Low MCAT score problem

[mpuncrisz]

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I was informed yesterday by my junior brother his score on the MCAT was low. He wrote the MCAT twice because he wanted to improve his score from 17 but only received a 20.
His performance are as follows:-

1. Biological science:8
2. Physical Science:7
3. Verbal:5

Against the wishes of some family members I can't fantom him putting all that effort to switch careers to nursing. He is young only 24 and discouraged about the increase of merely 3 points on his MCAT score. So it's difficult to talk to him at this moment, but I hope you would help arm me up to talk some sense into him.

My question presently are:-

1. What is the lowest MCAT score one needs in order to enter into medical school?
2. Which American medical schools would consider him? With a GPA of 3.3 at college plus good grades in the sciences.
3. What about a DO program?
4. What about medical schools in the island? Which would give him a chance?

 

[deleted74029]

That's pretty low for even D.O. What kind of studying is he doing for the MCAT? If I were you I would encourage him to join this site because it can be great for advice(and also great for developing a thick skin).

Here are some options that I think could help:
Study really hard for MCAT and maybe take once more, but only when he is ready.
Consider the Carribean, especially if he is interested in going into Family Practice.
Consider Podiatry
He needs to maybe do a post-bacc or something to get that GPA up too, and if he wants to go D.O. they replace grades so it could help his GPA tremendously.

 

[Muffinpuff]

Unfortunately, for the MD schools, they average around a 30 for accepted students with average GPA of 3.5, he is actually below for both of these categories. I was a pre-medical advisor at my school, and I've been trained to tell students with 3.3 which is B+ average to score into the 30s to be a good applicant at a lower to mid tear MD school. You will hear stories about people with 28s and 3.0GPA's getting in but the chances are so small that they are stories of the very unique individuals who have probably done some extraordinary volunteer or research work. I have one friend that did just that and got in cause he was a published author 14 times over in neuroscience. Even with that, he got into 1 out of the 40 schools he applied to. With the 20 and 3.3GPA, there is almost no chance he will get into a MD school.

At DO schools even, the mcat scores average around 25-27 for the mcats but his gpa is average for a few DO schools. His best shot would be the overseas med schools and those i actually don't know that much about. Your best shot is to google it. He can try and apply to DO schools and see what happens.

The lowest score is a 3 on the mcats, but in my 2 years of counseling, the lowest a student came to me with is 19. It's very difficult to score below that. A score of less than 7 means you missed more than half of the questions.

My other question is looking at his score, I would want to know how in the world he studied for this exam, with even some hard work, most people can get into the 24-28 range. He took this twice, was he nervous, did he have problems focusing? Or did he not study the right materials? I would love to speak to him directly to see what he's doing wrong if anything and if it could be corrected for the next exam. In my experience, people who score this low are usually not looking at this test in the right perspective or they're not using the right reasoning, or the most common one, not taking away the right concepts from their prep books and focusing way too deeply on details.

My suggestions if he wants to try again:

Bio -Kaplan, very general review, don't focus on the details
Physical sciences -Princeton review - do book examples
Verbal-EK only, to score 10 or above, he must finish all the passages
practice tests-AAMC only

Give him a couple of days to calm down and absorb it, let him know that if he really loves medicine, it's worth it to try again. He is young and i absolutely agree. This is a life-time career and it's so much worth taking a long time to reach it. Once again, i would love to talk to him and personally help him if i could just to figure out what are the problem areas. I scored in the 97th percentile range on the mcats with about 2month of studying but figuring out how to study for this exam is the toughest part and i really think that's the difference between people who score in the 20s vesus the 30s.

 

[marspotter]

Hi Mpuncrisz,

I hope your brother feels better soon.

The lowest MCAT scores of the admitted to the med schools vary significantly. It really depends on the school, the applicant's GPA, EC, and other various factors such as volunteer experience, research, and shadow.

I would strongly suggest him to pick up the booklet from AAMC with all the N. American medical school information including their average GPA, MCAT scores, age, and beyond.

If he has a very strong and unique background that he can enhance his personal statement, it would be even better.

As he is only 24 as you have said, I would suggest him doing a post-bacc program so that he can improve his GPA and have pre-health advisors that walk him through the application process.

Another option would be applying to DO schools. Although I do not know much of them, I do know they tend to have lower average GPA and MCAT scores of the accepted. Such programs may be a good option for him, especially if he is not willing to take more classes to improve his GPA.

Quite honestly and I hate to say this, but with his GPA and his MCAT scores, getting into American med schools (MD or may be DO) could be quite hard and he may just wind up spending lots of money on application process without much profit.

As far as the med schools in Islands (or international ones), I heard it can be very tough to get into MATCH when he graduates, meaning he may have problems working in the US as a medical doctor. (this is just what I have heard from one of my friends who once considered of going to such med schools). Even with that said, although his GPA may be good enough, his MCAT score still may be too low as average MCAT score for all the ones who have taken the test is few points higher than 20.

I have tried to be analytical on the reply as I want you to have better idea and be able to talk more realistically with your brother. Please forgive me if I did sound any insincere or ignorant. I have left this comment with a mind that your brother has MCAT score of 20 and GPA of 3.3. Although MCAT is standardized, GPA is not. If he graduated tougher schools (such as IVY LEAGUE, or prestigious private schools), he may still be considered as equal to the ones who have 3.4 or 3.5 from easier state schools. He may have had harder and unique major(s) and the med school admission officers would look up to that.

In my opinion, he is TOO YOUNG to give up on his dream. Sure, taking MCAT takes so much effort and seeing results that are much lower than expected hurts. But I think that is life. I hope he grows from the pain and tries even harder to get into the med school, same as getting MD or may be DO. He only took the test twice, I have heard people taking more than 3 times. Please let him know that he should really think deep from his heart and follow his heart. And may be being on SDN (this forum) can help him re-focus as there are tremendous people who goes through so many different situations, and people are generally very supportive 🙂
Lastly, I wish he appreciates your support, because I think it is really sweet of you to actually post this for him.

I wish you and your brother the very best. 👍

 

[deleted74029]

Hi Mpuncrisz,


As far as the med schools in Islands (or international ones), I heard it can be very tough to get into MATCH when he graduates, meaning he may have problems working in the US as a medical doctor. (this is just what I have heard from one of my friends who once considered of going to such med schools). Even with that said, although his GPA may be good enough, his MCAT score still may be too low as average MCAT score for all the ones who have taken the test is few points higher than 20.

Actually I believe there are quite a few family practice residencies left open every year that he may be able to match into if he attends the carribean.

 

[marspotter]

oh.. really? that. I didn't know. THANKS!! 😉

When I heard it from others (who actually graduated), they sounded quite uncertain and regretful.

Thanks for the info!!