Told med schools that I planned on retaking MCAT but decided not to

[Ochempwnsme]

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I got a 30 on my MCAT last year, relatively balanced. I was convinced that I was going to retake it this summer but then I decided against retaking after talking to a lot of people. Problem is that I wrote in my personal statement that I was planning on retaking it. I don't know why I did this, because they can tell from the future app date listed on the AMCAS app that an applicant is planning a retake.

Anyway, I decided against retaking the MCAT about 2 weeks after I submitted it for verification early in the summer. Before the app got verified, I changed one of the only things you can change on the app after submission, which is the field listing a future MCAT date. I removed the planned August test date before verification by the reviewer began and so the primary app that got submitted to schools shows no plan of an MCAT retake, it just shows my score from last year. Yet there is still a line in my personal statement stating that I was planning on retaking it in August. How bad is this? I really don't want to hear that I have to send an e-mail to each school where I applied stating that they shouldn't expect a new score from me because I didn't follow through with my plans, but if I have to do it I'll do it. I'm just hoping to hear from someone that the future MCAT test date field on the AMCAS app matters more than a line in the personal statement. One week from now, the scores from the test date I had signed up for are supposed to come out, and mine won't be there. Hopefully the schools can put 2 and 2 together and realize that I didn't retake it because if I had they would have gotten a new score? I'd rather not call attention to it by contacting them.

 

[thegypsyqueen]

I got a 30 on my MCAT last year, relatively balanced. I was convinced that I was going to retake it this summer but then I decided against retaking after talking to a lot of people. Problem is that I wrote in my personal statement that I was planning on retaking it. I don't know why I did this, because they can tell from the future app date listed on the AMCAS app that an applicant is planning a retake.

Anyway, I decided against retaking the MCAT about 2 weeks after I submitted it for verification early in the summer. Before the app got verified, I changed one of the only things you can change on the app after submission, which is the field listing a future MCAT date. I removed the planned August test date before verification by the reviewer began and so the primary app that got submitted to schools shows no plan of an MCAT retake, it just shows my score from last year. Yet there is still a line in my personal statement stating that I was planning on retaking it in August. How bad is this? I really don't want to hear that I have to send an e-mail to each school where I applied stating that they shouldn't expect a new score from me because I didn't follow through with my plans, but if I have to do it I'll do it. I'm just hoping to hear from someone that the future MCAT test date field on the AMCAS app matters more than a line in the personal statement. One week from now, the scores from the test date I had signed up for are supposed to come out, and mine won't be there. Hopefully the schools can put 2 and 2 together and realize that I didn't retake it because if I had they would have gotten a new score? I'd rather not call attention to it by contacting them.

This is a rare situation with possibly no precedent so advice is going to be hard. I would maybe call 2-3 admission offices and see how they want you to handle it and then extrapolate for the rest from there. Hopefully Goro, GynGyn and other AdComs can weigh in.

 

[Ochempwnsme]

This is a rare situation with possibly no precedent so advice is going to be hard. I would maybe call 2-3 admission offices and see how they want you to handle it and then extrapolate for the rest from there. Hopefully Goro, GynGyn and other AdComs can weigh in.

Thanks for the response. The optimist in me wants to think that those admissions officers who read the personal statement after reviewing the app would not necessarily make a note of something like that. If they read the line that I was planning on retaking then they would think nothing of it and when the score came up in a month then the new score would be downloaded. When no new score arrived then I would hope the app would simply proceed accordingly. Who knows, however? Like I said, I'd prefer not to have to contact them because I feel that this would reflect poorly on my application and suggest a certain degree of impulsiveness.

 

[Ochempwnsme]

Any thoughts or am I in the clear and the schools can figure it out?

 

[CarlosDanger]

I think if the rest of your app is really good, its not going to be a big issue, just keep in mind that they MIGHT bring it up at an interview, so you may have to address it. But, adcoms skim your whole AMCAS in about 2 seconds flat, and since a 30 is a decent score, I don't think it will raise big flags. Calling more attention to it by calling every school is probably not going to help. At this point, theres not much you can do anyways so just give it a shot.

 

[DokterMom]

I really don't want to hear that I have to send an e-mail to each school where I applied stating that they shouldn't expect a new score from me because I didn't follow through with my plans, but if I have to do it I'll do it.

If / when you do get asked about it in your interviews, please don't phrase it this way! The truth is that you did some research, considered your options and decided a different course was better than your original plan.

This is not a bad thing -- Change how you view your actions so you can reframe them from 'didn't follow through' or 'indecisive' to 'kept an open mind and used new information to form a better plan'.

 

[Ochempwnsme]

If / when you do get asked about it in your interviews, please don't phrase it this way! The truth is that you did some research, considered your options and decided a different course was better than your original plan.

This is not a bad thing -- Change how you view your actions so you can reframe them from 'didn't follow through' or 'indecisive' to 'kept an open mind and used new information to form a better plan'.

Thanks for your response and for the others above. Just to clarify, my primary concern is not about handling the question in interviews. What I'm worried about (and possibly for no reason) is that the schools see that I mentioned an MCAT retake in my PS, and so the app goes in the hold file and the app is forgotten about because the school is waiting for an updated MCAT score that never arrives. App purgatory. Then maybe in January they realize that my app was actually "complete" in summertime but now I'm looking at March/April interviews and am totally behind the 8ball. I'm probably worried about it for no reason because I assume if a school had this discrepancy between stated MCAT plans in a PS and the actual listed MCAT dates on the app then they would contact me, right? I could then clear up the discrepancy. I hope that the schools are experienced enough with unusual situations to figure out that when my score has not arrived by the end of September (the time when all August MCAT scores will have been received by schools), that no scores are forthcoming. If I am receiving emails from schools telling me that my application is now complete then I assume these MD schools are going by my primary app with no MCAT date listed, and not by my personal statement. I assume they wouldn't consider me complete if they were still waiting on another MCAT score.

I guess a smaller concern I may have is that they might think I was being dishonest by listing a planned retake on my MCAT and then not following through with it. I had to check that box on AMCAS/AACOMAS when submitting the app certifying that the information in this application and associated materials was valid and truthful. Well it wasn't, because I changed my mind. There's also a box I had to check stating that AAMC investigates and may report to legitimately interested parties discrepancies in information, attempts to subvert the admission process, and any other irregular matter that occurs in connection with application activities. I don't want this to be a red flag that prevents me from getting into any MD or DO school because my application was viewed as subverting the admission process due to discrepancies in information. This is why my instinct was to contact the schools in question, because admitting that I broke their rules would be the honest and correct thing to do.

 

[Birdie89]

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If it is just one line in your PS, they honestly probably skimmed over it, and didn't think much of it. I wouldn't contact any schools or anything, I'd just wait it out, and they might bring it up in an interview. If they do, just explain why you decided not to... and saying that you realized a 30 is a better score than you realized is not a bad answer. They know how much the MCAT sucks, and won't fault you for not wanting to retake it.