Unique situation - advice would be appreciate !!

[karma72]

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[FONT=trebuchet ms,sans-serif]I just graduated from college and got a Fulbright scholarship to go to South Korea next year. While I am really excited about the Fulbright, I am also planning on matriculating into medical school when I return. I would appreciate your thoughts on applying there since I am in a unique situation. Its a long story, so I really appreciate anyone that can stick through it and give me advice 🙂.
[FONT=trebuchet ms,sans-serif]To give you some more background information about me, I graduated a 3.93 GPA with degrees in Biology and in Honors, have been published in a journal, completed a senior thesis, received a Goldwater scholarship honorable mention, inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. Some of my best memories have been serving as an EMT for three years and shadowing doctors with various specialties. I have also had the honor of being a co-chair of South Asian cultural club, co-president of an organization that works with mothers at pregnancy crisis centers, an orientation counselor, a tour guide, a diversity peer educator and chaired the Day of Service at my school (i have 8 wonderful recommendation letters from professors and advisers of these activities)
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[FONT=trebuchet ms,sans-serif]Despite these accomplishments, I am in an interesting situation due to my verbal MCAT score and my upcoming Fulbright experience. Last summer, I was prepared to take my MCATs, having gotten consistent 30s and 31s on my practice tests. I was scheduled to take the afternoon MCAT on July 30th. That week, my brother had been complaining about ear pain. The morning of my MCAT, my mom got an over-the-counter medicine for an ear infection and asked my brother to take it before they dropped me off to my MCAT test site. My brother refused to take the medicine, and my mom kept begging and couldn’t understand why he was recalcitrant. It was then that my brother mumbled that he could not take the medicine because there were actual people that were causing his ear pain. My mom could not stomach the words that were coming out of his mouth and demanded he take the medicine before he said anything else “crazy.” My brother kept refusing and screaming that “these people” were hurting him, and my mom kept pushing for him to take the medicine. The tension escalated and ended with my brother pushing my mom with all his power. Given my brother’s strength and my mom’s early onset osteoporosis, my mom fell and broke her left clavicle bone. I finished a Vitamin C “focus” flavor and spent the next five hours taking the MCAT, unsure how my mom was doing in the ER and why my brother was hallucinating. Surprisingly, I did well on my sciences (11 in Biological Sciences and a 9 in Physical Sciences), but I received a 6 on the verbal, which was the lowest score I had ever gotten and far from the average of 10 I was getting on my practice tests. Eventually, my mom ended up receiving surgery, having a plate put in to reunite her bones in the proper alignment. My brother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Without delving into too much detail right now, it has been the toughest year working with him to deal with his illness. I was in shock for most the year that this was happening to my brother and taking such a toll on my family. While I have learned more about resilience and faith than I could describe adequately in this post and am honored to have received a Fulbright to teach English and work in a medical clinic in an underprivileged village in South Korea, I am an interesting situation with this verbal MCAT score. I was considering retaking it this summer, but I leave for the Fulbright on July 2nd.. so I think i am going to apply now (to both MD and DO) and see what happens
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[FONT=trebuchet ms,sans-serif]I am thinking of sending my application out early (within a week).. I have a really awesome personal statement written from last summer (I didnt end up applying last cycle because I was in too much of a shock from all this happening at home), but now .I need some advice as to do a scrap my old personal statement and write about what happened to explain to schools (especially the MD ones) about the verbal score? or do I save this explanation that I gave above for secondaries (most schools do have space where you can explain weaknesses more, right?) Or do I combine my old PS.. shorten in and add this story above and how it has strengthened me and my brother's illness and working with him has made me want to become a doctor more? My old personal statement is about my experiences working with mothers in the pregnancy crisis center and how that helped me realize i would like be a physician and change agent for underprivileged communities. whats the right place to explain my weakness in my verbal score?

 

[wingiv]

Sorry to hear all that happened. I wouldn't even try to mention the verbal score in your PS. Talking about your experience with your brother and mother might be good for a secondary, if you're primary is in really that great of shape. There will be a chance for you in most med. school interviews for M.D. to explain any weaknesses in your app. It's a pretty standard question for interviews, but not across the board. You might just not want to address the verbal score as it would point it out more to the ACOM. Your GPA should easily be able to counter your MCAT score for M.D. school. But if you're trying to get into somewhere like Harvard of JHU, then you should retake your MCAT's. Otherwise, you might just want to leave things as they are with a few small modifications.

 

[jbz24]

6 is pretty low and most schools will likely screen you out before even reading your personal statement. You definitely have a shot at some schools, including state schools. I don't think your story would help much to explain the low verbal score, so you're probably better off leaving out of your personal statement altogether. Your best bet will be to retake the MCAT.

 

[karma72]

Sorry to hear all that happened. I wouldn't even try to mention the verbal score in your PS. Talking about your experience with your brother and mother might be good for a secondary, if you're primary is in really that great of shape. There will be a chance for you in most med. school interviews for M.D. to explain any weaknesses in your app. It's a pretty standard question for interviews, but not across the board. You might just not want to address the verbal score as it would point it out more to the ACOM. Your GPA should easily be able to counter your MCAT score for M.D. school. But if you're trying to get into somewhere like Harvard of JHU, then you should retake your MCAT's. Otherwise, you might just want to leave things as they are with a few small modifications.

what do you mean it would point out more to the ACOM? im worried some of the schools that i want to apply to wont have a question that allows you to explain weaknesses in your application.. and im not even thinking of top ivy schools.. im thinking more the New Jersey schools, drexel, temple, jefferson, etc. that dont really have a secondary

thank you for your advice -- does anyone else have any advice?! whats the right way to go about this?!

