The Official 07/30/09 MCAT club

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lmnguye4

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I saw someone JUST made a official August 6 MCAT club, and I thought, where's July 30, 2009? So, I made one! :thumbup: Unless... I missed it somewhere... :confused:

I haven't started studying yet, but I will when final exams are over (this Thursday)!! :D :)

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applicants who applied as non-urm?

So replace one word with five and walk on eggshells for fear of the national hobby of claiming everyone is a racist? People need to reverse course, give people the benefit of the doubt instead of defaulting to everything being racist.
 
So replace one word with five and walk on eggshells for fear of the national hobby of claiming everyone is a racist? People need to reverse course, give people the benefit of the doubt instead of defaulting to everything being racist.
dude, i'm not PC-police but saying some races are "normal" implies others are not lol that's it.

i'm just saying its a poor choice of words (don't distort this as ppl calling you racist).
 
dude, i'm not PC-police but saying some races are "normal" implies others are not lol that's it.

i'm just saying its a poor choice of words (don't distort this as ppl calling you racist).

Context is important. The term normal was used in a post about average scores and average matriculant stats. Unfortunately race is the determinant for URM so there's really not a PC way to state the facts. I suppose I could have used "standard" instead of normal but I'm betting the same people would have the same response.

There's no need to imply anything. URM acceptance standards are not normal. They are adjusted down hoping to increase the number of physicians serving those communities. The hope is to more closely match the local population and increase the comfort level with people in those areas that are concerned about trusting someone of a different race. There is no suggestion of good or bad or right and wrong. Physicians need to see past that and do what needs to be done for the health of the patient. If it takes getting a physician that looks like you to get you to seek care when you need it then that's what the medical community has to make happen.
 
i just think it would be a bit awkward if you turned it around and wrote that all the abnormal applicants get in more frequently.

maybe just say "majority" instead of "normal".
k, i'm butting out. i just needed something to fill my time. :)

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anywho. Congrats on the awesome mcat scores everyone! Good luck applying!! :)
 
Posting this because it may be helpful to people who are waiting for their scores:

AAMC practice range: 32 (cold diagnostic, unstudied) - 36
Weeks studied: ~ 6, with exam krackers subject books and aamc practices
07/30/09 MCAT: 36Q

How did I feel leaving the exam? Horrible. Lesson learned: barring test-time panic, you will very likely score within your practice range, EVEN if you feel like the real thing went horribly. I almost voided my scores because I felt so bad afterward.

WOW! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Thank goodness you didn't void the score. :)
 
i just think it would be a bit awkward if you turned it around and wrote that all the abnormal applicants get in more frequently.

maybe just say "majority" instead of "normal".
k, i'm butting out. i just needed something to fill my time. :)

---------------------
anywho. Congrats on the awesome mcat scores everyone! Good luck applying!! :)

Good idea, I'm guilty of hijacking a little here. Time for me to drop it and move on since nobody meant any harm.
 
July 30th MCAT
BS: 11
PS: 9
VR: 11
WS: S
31S, is that a good enough score to get into med school, also do Canadian Med Schools put much weight into your WS
 
My grade was almost as terrible as my first. I know that i won't be getting in anywhere here, so my question is: DO or Carribean MD? I'm seriously worried about this, if anyone can link me to the forum comparing these two choices that'd be great. Also, if anyone has advice, that'd be awesome. Thanks again!
 
