retake MCATs solely for waitlist purposes?

[care bear]

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i have a question. . .would it make any sense at all to retake the mcat only to help my chances of moving off waitlists?
here's my story: i have an acceptance at unc but am waitlisted several places i am more interested in.
my problem is i have *nothing* good to tell these schools about myself since i applied!! i bombed biochem last semester and my gpa is truly terrible for this year so far. sub 3.0.
could it possibly help to take the mcat in april and just rock it completely? or would they think it was just weird, since i'm definitely not reapplying?
last time i got 34-36 but i really think i could do better with a lot of cramming. this idea just occured to me- i know it's a long shot, but i feel like i have no good news to write to these schools with, and i'm grabbing at straws. any thoughts? thanks!

 

[UCLAMAN]

One of my friends wants to do this. She plans on taking it just for kicks to prove to herself she can rock it. I don't think it will help much though. I figure your numbers probably weren't an issue at all if you got the intreview there. But hey...guess it can't hurt. Just not worth the effort IMO. Why don't you join something? Volunteer with a new organization? Do something more meaningful than retaking the mcat. There are plenty of things you can update with. Are you planning to travel this summer? The world is in your hands...you can do a lot of things besides retake the mcat.

If I were an adcom member and saw that the only thing someone updated me with was a new mcat score(regardless of how high) I would think they were a loser. I would think that they need to get out more and get a life. (no offense)

Now if you updated with an mcat score while opening a new free clinic in zimbabwe then that would be a different story. But even in that scenario...the opening of the clinic would be more interesting than the mcat score.

 

[Resident Alien]

WONT WORK!

The latest scores theyll accept for entering class of 2003 are August 2002 scores.

What a waste of 180 bux!

 

[Mike59]

Originally posted by care bear
last time i got 34-36 but i really think i could do better with a lot of cramming

Yea go for it- Study hard!
Your MCAT score could use some work, and odds are you'll jump right off that waitlist into the accepted pool!

 

[UCLAMAN]

Originally posted by care bear
last time i got 34-36 but i really think i could do better with a lot of cramming.

Wow...Sorry I'm dumb and didn't read the whole post...You've got to be kidding me.

🙄 🙄

One would think that someone who can score a 34-36 would have more common sense than that. You score a 34-36 and have no idea what you can do to update your waitlist files? The best idea you can come up with is retaking the mcat?

 

[14931]

why are u guys being so harsh?
care bear, if u got interviews already, then i think the adcoms are past ur mcat scores, u could try a new LOR, or some other extra curricular activity. congrats on unc, it might not be ur first choice, but u still get to be a doctor, good luck.

 

[edfig99]

Originally posted by care bear
i have a question. . .would it make any sense at all to retake the mcat only to help my chances of moving off waitlists?
here's my story: i have an acceptance at unc but am waitlisted several places i am more interested in.
my problem is i have *nothing* good to tell these schools about myself since i applied!! i bombed biochem last semester and my gpa is truly terrible for this year so far. sub 3.0.
could it possibly help to take the mcat in april and just rock it completely? or would they think it was just weird, since i'm definitely not reapplying?
last time i got 34-36 but i really think i could do better with a lot of cramming. this idea just occured to me- i know it's a long shot, but i feel like i have no good news to write to these schools with, and i'm grabbing at straws. any thoughts? thanks!

retaking the mcat will do absolutely nothing for you. save the time, energy and money. Your grades/numbers will not move you off the waitlist because you have to wait for people to give up spots that they are holding. i would recommend you pay the deposit to hold your spot at UNC so you're not left without anything. wait until the may 15th or whatever deadline comes, and see what happens. worst case scenario, you go to UNC - med school is med school. if you decide to retake the mcat, it won't be looked at for this application year....and if you end up reapplying, you also take the risk that your scores go down, which looks very bad. mid 30s are solid scores, and as another poster mentioned, the fact that you were interviewed means that your numbers and application were fine. take unc and don't reapply.

 

[Premed2003]

Care Bear, what did you get in biochem? Is it bad enough that you should retake it?

Don't retake the mcat. they're happy with your mcat as is. what was your gpa before application? did it change a lot with a new semester of grades? If you're on the waitlist, then your numbers are fine. send a letter of interest/intent or something like that

 

[lotanna]

Yeah go for it, your score is quite low, and I really doubt if u can get in with those type scores. You need at least a 42-45 to even guarantee u a spot. Go ahead, study hard, you an do it, just believe in yourself!!😛

Wait though, this might be a joke, or mr poster are u for real??😕

 

[canadagirl]

One thing that really bugs me about the admissions process is how much it WASTES our TIME and MONEY... I mean, can you imagine if the thousands and thousands of premeds out there took all the money we spend on the MCAT (courses, books, the test itself,etc) and gave it to charity? How about if we took all the time we spend on the MCAT (studying, agonizing over the grades, the test itself, etc) and used it to volunteer instead? We're talking huge resources here!

You've already got a really good score. Spend your time and money making the world a better place instead of worrying about test scores!

WHO CARES what adcoms think! Are you gonna be happy with yourself at the end of the summer having retaken the MCATs or having made a difference in some way? You decide!

 

[geromine]

I've thought about this long and hard and I think that you should definitly do it. Study as hard as you can, day and night. Take the April test and ace it. Then just for kicks, take the August test as well. This is the best use of your time.

This may also help your chances:
fly over to the school where you're on waitlist, go the the dean's office and start doing jumping jax to impress him. I know a good many people that got in this way. This technique pretty much guarantees an Ivy league admission.

Best of luck.

 

[Street Philosopher]

What would be more impressive is if you hadn't posted this question at all.

 

[care bear]

ok ok. . so i can can be a kinda impulsive person, and hadn't thought that much about the idea before posting it. ..i had just been thinking a lot about what i could do to help waitlist movement and suddenly retaking the mcat occured to me, so i just made the thread. . .goodness gracious, no harm done! at least now i know that a.) schools wouldn't even look at it and b.) i have some good other ideas . . .
thanks especially for premed2003. . ..believe it or not, i hadn't even *thought* of retaking biochem this summer! i think i should definitely do that, maybe at one of those super early summer sessions somewhere.
and as for activities, i think my extracurricular stuff is pretty full for the moment , but when the school year ends i will have time to look for new activities, so i'll definitely keep these suggestions in mind. thanks!