Retake MCAT??

[100chickadees]

Here's my story, friends. I have a 3.44 GPA, I got a 506 from my May 19th test date (124/128/128/126). I just found out this morning. I am applying to like 20 DO schools, and for these purposes, a 506 is mostly fine (although I am not happy with the 124). I am also applying to my state MD school... should I retake this August and update the schools?? On my practice exams I was consistently scoring a 509, I didn't spend much time doing chemistry/physics practice questions, and I think I could do better. I also consistently did much better on psych/soc. (and even CARS occasionally!) than I did on the actually exam. I know you guys see tons of these questions but... what do you think?

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[Isoval]

I would advise against a retake, especially if a majority of your application is AACOMAS.

A 506 is a decent score, and it’s not significantly different from that 509 that you’re saying you’d score on a retake. Keep in mind a majority of medical schools (MD/DO) average.

 

[100chickadees]

I would advise against a retake, especially if a majority of your application is AACOMAS.

A 506 is a decent score, and it’s not significantly different from that 509 that you’re saying you’d score on a retake. Keep in mind a majority of medical schools (MD/DO) average.

Oh man, I completely forgot about that averaging of scores thing.. good point!

 

[100chickadees]

I against applicants retaking the MCAT during the active cycle unless they have planned to do so. That is, the from the day they took the first MCAT, they went back into prep mode. And doing that would then overlap your time, energy and focus with actually doing applications and secondaries, which will be much more important. Not only do many schools average scores as has been said above, there is no obligation that schools wait for a planned MCAT score to evaluate you.

Saying all that knowing your overall GPA without anything else does not give me any indication whether you are a better or worse candidate than you think.

More great points. Thank you for the advice!