Is a huge MCAT jump 6+ points looked very favorably?

[uclaussr]

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Say you took it 2 times and got scores in the low twentys and then jumped by 6+, would schools give you brownie points for persistance and that you kept trying?

 

[Gloves]

if you made a jump from 29 to 35, not bad! I think that'll look great!

25 to 31, pretty good (you now have a shot) but the fact that you had to take it twice might raise a tiny red flag.

This is all speculation though

 

[Ischemic]

if you made a jump from 29 to 35, not bad! I think that'll look great!

25 to 31, pretty good (you now have a shot) but the fact that you had to take it twice might raise a tiny red flag.

This is all speculation though

Or it could mean that you're dedicated enough to medicine and med school to sit through that god-forsaken test again. Plenty of people retake the MCAT. I took it 3 times.

 

[Hejman]

Say you took it 2 times and got scores in the low twentys and then jumped by 6+, would schools give you brownie points for persistance and that you kept trying?

Its all relative. There is no straight answer to this-
are we talking 22/23 to 28/29?

For MD, that is still too low to be realistic, again depending on your other credentials.

 

[Catalystik]

The majority of schools will look on this very positively. Congrats.

 

[gravitywave]

why else do people retake it?!?! of course it looks good, better than just having your first score anyway. celebrate and move on.

28 is a realistic score for most MD schools, assuming 3.6+ cGPA

 

[Geekchick921]

This question perplexes me...

 

[orthomyxo]

No. Med schools absolutely hate it when your MCAT score gets higher.

 

[Gloves]

maybe red flag is too strong a word, but if you have 3 applicants with the same GPA and everything else...

Applicant A
33 on the MCAT the first time

Applicant B
29 - 34 on MCAT with 2 tries

Applicant C
29 - 35 on MCAT with 2 tries

Do you think they'd go with C over A? I don't think B would beat A but I mean who am I to speculate like that lol

 

[jvesco22]

maybe red flag is too strong a word, but if you have 3 applicants with the same GPA and everything else...

Applicant A
33 on the MCAT the first time

Applicant B
29 - 34 on MCAT with 2 tries

Applicant C
29 - 35 on MCAT with 2 tries

Do you think they'd go with C over A? I don't think B would beat A but I mean who am I to speculate like that lol

Exactly. The bro science is strong in this one...

 

[samuraiR]

No. Med schools absolutely hate it when your MCAT score gets higher.

👍this

 

[Avoidthetiger]

Do you think they'd go with C over A? I don't think B would beat A but I mean who am I to speculate like that lol

I think many schools would take B and C over A -- or atleast the one's claiming they look at your highest MCAT score. I think schools give allowances for retakes more than SDN thinks -- but I could be wrong....

 

[socalpremed09]

I could be totally off base here, but in my opinion, taking it more than once is not a bad thing. It is a 4 hour exam, and there are a lot of factors that can go into how you do, which are unrelated to your mastery of the material. If you retake it and score significantly better, it only proves that the first time may have been/was a fluke. Taking it 5-6 times, on the other hand, is different...

 

[LizzyM]

I have been known to ask about retakes.... sometimes you'll get an interesting explanation... a severe infection on the day of the exam, emotional turmoil from an event in the recent past... and sometimes the excuse is just poor: "the first time I took it cold because you learn everything you need to know in class, right?" or "I had the review books but I just didn't bother with them"

It leads us to ask, "lesson learned or an approach to all tests now & in the future?"

 

[BearDownAZ]

.

 

[Shaptown]

yes, that looks quite good! unless i mean we are talking jumping from a 16 to a 22.

but if you went from a 29 to a 35, then kudos to you!!

 

[Gloves]

guju - yeah I know. Thats why I said all other things held constant. Never happens, but for this "experiment" its just fun to speculate

 

[Gloves]

I wasn't making an argument, just setting up an example to potentially argue about 🙂

if med schools are more forgiving than I thought about retaking the MCAT, then I'll be delighted honestly. I just don't want to guess wrong

 

[TwoPaddles]

Say you took it 2 times and got scores in the low twentys and then jumped by 6+, would schools give you brownie points for persistance and that you kept trying?

Person A: took it once, got 35
Person B: took it twice, got 29 first time, 35 on the second time.

I think Person A has an advantage 😎

 

[ucsfstudents]

An improvement is always good. But they will still look at the big picture (grades, extracurriculars, etc, etc.)

 

[TwoPaddles]

An improvement is always good. But they will still look at the big picture (grades, extracurriculars, etc, etc.)

Yeah true, its not all about the MCAT even though it's an important factor.