not to.
 
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onedaymore1128 said:
The practice scores for the first MCAT were not high-my highest was a 518. I haven't done any practice test for the retake yet, but have only focused on CARS for half a month and saw minimal to no improvement...(I used TPR CARS book and UWorld)
My preparation for the first MCAT was not great, I did not even finish the AAMC materials and I thought about voiding, but my advisor convinced me not to.
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Hard to say what to do with this information. When you say you did not finish the AAMC materials, what do you mean by that? Did you finish at least the three practice tests and the unscored practice test?

I only used the AAMC materials after content review and my scores were x -> x+4 -> x+4 (unscored exam) -> x+8 -> x+9 (actual) so if you did not finish all of those exams you may not have reached your limit. I should mention, however, that I had a bunch of other third party exams taken between my FLE #1/#2 and between FLE #2/#3. I also should mention I improved my CARS by 4 points from FLE #1 to FLE#3/Actual exam. Ultimately, I found that I ""knew"" when I reached my upper plateau and its really up to you to decide whether or not your MCAT preparation was sufficient.

I also do not know much about the standards for international students but that's just my opinion and experience.

I only knew one international med (male, from China) student from my home University and he told me he was 2 points below the average MCAT for the incoming class (on the old scale) mostly because of the reading section which would probably mean his score was comparable to yours. This gave me the impression that Universities might be more forgiving towards people not raised in the States for the reading section but I might be wrong based on what other people say above. If nothing else, it hopefully gives you a sense that there are international medical students from Asia who manage to get in without needing a 520+!

Hope this helps! Again, I am just another student so my advice is by no means gospel.
 
ForgetfulDemon said:
Hard to say what to do with this information. When you say you did not finish the AAMC materials, what do you mean by that? Did you finish at least the three practice tests and the unscored practice test?

I only used the AAMC materials after content review and my scores were x -> x+4 -> x+4 (unscored exam) -> x+8 -> x+9 (actual) so if you did not finish all of those exams you may not have reached your limit. I should mention, however, that I had a bunch of other third party exams taken between my FLE #1/#2 and between FLE #2/#3. I also should mention I improved my CARS by 4 points from FLE #1 to FLE#3/Actual exam. Ultimately, I found that I ""knew"" when I reached my upper plateau and its really up to you to decide whether or not your MCAT preparation was sufficient.

I also do not know much about the standards for international students but that's just my opinion and experience.

I only knew one international med (male, from China) student from my home University and he told me he was 2 points below the average MCAT for the incoming class (on the old scale) mostly because of the reading section which would probably mean his score was comparable to yours. This gave me the impression that Universities might be more forgiving towards people not raised in the States for the reading section but I might be wrong based on what other people say above. If nothing else, it hopefully gives you a sense that there are international medical students from Asia who manage to get in without needing a 520+!

Hope this helps! Again, I am just another student so my advice is by no means gospel.
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Thank you so much for your reply! I did finish all AAMC full length exams, but did not review FL1 and the Sample. FL1 and 2 were both 512, and after 4 days I took FL3 and it was 518. For other materials, I was mostly done with the section banks and cars qpacks, and did 2 NS FL. For the content, I skimmed through orgo and crammed the psych but other than that I think I studied hard on content. I do think that if given another month or two, I can increase my score to ~520, but I don’t really think I could get 129+ on cars. I scored 126 on all practices (AAMC +NS, finished in 1.5 month), except that I scored 131 on Sample and 128 on Fl3. My hesitation was just I am applying this cycle and I am not sure if it is better to retake and apply late, or just apply as early as I can.

Also, it is just very stressful to retake the MCAT…especially when I am applying at the same time
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thank you so much for your reply! I did finish all AAMC full length exams, but did not review FL1 and the Sample. FL1 and 2 were both 512, and after 4 days I took FL3 and it was 518. For other materials, I was mostly done with the section banks and cars qpacks, and did 2 NS FL. For the content, I skimmed through orgo and crammed the psych but other than that I think I studied hard on content. I do think that if given another month or two, I can increase my score to ~520, but I don’t really think I could get 129+ on cars. I scored 126 on all practices (AAMC +NS, finished in 1.5 month), except that I scored 131 on Sample and 128 on Fl3. My hesitation was just I am applying this cycle and I am not sure if it is better to retake and apply late, or just apply as early as I can.

Also, it is just very stressful to retake the MCAT…especially when I am applying at the same time
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I gotcha. I think you are correct in that you could probably squeeze out 3+ more points (I go to what is likely a comparable institution and basically everyone above a 3.90 for the past three years seems to have gotten a super high-percentile MCAT score, with 3.95+ people always mapping to an even-higher MCAT score) should you pace out your schedule and truly digest the content.

