my admission chances

[chintu]

Hi guys,
I am new to this forum. I just took the august mcat and got 6V 11B 12P L (29 Total). I am really worried that 6V is gonna hurt my chances of getting accepted. I am only a junior, so I have plenty of chances to take it again, but the problem is that I don't believe I might improve because english is my second language. I have a pretty strong academic record: 3.8 overall GPA, 3.85 sci; done research for 2yrs and volunteer at lots of hospitals. Do you guys believe I have any chance of getting accepted anywhere. Do you know anyone who was accepted w/ a low verbal score like mine? Appreciate any replies.

Thanks:

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[UCSBPre-Med]

Don't lose all hope, chintu.

First off, let me say that I also got a low score in verbal...I got a 7. But I had two 12's in the other two sections with a Q to get a 31.

I think that admissions councils will take that english isn't your second language into account, so don't worry.

Your grades are good, like mine, and I hope I get on too.

 

[Resident Alien]

I wouldnt wanna give you false hope by saying dont worry.

 

[lady bug]

My verbal was low also....and I called and spoke to some admission deans about it. When I told them my mcat score, the first thing each one of them asked me was, "What was your verbal reasoning score?". Apparently its very important.

 

[soopa]

yo chintu, you go to Emory?

 

[siempre595]

Re-take the test and get the verbal up. This happened to me, almost exactly, but I'm a native English speaker. I had a fire alarm go off during my MCAT verbal, so the score was terrible. I re-did it, got a much better score, and I'm getting secondaries from some great schools right now. Do not give up, just fix it.

 

[UCSBPre-Med]

I'm still getting secondaries to some great schools( UC's by they way) and I got a 7 on Verbal.

 

[DrM]

I got an 8 on my verbal but did awesome on the science components. I got in! I think the general consensus is that medical schools believe that the verbal results are the best way to gauge the overall intelligence of an applicant. While a great undergraduate science education can considerably improve your performance on the science components, it is unlikely that any amount of preparation could boost your verbal score above 10 if you are not so inclined. In other words, medical school can teach you the science of medicine but cannot 'make' you smart.

However, this reasoning only really applies for primary English speakers. If English is not your primary language, Your substandard verbal performance has nothing to with your intelligence. And I believe that medical schools recognize this.

 

[Resident Alien]

Originally posted by DrM
However, this reasoning only really applies for primary English speakers. If English is not your primary language, Your substandard verbal performance has nothing to with your intelligence. And I believe that medical schools recognize this.

Phew! I got an 8 too and english is my 2ndary language, so can i relax now?

 

[DrM]

How did you do on the science sections?

 

[scootad.]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with that. You can't say a single verbal score is the be all and end all of an native english speaker's "intelligence." I'd possibly agree if you said under ideal test conditions, but we all know test conditions are often not ideal, and there can be multiple factors that go into whether a person is performing at their peak during the verbal section (not enough sleep, fire alarms going off, annoying twitches from adjacent students, etc.) And of the 3 subsections of the MCAT the Verbal section demands the most attention and least distractions.

 

[chintu]

Dr M
I got 11B and 12P on sciences.

 

[Dr.Linus]

Maybe DrM was asking Resident Alien's Science scores?

 

[DrM]

I Agree with you entirely (scootad), Many students who take the test and do not do well on the verbal are highly intelligent... (hell, I only got an eight!!!). however, The verbal section has been and continues to be important to med schools precisely because of its supposed indication of "intelligence". This I believe is one of the pitfalls of the test. none the less (in combination with the rest of the application) it is weighed heavily by med schools.

 

[Dr.Linus]

Chintu, I PM'd you.

 

[Random Access]

Supposedly...the verbal score correlates pretty well with success in med school, which is why some schools take it highly, as someone mentioned. I don't have any data or evidence to back this up, but I've definitely heard it mentioned a few times. Again, don't know if this is correct.

 

[MD2b06]

Originally posted by chintu
Hi guys,
I am new to this forum. I just took the august mcat and got 6V 11B 12P L (29 Total). I am really worried that 6V is gonna hurt my chances of getting accepted. I am only a junior, so I have plenty of chances to take it again, but the problem is that I don't believe I might improve because english is my second language. I have a pretty strong academic record: 3.8 overall GPA, 3.85 sci; done research for 2yrs and volunteer at lots of hospitals. Do you guys believe I have any chance of getting accepted anywhere. Do you know anyone who was accepted w/ a low verbal score like mine? Appreciate any replies.

Thanks:

Retake. A 6 is too low, despite your strong science scores. A score less than 9 on any section is a red flag. And the reason the VR section is so important is b/c there's apparently a correlation b/t it and performance during your clinical years in medical school. All this according to the AAMC. It's a bitch of a section, but you just gotta do it.

 

[relatively prime]

Chintu, I PMed you...

 

[CaNEM]

A good friend of mine also got a 6 in verbal, and got accepted into several MD and MD/PhD programs. He told them that English was his second language and most let the low score slide. His other MCATs scores were high, however (12,14) as was his GPA (3.9).

 

[republicandr]

Some schools have a MCAT cutoff for minimum scores. I too had a low verbal score, I had a 5, and retook it twice until I got a 7. My science scores were strong and I am also English as a Second Language.

Call the schools you are interested in and ask them if they have an MCAT cutoff, if not then you should apply to their school. The Biology score on the MCAT is much more important than the verbal score. With your high score in the biology (11), you can definately do well in medical school. The correlation with doing well in the MCAT and on the USMLE is important, but even at schools where the average MCAT is a 6 (such as some of the Puerto Rican schools), the students pass the USMLE and receive an MD degree.

I received an 11 in the biology subsection as well, and I have been accepted to three schools so far this year. I applied to twenty schools, received 14 interviews and no rejections. I got into my top choice school as well.

Do not give up, I would apply with the scores you have in a heartbeat. Make sure that your application makes it clear that you are English as a Second Language.

Hope this helps.

 

[chintu]

HI republicandr, thanks for the reply. It makes me feel much better. I was wondering what you got on the physical, also if you don't mind what was ur gpa and ur undergrad school, so I can compare my chances with yours.

 

[aquaboy]

I was in the same boat last year where I had a 29 overall but received a 7 on VR. I thought that schools would overlook a low VR score because I scored high on the sciences. That wasn't the case and I only interviewed at 1 school and wasn't accepted. Schools are looking for a reason not to accept you in many instances because there are son many applicants. I retook the Mcat in Aug and improved to a 10 in VR and kept my sciences about the same. I am starting to get interviews at schools that didn't even look at me last year. I would apply this year to a limited number of schools and if you aren't getting interviews I would definately reatke in April and see if you can improve on the VR. I improved by practicing a ton!!! Practice really is the key to improving on VR.

 

[lola]

Originally posted by republicandr

Call the schools you are interested in and ask them if they have an MCAT cutoff, if not then you should apply to their school.

i think this is good advice. also, ask if they have the same cutoff for students whose first language is not english or if they give them special consideration.
unless you were scoring much higher than 6 in practice, it may not be wise to retake the mcat. your science scores could easily go down while your verbal score might not improve. i don't really think stories about bad verbal scores and no acceptances are relevant to your situation if these people were native english speakers. some adcoms may not be too understanding or may make stringent cutoffs, but i'd imagine many would take into consideration the fact that english is not your first language. i know i would if i were a member of an admissions committee.
good luck!

 

[exigente chica]

Chintu,
U seem to be a competitve applicant, nice reasearch and clinical stuff, get some good lor's and u should be ok. I know how hard is is for international people and the verbal section, i would ask an adcom member how if u should take it over. It reall depends on what school u are applying to.

Good luck