Should I Void MCAT Score

[Jarnel83]

I'll make it short. I'm a very smart student, the kind that is confident and lazy. I have a 3.5 GPA, which has been a consistent upward trend (i consistently get above 3.6 per semester now). My shadowing is only about 35 hours in a single hospital with one doctor, and my volunteering experience is damn near non existent.

The key is that I take my MCAT in two days and am very unprepared. I drastically underestimated the effort required to prepare and I know that if I had I could perform extremely well. My problem-solving and analytical skills are my strongest and from taking the Full-Length Practices I know that content knowledge is the only thing holding me back. Since the score will be average at best and the rest of my application is mediocre, I was wondering if it would be wiser to void the score and delay my application until 2018 (rather than now in a week or two) which I think would allow me to drastically improve my APP and MCAT score. The other option would be to take it, probably score slightly above average and submit an application now.

The only problem I can see is with the fact that I will need to take a GAP year, which I didn't want. But I'd love to receive the input of this community as it seems to be the most well-suited to answer my question. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

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[kwu]

How many practice FLs did you take? and how did you perform on them? Honestly, If you feel like you aren't prepared for it DON'T take it, especially, if content is what holding you back.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

@kdapik 's questions are necessary in order for us to give you advice. We need more info in order to advise you about such a big decision.

 

[Optimist Prime]

No more answers are needed to advise you on your decision. The answer is DO NOT take the mcat you should 100% void it. Why? Because if you do take it you risk the chance of scoring low, and even if you happen to do average or slightly above average then you still won't have any volunteering experiences so your chances will still be next to none. A little more than 90% of people have at least non-clinical or clinical volunteering when accepted. The 8-10% that gets accepted usually has at least one of those covered, and on top of that they usually have very good research experience, and definitely have a higher GPA than a 3.5.

Take a year off get your volunteering in, study for the MCAT, and enjoy a year off of school to pursue things you may not have as much time for in medical school.

 

[vipulr]

Can med schools see that you voided an MCAT? I thought for the previous MCAT they couldn't, but didn't something change about the reporting?

 

[El-Rami]

Can med schools see that you voided an MCAT? I thought for the previous MCAT they couldn't, but didn't something change about the reporting?

They can. The rules were changed with advent of MCAT 2015. Also every void still counts as an attempt, and you have 7 lifetime attempts for the MCAT.

 

[kwu]

Can med schools see that you voided an MCAT? I thought for the previous MCAT they couldn't, but didn't something change about the reporting?

No they CANNOT and will NOT see that you voided your exam. However, it will still count as an attempt (so you will have 2 attempts per year instead of 3)

 

[vipulr]

After reading the following thread, it seems that medical schools will not be able to see if you voided a test and will not see that you attempted it either.
Do schools see your "MCAT Score Reporting System" ?

 

[Jarnel83]

Right, everything I have seen and all of those who actually contacted the AAMC found that they can only see a void under very certain circumstances (like if you already applied and they were waiting on that score as per the thread mentioned above). I am very pleased with all of your responses, especially those that clarified whether or not medical schools can tell.

I have decided to take the exam tomorrow as if it were an expensive practice run and will surely void the result at the end.

 

[Loonj]

Yeah man, my advice would be to wait a year and take the exam. If what you say is true, dude you could go so far if you apply yourself. Not trying to sound like an old parent, bc i myself am extremely lazy lol. But if you know you can do a lot better after a few months of studying the content (bc honestly content review isnt bad, a month and a half tops to read all the books from a prep company) I would say take the MCAT in august and submit your application then. You may be applying a little late, however itll give you time to study content and take the exam, and still have a shot of not having to skip a year. Worse comes to worse, you applied too late, but still have a strong MCAT score and you can use that for the next cycle.

