Terrible MCAT score -- any chance?

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lindell12a

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So my undergrad gpa is going to be about 3.0 :( and my current MCAT score is a 17R....*sigh*....anywhere? It's these late night postings that really get me down.... +pity+

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MERP at Ross is your ticket...
 
SABA maybe, AUA, MUA, Xavier, St Matts, SJSM
 
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Study hard for the MCAT and retake it if you don't get in. A 17 shows a lot of room for improvement. It's all about confidence.
 
Well you will never know until you apply. Try saba or ross.
 
Well you will never know until you apply. Try saba or ross.

Actually, with a 17 and no mitgating circumstances, you kind of already know.
 
Actually, with a 17 and no mitgating circumstances, you kind of already know.

Bro, you sound like a lawyer "MITIGATING". What do you think about Saba McGillGrad any hope with his numbers.
 
Bro, you sound like a lawyer "MITIGATING". What do you think about Saba McGillGrad any hope with his numbers.

..lol..:laugh: I was actually thisclose to getting a JD

Saba is tricky b/c even though MCAT is not required (unless things changed), they take it into consideration when the GPA is not strong, or there is no health related career (nurse, chiro etc).
 
So my undergrad gpa is going to be about 3.0 :( and my current MCAT score is a 17R....*sigh*....anywhere? It's these late night postings that really get me down.... +pity+
Definitely retake the MCAT. Shoot for about a 24 or 25. That should be enough to get you into one of the big four schools (SGU, Ross, AUC, or Saba).
 
im going to guess that 17 was your first attempt at the MCAT.
dont worry, most people who take it their first time usually get a score much lower than what they are capable of!
im HOPING that i fall into that category...I got a 22 my first time...now im actually studying to take the MCAT! i hope to get a high score this next time around =]
good luck to you as well!
 
a 24 or 25 with a 3.0 GPA will not get you into SGU. It would more than likely get you into Ross and probally into Saba and AUC. At this point you can get into AUA, MUA, St. Matthews there are others but i wouldnt go past the big 4 or SMU, AUA or MUA. If i had to rank the others it would go SMU, AUA and MUA. They admit (AUA and SMU) alot of people with low numbers but alot of those people fail out and have a good amount of debt with nothing to show for it.
 
I'd say retake the MCAT and do a post-bacc. If you do well on both then you'll be able to be competitive for U.S. medical schools as well as Caribbean.
 
'jackets' when you say MUA do you mean the Nevis campus?

The original post about the MCAT. Reschedule for this year and take it again. Your GPA shows you can do better. It's a stressful test. I suggest doing many practice exams or taking a prep course, which gives you simulated practice tests online. I, myself, took the Princeton Review course. Your writing mark is really good. How was your verbal?

As mentioned in another post, it takes some confidence to pull it off. That and practising at focusing for five or six hours through practice exams is half the battle.

I scored a 30Q on my first time and I am writing it again in May, mostly because I think I can do better. My GPA isn't fabulous so I am relying on the MCAT to make up for it.

Cheers.
 
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im going to guess that 17 was your first attempt at the MCAT.
dont worry, most people who take it their first time usually get a score much lower than what they are capable of!
im HOPING that i fall into that category...I got a 22 my first time...now im actually studying to take the MCAT! i hope to get a high score this next time around =]
good luck to you as well!

22 wll get you into ROSS
 
actually if you look at the AAMC MCAT data the vast majority of people to not improve much at all (1 or 2 points at best) over their first attempt.
 
vast majority of people to not improve much at all (1 or 2 points at best) over their first attempt.


I did improved 7 points in my second attempt...:)... just try again, retake the MCAT..:D
 
yeah ... those are statistics... but most people study pretty well their first time and score around 25 (national average isnt it?).

not much room for improvement if you think about it.
now if you score rather poorly on your first attempt, look at all the room for improvement!
you have to think positive and realize that 98% of statistics are all made up.
 
yeah ... those are statistics... but most people study pretty well their first time and score around 25 (national average isnt it?).

not much room for improvement if you think about it.
now if you score rather poorly on your first attempt, look at all the room for improvement!
you have to think positive and realize that 98% of statistics are all made up.