I will say, however, that I personally think your lower MCAT is understandable given that CARS really dinged you and you were not born in the states (which you can explain in interviews). Also, your academic record is killer and that really speaks to the abilities that would translate to medical school. Based on what visiting admissions officers to my University tell me, admissions committees respect performance at a T20 school so that could attest to your academic achievements. The stats on AAMC's website substantiate this; you'll find that no school has a GPA median above the GPA standard deviation for medical school matriculants (3.96) while many schools have medians above the MCAT standard deviation for medical school matriculants (517). This indicates that medical schools are 'bypassing' some of the lower MCAT/higher GPA people (predominantly from less-rigorous institutions where it is easier to get a high GPA) in favor of the converse (likely students from highly-ranked schools). I have personally heard this a few times from reputable sources and it intuitively makes sense since medical schools are hopefully looking more for substance rather than stats. This is, however, more of a somewhat-substantiated and often-repeated theory more than anything else. From what I can tell, the MCAT mostly standardizes applicants and show medical schools how you may perform across institutions. Your GPA at a highly-ranked institution shows that you already more than checked that box. I also imagine many medical schools could simply fill their slots with the highest-MCAT applicants but choose not to because they want students who can succeed in many metrics; GPA is a stronger indicator of academic success in this realm. Getting a 3.99 at an intense school is impressive and I would hope that admissions officers would agree that you could succeed in any medical school.

On the other hand, I could see why you may want to retake. It sounds like you have a lot of potential room for improvement (even in CARS) because things were so rushed. The MCAT is an important part of the admissions process and it is hard to confidently apply to schools that may just knock you off because they are hyper stats-focused. It doesn't look like you have any of these hyper-stats focused schools on your list aside from WashU, so you could be in a good spot.

Other people would better be able to assess how admissions officers would view this lop-sidedness. You can probably find a million different interpretations on this website (e.g. someone saying "it's understandable and as a medical school I would not doubt his/her abilities given his/her crazy GPA" to "as an international student, we want to make sure he/she is super proficient in English for the sake of medical school") so I would consult someone who has concrete experience in this field. I am assuming your school has a pre-med advisor so I would trust his/her opinion. I tend to stray away from sites like SDN and reddit because I find the culture a bit toxic and that a lot of people do not necessarily know what they are talking about.

I cannot say what you should do, especially given that I know little about how the process works for international students. If I were in your shoes, however, and felt as if I could write secondaries quickly and perform well under pressure, I would retake the MCAT. I know this is likely not what you want to hear but it's just my personal belief since you could likely squeak out 3+ more points. You probably don't need to wait until 6/28 truthfully; it seems like you just need to let things meld together which should take less than a full month given your MCAT experience thus far. You already have your personal statement done and can submit your AMCAS first thing ("applying blind"), indicate that you will have additional MCAT scores sent down the line, work on secondaries through July, and then receive the score back. You can always decide not to retake the MCAT should you not see your scores improving substantially leading up to the test date or void your score on the test date. If you feel as if studying for the MCAT up to 6/28 would make it so you could not finish most of your high-priority secondaries by August, however, I would not retake the MCAT. I know plenty of people who had very successful cycles who did not submit all of their secondaries until late August so I would not feel too pressured to have all of your essays submitted super early in the cycle if that makes a difference.

Again, all of this is just an opinion from someone who really does not know what he is talking about! I would advise you to talk to your pre-health advisor and take everything I (and everyone else on this site) have to say with a grain of salt. I would personally respect either route you take with respect to the MCAT and wish you best of luck regardless. Feel free to message me if you have other questions!
 
ForgetfulDemon said:
I gotcha. I think you are correct in that you could probably squeeze out 3+ more points (I go to what is likely a comparable institution and basically everyone above a 3.90 for the past three years seems to have gotten a super high-percentile MCAT score, with 3.95+ people always mapping to an even-higher MCAT score) should you pace out your schedule and truly digest the content.