I myself am taking the MCAT this saturday. I wish you the best of luck

 

[Optimist Prime]

Yeah man, my advice would be to wait a year and take the exam. If what you say is true, dude you could go so far if you apply yourself. Not trying to sound like an old parent, bc i myself am extremely lazy lol. But if you know you can do a lot better after a few months of studying the content (bc honestly content review isnt bad, a month and a half tops to read all the books from a prep company) I would say take the MCAT in august and submit your application then. You may be applying a little late, however itll give you time to study content and take the exam, and still have a shot of not having to skip a year. Worse comes to worse, you applied too late, but still have a strong MCAT score and you can use that for the next cycle.

I myself am taking the MCAT this saturday. I wish you the best of luck

Bruh don't give bad advice if someone listens to it then it could seriously damage their entire life. Your first sentence of waiting a year was fine, but telling him he could take it in August is not ok. HE HAS NO VOLUNTEERING. I don't care if he does pretty well on his MCAT he still needs to take a year and get some volunteering in without it hes pretty much DOA at basically every school in the country.

 

[Loonj]

Bruh don't give bad advice if someone listens to it then it could seriously damage their entire life. Your first sentence of waiting a year was fine, but telling him he could take it in August is not ok. HE HAS NO VOLUNTEERING. I don't care if he does pretty well on his MCAT he still needs to take a year and get some volunteering in without it hes pretty much DOA at basically every school in the country.

How is that bad advice? He said he doesn't want to have to take a year off, which is understandable. This would be his alternative if he doesnt want to take a year off and still wants to do well on the MCAT. Would taking a year off help his application? yes probably because he would like you said have time to get in volunteer hours, but that isn't a crucial part of the application. He said he still has a good amount of shadowing hours, which I am assuming would lead to good letters of rec. The most important parts of one's application are grades, MCAT, personal statement and letters of rec. The EC's are just to polish your application and make it a bit more appealing, but that isnt to say you absolutely will not get in if you haven't volunteered. It is upto him, I think if he waits a year, he could get into a lot more schools than if he applies this year, however waiting an extra year is not ideal for a lot of students. It comes with a heavy price, as for many students this means they have to start paying back student loans. This adds extra stress and pressure to get a good enough paying job, while still trying to improve your resume. And what is the absolute worse that happens if he applies this year? Assuming he studies and takes the MCAT in August, he will score well correct? Then if he applies this year, whats the worst that happens? He doesn't get accepted correct? SO NOW, he can focus the next year on volunteering and improving and applying again next year, with the mindset of having improved. He will not have to worry about MCAT scores since he already did well. I think this would be the best option for him if he really truly does not want to wait the extra year. There is no shame in applying more than once, as long as you improve your resume in between.

 

[Optimist Prime]

How is that bad advice? He said he doesn't want to have to take a year off, which is understandable. This would be his alternative if he doesnt want to take a year off and still wants to do well on the MCAT. Would taking a year off help his application? yes probably because he would like you said have time to get in volunteer hours, but that isn't a crucial part of the application. He said he still has a good amount of shadowing hours, which I am assuming would lead to good letters of rec. The most important parts of one's application are grades, MCAT, personal statement and letters of rec. The EC's are just to polish your application and make it a bit more appealing, but that isnt to say you absolutely will not get in if you haven't volunteered. It is upto him, I think if he waits a year, he could get into a lot more schools than if he applies this year, however waiting an extra year is not ideal for a lot of students. It comes with a heavy price, as for many students this means they have to start paying back student loans. This adds extra stress and pressure to get a good enough paying job, while still trying to improve your resume. And what is the absolute worse that happens if he applies this year? Assuming he studies and takes the MCAT in August, he will score well correct? Then if he applies this year, whats the worst that happens? He doesn't get accepted correct? SO NOW, he can focus the next year on volunteering and improving and applying again next year, with the mindset of having improved. He will not have to worry about MCAT scores since he already did well. I think this would be the best option for him if he really truly does not want to wait the extra year. There is no shame in applying more than once, as long as you improve your resume in between.