 

[TexasPhysician]

6 is pretty low and most schools will likely screen you out before even reading your personal statement. You definitely have a shot at some schools, including state schools. I don't think your story would help much to explain the low verbal score, so you're probably better off leaving out of your personal statement altogether. Your best bet will be to retake the MCAT.

I agree that the OP needs to retake the MCAT. There is no explaining a 6 on the verbal, especially since the other sections were much better.

Many schools will screen out the OP for the 6. There is no explaining a 6 when schools won't look at your application.

Some schools even consider Verbal to be the most important section. You can teach medicine to most smart students, unless you have poor reading comprehension.

OP - For such an intelligent student, it appears on the MCAT that you have terribly poor reading comprehension. It likely will eliminate you from all MD schools except maybe your state school (if it takes almost all in-state students). Retaking will open up TONS of possibilities.

 

[strive01]

i did want to retake my mcat but i found out i leave for intensive orientation for the Fulbright on july 2nd.. i would have liked to take it july 8th and the latest date would have been june 17th.. which could give me just a month to study (since i graduated mid may).. and i know myself and i know how thorough of a studier i am.. it wouldnt have been enough time for me to prepare

so i can either apply now or wait a year to apply, but id rather not wait another year :/ i'd like to at least try applying this year and see what happens

I agree that the OP needs to retake the MCAT. There is no explaining a 6 on the verbal, especially since the other sections were much better.

Many schools will screen out the OP for the 6. There is no explaining a 6 when schools won't look at your application.

Some schools even consider Verbal to be the most important section. You can teach medicine to most smart students, unless you have poor reading comprehension.

OP - For such an intelligent student, it appears on the MCAT that you have terribly poor reading comprehension. It likely will eliminate you from all MD schools except maybe your state school (if it takes almost all in-state students). Retaking will open up TONS of possibilities.

 

[seap3]

i did want to retake my mcat but i found out i leave for intensive orientation for the Fulbright on july 2nd.. i would have liked to take it july 8th and the latest date would have been june 17th.. which could give me just a month to study (since i graduated mid may).. and i know myself and i know how thorough of a studier i am.. it wouldnt have been enough time for me to prepare

so i can either apply now or wait a year to apply, but id rather not wait another year :/ i'd like to at least try applying this year and see what happens

I'm confused - Is the OP using 2 different user accounts? And this is also posted in pre-DO.

I smell a troll - the following is posted in another thread by strive01 aka karma72:

I went in on test day (7/30) really confident and I felt really relaxed throughout the whole test. And when I came out of the test, I was relieved and thought to myself "I had done by best.

 

[jbz24]

i did want to retake my mcat but i found out i leave for intensive orientation for the Fulbright on july 2nd.. i would have liked to take it july 8th and the latest date would have been june 17th.. which could give me just a month to study (since i graduated mid may).. and i know myself and i know how thorough of a studier i am.. it wouldnt have been enough time for me to prepare

so i can either apply now or wait a year to apply, but id rather not wait another year :/ i'd like to at least try applying this year and see what happens

So apply this year and see what happens. You have a shot, it's just not an excellent shot.

 

[strive01]

So apply this year and see what happens. You have a shot, it's just not an excellent shot.

thanks for all your advice so far, btw. but do you recommend that i explain my story in my personal statement that explains the verbal or stick to my original one where i explaine why i want to become a doctor

 

[jbz24]

thanks for all your advice so far, btw. but do you recommend that i explain my story in my personal statement that explains the verbal or stick to my original one where i explaine why i want to become a doctor

Don't mention it, it seems silly to explain something like that in a personal statement. If they ask about it during an interview, you can try to explain why. However, as the other poster previously mentioned, all three of your scores should be affected and not just your verbal (makes it seem like you're trying to make an excuse). Not to detract from what happened to your brother, but maybe your verbal score is your own weakness. Pick up an MSAR, see what schools take lower verbal scores, and apply there.

 

[TexasPhysician]

i did want to retake my mcat but i found out i leave for intensive orientation for the Fulbright on july 2nd.. i would have liked to take it july 8th and the latest date would have been june 17th.. which could give me just a month to study (since i graduated mid may).. and i know myself and i know how thorough of a studier i am.. it wouldnt have been enough time for me to prepare

so i can either apply now or wait a year to apply, but id rather not wait another year :/ i'd like to at least try applying this year and see what happens

Can you take a MCAT prep course during that 1 month and retake? A month should be ample time to prepare if full-time.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Don't mention it, it seems silly to explain something like that in a personal statement. If they ask about it during an interview, you can try to explain why. However, as the other poster previously mentioned, all three of your scores should be affected and not just your verbal (makes it seem like you're trying to make an excuse). Not to detract from what happened to your brother, but maybe your verbal score is your own weakness. Pick up an MSAR, see what schools take lower verbal scores, and apply there.

I agree. If the school is looking at the personal statement, they have already seen and are "ok" with still evaluating a student with a 6 Verbal. Just be prepared to answer questions about the score in an interview.