I will say, however, that I personally think your lower MCAT is understandable given that CARS really dinged you and you were not born in the states (which you can explain in interviews). Also, your academic record is killer and that really speaks to the abilities that would translate to medical school. Based on what visiting admissions officers to my University tell me, admissions committees respect performance at a T20 school so that could attest to your academic achievements. The stats on AAMC's website substantiate this; you'll find that no school has a GPA median above the GPA standard deviation for medical school matriculants (3.96) while many schools have medians above the MCAT standard deviation for medical school matriculants (517). This indicates that medical schools are 'bypassing' some of the lower MCAT/higher GPA people (predominantly from less-rigorous institutions where it is easier to get a high GPA) in favor of the converse (likely students from highly-ranked schools). I have personally heard this a few times from reputable sources and it intuitively makes sense since medical schools are hopefully looking more for substance rather than stats. This is, however, more of a somewhat-substantiated and often-repeated theory more than anything else. From what I can tell, the MCAT mostly standardizes applicants and show medical schools how you may perform across institutions. Your GPA at a highly-ranked institution shows that you already more than checked that box. I also imagine many medical schools could simply fill their slots with the highest-MCAT applicants but choose not to because they want students who can succeed in many metrics; GPA is a stronger indicator of academic success in this realm. Getting a 3.99 at an intense school is impressive and I would hope that admissions officers would agree that you could succeed in any medical school.

On the other hand, I could see why you may want to retake. It sounds like you have a lot of potential room for improvement (even in CARS) because things were so rushed. The MCAT is an important part of the admissions process and it is hard to confidently apply to schools that may just knock you off because they are hyper stats-focused. It doesn't look like you have any of these hyper-stats focused schools on your list aside from WashU, so you could be in a good spot.

Other people would better be able to assess how admissions officers would view this lop-sidedness. You can probably find a million different interpretations on this website (e.g. someone saying "it's understandable and as a medical school I would not doubt his/her abilities given his/her crazy GPA" to "as an international student, we want to make sure he/she is super proficient in English for the sake of medical school") so I would consult someone who has concrete experience in this field. I am assuming your school has a pre-med advisor so I would trust his/her opinion. I tend to stray away from sites like SDN and reddit because I find the culture a bit toxic and that a lot of people do not necessarily know what they are talking about.

I cannot say what you should do, especially given that I know little about how the process works for international students. If I were in your shoes, however, and felt as if I could write secondaries quickly and perform well under pressure, I would retake the MCAT. I know this is likely not what you want to hear but it's just my personal belief since you could likely squeak out 3+ more points. You probably don't need to wait until 6/28 truthfully; it seems like you just need to let things meld together which should take less than a full month given your MCAT experience thus far. You already have your personal statement done and can submit your AMCAS first thing ("applying blind"), indicate that you will have additional MCAT scores sent down the line, work on secondaries through July, and then receive the score back. You can always decide not to retake the MCAT should you not see your scores improving substantially leading up to the test date or void your score on the test date. If you feel as if studying for the MCAT up to 6/28 would make it so you could not finish most of your high-priority secondaries by August, however, I would not retake the MCAT. I know plenty of people who had very successful cycles who did not submit all of their secondaries until late August so I would not feel too pressured to have all of your essays submitted super early in the cycle if that makes a difference.

Again, all of this is just an opinion from someone who really does not know what he is talking about! I would advise you to talk to your pre-health advisor and take everything I (and everyone else on this site) have to say with a grain of salt. I would personally respect either route you take with respect to the MCAT and wish you best of luck regardless. Feel free to message me if you have other questions!
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Oh wow thank you so much!!

My premed advisor did advise me to retake and her reasoning is that the adcoms need to make sure I am proficient in English, although I do hear opposite opinion that adcoms are more lenient with the CARS score of international students. If I am going to retake, I think I can finish most secondaries in July and early August, and finish everything in late August - which I think is still an okay timeline.

Half a month is definitely not enough for me lol since I need to really improve my CARS, also I do research full-time now until mid-June, so I think 6/28 is a good test date for me. However, I don't really think I can void/cancel the test once I indicate on the AMCAS that I am going to retake? Correct me if I am wrong. So I am going to practice for the next two weeks since I am done with the personal statement and most of the activities, and see how much I improve. If not a lot (like still score around 518 with a 126/127 CARS lol), maybe I would choose not to retake.

Again, thanks again for your great advice!
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Oh wow thank you so much!!

My premed advisor did advise me to retake and her reasoning is that the adcoms need to make sure I am proficient in English, although I do hear opposite opinion that adcoms are more lenient with the CARS score of international students. If I am going to retake, I think I can finish most secondaries in July and early August, and finish everything in late August - which I think is still an okay timeline.

Half a month is definitely not enough for me lol since I need to really improve my CARS, also I do research full-time now until mid-June, so I think 6/28 is a good test date for me. However, I don't really think I can void/cancel the test once I indicate on the AMCAS that I am going to retake? Correct me if I am wrong. So I am going to practice for the next two weeks since I am done with the personal statement and most of the activities, and see how much I improve. If not a lot (like still score around 518 with a 126/127 CARS lol), maybe I would choose not to retake.

