Mixed feelings

[Guyserbun07]

I am in my mid-20's, got about 3.85 undergrad, and 3.9 grad. Not a lot of volunteering, particularly, discontinued after undergrad. Now, I am finishing my thesis portion of the master's in public health, and likely to pump out one or two publications. I am doing part time (reviewing clinical studies) as well, so I don't have a whole lot of time studying for the MCAT.

I did it once years ago but bombed the VR section. Eng is not my mother tongue and throughout the years, I have developed some bad reading habits (slow, re-reading, etc) which I think will take a really long time to eliminate, so I am a little dispirited. Sometime it's very hard to get motivated, esp when I don't know how long it will take to change and whether positive results will emerge.

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[chessknt]

Your old mcat score will still show up when/if you apply which can hurt you at certain schools since some schools average your two scores. Apply to ones that take the higher test/highest from each subsection.

 

[longhorn09]

Your old mcat score will still show up when/if you apply which can hurt you at certain schools since some schools average your two scores. Apply to ones that take the higher test/highest from each subsection.

What the heck? I don't know that it happens....It's mean.

 

[Guyserbun07]

Thank you all for the advice, I am indeed planning to apply to those that only consider the most recent MCAT score (hopefully that would not eliminate too many options).

What MCAT scores should I be aiming at in each section for my situation? Any ideas?

 

[Mobius1985]

With your GPA, aim for at least a 30+ MCAT, with balanced subscores. You'd be fine with a verbal of 9 at most schools, an 8 at some.

 

[Stratego]

Have you checked in the MCAT discussions forum to get ideas on improving verbal? Use the search function. I know I've seen advice about this.

 

[sarahl86]

I used and highly recommend EK 101 Verbal Reasoning Passages for the MCAT - I pulled up my score 4 points. It is going to be an added challenge considering English isn't your first language but you can't make any improvement if you don't try first. You may also get some leniency because you aren't a native English speaker from some schools (though an acceptable score isn't below an 8).

Get some volunteer experiences if you can just to keep yourself in the game.