Should I go ahead and apply?

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InvisalignTime

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Just received my MCAT score today which is a 496. Obviously not feeling great about it, but I know there are several options to decide from. I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation, and do you have any advice? The rest of my application is pretty darn good and reads as follows:
  • Overall GPA: 3.65
  • BCPM GPA: 3.72
  • Post-Bacc GPA: 3.81
  • Pediatric ICU Nurse - 2012 to present
  • Research assistant - September 2017 to present
  • 2 Bachelor's Degrees - Nursing and Television News
  • 3 letters of rec from ICU attendings (including Research PI), 2 from professors, 1 from Nurse Manager
  • Terrific and unique extracurriculars based on my academics and professional experiences
Hopefully, ADCOMs will look a little deeper into my application and see the exceptional health care service I have provided. Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

Thanks!
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First off, congrats on the rest of your app. It's looking good. However, I think that MCAT is going to hold you back. Even if you're looking at DO, you're still going to be in the bottom range of acceptability.

So there are two paths here: MD and DO. If you're trying to go MD, you're going to need to bring that score way up. Like to the 510 range, and possibly higher just to balance out that low score. To me, that seems like it would take several months of studying just to make sure you're getting the practice scores you need. Unfortunately, that puts you in the September at the earliest for a new score delivery time, and by then your app would be incredibly late. So I think MD is out for this year.

If you're planning on DO, then I think you have a better timetable. It's ok if your app is a little later and you don't need to improve your score quite as much (say the 505+ range). Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think submitting in September would be ok for DO.

The most important thing to do now is to figure out what happened on your test. Did you have a bad day, or did you take it without sufficient preparation? You need to make sure your practice scores are consistently in the range you want before you ever take the test.
 
I wouldn’t apply this year. Generally speaking, you only want to apply once, so make it a good one. Study for real — like 30-40 hours per week for 3-4 months or so and take it when you’re truly ready. At most, you want to take the mcat only once more. As the poster above said, for MD schools shoot for higher than 510. Get the msar and look at the numbers for a bunch of schools and apply broadly.

The rest of your application looks really great! Don’t hamstring yourself. Take the extra time, push back your application to next year, if necessary, and really do this right! If you take the mcat in, say, October, you can have your scores back November/December, add some more volunteer time or something, then submit your completed application on the first possible day next year. Timing does make a difference. I’d be worried that if you took the test again next month, you won’t improve substantially and you’d be applying toward the end of the application cycle, which won’t help you at all.

Also, most schools require two science faculty letters and one non-science faculty letter (like psych/soc). The icu docs will be a nice touch in addition to the required letters, but won’t add a whole lot of weight. It’s great to have everything you have (my application looked fairly similar), but the hard numbers are what gets you in the door.

Hopefully some of the adcom-like folks can weigh in, as well. Good luck to you!
 
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Thank you both for the great advice. I'm certainly thinking about waiting until next cycle. It's tough because I'm in my 30's and married, so there's obviously a little pressure to get things moving. But I certainly want to put my best foot forward with my application, so I'll probably end up waiting.

I am curious, is it a bad idea to apply anyways? Would it hurt my chances if I don't get accepted and have to apply again later?

Thanks again!
 
InvisalignTime said:
Thank you both for the great advice. I'm certainly thinking about waiting until next cycle. It's tough because I'm in my 30's and married, so there's obviously a little pressure to get things moving. But I certainly want to put my best foot forward with my application, so I'll probably end up waiting.

I am curious, is it a bad idea to apply anyways? Would it hurt my chances if I don't get accepted and have to apply again later?

Thanks again!
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From what I’ve heard, it can make things more difficult on the next go around if you’ve already applied; however, I cannot confirm this. I think it depends on the school. I understand the pressure to get moving as I am also in my mid 30s. If you apply now, I would suspect that most schools, even DO, will screen you out based on your test scores. Give yourself the best chance you can. Hopefully adcom members will chime in. I wish I could help more. Just remember, in the grand scheme one more year won’t make that much difference. If you really work hard and knock the MCAT out of the park, you won’t be as limited in your choice of schools (and later career) as you are now. All the best as this moves forward!
 
InvisalignTime said:
Thank you both for the great advice. I'm certainly thinking about waiting until next cycle. It's tough because I'm in my 30's and married, so there's obviously a little pressure to get things moving. But I certainly want to put my best foot forward with my application, so I'll probably end up waiting.

