Other instances of “perfectionism”

[Round786]

I’ve heard many people here say that retaking a decent MCAT could possibly make the Adcom see you as a perfectionist. Are there other mistakes or blunders someone could make that would be viewed as perfectionist or neurotic?

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[Isoval]

It’s a little less the fact of being a perfectionist than it is your poor threat evaluation and judgment.

I think too much emphasis is placed on the perfectionist part. People think it looks bad because retaking a 521 is simply a dumb as f*** thing to do. There is no world in which retaking a score of this caliber has literally any benefit for literally any school, so why risk it? Would you be the same person to risk a patient’s life for your pride to be right?

With that in mind, to answer your original question: don’t do dumb things.

 

[LindaAccepted]

I’ve heard many people here say that retaking a decent MCAT could possibly make the Adcom see you as a perfectionist. Are there other mistakes or blunders someone could make that would be viewed as perfectionist or neurotic?

It depends what your score is, but retaking a high score calls into question your judgement. For example if you have a 516 and want to retake, don't you have better things to do with your time that may even have more of an impact on the qualify of your application, not to mention your life?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Retaking a course where you got a B or A-minus unless you took the course over 5 years ago.

 

[wysdoc]

Going to the professor after every test and arguing that you deserve a couple more points

 

[LizzyM]

A 4.0 GPA with more than one W. Looks like protecting the GPA by withdrawing from classes that threaten the perfection.

 

[Goro]

I’ve heard many people here say that retaking a decent MCAT could possibly make the Adcom see you as a perfectionist. Are there other mistakes or blunders someone could make that would be viewed as perfectionist or neurotic?

To follow up on this, there are two reasons given why high MCAT takers (>90th %iles) retake:
1) because they have a 515-516 and want to get into Harvard/Stanford class schools
2) They feel "they can do better". These are the perfectionists we try to avoid

Another symptom unrelated to the MCAT is in students who try to learn everything, and end up learning nothing.