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My grade was almost as terrible as my first. I know that i won't be getting in anywhere here, so my question is: DO or Carribean MD? I'm seriously worried about this, if anyone can link me to the forum comparing these two choices that'd be great. Also, if anyone has advice, that'd be awesome. Thanks again!
If you can get your GPA to 3.0+, you might be able to get into DO school which is a much better option than the carribean. Tell me your stats so I can give you an accurate picture regarding your chances to make it to DO school
 
5/22 - 11PS 7VR 9BS Q - 27Q

7/30 - 12PS 9VR 13BS Q - 34Q

Is the 34 good enough to "cancel out" the 27?
A 34Q is above the 90th percentile... and 27Q was not that bad either except for the VR that was less than 8. The new score 34Q shows that you have the drive and you are able to put a lot of effort to get a better MCATwhich a lot schools like to see.. and again 27Q to 34Q is a heck of an improvement... You will get an acceptance somewhere providing that your GPA is 3.3+ and you have good LORs and EC... good luck
 
First off thank you guys so much for the humor/support yesterday before the score release. I was definitely laughing it up with all the diarrhea comments, which cut the tension (a little bit).
Anyways, I'm excited about my score PS11, VR11, BS10 WR S (32S) and hoping that I get some interviews invites and an acceptance this cycle. My overall GPA is ~3.47 and my cummulative ~ 3.3. I have been doing research at the NIH for almost 2 years and I have authorship in a major publications as well as a couple of poster presentations. I was wondering what ppls thoughts were as to my chances of getting in this year (this is a legitimate question and not me fishing for compliments or anything) because of my low GPA. Advice is much appreciated and thanks in advance!!
 
My grade was almost as terrible as my first. I know that i won't be getting in anywhere here, so my question is: DO or Carribean MD? I'm seriously worried about this, if anyone can link me to the forum comparing these two choices that'd be great. Also, if anyone has advice, that'd be awesome. Thanks again!

I was on a cruise recently and met this guy who was 27 years old, and went to SGU. He's like a doogie houser or something... Here is a story about him...

http://www.sgu.edu/news-events/news-archives09-acp09.html

I think it's all about what you want and if your willing to work hard to get it. He also said that his class started out with 450 or so and finished with 150 or something like that... so clearly people who can't hack it get weeded out, and if you work hard and are serious you will get where you want to go.

Personally I am hoping that I get in State side....
 
I got my score: 34Q

PS: 11
VR: 13
BS: 10

OK, so what's with all the Q writing sample scores? :confused:

I don't know if my brain is just noticing this because I also got one, but there seem to be a lot of people posting Q scores. I know that nobody gives a hoot about writing scores anyways, and I'm trying to not obsess, but I just find it kinda... odd.
 
30Q, looks like I'm vaped this cycle...hello again MCAT studying.

You're an idiot, honestly, what the hell is wrong with you people thinking that you need to get a 35 or above to get into medical school, its pathetic...are you only apply to john hopkins or something?
 
You're an idiot, honestly, what the hell is wrong with you people thinking that you need to get a 35 or above to get into medical school, its pathetic...are you only apply to john hopkins or something?

Nope, I'm applying to low/mid pack schools, but my cGPA is too low to survive (3.1, thanks community college HS courses!) coupled with that score. I'll keep going with the 3 in-states I initially put down, but I'm not expecting much.
 
Didn't make my 30....

AAMC practice test (6 exams))AVG

VB - 6
BS - 11
PS - 11

MCAT real:

VB - 9 whoa...
BS - 8 WTF
PS - 11

28O...

I really don't know what happen to bio. Should I apply? I have a thread my stats on "what are my chances" Please take a look.
 
Didn't make my 30....

AAMC practice test (6 exams))AVG

VB - 6
BS - 11
PS - 11

MCAT real:

VB - 9 whoa...
BS - 8 WTF
PS - 11

28O...

I really don't know what happen to bio. Should I apply? I have a thread my stats on "what are my chances" Please take a look.

My MCAT is very close to yours. I say apply broadly and don't withdrawl. None of your scores are below 8 and since the average is 30 for a lot of schools the bottom 25% has an average of 28.
 
July 30th MCAT
BS: 11
PS: 9
VR: 11
WS: S
31S, is that a good enough score to get into med school, also do Canadian Med Schools put much weight into your WS

They don't put much weight into your MCAT score in general. Generally speaking, as long as you meet the cutoff, higher scores don't mean much. Some WS cutoffs can be as high as R (Queens 07/08) but are usually around the N to P range. It all depends on the school of course.
 
