mcat retake score stayed the same. am i screwed?

[midnights2star]

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i got a 30R the first time - 9V 11PS 10BS
the 2nd time i got a 30Q - 7V 12PS 11BS

1. my score stayed the same
2. my verbal went to a 7 (i was shocked believe me)

i was pressured by my dad to retake...i knew deep down i shouldnt have, but got persuaded into the notion that i could do better. which i did believe i could improve, but knew i shouldnt have taken the risk of a rewrite.

how screwed am i/how bad does this look to med schools?
is my app significantly, negatively affected now?

i have avg GPA - 3.69c 3.58s
go to top 10 undergrad
good ECs
good LORs

i just want to get into any school, i really like the "middle-tier" schools though
i would Love to attend umdnj, and stay in my home state

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I won't lie that drop to a 7V won't look good that's for sure.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Doesn't UMDNJ have an osteopathic school? That looks like a very viable option if you're doubting your chances at an MD school.

 

[Ask]

I think your still good. That second retake showed that your even stronger in the sciences and maybe just messed up in the verbal because you did score a 9 the first time. I think with your solid GPA you will most probably get accepted to the MD class at UMDNJ and if not another MD school will most probably accept you.

 

[TipToad]

I think your still good. That second retake showed that your even stronger in the sciences and maybe just messed up in the verbal because you did score a 9 the first time. I think with your solid GPA you will most probably get accepted to the MD class at UMDNJ and if not another MD school will most probably accept you.

OR they could view the 9 as the fluke and the 7 as his real score, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

I just searched mdapplicants really quickly. They only had two people with 7 in VR who got acceptances (both had 3.7 cGPA and 3.6 sGPA. They got accepted to Creighton and Medical College of Georgia and UT San Antonio. Both were URM (African and Hispanic). But their total MCAT was only 27.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

There is a list of schools somewhere that accept a composite score of your best subsections. Maybe some gunner or smart person can find it.

 

[Jojokarade]

The 7 does hurt you. Seeing a 7 and a 9, medical schools will not know which is the more accurate score. Start working on your verbal skills and take some practice tests. If you can get your verbal scores above 10, then re-take the MCAT again. I know that sucks, but if you don't take the MCAT again and get a high score on verbal, the 7 will be a very prominent negative score.

 

[gyngyn]

No, the admissions committees just know for sure that you are a 30 MCAT applicant. Apply to schools who might interview you and show them who you are.

 

[gmcguitar4]

OR they could view the 9 as the fluke and the 7 as his real score, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

Yea I can't agree with this. I feel only lower scores can be a fluke because it is damn hard to get points on the VR section but very very easy to lose them. So if OP screwed up on justone passage it could have dropped the score to a 7. The sciences on the other hand you can get pretty lucky sometimes.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

the difference between a 7 and a 9 even in verbal is a pretty significant number of questions

OP you'll probably be ok.

 

[mirimonster]

Yea I can't agree with this. I feel only lower scores can be a fluke because it is damn hard to get points on the VR section but very very easy to lose them. So if OP screwed up on justone passage it could have dropped the score to a 7. The sciences on the other hand you can get pretty lucky sometimes.

Your evidence does not prove your conclusion. Flukes can happen either way. If on the first take, OP just happened to have a familiar topic, he/she may have scored higher than he/she would have normally in which case the 7 would be more representative of his/her abilities.

There is a spreadsheet floating around that lists how each school looks at multiple MCAT scores. From memory, I believe most of them look at most recent MCAT, in which case OP is definitely in trouble. A 7 in one section will get screened out at a lot of schools, fluke or otherwise. A few look at averages or the almighty super score (MCW I'm pretty sure), which would be good schools to start with if OP decides not to take again.

Personally, as painful as it is, I think OP should take the MCAT a third time and make sure every section is above an 8 to prove that the 7 was the fluke and not the 9.

 

[BigBlueBear]

If you apply to MCW you have a 32!

 

[midnights2star]

thanks for all the advice posters, but i think for sure i am not re-taking a 3rd time, Not for this cycle at least.
i have everything set to go, just waiting for that amcas verification which will happen within the next week or so...taking the mcat again this late will just delay me to a point of being at a severe disadvantage in rolling admissions :/ plus i don't think i can muster up the effort or confidence to take it again and realistically believe i will improve Drastically, which i feel i must do at this point to prove it wasnt a "fluke" (4+ points)

my adviser told me that all schools, regardless of their MCAT policy, will see the 9V and it will be their discretion to judge whether i am competent at communication, verbal skills, etc. based on the rest of my app.

i'm trying to gauge my chances at the mid-tier schools i had already submitted my amcas to 😕
and Yes, MCW is one of my top choices because i actually love the school, plus the fact that i have a "32" there doesnt hurt!

i'm trying to decide which lower tier schools to apply to where i have an ok chance being OOS: like WVU, EVMS, Marshall, AZ, VCU, MSU, Toledo, Wayne, Wright, Rush, IU, Arkansas, TCMC...etc...anyone have advice on this either?
i have done a crapload of research on this, and these are the schools i came up with based on SDN and MSAR.