Again, thanks again for your great advice!
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Better to finish secondaries in early July with a 516 than apply in August with a score that may or may not be slightly higher. Timing is more important than 2-3 points on the MCAT. Don't retake the test.
 
neuro312 said:
Better to finish secondaries in early July with a 516 than apply in August with a score that may or may not be slightly higher. Timing is more important than 2-3 points on the MCAT. Don't retake the test.
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I definitely see the value of applying early, and that is what makes me debate a retake rather than going straight into a retake. I do think either way has its pros and cons, and it is really hard to accurately tell the future. Since I mostly finished my primary, I would stick with practicing for MCAT for like 2 weeks and see my improvement (if any) and decide. I just really don't want to regret afterwards that what if I retake the test if I do have the ability to increase the score substantially. I mean, if I really reached my upper limit for CARS (which unfortunately seems like I did as I had minimal improvement in CARS after two weeks of practice), I would just take what it is and move on and apply early.

Anyways, thanks for your advice!
 
onedaymore1128 said:
I definitely see the value of applying early, and that is what makes me debate a retake rather than going straight into a retake. I do think either way has its pros and cons, and it is really hard to accurately tell the future. Since I mostly finished my primary, I would stick with practicing for MCAT for like 2 weeks and see my improvement (if any) and decide. I just really don't want to regret afterwards that what if I retake the test if I do have the ability to increase the score substantially. I mean, if I really reached my upper limit for CARS (which unfortunately seems like I did as I had minimal improvement in CARS after two weeks of practice), I would just take what it is and move on and apply early.

Anyways, thanks for your advice!
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Just keep all this in mind:

1) you would need to score 520+ for it to even seem worth it to T20 adcoms

2) retaking a 516 in general, which is sufficient to get accepted to lots of MD schools, may be viewed poorly by mid-tier schools regardless of how you score because it subtly indicates you view them as a backup

3) even if you score higher on CARS, there is zero guarantee you will score 130s across the board on the other 3 again.

4) scoring a 520+ only improves your chances at maybe 5-8 schools on your list. It’s the rest of your app that’s important.

That’s the last I’ll say because ultimately it’s your choice but probability strongly advises against doing this
 
neuro312 said:
Just keep all this in mind:

1) you would need to score 520+ for it to even seem worth it to T20 adcoms

2) retaking a 516 in general, which is sufficient to get accepted to lots of MD schools, may be viewed poorly by mid-tier schools regardless of how you score because it subtly indicates you view them as a backup

3) even if you score higher on CARS, there is zero guarantee you will score 130s across the board on the other 3 again.

4) scoring a 520+ only improves your chances at maybe 5-8 schools on your list. It’s the rest of your app that’s important.

That’s the last I’ll say because ultimately it’s your choice but probability strongly advises against doing this
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Thanks a lot! I understand these and I will take these into account when making the final decision (tbh I am more towards not retaking when making this post because I did not see any improvement in CARS and I feel it would be more helpful to just focus on all other parts of the app)

Also, would you mind telling me what those 5-8 schools are? I felt like half of the schools on my list have a median MCAT higher than 516 though
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thanks a lot! I understand these and I will take these into account when making the final decision (tbh I am more towards not retaking when making this post because I did not see any improvement in CARS and I feel it would be more helpful to just focus on all other parts of the app)

Also, would you mind telling me what those 5-8 schools are? I felt like half of the schools on my list have a median MCAT higher than 516 though
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Cornell
Northwestern
Stanford
Columbia
UChicago
WashU
Yale

There’s some other ones where you’re below the median like Sinai, Duke, Pitt, Case, and UVA but (I think) you can still be competitive with a 516 and a good app, especially given that you have a perfect GPA from a difficult undergrad
 
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neuro312 said:
Cornell
Northwestern
Stanford
Columbia
UChicago
WashU
Yale

There’s some other ones where you’re below the median like Sinai, Duke, Pitt, Case, and UVA but (I think) you can still be competitive with a 516 and a good app, especially given that you have a perfect GPA from a difficult undergrad
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Okay thanks a lot for your help! It's unfortunate that I would probably have no chance for WashU because so far it is the most international friendly school I know lol
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Okay thanks a lot for your help! It's unfortunate that I would probably have no chance for WashU because so far it is the most international friendly school I know lol
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Never say never! You still do have a chance at the ones I listed above, but yes WashU in particular does love those super high MCAT scores...
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thank you! I checked the MSAR and I think I will remove Wayne state (mostly/only accept Canadians) and maybe Rochester and Uchi, although my advisor encouraged me to apply to Uchi as she said they accept internationals...

