Retaking high MCAT for insane score

[Walter Raleigh]

There's been some interesting discussion on this; would any of you, especially @Goro, @WedgeDawg and @LizzyM care to weigh in on this?

Suppose a 3.6/516 applicant with balanced scores and decent-to-good ECs (Division III runner, 500 hours volunteering in a hospice, 200 hours in a soup kitchen, 100 hours shadowing, 1,000 hours of research and three poster presentations) were to retake her MCAT. This is generally an inadvisable move for a score this high, but suppose she really knocked her ill-advised retake out of the park, earning a 526. Would this insanely high, 99.9th percentile score reflect any worse on her than if she'd been satisfied with her 516 and called it a day?

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[Goro]

There's been some interesting discussion on this; would any of you, especially @Goro, @WedgeDawg and @LizzyM care to weigh in on this?

Suppose a 3.6/516 applicant with balanced scores and decent-to-good ECs (Division III runner, 500 hours volunteering in a hospice, 200 hours in a soup kitchen, 100 hours shadowing, 1,000 hours of research and three poster presentations) were to retake her MCAT. This is generally an inadvisable move for a score this high, but suppose she really knocked her ill-advised retake out of the park, earning a 526. Would this insanely high, 99.9th percentile score reflect any worse on her than if she'd been satisfied with her 516 and called it a day?

Such a person would get into my school with open arms, even though we knew /she was gunning for Harvard/Stanford. I personally would be on alert for this person being such a perfectionist that they would fail out, because they end up trying to learn everything, and end up knowing nothing. Either that, or they'd be in our offices every day arguing over why their 96 on the exam should really be a 97.

Such a candidate would be rejected from gyngyn''s school for having abominably poor judgment.

 

[LizzyM]

Haven't seen this lately but with the old MCAT I clearly recall and exchange with another adcom member over someone who retook a 34.
"Who retakes a 34?!?"
"Someone who wants to go here." 😉

On the retake I think the applicant had a 39 and an interview invite (ii). We acknowledged that with the 34 alone no ii would have been issued.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Such a person would get into my school with open arms, even though we knew /she was gunning for Harvard/Stanford. I personally would be on alert for this person being such a perfectionist that they would fail out, because they end up trying to learn everything, and end up knowing nothing. Either that, or they'd be in our offices every day arguing over why their 96 on the exam should really be a 97.

Such a candidate would be rejected from gyngyn''s school for having abominably poor judgment.

Hmm...If our heroine instead took three years off to serve in the Peace Corps in Tanzania, then retook her MCAT for a 526: would Harvard and Stanford come knocking? I guess you need to let a stellar MCAT like that expire, if you really want to gun high...

 

[Goro]

Hmm...If our heroine instead took three years off to serve in the Peace Corps in Tanzania, then retook her MCAT for a 526: would Harvard and Stanford come knocking? I guess you need to let a stellar MCAT like that expire, if you really want to gun high...

Someone can get into Harvard or Stanford with a 516. The median for both is 518, and the 10th %iles are 512 and 515 for the former and latter. In fact, a 516 is at ~25% tile for both. I do not know how they would view such a retake.

My learned colleague @LizzyM didn't answer the question about a candidate who would do a 516 -> 526, alas. At what point does MCAT exam taking judgment come into play???

 

[WedgeDawg]

It's a risk. If they retook the 516 and got a 516 it would be viewed as hubris. If they retook it and got a 522 it would probably help particularly at stat heavy schools where a 516 is well into the lower half. Are you a gambler?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Also this belongs in preallo general so moving

 

[WedgeDawg]

Or if they got a 512, it would question their ability. Much of medical school admissions, like medicine itself, is about reducing risk. Whether or not they got a better or worse score, I strongly question the judgement of anyone retaking such a score as either a OCD perfectionist or having other personal character flaws

I don't see it quite that way. As LizzyM pointed out above, if you have an application that puts you on target for a top school but you have an off day and your MCAT is lower than you were scoring on your practice exams enough that it matters (which it arguably does in this scenario), I can see a reasonable person retaking it and scoring closer to their practice exams. If they don't improve, that's obviously bad, but I don't think it's a death knell for an application or indicative of poor decision making, at least not necessarily. Of course, I'm not an adcom so what I say doesn't really matter.

 

[Lucca]

I don't see it quite that way. As LizzyM pointed out above, if you have an application that puts you on target for a top school but you have an off day and your MCAT is lower than you were scoring on your practice exams enough that it matters (which it arguably does in this scenario), I can see a reasonable person retaking it and scoring closer to their practice exams. If they don't improve, that's obviously bad, but I don't think it's a death knell for an application or indicative of poor decision making, at least not necessarily. Of course, I'm not an adcom so what I say doesn't really matter.

I agree. In my own view there are certain circumstances when it can be advisable to retake, but it certainly is unpleasant medicine for anyone who already managed to do very well once before. Anyone who is committed enough to doing this and succeeds has a very specific goal in mind and are clearly willing to do a lot to obtain it.

Applicants are merely responding to the signals sent by the admissions committees.

 

[enchantediris]

I don't see it quite that way. As LizzyM pointed out above, if you have an application that puts you on target for a top school but you have an off day and your MCAT is lower than you were scoring on your practice exams enough that it matters (which it arguably does in this scenario), I can see a reasonable person retaking it and scoring closer to their practice exams. If they don't improve, that's obviously bad, but I don't think it's a death knell for an application or indicative of poor decision making, at least not necessarily. Of course, I'm not an adcom so what I say doesn't really matter.

In the darkest days while I was waiting for my MCAT score to be released (seriously AAMC, why???), I thought about how low of a score I was willing to tolerate before considering a retake. I think I settled on ~513, for practice scores averaging ~518. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised when my MCAT came back. But until then, a retake was on my mind for your exact reason. I don't really think anyone looks forward to retaking the MCAT, which probably has even more baggage, pressure, and frustration the second time around.

 

[cuttlefish_deluxe91]

There's been some interesting discussion on this; would any of you, especially @Goro, @WedgeDawg and @LizzyM care to weigh in on this?

Suppose a 3.6/516 applicant with balanced scores and decent-to-good ECs (Division III runner, 500 hours volunteering in a hospice, 200 hours in a soup kitchen, 100 hours shadowing, 1,000 hours of research and three poster presentations) were to retake her MCAT. This is generally an inadvisable move for a score this high, but suppose she really knocked her ill-advised retake out of the park, earning a 526. Would this insanely high, 99.9th percentile score reflect any worse on her than if she'd been satisfied with her 516 and called it a day?

516 is a pretty high score to retake, but then again, there are pretty decent assessment tools available to predict the score you will get on the MCAT. Obviously, they are imperfect but still, it's something. I did this but with a lower score. Retook the equivalent of a 512 on the old exam for two reasons. One, I was confident I could do better, and two, I wanted more opportunities. Really it's a matter of personal preference and understanding your ownabilities/limitations

 

[efle]

I had a friend who retook a ~515-516 and scored ~522-523 on the retake. Ended up with a few t20 interviews and is now attending one of her favorites from among them. I think if your 516 was considerably lower than your AAMC practice exam scores and you're gunning for very competitive med schools, it can make sense to retake.