why would AAMC make up statistics. Of course if someone got a 18 the first time there is much room for improvement. But seriously a 6 point improvement to a 24 still really isnt going to help you get into a US school. If you prepared well the first time the chances of someone improving by 5,6,7 points is very slim
 
why would AAMC make up statistics. Of course if someone got a 18 the first time there is much room for improvement. But seriously a 6 point improvement to a 24 still really isnt going to help you get into a US school. If you prepared well the first time the chances of someone improving by 5,6,7 points is very slim


just by looking at this table on AAMC's website, it shows that people with scores that add up to the OP's seem to have much higher percentages of scoring at least +2 pts higher on roughly each portion of the MCAT.
that makes for at least a 6 pt increase.
but I want to highlight an important thing you just said,
...IF YOU PREPARED WELL THE FIRST TIME...
I doubt this person would say that they were well prepared when they took the MCAT the first time around. Maybe they just need to get a tutor/study-plan/something.
by the way, i said that earlier quote of 98% of stats being made up as a joke. did you get it? it was meant to inspire. cause i think that just about anyone, with proper training, can score well.
 
So my undergrad gpa is going to be about 3.0 :( and my current MCAT score is a 17R....*sigh*....anywhere? It's these late night postings that really get me down.... +pity+

Two Options

1) If you want to get into the U.S.-->

A) Ace a special masters program

B) Get a 35+ on the MCAT

C) Add in some quality research

Here your looking at 2-3 years (and is based on you not having any bigtime connections with a Dean or what not from the school), I don't know what you have planned in terms of family or what not


2) Go to the Caribbean (AUC, ROSS, or SGU)-->

A) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 22 MCAT and your in with a 3.0 at ROSS or AUC

B) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 25 and your in with a 3.0 at SGU (Stats based on average joe accepted student)
 
Two Options

1) If you want to get into the U.S.-->

A) Ace a special masters program

B) Get a 35+ on the MCAT

C) Add in some quality research

Here your looking at 2-3 years (and is based on you not having any bigtime connections with a Dean or what not from the school), I don't know what you have planned in terms of family or what not


2) Go to the Caribbean (AUC, ROSS, or SGU)-->

A) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 22 MCAT and your in with a 3.0 at ROSS or AUC

B) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 25 and your in with a 3.0 at SGU (Stats based on average joe accepted student)


Yes if the OP wants to take the next 3 years of their life to do this, it can be done, maybe they will get accepted.

Honestly I'm so tired of SDN premeds thinking MD applicants and anecdotal stories means that low GPA and Low MCAT are easy to over come, it is not and is a struggle for some, they struggled through undergrad and now think they can get in to medical school because of one of these stories.

Medical school in the USA is one of the hardest course of studies to get into.

A very very few luck out and get accepted with low GPA and Low MCAT but the application had some other qualities that the Adcom liked, and thats the thing, how in the heck do you know from one year to the next what the adcom will "Like"? You do not.

Do not count on such things its like the state lottery, keep buying the ticket your chances may be better then admission to a US medical school with a GPA of 3.0 and an MCAT lower then 24

I'll shut up now, what do I know anyway? :eek:
 
a 3.0 and a 25 will not get you into SGU more than likely, SGU stat averages are like a 3.4 and a 27 (higher than most DO schools). At AUC or Ross a 3.0 and a 22 your definately not guarenteed admission, except for maybe Ross, they admit a ton and fail out a ton.

Two Options

1) If you want to get into the U.S.-->

A) Ace a special masters program

B) Get a 35+ on the MCAT

C) Add in some quality research

Here your looking at 2-3 years (and is based on you not having any bigtime connections with a Dean or what not from the school), I don't know what you have planned in terms of family or what not


2) Go to the Caribbean (AUC, ROSS, or SGU)-->

A) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 22 MCAT and your in with a 3.0 at ROSS or AUC

B) Retake the MCAT and give or take a 25 and your in with a 3.0 at SGU (Stats based on average joe accepted student)
 
a 3.0 and a 25 will not get you into SGU more than likely, SGU stat averages are like a 3.4 and a 27 (higher than most DO schools). At AUC or Ross a 3.0 and a 22 your definately not guarenteed admission, except for maybe Ross, they admit a ton and fail out a ton.

I beg to differ, according to their website, these are their average MCAT and GPA stats (However, this is for 2004, so maybe the average stats have significantly increased since then):

Average MCAT
Verbal Reasoning 8
Physical Science 8
Biological Science 8

Average GPA
Undergraduate 3.2
Science Undergraduate 3.1
Graduate 3.5
 
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