:laugh:

Let me ask you something... hypothetically, let's say I have a 3.5 GPA, and a 31 MCAT, do you think I'm going to get in somewhere? I mean... seriously?? Pick up an MSAR book, I think that's what it's called, and look at the stats that schools post about the break down of the GPA / MCAT scores of accepted students. No one in this thread is going to be able to assess your scores properly. All you're doing is posting your numbers without any background information about ec's, etc, and if your judging admission based on simply those numbers, it will be far better for you, and others who seem to ask this question, to hit up the aamc website as well as medical school websites and read numbers there. Surely you will be able to judge if you have a chance or not.

I apologize if you felt all this was directed towards you, it wasn't. But it consistently surprises how such intelligent people sometimes ask questions that could be better answered by using other resources. I'm not sure if people ask these questions to get a sense of reassurance from fellow students, but people with stats like yours don't need reassurance. People who are struggling to break the average GPA and hardly breaking a 28-29 on the MCAT actually need some support.
You know, that is exactly what I did last night after getting my scores. I opened the Princeton Review's 168 Best Medical Schools and looked at the stats for the schools I am applying to. I think I can get into my second choice!
 
As I said before, I got a 32 O.

Is the Wr (the O) looked heavily upon? I got a 9 VR btw.
They score the writing sample from J to T... J=2 and T=12 . Therefore a WS:O is 7 out of 12 which almost 60%; that probably put you above the 60th percentile... not too bad
 
Ps 6
Bs 10
Vr 8

Well I knew I did bad on Ps but Im going back again to try again. I could have done way better. Does anybody have suggestions as far as VR?:confused:

Yes, I do! I'm not sure if this would help you specifically or apply to everybody, but it worked for me. My average for the practice tests were somewhere around a 9, but I got an 11 for my VR on this test. Which by the way, I'm *totally* stoked about.
I went through every passage the same way: answer each question first, then read the passage. And change any answers afterward if you think they should be changed. It worked like a charm for me. I'm someone that always struggled with reading comprehension though ;) Hope that helps!
 
Yes, I do! I'm not sure if this would help you specifically or apply to everybody, but it worked for me. My average for the practice tests were somewhere around a 9, but I got an 11 for my VR on this test. Which by the way, I'm *totally* stoked about.
I went through every passage the same way: answer each question first, then read the passage. And change any answers afterward if you think they should be changed. It worked like a charm for me. I'm someone that always struggled with reading comprehension though ;) Hope that helps!

It sounds good in theory but I'm betting a lot of people wouldn't finish the section in time if they did this.
 
"Maybe I'll be the only sceptic here to say it, but damn it sure seems like an AWFUL lot of people in this thread got a 30+ and a bunch got a 34+... just seems like an awful high percentage to me. I'm not calling anyone a liar but when like 80-85% of the scores posted are 30+ it raises an eyebrow. Maybe this particular test was an easier version but I'm just a little surprised by these scores, forgive me scepticism"

I think it's totally fair to be skeptical of anything you read in a message board, but the scores here seem a lot less inflated than (for example) the 07/17/09 mcat thread. Also, who knows about the subset of pre-meds who are attracted to this board; certainly they're not representative of the entire population of people who sit for the mcat.
 
Well obviously some people are slightly ashamed of their scores compared to all of the 30+'s out there. Us pre-meds are an unusual bunch.
 
Jan 30 results: 25P
VR 6
PS 10
BS 9

July 30 results: 24O
VR 6 i will never get this section
PS 8 WTF?
BS 10 ok i guess? i was getting 13's on practice AAMC exams

frustrated. I studied about 3 months total, my AAMC practice test range was 30-33. idk why i cant get it done on the real thing...
 
