Please help, Low MCAT/ Low GPA

[notarealname]

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Please help me if possible.

I graduated in the summer of 2007 with a bachelor degree in biomedical engineering. And I took MCAT five times, the most recent MCAT score I got was 6V, 13P, 10B, and M for Writing. I also received a 12 on the biological section from the MCAT I took ten days prior.

I have a total GPA of 3.45, a science GPA of 3.3, and 257 credit hours. Many of the courses I took were honors. I also had about 20 leadership roles in varies clubs and organizations. In addition, I have about four published second author research paper. Also, I shadowed in internal medicine and in radiology for years.

I applied five medical schools within my state (one low tier, rest average medical schools), but I haven't received any interview yet.

My question is what are my chances of getting into a medical school this year. And if I don't get into a medical school, what should I do to improve my chance for the next year?

Thank you for helping me!

 

[notarealname]

Please help me if possible.

I graduated in the summer of 2007 with a bachelor degree in biomedical engineering. And I took MCAT five times, the most recent MCAT score I got was 6V, 13P, 10B, and M for Writing. I also received a 12 on the biological section from the MCAT I took ten days prior.

I have a total GPA of 3.45, a science GPA of 3.3, and 257 credit hours. Many of the courses I took were honors. I also had about 20 leadership roles in varies clubs and organizations. In addition, I have about four published second author research paper. Also, I shadowed in internal medicine and in radiology for years.

I applied five medical schools within my state (one low tier, rest average medical schools), but I haven't received any interview yet.

My question is what are my chances of getting into a medical school this year. And if I don't get into a medical school, what should I do to improve my chance for the next year?

Thank you for helping me!

 

[Lukkie]

the shadowing is nice but you could use some HANDS ON clinical exp.

also, i think your GPA is pretty good, especially for engineering. but your mcat score is lousy. imo, if you were good enough to get 3.4+ as an engineering major, you definitely have the potential to hit 33+ without too much effort. also you should apply more broadly, from what ive been observing, admissions is pretty random and you might have just got some bad dice rolls this round.

i think by taking a year to get all that fixed up, and you'll be a great candidate for the next round. best of luck to you.

 

[MDRus]

looks like the 6 verbal may be what is holding you back. everything else is solid. but some schools may screen you out. also, you took it 5 times? was the verbal in the same range each time?

if you do not get in this time, you need to set a strategy that will work and follow it. don't take the mcat again until you can ace the verbal.

what do others think about taking the mcat 6 times?

 

[Lokhtar]

Your GPA is not very high, and your verbal is well below average, for both allopathic and osteopathic schools. You've taken the MCAT too many times - how did you study? Did you take any professional courses?

At this point, your best bet is probably the Caribbean.

 

[Nataliemay24]

you might try doing some research to find some schools that take the highest MCAT score you received in each section from all the times you took it.

If you take the MCAT again, study differently. Just taking it over and over again won't help. Obviously, focus the most on verbal. Normally, people advise to try to finish every passage on the verbal, but with that very low score, maybe it would be best for you to skip two passages and just do better on the passages you DO do.

Get help with your personal statement from your school (often they'll help even if you already graduated) or from a local community college or something.

 

[robbiekins]

You would have been fine if you hadn't taken the MCAT 6 times. From what I've been told, adcoms simply do not look at scores past a third exam.

You may have some luck with osteopathic schools. Or offshore schools.

 

[dd128]

I think I would have had some kind of nervous breakdown if I took the mcat 5 times! 😱

A 29 is not inherently bad, but like someone said, that 6 is probably killing you.

 

[shiftingmirage]

I applied five medical schools within my state (one low tier, rest average medical schools), but I haven't received any interview yet.

What state are you in? Cali is extremely competitive and with your stats I doubt you'd get in. Do the schools you applied to favor instate applicants or are they private with no preference? Lastly, when did you apply? All the adcoms are backed up because of the holidays (thanksgiving, christmas). If you weren't done before Nov. or even Oct., it's not surprising the schools haven't gotten back to you yet.

Five schools is simply not enough. The average (or so I have heard) is 12 schools. Applying is a game the best way to better you odds is to apply to a decent number of schools. I am not quite sure what you consider 'low tier' but I have heard of people being rejected from schools where they are way above average because the schools do not believe the applicant will accept an acceptance offer.

