MCAT 523 but CARS 127

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EdgeTrimmer

EdgeTrimmer

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What's the impact of the CARS score (127 is 82 percentile) at T20s. Some of them have 127 as 10th percentile (as per MSAR). Asking for a friend's kid. My kid has higher scores.
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srk2021 said:
What's the impact of the CARS score (127 is 82 percentile) at T20s. Some of them have 127 as 10th percentile (as per MSAR). Asking for a friend's kid. My kid has higher scores.
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What's the difference? It is what it is! It's an unbalanced score with three 132s and a 127. 127 is nothing to sneeze at, but it's one 82% and three 100%s. For schools at which 127 is 10th %-ile, who care about such things, it's not good, but it certainly does not warrant a retake! Your friend's kid really has no choice but to roll the dice and see what happens.

Schools will either be so impressed with the 132s that they look past it, or they won't! If CARS wasn't deemed to be important, it wouldn't be on the test. If it destroys this kid's shot at some T20s, he won't be the first applicant to have had CARS mess with his application.

If the point of the post is to see if the 523 obviates the import of 10th %-ile at a top school, the obvious answer is that it will at some and not at others, and your friend's kid won't know until he sees what happens with the cycle. Not to mention that, as you know, applications at that level are highly competitive in any case, and plenty of kids with balanced 523s are rejected all the time, so if he is rejected, he'll never really know if it was because of the 127 or because of something else. Finally, if your question is really whether an adcom will say three 132s is incredible, and we don't really care about CARS, so we'll consider it a 528, I'm sure the answer would be "no."
 
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KnightDoc said:
What's the difference? It is what it is! It's an unbalanced score with three 132s and a 127. 127 is nothing to sneeze at, but it's one 82% and three 100%s. For schools at which 127 is 10th %-ile, who care about such things, it's not good, but it certainly does not warrant a retake! Your friend's kid really has no choice but to roll the dice and see what happens. Schools will either be so impressed with the 132s that they look past it, or they won't! If CARS wasn't deemed to be important, it wouldn't be on the test.
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they are not retaking and app already went to schools. I am just curious given that schools are reporting breakdown for each section.
 
srk2021 said:
they are not retaking and app already went to schools. I am just curious given that schools are reporting breakdown for each section.
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I just edited my earlier reply. Again, the short answer is that some schools will look at the 523, and that the CARS is above 125, and be fine, and others at that level won't be so fine. He'll be fine at some of those schools and not at others, and he'll never know if it was because of the 127 or because of something else. The answer is that there is no answer to such a very specific question like this at the very upper echelon of schools.

All that breakdown is telling you is what you already know -- 127 on any section is an aberration for someone with a 523, and 127 is going to represent a low %-ile at any school where the median is at or above 520, like many of the T20s! Most of the accepted applicants at such schools are not going to have 523s with 127 in one section. For those who are accepted with such a score, the 127s will probably in most cases be consistent with the rest of their MCAT, and there will be other reasons that they were admitted with stats in the bottom 10%-ile.

You friend's kid is in kind of a Catch-22 -- schools that don't care so much about the scores will not be as impressed as you would think with the three 132s, and those that really care about the scores will not get past the 127. Remember, a 127 in a balanced score translates to a 508. Not terrible, but not exactly T20 caliber either.
 
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KnightDoc said:
I just edited my earlier reply. Again, the short answer is that some schools will look at the 523, and that the CARS is above 125, and be fine, and others at that level won't be so fine. He'll be fine at some of those schools and not at others, and he'll never know if it was because of the 127 or because of something else. The answer is that there is no answer to such a very specific question like this at the very upper echelon of schools.

All that breakdown is telling you is what you already know -- 127 on any section is an aberration for someone with a 523, and 127 is going to represent a low %-ile at any school where the median is at or above 520, like many of the T20s! Most of the accepted applicants at such schools are not going to have 523s with 127 in one section. For those who are accepted with such a score, the 127s will probably in most cases be consistent with the rest of their MCAT, and there will be other reasons that they were admitted with stats in the bottom 10%-ile.

You friend's kid is in kind of a Catch-22 -- schools that don't care so much about the scores will not be as impressed as you would think with the three 132s, and those that really care about the scores will not get past the 127. Remember, a 127 in a balanced score translates to a 508. Not terrible, but not exactly T20 caliber either.
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Her not he.
 
Goro said:
Zero.

Aim high
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Aiming high is great, but are you really saying that being in the 10th %-ile in a metric at any given school is irrelevant due to being at or above the median in others? Do three 132s cancel out a 127? Ultimately, that is OP's question.

If so, what's the point of publishing the breakdown? For that matter what's the point of screening for any section minimums at all? To take it one step further, that kid could have totally skipped CARS altogether and still received a 514. Would that matter at schools with a 511 median?
 
