People with 30+, why retake?

[Richter915]

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I've seen more than a handful of members on here who have scored that goal of 30+ on the MCATs and are choosing to retake...my question is why? 30+ is the goal most people reach for and it's not like retaking the MCAT is free and there's no guarantee of score improvement (going from that 34 to 35 is much harder than it looks). So why put in the extra blood, sweat, and tears even after you achieved what is seen as reasonable to get into med school?

 

[Funky]

I've seen more than a handful of members on here who have scored that goal of 30+ on the MCATs and are choosing to retake...my question is why? 30+ is the goal most people reach for and it's not like retaking the MCAT is free and there's no guarantee of score improvement (going from that 34 to 35 is much harder than it looks). So why put in the extra blood, sweat, and tears even after you achieved what is seen as reasonable to get into med school?

People do it because they
A. Have lower gpas so need to get a higher mcat score
B. Lopsided MCAT score - 6,12,12 lets say
C. Need to get into a top 20 school.

 

[Richter915]

People do it because they
A. Have lower gpas so need to get a higher mcat score
B. Lopsided MCAT score - 6,12,12 lets say
C. Need to get into a top 20 school.

hmm, understandable. And it's not worth trying to apply before retaking you'd say?

What scores would be competitive for a top 20 school, just throwing that out there outta curiosity.

 

[quiksilver87]

google med school rankings...They have the average MCAT scores of the people that enter!

Would a med school filter you out if you have a low verbal score and high BS and PS scores? lik say some one gets an 8 on VR but 13's on BS and PS...Would that be a big deal? Would you be at a disadvantage?

 

[Richter915]

I did just that right as I read your post. It seems as though the AVERAGE and Washington U in St. Louis is a 37 (13 11 13), I find that a bit tough to swallow but oh well.

 

[rcd]

I did just that right as I read your post. It seems as though the AVERAGE and Washington U in St. Louis is a 37 (13 11 13), I find that a bit tough to swallow but oh well.

I could be wrong, but I think that's average accepted, not average matriculated.

 

[Richter915]

I could be wrong, but I think that's average accepted, not average matriculated.

can you, or someone, explain to me the difference between accepted and matriculated? I find it embarrassing that I don't know the difference but it's about time I do.

 

[Green Pirate]

can you, or someone, explain to me the difference between accepted and matriculated? I find it embarrassing that I don't know the difference but it's about time I do.

accepted means those who were offered admission. matriculated means those who actually took up that offer and took a seat in that school.

 

[Richter915]

accepted means those who were offered admission. matriculated means those who actually took up that offer and took a seat in that school.

Ok that's what I thought. So in regards to avg mcat score, would people expect accepted or matriculated to be higher?

 

[Green Pirate]

accepted should be higher. for example, someone with a 40 MCAT score is likely to be accepted at most schools he applies to, so that brings up the "avg. accepted MCAT score" of all the schools he applied to. However, he only chooses one school to attend, so the schools that accepted him but he didn't choose to attend cannot calculate that 40 into their "avg. matriculant MCAT score"

 

[Richter915]

makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. So in general, the higher ranked the school...the higher the accepted AND matriculated...the lower ranked schools will have a greater disparity between accepted and matriculated.

 

[emquiksilver]

makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. So in general, the higher ranked the school...the higher the accepted AND matriculated...the lower ranked schools will have a greater disparity between accepted and matriculated.

That's probably true to a certain extent, but I've heard some schools will outright reject people with impressive stats because they know without a doubt that they would never attend if offered a spot.

 

[Kraazy]

I've seen more than a handful of members on here who have scored that goal of 30+ on the MCATs and are choosing to retake...my question is why? 30+ is the goal most people reach for and it's not like retaking the MCAT is free and there's no guarantee of score improvement (going from that 34 to 35 is much harder than it looks). So why put in the extra blood, sweat, and tears even after you achieved what is seen as reasonable to get into med school?

I think if there were a serious discrepancy between your practice scores and your real score, or if your score on the real test were lower because something went wrong on test day, you would have ample reason to retake, since your score most likely does not reflect your true potential. You would be selling yourself short on your chances for admissions and perhaps even scholarships.

 

[crx7]

31R here, bit of a discrepancy from my practice scores, thus I think I can do much better, and I have a low GPA. Also, I want to get into better schools. Why not try to do better when you think you get. Good enough to get in isn't always good enough for each person's individual goals.

 

[Richter915]

31R here, bit of a discrepancy from my practice scores, thus I think I can do much better, and I have a low GPA. Also, I want to get into better schools. Why not try to do better when you think you get. Good enough to get in isn't always good enough for each person's individual goals.

That's true but I can't help but think of the costs. Personally, for my type of personality I think that if anything, my score would drop and that I'd have wasted another 210...but I do see how others feel and I can acknowledge it...makes sense, if you feel you can do better, then why not.

 

[crx7]

I dropped the $210 the day after I took the MCAT and signed up for another test. Didn't even wait for my score, I knew I wasn't at my best and thought I could do much better.

Money: $210 isn't a big deal to me in comparison to the tuition I've been dropping lately.

Time: I was taking Biochem II, Micro Lab, Micro II, and Comp. Animal Phys. this semester and studying for the MCAT. I'm not taking summer school and currently don't have a job, thus I have plenty of time to study for MCAT.

31 was not a fluke, I'm sure I can repeat this score with what's in my head right now. I was scoring 31 to 34 on the practice tests and if I can improve on this range I can thus do better.

I'm not burned out on MCAT, I feel like I can study a lot more and get a lot more stuff into my head.

 

[QofQuimica]

That's probably true to a certain extent, but I've heard some schools will outright reject people with impressive stats because they know without a doubt that they would never attend if offered a spot.

In my experience, there is no truth to this. (I'm assuming, of course, that the high-stat applicants don't go to their interviews acting like they think they automatically deserve a spot based upon their stats. An arrogant attitude is the surest way to sink your chances quickly.) Medical schools are not charities. They want to accept and matriculate the best students they can get, however "best" is defined by that school. If you have excellent stats and the school feels that you will be a good fit, they won't reject you just because your stats are higher than their average. If anything, they'll accept you and throw in a scholarship offer to try to convince you to choose them over the higher ranked and more expensive schools.

I think a major key to interviewing well at a particular school is to have a very good answer to the question of why you want to attend School X. Don't *ever* treat any medical school like it's a backup or like you think that you're too good to go there; go on each of your interviews with the mindset that this could be the only school that accepts you, and act accordingly.

 

[emquiksilver]

In my experience, there is no truth to this. (I'm assuming, of course, that the high-stat applicants don't go to their interviews acting like they think they automatically deserve a spot based upon their stats. An arrogant attitude is the surest way to sink your chances quickly.) Medical schools are not charities. They want to accept and matriculate the best students they can get, however "best" is defined by that school. If you have excellent stats and the school feels that you will be a good fit, they won't reject you just because your stats are higher than their average. If anything, they'll accept you and throw in a scholarship offer to try to convince you to choose them over the higher ranked and more expensive schools.

I think a major key to interviewing well at a particular school is to have a very good answer to the question of why you want to attend School X. Don't *ever* treat any medical school like it's a backup or like you think that you're too good to go there; go on each of your interviews with the mindset that this could be the only school that accepts you, and act accordingly.

Doh! I guess not everything you read on SDN is true. Thanks Q.