Your biggest issue is probably the verbal score. Is English your native language? I would hesitate taking the MCAT again because 6 times makes it look like you are taking the test multiple times with your fingers crossed hoping for a good score. Taking it so many times probably makes your app stand out and not in a good way. Did you explain in your PS why so many times? Your physical and bio numbers are good, it seems verbal is holding you back.

 

[skyeblue0610]

You should have taken as many courses for the verbal as you possibly could. That's what's holding you back. If it was a 9 that would be a little better

 

[kyidmnmaiv]

From what I've been told, adcoms simply do not look at scores past a third exam.

Is that true? Does anybody have a source?

 

[notarealname]

Your GPA is not very high, and your verbal is well below average, for both allopathic and osteopathic schools. You've taken the MCAT too many times - how did you study? Did you take any professional courses?

At this point, your best bet is probably the Caribbean.

I studied on myself with Princeton Review materials the first time I took the MCAT; the second time, I took MCAT with Kaplan but results were the same. After that I just studied on myself.

Am I too late to apply for Caribbean schools or osteopathic schools right now?

 

[Lokhtar]

I studied on myself with Princeton Review materials the first time I took the MCAT; the second time, I took MCAT with Kaplan but results were the same. After that I just studied on myself.

Am I too late to apply for Caribbean schools or osteopathic schools right now?

No idea - you are pushing it though. That six will hurt you in the osteopathic schools too - especially since you're applying so late and presumably you have no LOR from a DO.

 

[Lukkie]

I studied on myself with Princeton Review materials the first time I took the MCAT; the second time, I took MCAT with Kaplan but results were the same. After that I just studied on myself.

Am I too late to apply for Caribbean schools or osteopathic schools right now?

if you studied this much, and also a kaplan mcat class, and still only got a 6, there is a much deeper issue at hand. id get that figured out first

 

[AlexMorph]

Your activities seem fine and plentiful. Your GPA is average, so that's not a problem. Your Verbal score is the point that is killing you. Not to mention, you took it 5 times. Why would you take it so many times? Did you not know that it's not a good idea to take it so many times?

I don't know about taking the MCAT again. Will it even mean anything to the adcoms anymore? I would suggest that you not apply to any new schools now but wait a year. Apply early and broadly next year. Did you get above a 6 in VR in any of your tests?

 

[notarealname]

if you studied this much, and also a kaplan mcat class, and still only got a 6, there is a much deeper issue at hand. id get that figured out first

I think I am a verbal section phobic now. I get nervous every time I look at a verbal passage. I actually got mostly As in my English literature/composition courses.

 

[AlexMorph]

I think I am a verbal section phobic now. I get nervous every time I look at a verbal passage. I actually got mostly As in my English literature/composition courses.

That doesn't have anything to do with MCAT VR, man. It's a different beast.

 

[MDRus]

let's go real easy on this guy, folks.

 

[notarealname]

Your activities seem fine and plentiful. Your GPA is average, so that's not a problem. Your Verbal score is the point that is killing you. Not to mention, you took it 5 times. Why would you take it so many times? Did you not know that it's not a good idea to take it so many times?

I don't know about taking the MCAT again. Will it even mean anything to the adcoms anymore? I would suggest that you not apply to any new schools now but wait a year. Apply early and broadly next year. Did you get above a 6 in VR in any of your tests?

I got 7 in VR on my second real test. I usually get 8s on practice VR and sometimes 9s. But I get really nervous during the real VR, I pretty much finished the last three passages in under a minute.

And I knew that taking MCAT too many times is a bad idea, and I only took them when I had significant improvement on my practice exams. For instance, I have 8 VR, 14 PS, and 13 BS on the most recent official practice exams, but I only got 6 VR, 13 PS, and 10 BS on the real exam.

