reapplicant/retaking mcat--advice pls!

[panda07]

does anyone know how it looks if u re-apply to schools? and if u took the mcat more than once? do they look at both scores? the more recent one? average? is it bad to be a re-applicant to schools?


thanks to ANY advice!

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[Nevryn]

does anyone know how it looks if u re-apply to schools? and if u took the mcat more than once? do they look at both scores? the more recent one? average? is it bad to be a re-applicant to schools?


thanks to ANY advice!

Schools can see both scores. How they look interpret is up to the individual schools and committees. You really have no way of knowing. The best most believable advice I received was to ensure I get the largest jump possible in score when retaking. As in don't take it over and over only scoring slightly better each time. If you plan to retake make it count! It gives admissions less chances to analyze the lesser score. It could have been a bad day or fluke in that case. Trust me I have been there.

 

[bbottle]

So say someone gets 3 separate scores of 24, 28, 32. Does that look worse than someone who just got a 24 and a 32 or a 32 once? Do people with multiple mcat scores need to have a higher score than those who just took it once?

 

[dragonfly99]

Why does it matter now? Different school are going to look at this differently. You are trying to focus on the wrong thing if you obsess over a past low score. You can only go forward from where you are. The most important thing is not to do worse than you did before, or get the same low score.

 

[gamerstud77]

Generally, it is not looked down upon if you retake your MCAT as long as you have an upward trend. They will take the highest score. Also, some schools make their "own" MCAT score from your highest subset scores.

I wouldn't loose sleep over having to retake your MCAT. Good luck to you.

 

[waitlist22]

As a reapplicant as well as someone who took the MCAT twice, I will offer my personal story/2 cents and you can take from it what you wish.

I took the MCAT 2 times before I even applied to schools and I scored 7 points better on my retake. I don't think it looks bad to have taken the MCAT more than once as long as your scores improve and you don't lose points on individual sections. My huge score increase was addressed in interviews, basically asking why I thought my score increased that much, I saw it as a good thing and they seemed to as well. So if your MCAT improves, I wouldn't worry about how it looks. They can see all the scores and most schools I believe take the most recent score as the biggest factor.

Secondly as far as how you look as a reapplicant. Almost everywhere I applied has very good reapplicant statistics if granted an interview the first time around, assuming you make the neccessary changes and improvements. I interviewed at 4 schools my 1st applicant round and was waitlisted at 3. This time around I reapplied to the same 4 schools and recieved interviews once again and am so far holding 1 acceptance. I made the suggested improvements and it significantly helped my application.

In my opinion being a reapplicant has a few advantages, you have shown you will persevere and try again/this is something you are passionate about. You have an extra year of maturity and life experiences and this extra year can help you add community service, more shadowing, an interesting activity, a full time job, etc, etc... that only makes you a better applicant. With all of the added time and a presumably better MCAT score, you may get into better schools next cycle than you would have this year. Just some food for thought. Anyway thats my two cents. I personally don't think there are many disadvantages to being either a reapplicant or taking the MCAT two times other than the fact that you have a year off that you have to deal with and that you aren't an M1 yet.