It's bad advice because telling someone to apply without any volunteering is bad advice?? Did you actually just say not having any volunteering isn't crucial to an application? Do you actually not understand anything about the medical school process? Maybe 15-20 years ago it wasn't a crucial part of the application, but there are literally thousands of people applying that will have better gpa and mcat than OP and they have research, volunteering, tutoring ect. He has a cGPA of 3.5 I'm assuming is sGPA is probably slightly lower this makes OP not a very desirable applicant in any way especially without volunteering.

He has 35 shadowing hours which again is below average so no I doubt he would get a good letter of rec from the doctor he shadowed AND even if he did get a good letter of rec, NEWS FLASH, they don't CARE about letters of recs from doctors. After 35 hours med school committees know the doctor does not really know you. Med schools care about science, non-science, volunteering, job, and research letters of rec. The only exception is DO schools who want a DO letter of rec, but even then that's just to mainly confirm that you shadowed a DO, even that letter of rec usually isn't taken very highly.

I agree that if he waits a year he will get into a lot more schools than if he applied this year. That's because if he applies this year he will get into 0 schools and will have just wasted money and time on applications that he could of spent studying/volunteering.

But shoot don't take my word for it. Here's some quote's from Goro who is actually on a medical school committee:

The weakest letters are ones that merely tell us you're a good kid. A History or Sociology professor can tell us if you can handle difficult concepts and have a good work ethic, and are genial, just as well as any Chem or Bio professor.

Doctor's LOR are generally the least informative. DO schools ask for them because the AOA wants to see that you've done due diligence about your prospective career, and give you extra credit for going the extra mile and seeking out a DO.

Have the right ECs. You need ECs. There are tons of people on SDN who bitch and moan about them. Well, tough. Each school gets thousands of apps for some 100-250 seats. How do we winnow down the pool? The answer is something that hyperachievers with no people skills hate hearing: you have display your altruism and humanity, your willingness to serve others, you know what you're getting into, and that you know what a doctor's day is like.

Strongly recommend this. You say that you didn't mention any non-clinical volunteering in your app. Was that because you didn't have any (lethal for chances), or worse, thought that these were unimportant??? Overall, this not the application of a person who dearly wants to be a physician. It is the application of someone who wants to be a doctor as long as it is convenient.

There's a big difference between people who truly want to be doctors, and do what's necessary, and those who do what's merely convenient. One of the things we really need to see is evidence that you want to be around sick people and their families for the next 34-40 years. Those who do not display dedication and altruism are the ones left wondering "why didn't I get accepted with my great numbers?"

Being a doctor is a privilege, not a right. You want to be doctor? Earn it.

 

[Neuro244]

Hey, guys so I would love to get some feedback/opinions as I'm feeling pretty low right now. I finally took my MCAT exam yesterday after postponing it 4 times due to not being ready. I felt much more prepared although I knew I didn't know everything going in. I was studying pretty much for over 8 months and took 10 practice exams and got burnt out quite a while ago. I pushed through my low exam scores (all below 500) and changed the way I studied and everything. I had many tutors as well and wanted to finally take the test. I ended up getting there and wasn't able to think the way I normally thought during an exam (nerves, brain fog, a bit tired half way through-didn't have enough coffee). I ended up running out of time and had to Blind Guess on the last 15 questions for the C/P section. I then told myself its okay I'll make sure to finish every single question on the next sections, but the same thing happened on CARS and B/B. I ended up blind guessing on a total of about 45 ?'s and the questions that I did look at with enough time I felt shaky on them. I ended up deciding to have it scored as I postponed so many times so I WOULDN'T HAVE TO VOID and didn't want to take an MCAT beyond July as I have already submitted my primary application. I decided to have it scored so I could be done and still be on a good timeline but looks like I may have to most likely retake it and wanted some good feedback (no negative comments, trolling, or r.e.t.a.r.d.e.d responses please).

