PLEASE HELP!!! MCAT

[UrSexyLatinDr]

Hey amigos/as, que pasa?

OK, I am asking this for a friend: He has taken the MCAT twice, first time he got a 26, this time ( April one) he got a 25 and a 5 on Verbal.. He is a student at a top 25 school with a gpa of 3.8, 3 years of Research and 3 years of hopsital volunteer. As you might think, he is confused and wanted some advice, should he even bother to apply or you guys think he might have a chance? Also, what would be some institutions he could apply to? Thanks guys...

Eduardo

P.S. He is not URM

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[Street Philosopher]

I don't think he should apply with a 5 on verbal.

 

[Toejam]

If his essay is reasonably good (maybe a Q or so) it might offset his 5. I got a 6 on my essay and an S on my WS, but I'm applying anyway.

I really can't understand the 6. I read ALL of the time and have a strong vocabulary base. Tell him that it's the least important of the 3.

 

[bujji13]

•••quote:••• I really can't understand the 6. I read ALL of the time and have a strong vocabulary base. Tell him that it's the least important of the 3. ••••Not to be rude, but if youre referring to the Verbal section, I would have to disagree with you. From what I have heard from pre-med advisors, the TPR, and people who sit on admissions committee, the verbal is the most important, while the writing is the least important.

 

[Toejam]

What I meant to say is that the VR is probably the least important compared with BS and P. I know that the essay is the least important.

No offense taken.

 

[Mudd]

For the past four years (at least), the VR average for matriculants to medical school has been the lowest of the three numerical sub-scores (with BS being the highest).

With such a low MCAT score, your freind should choose his schools carefully. As usual, I recommend consulting the AAMC website and MSAR booklet for up-to-date numbers, but he/she will be pleasantly surprised to see that there are a few medical schools that will ignore MCATs when the rest of the application is stellar. Look at George Washington, Rochester, and Tufts for starters.

I hope this helps.

 

[bujji13]

•••quote:••• What I meant to say is that the VR is probably the least important compared with BS and P. I know that the essay is the least important.
••••I know this is what you meant to say, and I think it is the opposite of what is true! From everything I have heard (including from reliable sources), the VR is the most important section of the MCAT. I don't this means that everyone needs a 12+ on this section to get in, I think it means that this section is more emphasized by adcoms and that they would rather see lower scores in the other three sections.

 

[laviddee]

i also think applying with a 5 is very very difficult. I agree with buji that it's one of the most important sections that adcoms look at. Particularly b/c verbal sections tend to indicate best how a student will do on the boards.
Also verbal doesn't just test knowledge that people can study for like bio or physics, but tests general comprehension of how you read and take in concepts. Although I'm there with you when I hate how they ask stuff like , "what's the authors attitude?" and other superfluous touch- feely stuff, but it is very important to them.

Also they are definitely more concerned about uneven scores. Better to have a 3 9s, then a 11 11 and 5- even if both scores add to 27.