Screening Q for those who took the August MCAT

[Jameson]

The questions is, If score below a 33 from my April exam and want to retake the August exam am I going to be "screened" out by some schools or will they notice acknowledge that I am going to take the August and wait to see how I do before they reject me? Thanks in advance.
Jameson

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[Jameson]

Are you guys and gals trying to tell me that no one has ever taken the april and then the august exam while applying?
BUMP

 

[none]

um...33 isn't a good cutoff. A balanced 29 is a good cutoff. You do know that statistically if you have a 30 or better you're much more likely to do worse on a retake, right? Further, you're doing yourself a considerable disservice by taking the August exam. They won't look at your app until then and a good portion of the class will be interviewed.

 

[SMW]

If you say on your AMCAS app that you are taking the August MCAT, they will wait for those scores before reviewing your application. It will delay your application process considerably, but it is not the kiss-of-death that some would have you believe. I took the August MCAT last year (was happy to get a 30 on it!) without having taken the April exam. From the fact that you would consider re-taking with a 30, 31 or 32 I must infer that you are only interested in really top schools, and I'm not really sure about the screening process for all those schools. I did receive secondary invitations from some top ranked schools and was admitted to one that did not have a secondary (also 4 other admissions, and 5 waitlists to lower ranked schools). I would strongly advise you not to concentrate your applications on only top-ranked schools. There is considerable randomness and unpredictability in the whole process.

But none is right, there is really no reason to re-take with a score betwen 29 and 32.

 

[Jameson]

Thanks for the replies ladies - aside from original and brandonite who both scored 32 their first time I wasn't aware of any one who retook the mcat with. It is not so much that I am dying to go to a top school, rather I have yet to finish my physics sequence and I think I could do better than what my score will reveal. Don't get me wrong, a score over 29 is awesome and luckly I'll achieve that, but its kinda a personal thing...Oh SMW do you know Dr.Micheal McCullough by any chance? He's an alum of Stanford and the attending EM doc at UCSF who gives pre-med talks at your school. He's put out some great stuff on the web and if you know tell him THANKS!
Jameson