 

[Chrome19]

Damn verbal.

 

[midnights2star]

just as an update for those who may read my thread:

the 2nd mcat has been holding me back from getting II's, but that being said, I have gotten 2 so far.
One interviewer kept praising how strong my application and my candidacy was, so obviously he didn't think it was a big deal. the other II is from a school that has an extreme IS preference and I am OOS. So, you really don't know what schools care about or are looking for.

Bottom line: I wish I hadn't taken the mcats a second time because the rest of my app is strong. But, I applied to schools that matched my values/interests and it seems to be working out.

 

[coyotelime]

You should be okay, I had your exact score (except S in writing but who cares) from the first take.

Good luck this cycle!

 

[Praefectus]

Having just 2 II's at this stage isn't bad at all. I'm sure you'll get more if you applied broadly.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

just as an update for those who may read my thread:

the 2nd mcat has been holding me back from getting II's, but that being said, I have gotten 2 so far.
One interviewer kept praising how strong my application and my candidacy was, so obviously he didn't think it was a big deal. the other II is from a school that has an extreme IS preference and I am OOS. So, you really don't know what schools care about or are looking for.

Bottom line: I wish I hadn't taken the mcats a second time because the rest of my app is strong. But, I applied to schools that matched my values/interests and it seems to be working out.

Sounds great hope you get in...how many schools did you apply to total?

 

[solitarius]

I wouldn't trade the extra point in PS and BS for a 7 in VR. No way. Did it hurt you? It probably got you screened out of a few schools.

You should post this in the MCAT --> whether to retake thread.

 

[Fivo]

I wouldn't trade the extra point in PS and BS for a 7 in VR. No way. Did it hurt you? It probably got you screened out of a few schools.

You should post this in the MCAT --> whether to retake thread.

You should replace your post with a "Did Not Read" gif

 

[midnights2star]

thanks for all the help on this post!

to answer some questions, no, I did not get screened out from any schools due to my mcat score. I received secondaries from all schools who actually do screen out pre-secondary, like wake forest and loyola.
i made it through many small pools at schools like MCWisconsin, Chicago, etc.


update: I have had 4 interviews so far, and 3 acceptances (njms, rwjms, and lsu-no)! (Still waiting to hear back from that 4th interview)!

I am not URM (actually probably more of an ORM lol).

from what my interviewers have said to me, I believe that I was successful this cycle because of my writing and my EC's. It just goes to show that MCATs are not your life!

 

[gyngyn]

thanks for all the help on this post!

to answer some questions, no, I did not get screened out from any schools due to my mcat score. I received secondaries from all schools who actually do screen out pre-secondary, like wake forest and loyola.
i made it through many small pools at schools like MCWisconsin, Chicago, etc.


update: I have had 4 interviews so far, and 3 acceptances (njms, rwjms, and lsu-no)! (Still waiting to hear back from that 4th interview)!

I am not URM (actually probably more of an ORM lol).

from what my interviewers have said to me, I believe that I was successful this cycle because of my writing and my EC's. It just goes to show that MCATs are not your life!

Excellent!

 

[CodeBlu]

thanks for all the help on this post!

to answer some questions, no, I did not get screened out from any schools due to my mcat score. I received secondaries from all schools who actually do screen out pre-secondary, like wake forest and loyola.
i made it through many small pools at schools like MCWisconsin, Chicago, etc.


update: I have had 4 interviews so far, and 3 acceptances (njms, rwjms, and lsu-no)! (Still waiting to hear back from that 4th interview)!

I am not URM (actually probably more of an ORM lol).

from what my interviewers have said to me, I believe that I was successful this cycle because of my writing and my EC's. It just goes to show that MCATs are not your life!

Congrats dude!

Yuuuuuuup. I concur. The MCAT is the singlehandedly most useless piece of admissions criteria I have ever seen. Why do I say this? Because the MCAT is not real life. Being on the other side of the admissions process, is really eye opening.

My schools admissions committee for the last 7 or 8 years does not factor in the MCAT past the interview. You meet the cut offs in each subsection and after that it doesn't help you any.