I am curious, is it a bad idea to apply anyways? Would it hurt my chances if I don't get accepted and have to apply again later?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
I wouldn't apply before your app is totally ready. Your app could be auto-screened, in which it's never seen by human eyes because the MCAT is so low. Worst case is that you have an ADCOM look at your app at a school you could've been competitive at, and they think your app shows a lack of dedication or something.

I also applied in my mid-30s: once to DO (very late, very inadvisably), and once to MD after my SMP (which was successful). I just finished M1 and we just had our first child. I wouldn't worry about being older by another year. Even if having kids is a factor, I know a doc who had 2 in med school and 1 in residency.
 
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InvisalignTime said:
Just received my MCAT score today which is a 496. Obviously not feeling great about it, but I know there are several options to decide from. I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation, and do you have any advice? The rest of my application is pretty darn good and reads as follows:
  • Overall GPA: 3.65
  • BCPM GPA: 3.72
  • Post-Bacc GPA: 3.81
  • Pediatric ICU Nurse - 2012 to present
  • Research assistant - September 2017 to present
  • 2 Bachelor's Degrees - Nursing and Television News
  • 3 letters of rec from ICU attendings (including Research PI), 2 from professors, 1 from Nurse Manager
  • Terrific and unique extracurriculars based on my academics and professional experiences
Hopefully, ADCOMs will look a little deeper into my application and see the exceptional health care service I have provided. Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
The mCAT score is lethal for all MD and DO. You're in a red zone for failing med school and/or Boards.

IF you have test taking anxiety issues, those are fixable.
 
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24GaugeEJ said:
From what I’ve heard, it can make things more difficult on the next go around if you’ve already applied; however, I cannot confirm this. I think it depends on the school. I understand the pressure to get moving as I am also in my mid 30s. If you apply now, I would suspect that most schools, even DO, will screen you out based on your test scores. Give yourself the best chance you can. Hopefully adcom members will chime in. I wish I could help more. Just remember, in the grand scheme one more year won’t make that much difference. If you really work hard and knock the MCAT out of the park, you won’t be as limited in your choice of schools (and later career) as you are now. All the best as this moves forward!
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It definitely is school specific. But I can't recommend applying now.
 
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You should definitely retake before applying. Your chances for DO this cycle are slim to none. It would be a shame to spend so much money applying this cycle with such a large chance that you will need to apply again next cycle.

How did you study for the MCAT?
 
Thank you all for the information. Obviously, there are a lot of good options on the table. Spoke with my advisor the other day, and, though she recommends a retake, we did talk about the possibility of applying to a specific subset of MD and DO schools (especially the in-state programs) with my current score. This way I'm not stressing about studying for a mid-August exam while also filling out secondaries, working, etc. Maybe I'll have success with this option, but if not I can always go to my fallback plan of retaking the exam and adding some things to my application. I was worried about reapplying to a school if I'm not accepted the first time, and she said it's nothing to worry about as long as I have showed improvement in my weak areas. We discussed several other options, which were all valid and promising (even though it may require waiting for a year). I'll evaluate my status over the course of the next week and decide how to proceed. I'll let you all know!
 
Glad to hear you're considering your options and talking to your advisor, but I'd like to echo Goro's advice about not applying. Unless you are a URM, you will stand no chance of any MD and very slim chances of DO. I cannot stress the importance of applying when your application is ready rather than when you are ready. You don't want to have to check a box that says "re-applicant" if you don't have to. If you wait a year, you have the ability to study long and hard with plenty of practice tests and get the score that will get you in. If you apply now, you run the risk of compromising not just this, but all your future applications as well.
 
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I agree, I think it is not wise to apply until your application is the absolute best it can be. I trust Goro, he's an admissions committee member.
 
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I went from a 497 in April to a 506 in August with 3 months of studying. The final MCAT date is September 19th, just under 3 months. If you could dedicate the time and do well, you could apply to DO schools.
 
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I wanted to update my current status and let you all know that I submitted my application to 18 MD schools. Very, very excited about my prospects and looking forward to seeing where I end up! I am continuing to contemplate applying to DO schools, but I may table that and solely focus on putting together strong secondaries. Plenty of time yet to figure out that decision. Good luck to anyone else applying this cycle, and thank you all for the help!
 