 

[Vee]

you say that you took the mcat 5 times, at one point just 10 days apart? how are you studying for the exam? 10 days isn't much time to improve things...

also, to increase your chances of acceptance (especially with less than stellar stats) you need to apply much more broadly than you have.

your gpa isn't horrible. it is below average but if you don't get accepted this year you can take classes during the gap year to improve it as much as you can. also, change something about how you're studying for the verbal part of the mcat. are you esl? if that is the case, schools may be more understanding of a lower verbal score.

you have good ec's and good shadowing experience. just get your stats up a little and apply broadly if you don't get in this time around.

 

[Auron]

I don't know if you took loads of practice exams before the real thing as that's the best indicator as to how you will likely do on the exam. I've heard schools don't really care after the third attempt. Perhaps someone can add to this.

 

[Depakote]

Cross posted in Reapplicants. Moving there to be merged with the Reapplicants thread.

 

[notarealname]

I don't know if you took loads of practice exams before the real thing as that's the best indicator as to how you will likely do on the exam. I've heard schools don't really care after the third attempt. Perhaps someone can add to this.

Someone please confirm on this bold sentence with reference.


Summery

Here is what I will do based on your suggestions (please correct me if I am wrong):

1. Apply for Caribbean medical schools.
2. Apply for Osteopathic schools next year and get a DO recommendation.
3. Take MCAT a sixth time and have at least a 9 on VR.
4. Get hands on clinical experiences.
5. Apply 12+ medical schools next year and apply more broadly.
6. Apply medical schools that can take highest scores.
7. Explain in PS why I took MCAT so many times.
8. Next year apply before July (This time round, I finished my secondary in September and have my pre-med advisor sent in my recommendation letters in October).

 

[Blade28]

Another plea to PLEASE apply widely and broadly!

I had what many would consider "average" stats when I was a pre-med, and I applied to 20+ schools, both public and private. Of course I was in California, but still...

Widely and broadly.

 

[Nataliemay24]

Someone please confirm on this bold sentence with reference.


Summery

Here is what I will do based on your suggestions (please correct me if I am wrong):

1. Apply for Caribbean medical schools.
2. Apply for Osteopathic schools next year and get a DO recommendation.
3. Take MCAT a sixth time and have at least a 9 on VR.
4. Get hands on clinical experiences.
5. Apply 12+ medical schools next year and apply more broadly.
6. Apply medical schools that can take highest scores.
7. Explain in PS why I took MCAT so many times.
8. Next year apply before July (This time round, I finished my secondary in September and have my pre-med advisor sent in my recommendation letters in October).

3. a. ...and do NOT take MCAT ever again until I am CONSISTENTLY getting higher verbal scores on practice tests.

7. a. ...and get lots of help on PS. (Writing advisers at school, professors, people on SDN, etc.)

 

[notarealname]

3. a. ...and do NOT take MCAT ever again until I am CONSISTENTLY getting higher verbal scores on practice tests.

7. a. ...and get lots of help on PS. (Writing advisers at school, professors, people on SDN, etc.)

Thank you for helping everyone! And Happy New Year!

 

[scooter31]

Just echoing what others have said re: the verbal score and mentioning that it is school specific as to what the cut off is. Anecdotally, I've heard some places that consider 7 to be the bare minimum, but also know of someone who got in with a 6 (regular applicant- meaning they were a non-BS/MD or postbac feeder applicant). The school that asked for a 7 and the school that accepted a 6 were two different east coast private schools. The MSAR is your friend on this one.

I know there was a SDN'er years back that got into med school after getting a 30 on his 6th attempt on the MCAT. I think they had Clemson in his name, so maybe a search to prove/disprove my shaky memory would be a place to start. Again, how schools look at your MCAT (composite versus most recent versus some other algorithm) is at their discretion.

Good luck!

 

[notarealname]

Thank you! This is information helps🙂

 

[ecca58]

Another re-emphasis: apply EARLY and BROADLY~!

That's all I have to say.

And look, I have a MCAT score of 28 and I still made it (you only need one acceptance 😉)! 😀 I think for me, applying early and broadly was the key to my success! G'luck!

 

[F12]

Two things for original poster:

1. It appears that English is your second language. Your chances of getting into a US allopathic school are pretty low with a 6 in verbal. Try to improve your English. I suggest reading a LOT of difficult classic novels.

2. You are not applying broadly. Instead of applying to 5 schools, apply to 50 (which would be advisable with your stats).