start studying now??? august test

[flashinthepan]

its a long story but the gist of it is

if i started studying tommorow morning, could i get a good mcat score in august??? ive already taken the test and recived a 32 (april test, studied about 2 hrs a day for 2.5 monts and got 37/38 on practice tests, but was REALLY sick the whole test week, and stupidlly took the test anyway)

i could study up to 8 hrs/day until test day

what does everyone think?

thanks!!!

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[ADeadLois]

its a long story but the gist of it is

if i started studying tommorow morning, could i get a good mcat score in august??? ive already taken the test and recived a 32 (april test, studied about 2 hrs a day for 2.5 monts and got 37/38 on practice tests, but was REALLY sick the whole test week, and stupidlly took the test anyway)

i could study up to 8 hrs/day until test day

what does everyone think?

thanks!!!

You're retaking with a 32?

 

[turquoise_water]

anything above 30 is good , why r u re taking it

whats ur score break down ?

 

[BXP]

its a long story but the gist of it is

if i started studying tommorow morning, could i get a good mcat score in august??? ive already taken the test and recived a 32 (april test, studied about 2 hrs a day for 2.5 monts and got 37/38 on practice tests, but was REALLY sick the whole test week, and stupidlly took the test anyway)

i could study up to 8 hrs/day until test day

what does everyone think?

thanks!!!

Guess it depends on how much info you retained from the april test?

We're in the same boat though, score wise. This time the lucky number is 40.

 

[seadizzle]

you have plenty of time until the exam

if you put the time in you will be very well prepared

if you are applying this cycle though, the scores will arrive late - that's something to think about

 

[flashinthepan]

sorry i should have explained more in the original post.

though my original mcat was fine, my grades were not. i was a 4 year varsity football player (div 1) in college, and also worked part time all 8 semesters. not to make excuses, but i simply did not have the time to get above a 3.2 in college. i thought my ec's and decent mcats were enough to get me an acceptane but instead i ended up on multiple waitlists. at one school the dean sent me very "promising" info regarding my spot on the waitlist, so i never took the effort to consider alternate plans for next year. yesturday evening i recived notice that i was not going to get into that school, and now my hopes balance on one long shot waitlist from another school.

anyway, feedback from interviewers and deans from schools i interviewed at said that while my gpa is low, a problem i could/should have corrected was that my mcat did not really make up for it. i was getting around a 37 average on my practice tests last april, so that is why i was wondering if i should take a shot at it now. thanks all for your advice

 

[ADeadLois]

sorry i should have explained more in the original post.

though my original mcat was fine, my grades were not. i was a 4 year varsity football player (div 1) in college, and also worked part time all 8 semesters. not to make excuses, but i simply did not have the time to get above a 3.2 in college. i thought my ec's and decent mcats were enough to get me an acceptane but instead i ended up on multiple waitlists. at one school the dean sent me very "promising" info regarding my spot on the waitlist, so i never took the effort to consider alternate plans for next year. yesturday evening i recived notice that i was not going to get into that school, and now my hopes balance on one long shot waitlist from another school.

anyway, feedback from interviewers and deans from schools i interviewed at said that while my gpa is low, a problem i could/should have corrected was that my mcat did not really make up for it. i was getting around a 37 average on my practice tests last april, so that is why i was wondering if i should take a shot at it now. thanks all for your advice

Gotcha. That sucks that they strung you along on that waitlist for so long. If you're nailing the practice tests when you took it the first time, then you should be able to get a decent score this time around. I would take an AAMC exam as a diagnostic, then work on your weak areas.

 

[superwillis]

I'm glad to hear that a high MCAT score can compensate for a low GPA. My GPA is around a 3.1, hopefully around 3.3 by application time.

More incentive to rock this test...

 

[flashinthepan]

on a semi-unrelated note....
everyone PLEASE take my advice and do nothing but relax at least the final 3 days before the test. if youve studied the whole time, then i guarentee that there is no need to do anything that close to the test. i made the mistake of trying to do too much, barely slept the night before the test, and now i am still regretting the ill effects of my mcat. get tons of rest wed night, thurs night and fri night, go in sat morning and rock it! i know this is early to say all this, but i just dont want anyone to make the mistake that i made. good luck to all!!

 

[UMP]

worthless doublepost, oops

 

[UMP]

sorry i should have explained more in the original post.

though my original mcat was fine, my grades were not. i was a 4 year varsity football player (div 1) in college, and also worked part time all 8 semesters. not to make excuses, but i simply did not have the time to get above a 3.2 in college. i thought my ec's and decent mcats were enough to get me an acceptane but instead i ended up on multiple waitlists. at one school the dean sent me very "promising" info regarding my spot on the waitlist, so i never took the effort to consider alternate plans for next year. yesturday evening i recived notice that i was not going to get into that school, and now my hopes balance on one long shot waitlist from another school.

anyway, feedback from interviewers and deans from schools i interviewed at said that while my gpa is low, a problem i could/should have corrected was that my mcat did not really make up for it. i was getting around a 37 average on my practice tests last april, so that is why i was wondering if i should take a shot at it now. thanks all for your advice

Is there any score that they said would make up for it ? And would you mind disclosing which schools you are speaking about? I know after I've been scoring in the high 30's anything under 35 would make me pissed enough to take it again... I have the GPA problem, too, with a 3.07 this year... Keep up the good fight

 

[sentrosi]

I'm glad to hear that a high MCAT score can compensate for a low GPA. My GPA is around a 3.1, hopefully around 3.3 by application time.

More incentive to rock this test...

It only compensates to a certain degree. Having a low of one and a high of the other is not as good as having a moderate in both areas.

 

[flashinthepan]

Is there any score that they said would make up for it ? And would you mind disclosing which schools you are speaking about? I know after I've been scoring in the high 30's anything under 35 would make me pissed enough to take it again... I have the GPA problem, too, with a 3.07 this year... Keep up the good fight

specifically both case and pitt emphasized this. i think there might have been a few others but those were two of my higher up choices so i remember it well. i think my situation was somewhat unique.. becasue of my involvement in sports and other ec's, they basically said that with a higher mcat (im thinking 36+) it would force adcoms to maybe take another look and say, "hey this guy has the ability, he just didnt have the time in undergrad") of course this is a good deal of speculation, but thats what i got from these interviewers.

its still important to note (as an interviewer at nymc pointed out to me) its a numbers game first and foremost, then all the other stuff comes into play. yes i think its a shame that it works like that, but i guess thats the only way to do it when there are literally 1000's of these apps to sort through. keep in mind that regardless of your mcat, there may still be some schools that toss your app becasue of gpa. im not saying that to discourage anyone, but rather, as an applicant that just went through the whole ordeal, realize that a few schools will in fact use low gpas or mcats as a primary screening method. that does not mean you cant get into schools of that caliber or higher. a friend of mine got a pre-secondary rejection from wake, but got into pitt. this is a VERY random process, remeber that!!

best of luck to all of you, and keep your chins up!! i have enough rejection letters to start a bonfire from this year, but ive kept my faith, and i keep on chugging. good luck to all, and God Bless!!

 

[flashinthepan]

It only compensates to a certain degree. Having a low of one and a high of the other is not as good as having a moderate in both areas.

i think this is true. a quick look at mdapps confirms this. 3.5 35 is better than 3.0 40.