MCAT 515 Unbalanced Score to 510 Balanced Score, Advice Regarding Application Cycle

[Darrel1997]

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice outside of pre-med advisors and fellow friends. When I first took the MCAT last summer, I got a 515 (124/130/129/132). After asking many people for help and advice since it was a heavily unbalanced score, I decided to retake the MCAT this April. Unfortunately I received a lower overall score of a 510, but the breakdown was way more balanced (128/127/129/126). It is definitely great that my chem score improved four points as that was the main reason for the retake, but am definitely upset about the overall lower score drop. Now it seems I need advice on how to move forward with this. I understand it definitely isn't good that I did worse on the retake, so I hoping you can provide some insight with your thoughts. Some concerns I have are how med school admissions commitees going to view these multiple scores. In addition, does it make sense to retake it a third time this summer. In terms of aspects of my application outside my MCAT, I have a 3.6 cGPA with a 3.5 sGPA from a top ten school and then all the extracurriculars that pre-meds have.

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[Gilakend]

They won't view it positively. I'm genuinely curious about what advice you'll get, so I'm just going to tag some people who I'm not sure frequent the MCAT forum, but will be able to advise you well. You may get better answers if you can get this moved to the WAMC forum.

@Goro @LizzyM @gonnif

 

[LizzyM]

Regression to the mean. You have a 510. Maybe some schools will call it a 512.5. If a school took the sum of the best subscores you'd have a 519 which would be amazing but I don't believe that is very common for schools to do so. Most recent score or mean of all scores is most likely what schools will look at. You should apply as if you have a 510-512.

 

[Darrel1997]

Regression to the mean. You have a 510. Maybe some schools will call it a 512.5. If a school took the sum of the best subscores you'd have a 519 which would be amazing but I don't believe that is very common for schools to do so. Most recent score or mean of all scores is most likely what schools will look at. You should apply as if you have a 510-512.

Thank you for your advice LizzyM. Would you advise taking the MCAT a third time this summer in the middle of the application cycle or you would say it would be best to stay with what I have and apply broadly. By the way, do you know of any schools in particular that superscore your MCATs?

 

[Goro]

Hello Everyone,

I need some advice outside of pre-med advisors and fellow friends. When I first took the MCAT last summer, I got a 515 (124/130/129/132). After asking many people for help and advice since it was a heavily unbalanced score, I decided to retake the MCAT this April. Unfortunately I received a lower overall score of a 510, but the breakdown was way more balanced (128/127/129/126). It is definitely great that my chem score improved four points as that was the main reason for the retake, but am definitely upset about the overall lower score drop. Now it seems I need advice on how to move forward with this. I understand it definitely isn't good that I did worse on the retake, so I hoping you can provide some insight with your thoughts. Some concerns I have are how med school admissions commitees going to view these multiple scores. In addition, does it make sense to retake it a third time this summer. In terms of aspects of my application outside my MCAT, I have a 3.6 cGPA with a 3.5 sGPA from a top ten school and then all the extracurriculars that pre-meds have.

It doesn't look good but won't be lethal.

Do NOT retake! Quoting the wise Homeskool: Taking the MCAT is like getting married: ideally you only do it once, and the more times you do it the worse you start looking to suitors with good judgment.

I suggest the following schools for you:
Hofstra
U Toledo
U VM
Pitt
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
Wayne State
MCW
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Tufts
Drexel
Creighton
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Netter
Oakland-B
Western MI
Seton Hall
Your state school(s).
Nova MD
CUSM IF you're from CA
Kaiser if you’re from CA

Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)

Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, Nova, Wm Carey, LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me.

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you for your advice LizzyM. Would you advise taking the MCAT a third time this summer in the middle of the application cycle or you would say it would be best to stay with what I have and apply broadly. By the way, do you know of any schools in particular that superscore your MCATs?

I would NOT advise a retake. I do not know of any schools that superscore; I have heard it rumored by hopeful applicants but I don't know if it ever happens.

 

[Zen Arcade]

The policy on the website for Medical College of Wisconsin and George Washington University is that they superscore.