Retake MCAT in Aug/Sept?

[kmoonp]

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Hey SDN,

I got my MCAT score today and its a 511 (127/130/126/128) and kinda bummed because my FLs were all over 513. I am applying this cycle and my MD app will be verified next week. My question is would it be feasible/ok for me to retake the mcat in August (or Sept) and still be solid for this cycle? How would that affect my application timelines to schools? I normally wouldn't retake but my science gpa is low (under 50 or 25% for most schools), cumulative is good. I think I could pull up by C/P and B/B scores for sure. The rest of my app is pretty good.

WARS score is 71.
LizzyM 67.8.
ORM F

Any advice or guidance is really appreciated since I'm at a crossroads right now.. Thank you!

 

[candbgirl]

A 511 is a very acceptable score. You haven’t shared any other infor(GPAs and ECs) but based on your LizzyM of 67.8 your GPA is probably around 3.6x . A two point MCAT increase wouldn’t change that much. And that’s if you increase your score at all.

Schools are not required to wait for your new score. When you are verified(next week) and your primary is sent to schools they can begin the evaluation process. By the time you take the new test your application might have been reviewed and a decision made. So there is no guarantee that schools will even be interested in your new score. ( If you retake in August you won’t have your scores until September and if in September scores won’t be back until October. And both of those are very late.)

Are you aware that some schools average multiple MCAT scores? AMCAS encourages schools to average scores. Some do and some don’t. But all scores are visible to reviewers.

Did you apply to one throw away school or did you submit your whole list?

 

[kmoonp]

A 511 is a very acceptable score. You haven’t shared any other infor(GPAs and ECs) but based on your LizzyM of 67.8 your GPA is probably around 3.6x . A two point MCAT increase wouldn’t change that much. And that’s if you increase your score at all.

Schools are not required to wait for your new score. When you are verified(next week) and your primary is sent to schools they can begin the evaluation process. By the time you take the new test your application might have been reviewed and a decision made. So there is no guarantee that schools will even be interested in your new score. ( If you retake in August you won’t have your scores until September and if in September scores won’t be back until October. And both of those are very late.)

Are you aware that some schools average multiple MCAT scores? AMCAS encourages schools to average scores. Some do and some don’t. But all scores are visible to reviewers.

Did you apply to one throw away school or did you submit your whole list?

Gpa is 3.68/3.48
Only applied to one school (Tulane). Was waiting on my score to update school list

 

[candbgirl]

Gpa is 3.68/3.48
Only applied to one school (Tulane). Was waiting on my score to update school list

The usual story on SDN is if you are complete by Labor Day you are fine. If you retake in August that won’t be possible and September is even worse. With a 3.4 sGPA do you really think you will increase your score significantly?

 

[hungrydoc710]

EC's ?!

 

[kmoonp]

EC's ?!

Lots of clinical volunteering serving underserved populations
2500 hours unique extracurricular
Standard research- no pubs
Teaching, tutoring
Standard non-clinical volunteering

 

[deleted804295]

Hey SDN,

I got my MCAT score today and its a 511 (127/130/126/128) and kinda bummed because my FLs were all over 513. I am applying this cycle and my MD app will be verified next week. My question is would it be feasible/ok for me to retake the mcat in August (or Sept) and still be solid for this cycle? How would that affect my application timelines to schools? I normally wouldn't retake but my science gpa is low (under 50 or 25% for most schools), cumulative is good. I think I could pull up by C/P and B/B scores for sure. The rest of my app is pretty good.

WARS score is 71.
LizzyM 67.8.
ORM F

Any advice or guidance is really appreciated since I'm at a crossroads right now.. Thank you!

August/September MCAT date is very late because scores wouldn't come out until September/October. If you want to retake the MCAT it should be for next cycle. It's starting to get a bit late into the cycle to do MCAT retakes for this cycle.