The reason? They took MCAT composite and subsection scores and compared them with first year and second year medical school performance. No correlation. People with 30s were doing better on tests than people with 39s. The only thing that showed a weak correlation was performance on rotations and verbal reasoning. And even then, it was weak at best.

The MCAT is a snap shot in time. Not reflective of your ability whatsoever. My best friend in my class scores consistently higher than me on exams and does well in PBL, he got a 31. I got a score >35. Simply put, it doesn't matter.

Jump the hoops. Get 10s in everything, balance your score, whatever. And move on.

 

[plumazul]

thanks for all the help on this post!

to answer some questions, no, I did not get screened out from any schools due to my mcat score. I received secondaries from all schools who actually do screen out pre-secondary, like wake forest and loyola.
i made it through many small pools at schools like MCWisconsin, Chicago, etc.


update: I have had 4 interviews so far, and 3 acceptances (njms, rwjms, and lsu-no)! (Still waiting to hear back from that 4th interview)!

I am not URM (actually probably more of an ORM lol).

from what my interviewers have said to me, I believe that I was successful this cycle because of my writing and my EC's. It just goes to show that MCATs are not your life!

Congrats 👍

There are schools that will superscore two MCAT attempts. If you applied to such schools you actually had a 32 score, which is good. 🙂

 

[Didierdrogba]

i got a 30R the first time - 9V 11PS 10BS
the 2nd time i got a 30Q - 7V 12PS 11BS......

i have avg GPA - 3.69c 3.58s
go to top 10 undergrad
good ECs
good LORs

7V will hurt, mine was an 8 and definitely raised red flags at MD schools.
I think it would be realistic for you to also apply to some DO schools

and by the way, a question I personally want to know: aren't top 10 undergrad schools konwn for grade inflation?

 

[mwall003]

You should be okay, just be sure to apply both early and broadly. Put in 20 applications and you should have a few acceptances.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

You should be okay, just be sure to apply both early and broadly. Put in 20 applications and you should have a few acceptances.

Op already got 3x acceptances.

 

[plumazul]

Congrats dude!

Yuuuuuuup. I concur. The MCAT is the singlehandedly most useless piece of admissions criteria I have ever seen. Why do I say this? Because the MCAT is not real life. Being on the other side of the admissions process, is really eye opening.

My schools admissions committee for the last 7 or 8 years does not factor in the MCAT past the interview. You meet the cut offs in each subsection and after that it doesn't help you any.

The reason? They took MCAT composite and subsection scores and compared them with first year and second year medical school performance. No correlation. People with 30s were doing better on tests than people with 39s. The only thing that showed a weak correlation was performance on rotations and verbal reasoning. And even then, it was weak at best.

The MCAT is a snap shot in time. Not reflective of your ability whatsoever. My best friend in my class scores consistently higher than me on exams and does well in PBL, he got a 31. I got a score >35. Simply put, it doesn't matter.

Jump the hoops. Get 10s in everything, balance your score, whatever. And move on.

While I tend to agree with you that the MCAT is not the best tool around, it is certainly not "useless". GPA alone would mean little unless considered in the context of some standard. As for correlation with work done in medical school, a large meta-analysis has been done that did show a significant positive correlation (esp. with the BS section, r = 0.32 95% CI, 0.21-0.42) with performance during preclinical years. This was also true for USMLE Step 1 scores (r = 0.48 95% CI, 0.41-0.54)

Can the MCAT be improved? Certainly, but let's not go hyperbolic. 😉

 

[midnights2star]

7V will hurt, mine was an 8 and definitely raised red flags at MD schools.
I think it would be realistic for you to also apply to some DO schools

and by the way, a question I personally want to know: aren't top 10 undergrad schools konwn for grade inflation?

this is Definitely not true. speaking personally for my school, it is so incredibly difficult to get an A.
also, i am not sure if this is common across all undergrads, but an A+ holds no more GPA value than A's (i've personally only ever been able to receive one A+).

most classes and definitely all pre-med requirement classes are capped so that only 20-30% or less of the class can receive an A range grade.

i would say it is more like grade deflation at my school -.-

our class credit system is also very different than most schools. meaning, our "credits" don't equate to "credit hours" like it does traditionally.
for example, we may have 3hrs/week of lecture and that equals 1 credit. The lab you take alongside the course is also 3hrs/week but only equals .5credits. The most ridiculous one is our orgo lab, which is 9hours/week but only equals 1credit.

In conclusion (lol), the GPA i listed here (3.69) is the one on my transcript. But AMCAS calculated my GPA to be higher than this.