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srk2021 said:
What's the impact of the CARS score (127 is 82 percentile) at T20s. Some of them have 127 as 10th percentile (as per MSAR). Asking for a friend's kid. My kid has higher scores.
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Whew, really glad you included that pertinent bit of information. For a second there, I thought your kid was the idiot who scored only 523. 🤣
 
can you imagine what impact this post would have on someone who has lower scores than 520? god forbid they have 511? or 515?

I mean, i am empathizing with the fact that it is a very stressful time for everyone, and it is a huge step, but i think it is important to acknowledge what turmoil of feelings that would cause in someone who has much lower numbers.
 
srk2021 said:
Sure, I will update. On first day they got one T20 secondary.
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Many thanks. Secondaries really don't mean anything because they are either unscreened or automatic based on GPA/MCAT, and are not indicative of anything since such a high percent of them do not translate to IIs.
 
jamaica jan sun princess said:
Whew, really glad you included that pertinent bit of information. For a second there, I thought your kid was the idiot who scored only 523. 🤣
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LOL. That additional info is for folks who are skeptical about "asking for a friend" threads.
 
gonnif said:
And what difference does it make? If you cant get into a T20, are you not going to medical school?
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May be they will apply to more (lower ranked) schools if experts like you think that score is problematic. Remember we are early in the season.
 
Lucca said:
spoilers: applicant will succeed
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Of course -- the question (at least for me) is whether applicant will receive IIs at schools where CARS is 10%-ile.
 
srk2021 said:
May be they will apply to more (lower ranked) schools if experts like you think that score is problematic. Remember we are early in the season.
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but the applicant could have easily used MSAR and see the subscore breakdown of applicants and matriculants and should have adjusted their school list appropriately before applying
 
M&L said:
can you imagine what impact this post would have on someone who has lower scores than 520? god forbid they have 511? or 515?

I mean, i am empathizing with the fact that it is a very stressful time for everyone, and it is a huge step, but i think it is important to acknowledge what turmoil of feelings that would cause in someone who has much lower numbers.
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you mean anyone who got above 520 shouldn't be asking any questions because that causes stress for others?
 
gonnif said:
but the applicant could have easily used MSAR and see the subscore breakdown of applicants and matriculants and should have adjusted their school list appropriately before applying
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Well applicant is aware of the sub-score breakdown and that's why wondering. That's the whole point of this thread. Does one sub-score will have severe impact on the applicant's chances (provided rest of the application is very strong)?
 
M&L said:
can you imagine what impact this post would have on someone who has lower scores than 520? god forbid they have 511? or 515?

I mean, i am empathizing with the fact that it is a very stressful time for everyone, and it is a huge step, but i think it is important to acknowledge what turmoil of feelings that would cause in someone who has much lower numbers.
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Understood, but the point of the post was what effect being in the 10th-%ile on CARS would be at a T20, notwithstanding an otherwise spectacular score. A pretty specific question that doesn't apply to most.

But, in the spirit of @Goro repeatedly talking about secondaries being a tax on the unreasonably optimistic, absent extenuating circumstances, someone with a 511 isn't really competitive for a T20, and if they didn't know that before reading this thread, then hopefully the impact would be to educate them. 515 is a closer call, but I guess the same would apply if that 515 includes a section in the 10th-%ile at any particular school.
 
KnightDoc said:
Understood, but the point of the post was what effect being in the 10th-%ile on CARS would be at a T20, notwithstanding an otherwise spectacular score. A pretty specific question that doesn't apply to most.

But, in the spirit of @Goro repeatedly talking about secondaries being a tax on the unreasonably optimistic, absent extenuating circumstances, someone with a 511 isn't really competitive for a T20, and if they didn't know that before reading this thread, then hopefully the impact would be to educate them. 515 is a closer call, but I guess the same would apply if that 515 includes a section in the 10th-%ile at any particular school.
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no, i get it. I am not saying it is not a good question - it IS. And, of course everyone deserves to have their questions answered. I am literally just saying that this post (as valid as it is) is a bit nerve-wracking .🙂 I am just glad i am already in medical school. If i saw it before applying, my blood pressure would probably go up. hahahhaa.
 
M&L said:
no, i get it. I am not saying it is not a good question - it IS. And, of course everyone deserves to have their questions answered. I am literally just saying that this post (as valid as it is) is a bit nerve-wracking .🙂 I am just glad i am already in medical school. If i saw it before applying, my blood pressure would probably go up. hahahhaa.
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Isn't that one of the big knocks on SDN in general??? 🙂
 
@srk2021 irrelevant but. it's so awesome when a mom comes on here harvesting info from sdn for her kid and others' kids.

the fact that your kid is smart, stable, and disciplined enough to score above 523, also means that you are a really good mom
 
M&L said:
Excellent point ... you are so right . That’s why I try to not go to residency forums now .... so much stress at every step that somehow feels even worse after reading the posts .
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Yup. I come because there is lots of good info, and I participate because I try to give back where I can, but I saw the knock, referenced both here and on reddit, that it can be toxic at times. I knew that going in and try to go with the flow, knowing that lots of participants are super neurotic overachievers, so I try not to benchmark myself against them. So far, so good!! 🙂
 
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