Aug 08 - 28Q (V 9, PS 10, BS 9)
July 09 - 37R (V 9, PS 15, BS 13)

Thanks for all the support. Good luck guys.
 
Jan 30 results: 25P
VR 6
PS 10
BS 9

July 30 results: 24O
VR 6 i will never get this section
PS 8 WTF?
BS 10 ok i guess? i was getting 13's on practice AAMC exams

frustrated. I studied about 3 months total, my AAMC practice test range was 30-33. idk why i cant get it done on the real thing...

Hey...I get how you feel. Here are my scores:

AAMC AVG
PS 11
VR 8
BS 11
30

7/30 MCAT
PS 10
VR 5...
BS 12
27

I NEVER received a 5 on ANY section of any practice test. I took all the AAMCs, all the TPR tests, all the VR tests in the EK 101 Book. And, the VR in TPR Diagnostics are notoriously hard...the lowest I received there was like a 7. The AAMC are freaking messed up, they need to update those exams. I didn't feel like the VR was hard when I took it so I don't even know what went wrong. I'm frustrated as well.
 
Posting this because it may be helpful to people who are waiting for their scores:

AAMC practice range: 32 (cold diagnostic, unstudied) - 36
Weeks studied: ~ 6, with exam krackers subject books and aamc practices
07/30/09 MCAT: 36Q

How did I feel leaving the exam? Horrible. Lesson learned: barring test-time panic, you will very likely score within your practice range, EVEN if you feel like the real thing went horribly. I almost voided my scores because I felt so bad afterward.


No WAY! at least not for me. The worst part is that these practice exams gave me a false sense of security. I thought i was ready (getting low 30's) and then i get a 2f******4. Thanks a lot AAMC!:mad:
 
Hey, I'm really sorry that you had that situation :-( I meant for my statement to help alleviate anxiety for people who are uncertain about their test performance, since it seems to be the case generally (within my friend group and according to that weird poll thing) that people do score within their practice range. But everyone's different, and I can totally see how just a couple of weird passages could really impact your score. I also think that the AAMC is doing everyone a disservice by not releasing more recent tests for practice (among other things). My conclusion is that they're basically trying to make life as difficult as possible for every pre-med. Blah.
 
Hey jmmorton, as someone waiting for test scores, just wondering what you mean when you say you felt horrible after the test? Were there things you know you missed? Did you have trouble with timing? Or was it just a big feeling of uncertainty?

Thanks - just curious!
 
I found the PS section to be really hard in terms of some of the passage material and the timing, personally (I do better with gen chem stuff than with physics, and I found this to be a really physics-heavy section). I was filling in my last bubble as the screen blanked out. I also had to rush a bit with BS, definitely also filled in the last bubble right before the screen blanked out. My timing issues with BS really threw me off because I'd always finished my practice sessions with plenty of time to spare. So, you know, that kind of thing. After the test I immediately drank tequila with my friends (yay), and when I woke up the next morning, all I could think was, wow, I think I just got my ass kicked.
 
37 S, 14 P, 13 B, 10 V. Pretty happy about this score, surprised that I did that well PS as I thought it was the hardest section. I also thought I did better in verbal but whatever. Also, it seems that there were less people on this date posting their scores than earlier dates like July 2nd or July 18th. I don't know if its because its a later test date or if people did worse on this exam.
 
Hey, I'm really sorry that you had that situation :-( I meant for my statement to help alleviate anxiety for people who are uncertain about their test performance, since it seems to be the case generally (within my friend group and according to that weird poll thing) that people do score within their practice range. But everyone's different, and I can totally see how just a couple of weird passages could really impact your score. I also think that the AAMC is doing everyone a disservice by not releasing more recent tests for practice (among other things). My conclusion is that they're basically trying to make life as difficult as possible for every pre-med. Blah.
Haha I agree. I left the test nearly crying and I ended up doing just fine. I am SO glad I didn't void because I definitely considered it. As for the old tests...where is the fun for them if the neurotic premeds actually feel prepared?

