mentioning mcat aberration in apps?

[marathonmed]

I took the MCAT last fall right before school started and did fine, but not as well as I knew I was capable of (particularly on PS) - largely because I got a stress fracture in my hip 5 days before, which needless to say was a distraction. Due to school and the necessity of working 4 part-time jobs to finance school, I was not able to retake. My question is, should I mention this in my application or is it "making excuses"? Thanks for any input...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BlueElmo]

I took the MCAT last fall right before school started and did fine, but not as well as I knew I was capable of (particularly on PS) - largely because I got a stress fracture in my hip 5 days before, which needless to say was a distraction. Due to school and the necessity of working 4 part-time jobs to finance school, I was not able to retake. My question is, should I mention this in my application or is it "making excuses"? Thanks for any input...

You could try mentioning in the secondary section where they ask you if you have anything to add.

 

[jvesco22]

What was your score?

The lower it is, the more you'd probably sound like you're making excuses

 

[GoSpursGo]

Honestly I don't think it matters what the score was, I wouldn't mention it; if it's still relatively high, you're gonna sound like a numbers nazi, and if it's lower you're going to sound like you're making excuses. It's not like you saying that is going to make them give your application a bonus 2 points to your MCAT "for the benefit of the doubt." I just can't envision a way that it can honestly help you and can only see certain adcom members taking it badly (though not all).

 

[njbmd]

I took the MCAT last fall right before school started and did fine, but not as well as I knew I was capable of (particularly on PS) - largely because I got a stress fracture in my hip 5 days before, which needless to say was a distraction. Due to school and the necessity of working 4 part-time jobs to finance school, I was not able to retake. My question is, should I mention this in my application or is it "making excuses"? Thanks for any input...

Every person has reasons for why they didn't perform as they "knew they were capable of" on the MCAT. Don't use valuable PS space trying to make excuses. If asked in an interview about your MCAT performance, answer the question at that time otherwise, you will come off as a whiner. You did as well as you could under the circumstances and that's the end of the deal. Resist the urge to try to explain everything.