I honestly I think I probably scored like a 490 or lower so I've been pretty depressed considering I spent literally over 1100 hours studying for this test for a solid 8-9 months of my life. What would you guys recommend doing at this point? Latest I can retake it this year would be September but the closest is in Vegas and I'm in California, which mean's I would have to go all the way out there for the closest site. At this point, my application is going to be verified a week from today and I've only added one school for verification purposes. I haven't added any other schools and am hesitant at this point since I know I scored below 500. Thank you guys in advance.

 

[toedrag]

Hey, guys so I would love to get some feedback/opinions as I'm feeling pretty low right now. I finally took my MCAT exam yesterday after postponing it 4 times due to not being ready. I felt much more prepared although I knew I didn't know everything going in. I was studying pretty much for over 8 months and took 10 practice exams and got burnt out quite a while ago. I pushed through my low exam scores (all below 500) and changed the way I studied and everything. I had many tutors as well and wanted to finally take the test. I ended up getting there and wasn't able to think the way I normally thought during an exam (nerves, brain fog, a bit tired half way through-didn't have enough coffee). I ended up running out of time and had to Blind Guess on the last 15 questions for the C/P section. I then told myself its okay I'll make sure to finish every single question on the next sections, but the same thing happened on CARS and B/B. I ended up blind guessing on a total of about 45 ?'s and the questions that I did look at with enough time I felt shaky on them. I ended up deciding to have it scored as I postponed so many times so I WOULDN'T HAVE TO VOID and didn't want to take an MCAT beyond July as I have already submitted my primary application. I decided to have it scored so I could be done and still be on a good timeline but looks like I may have to most likely retake it and wanted some good feedback (no negative comments, trolling, or r.e.t.a.r.d.e.d responses please).

I honestly I think I probably scored like a 490 or lower so I've been pretty depressed considering I spent literally over 1100 hours studying for this test for a solid 8-9 months of my life. What would you guys recommend doing at this point? Latest I can retake it this year would be September but the closest is in Vegas and I'm in California, which mean's I would have to go all the way out there for the closest site. At this point, my application is going to be verified a week from today and I've only added one school for verification purposes. I haven't added any other schools and am hesitant at this point since I know I scored below 500. Thank you guys in advance.

Everyone feels horrible after the exam. Before taking the exam, I reminded myself that everyone else who is sitting for the MCAT also feels like ****, didn't sleep at all the night before, and heart is racing 100 mph. If you feel "great" after the fact, then that's usually concerning. It's hard to gauge since you didn't post your previous practice exam scores but I'd say if you're in the 496-500 range, you could target the newest DO schools (there are some which have medians in the 500 range, so you'd be in striking distance with a 496+). This is to say that you already have a compelling application GPA and EC wise.

 

[Neuro244]

Everyone feels horrible after the exam. Before taking the exam, I reminded myself that everyone else who is sitting for the MCAT also feels like ****, didn't sleep at all the night before, and heart is racing 100 mph. If you feel "great" after the fact, then that's usually concerning. It's hard to gauge since you didn't post your previous practice exam scores but I'd say if you're in the 496-500 range, you could target the newest DO schools (there are some which have medians in the 500 range, so you'd be in striking distance with a 496+). This is to say that you already have a compelling application GPA and EC wise.

Hmm, I know what you mean about feeling like s h i t, but I'm saying that genuinely because I literally blind guessed on 45 questions and pretty much felt like I gave up by the time I got to psych. For me, in that case, it's a legitimate feeling of doing horrible since I did so much blind guessing. I am looking to do MD only programs and my cumulative GPA based on my calculation (keep in mind I maintained this over a period of 11 years) is a 3.78 and science GPA anywhere from 3.74-3.76. Solid letters of Rec, great clinical hours at multiple different institutions. The only thing I was worried about was the MCAT. I don't want to do DO or Caribean and my heart was set on CA med schools which is why I've been killing myself for the past 10 years, but at this point, it, unfortunately, doesn't look possible. I'm willing to move out of state but that's about it.