Also do you think my MCAT is not competitive for those schools or my gpa and EC can make up the MCAT a little bit? It's just because about half of the schools on the list have a median MCAT higher than 516.
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Your MCAT is not a problem (except Wash U...).
 
Hi, I have almost the same situation as you do! And I decided not to retake as an international Asian student. My GPA is much higher than my MCAT should be, and for me, CARS is simply very random and difficult to study. 2 or 3 points of potential improvement, from my perspective, isn't worth your time and I think simply moving on to focus on more important things will be the better option.
 
Speaking as an M1 international in the U.S. myself, I’d def say do NOT retake. Yes it’s more challenging to get in as an international but that MCAT score is not a weakness for you (I had a lower score). If CARS was less than 125, then I might have thought differently for some reasons you mentioned. I applied to 14 M.D. schools total, as well as 3 DOs. Your current list above as of this post overlaps with 10 of the M.D. schools I applied to, including my current school, so I think you’re looking good in that regard. Of course you have less leeway to be picky but apply to only schools you’d attend with any acceptance. Remember, all it takes is one. Otherwise, just do your due diligence with the rest of the application process and I have a feeling you will be alright. Be patient, don’t panic and best of Luck!
 
REALNINJA said:
Hi, I have almost the same situation as you do! And I decided not to retake as an international Asian student. My GPA is much higher than my MCAT should be, and for me, CARS is simply very random and difficult to study. 2 or 3 points of potential improvement, from my perspective, isn't worth your time and I think simply moving on to focus on more important things will be the better option.
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Thanks for the reply! I’m actually prone to not retake haha because it is just too stressful to retake and apply at the same time - although most of other international students I know all got scores higher than 518, which kind of makes me anxious. Are you also applying this year? Do you mind sharing your stats 🙂?
 
SDeduN said:
Speaking as an M1 international in the U.S. myself, I’d def say do NOT retake. Yes it’s more challenging to get in as an international but that MCAT score is not a weakness for you (I had a lower score). If CARS was less than 125, then I might have thought differently for some reasons you mentioned. I applied to 14 M.D. schools total, as well as 3 DOs. Your current list above as of this post overlaps with 10 of the M.D. schools I applied to, including my current school, so I think you’re looking good in that regard. Of course you have less leeway to be picky but apply to only schools you’d attend with any acceptance. Remember, all it takes is one. Otherwise, just do your due diligence with the rest of the application process and I have a feeling you will be alright. Be patient, don’t panic and best of Luck!
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Thank you! Do you mind telling me what are the other four schools that you applied to but are not on my list? I just wanna apply broadly haha
 
SDeduN said:
You're welcome. Tufts, Howard, Loma Linda, and Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University (<- this school's actual name always eludes me).
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OP do your research on Loma Linda if you’re going to apply. They have a religious oriented mission/policy that isn’t for everyone
 
onedaymore1128 said:
Thanks for the reply! I’m actually prone to not retake haha because it is just too stressful to retake and apply at the same time - although most of other international students I know all got scores higher than 518, which kind of makes me anxious. Are you also applying this year? Do you mind sharing your stats 🙂?
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That's totally understandable and I think that's also the better option! You've got a pretty solid GPA from a top 20, which I think stands out really well, and CARS is unlikely to be the focus compared to other sections of MCAT.

I got similar stats, 3.95+ and 515+, applying this year too!
 
neuro312 said:
OP do your research on Loma Linda if you’re going to apply. They have a religious oriented mission/policy that isn’t for everyone
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Ah thanks for the advice! I think Loma Linda and Howard both have oriented mission if I remembered correctly so probably won’t apply to those.
 
REALNINJA said:
That's totally understandable and I think that's also the better option! You've got a pretty solid GPA from a top 20, which I think stands out really well, and CARS is unlikely to be the focus compared to other sections of MCAT.

I got similar stats, 3.95+ and 515+, applying this year too!
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Oh wow! Really in the same boat haha. For some reason I thought you already applied lol. Good luck!
 
Hi OP and other international applicants. I was also an international student (now a pain medicine fellow). I found this thread during my attempt to help another junior member of the forum. S/he is in a similar situation as you were in 2019. Top 20 school, excellent GPA and records, but low MCAT score 511. I would like to hear from you about your perspectives and how things turned out for you. Would appreciate a reply or pm so I can provide meaningful advice. Thanks.
 
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Goro
Goro
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Spelunker2025
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Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
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