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InvisalignTime said:
Just received my MCAT score today which is a 496. Obviously not feeling great about it, but I know there are several options to decide from. I'm curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation, and do you have any advice? The rest of my application is pretty darn good and reads as follows:
  • Overall GPA: 3.65
  • BCPM GPA: 3.72
  • Post-Bacc GPA: 3.81
  • Pediatric ICU Nurse - 2012 to present
  • Research assistant - September 2017 to present
  • 2 Bachelor's Degrees - Nursing and Television News
  • 3 letters of rec from ICU attendings (including Research PI), 2 from professors, 1 from Nurse Manager
  • Terrific and unique extracurriculars based on my academics and professional experiences
Hopefully, ADCOMs will look a little deeper into my application and see the exceptional health care service I have provided. Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Apply this year to OSU! You’re the perfect candidate for the Ohio MedPath program (which I believe is a tuition waved post bacc that has like a > 90% success rate of matriculating students into OSU Medical)
 
You seem nice, but why ask for advice and then completely ignore everyone and then take the actual worse plan of action you could take? You'd be way better off spending your time studying for an MCAT retake than writing secondaries for strictly MD programs with a 496. A 496 isn't even competitive for DO, and you seem to be placing yourself above that option even, which is crazy. These schools get thousands of applications for 200 or less spots. They're going to look for any obvious reason to trim that number down, and a 496 MCAT is going to make it easy. I wish you luck, but I think you're making a big time-wasting mistake. I don't have the MSAR data right now, but have you looked at it and seen any of the schools you're applying to have 10th percentile ranges even close to your score? That should give you a good idea...
 
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Typeracer said:
You seem nice, but why ask for advice and then completely ignore everyone and then take the actual worse plan of action you could take? You'd be way better off spending your time studying for an MCAT retake than writing secondaries for strictly MD programs with a 496. A 496 isn't even competitive for DO, and you seem to be placing yourself above that option even, which is crazy. These schools get thousands of applications for 200 or less spots. They're going to look for any obvious reason to trim that number down, and a 496 MCAT is going to make it easy. I wish you luck, but I think you're making a big time-wasting mistake. I don't have the MSAR data right now, but have you looked at it and seen any of the schools you're applying to have 10th percentile ranges even close to your score? That should give you a good idea...
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Not every applicant has been a nurse for 5+ years. Are the odds against OP? Most definitely. But the application process is unpredictable, you’ll never know what may happen.
 
MedicineN'Jazz said:
Not every applicant has been a nurse for 5+ years. Are the odds against OP? Most definitely. But the application process is unpredictable, you’ll never know what may happen.
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Statistics give us a very clear vision of what will happen. MSAR data doesn't lie. I wish OP the best of luck but applying with these stats is delusionally optimistic.
 
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DSM_302.0 said:
Statistics give us a very clear vision of what will happen. MSAR data doesn't lie. I wish OP the best of luck but applying with these stats is delusionally optimistic.
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According to the MSAR, I should have never gotten into medical school. My delusional optimism led me to where I am today. Stats aren’t everything my friend
 
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Update! I have been accepted to my top choice MD school! I was also accepted to a great DO school and wait-listed at another DO school and MD school. Needless to say it's been a wild ride, but my hard work has paid off! Thank you all for your help!
 
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InvisalignTime said:
Update! I have been accepted to my top choice MD school! I was also accepted to a great DO school and wait-listed at another DO school and MD school. Needless to say it's been a wild ride, but my hard work has paid off! Thank you all for your help!
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Congrats! Did you end up retaking the MCAT or using the 496. Enjoy med school!
 
futuremdforme said:
Congrats! Did you end up retaking the MCAT or using the 496. Enjoy med school!
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Thank you! I did not retake the MCAT. Instead, I concentrated my efforts towards my essays, personal statement, etc., with the understanding that if I didn't get in this cycle I would retake this spring and reapply.
 
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@InvisalignTime Can I PM you please. Sort of in a similar situation as you and would love your advice and input. SDN is not letting me send you a message.
 
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InvisalignTime said:
Update! I have been accepted to my top choice MD school! I was also accepted to a great DO school and wait-listed at another DO school and MD school. Needless to say it's been a wild ride, but my hard work has paid off! Thank you all for your help!
Click to expand...
Congratulations! I am somewhat in the same position. I got the same score and has been working as at an inpatient acute hospital as an SLP for 4 years. Can I PM you?
 
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