I thought the physical science section was heavy on the physics too. Yuck!
 
This was my second time taking the mcat and i got a 26... first time i got a 24. I was extremely disappointed because i was getting around 30 on my practices.

April MCAT:
6 PS
8 VR
10 BS
N WS
Overall: 24N

July MCAT:
9 PS
7 VR
10 BS
O WS
Overall: 26O

Practice AAMC (average):
11 PS
9 VR
10 BS
Overall: 30

My GPA is extremely low (3.1 overall, 2.9 science) and i was really banking on my mcat to be above a 30 at least... but that didnt happen.
Now i'm not sure if i should bother applying this year. I was going to try to apply to DO schools, but now im not even sure my scores would get me into one of those.
I have lots of clinical experience, double majored, been doing research, have strong letter of recs... but i dont know how much that will help me.
Please let me know what you guys think
Thanks
 
This was my second time taking the mcat and i got a 26... first time i got a 24. I was extremely disappointed because i was getting around 30 on my practices.

April MCAT:
6 PS
8 VR
10 BS
N WS
Overall: 24N

July MCAT:
9 PS
7 VR
10 BS
O WS
Overall: 26O

Practice AAMC (average):
11 PS
9 VR
10 BS
Overall: 30

My GPA is extremely low (3.1 overall, 2.9 science) and i was really banking on my mcat to be above a 30 at least... but that didnt happen.
Now i'm not sure if i should bother applying this year. I was going to try to apply to DO schools, but now im not even sure my scores would get me into one of those.
I have lots of clinical experience, double majored, been doing research, have strong letter of recs... but i dont know how much that will help me.
Please let me know what you guys think
Thanks
If the other parts of your application look solid and you apply broadly, It is possible that you might have an acceptance because I know someone who got to NSUCOM with a cGPA of 2.8 and a 24 MCAT two years ago. However, if you dont apply at all, I am a hundred percent sure you will not get an acceptance...just apply
 
OK my failiure March- 11P 8 V 10 B= 29 M
July 30- 8 P 8 V 11 B= 27 O
I had a head ache and advil took TO LONG to work. Sorry I didnt post earlier- too sad
 
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Practice AAMC (average):
PS: 11
VR: 11
BS: 11
Overall: 33

July 30 MCAT:
PS: 13
VR: 11
WS: R
BS: 13
Overall: 37R

Shocked but thrilled :) I'd say confidence is key. I was terrified going into it but I wrote "You Can Do It" in giant bubble letters on my scrap paper and gave myself a pep talk before each section. Congrats to everyone on their scores.

p.s. I'd like to give a shoutout to my dad who I know just discovered SDN haha
 
Wow, congratulations! It looks like most of you guys were the people who scored in the 90-95 percentile. Very interesting. That means that everyone here who scored a 30 or better did better than 90 percent of test takers in the world. How exciting? Whats the chance of that happening? Congrats again. Looks like sdn forums have a positive effect. And to all those who have to retake, keep coming to the forums.


NOOOOOTTT.
 
Wow, congratulations! It looks like most of you guys were the people who scored in the 90-95 percentile. Very interesting. That means that everyone here who scored a 30 or better did better than 90 percent of test takers in the world. How exciting? Whats the chance of that happening? Congrats again. Looks like sdn forums have a positive effect. And to all those who have to retake, keep coming to the forums.


NOOOOOTTT.

Your sarcasm is not necessary. You have it the other way around. Very driven and competitive students (perhaps on the border or neurotic) are those who post in these forums. I really see no reason why anonymous posters would gain anything by inflating their scores for other anonymous posters to view.

If you visit collegeconfidential.com you will find the same: many top notch students interested on attending the most competitive undergrad colleges they can. Probably a similar 90 percentile ranked.

GROW UUUUUUUPPP.
 
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