VCU and SAT's. . .

[Mdr1985]

Hello everyone,

I've done a search on the topic of SAT importance, and for the most part seen that they likely don't matter much. I did, however, run into a section of a post that mentioned VCU cares about SAT scores. . . and this is quite unfortunate for my situation. . .

I guess I'm considered 'non-trad', I graduated highschool in 2003. I was a completely different person academically then, graduating with like a 1.9 gpa or something ridiculous. I don't even remember if I took the SAT's, but if I did I'm sure I did horrible. Since high school I've averaged about a 3.8 in all college work (and as I'm working through my med school pre-reqs this is staying the same so far). . .

Living in Richmond Va, one of my top choices is VCU (not just becaues of location, but of course it's a factor), as well as other schools in VA (in state tuition is certainly a plus! Though again, not the only factor). . .

So, for schools in VA, particularly VCU (since I found a post mentioning VCU and them caring about SAT's), does anyone know if this is actually true (when it was mentioned in the post it wasn't really backed up, nor was the situation of the person mentioning it elaborated much on)? Could VCU actually care about what I did in highschool nearly 10 years ago (it'll be about 10 years ago when I apply to med school) - gpa or SAT's? That just sounds crazy to me.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Negrodamus]

Hello everyone,

I've done a search on the topic of SAT importance, and for the most part seen that they likely don't matter much. I did, however, run into a section of a post that mentioned VCU cares about SAT scores. . . and this is quite unfortunate for my situation. . .

I guess I'm considered 'non-trad', I graduated highschool in 2003. I was a completely different person academically then, graduating with like a 1.9 gpa or something ridiculous. I don't even remember if I took the SAT's, but if I did I'm sure I did horrible. Since high school I've averaged about a 3.8 in all college work (and as I'm working through my med school pre-reqs this is staying the same so far). . .

Living in Richmond Va, one of my top choices is VCU (not just becaues of location, but of course it's a factor), as well as other schools in VA (in state tuition is certainly a plus! Though again, not the only factor). . .

So, for schools in VA, particularly VCU (since I found a post mentioning VCU and them caring about SAT's), does anyone know if this is actually true (when it was mentioned in the post it wasn't really backed up, nor was the situation of the person mentioning it elaborated much on)? Could VCU actually care about what I did in highschool nearly 10 years ago (it'll be about 10 years ago when I apply to med school) - gpa or SAT's? That just sounds crazy to me.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Save some money; get an associates at J. Sargeant Reynolds and apply for the guaranteed matriculation program. Truth be told if your over 22 years old you don't need to send in your SAT scores, but with a 1.9 I doubt you'd get into VCU.

 

[aSagacious]

Save some money; get an associates at J. Sargeant Reynolds and apply for the guaranteed matriculation program. Truth be told if your over 22 years old you don't need to send in your SAT scores, but with a 1.9 I doubt you'd get into VCU.

1.9 was his high school GPA.

OP, I wouldn't worry about SATs. If VCU takes the exam into consideration at all, it will be very minuscule.

With a 3.8 cGPA and a 31+ MCAT (plus decent ECs) you should be competitive at VCU.

 

[Mdr1985]

Thanks to you both. . . sorry for the bit of confusion, I suppose I should have elaborated a bit more.

Yes, 1.9 was my highschool GPA. Since then I've earned my paramedic through J.Sarg (4.0gpa) and my associates in nursing (plus a bunch of gen-eds for VCU's RN to BSN which I'm starting this fall). . . 3.8ish gpa for all the nursing/gen ed stuff.

So I've had quite a few years showing that I'm nothing like I was in highschool. . . that's why I wanted to make sure VCU wouldn't care about my highschool gpa or SAT's. . . or. . . if I should focus my applications elsewhere if they did care.

After browsing this sight, I've seen the BSN route is not the greatest thing to do. . . but I didn't realize I wanted to go into medicine until recently. I was formerly pursing CRNA and had a bit of an 'epiphany', if you will. . . that's a long story mentioned in another post. . .

Anyways, thanks again for the responses, just wanted to clear that confusion up a bit more. . . anyone else I of course still welcome your thoughts 🙂

 

[Lil Mick]

I don't have experience with VCU (although, I would have liked to apply there!), but the schools that asked me about SATs... didn't seem to care about stuff that was over a decade old. I think that they just use it for 1) younger applicants and 2) strong students who happen to do worse than expected on the MCAT. As for the CRNA, I doubt that schools will count that against you, especially with your background as a paramedic and a mention of your 'epiphany.' It's a logical progression from where you were to where you want to be. It shows that you really want to be in the medical field...

 

[Mdr1985]

Lil Mick - Thanks for your thoughts. . . it's great to hear what you had to say about them not holding the nursing/CRNA thing against me. What you said about it being a logical progression, and showing that I really want to be in the medical field, I couldn't agree more. The trick is, of course, making sure the adcom see's it that way too. Since it's all completely the truth (my transition/'epiphany'), I'm hoping I'll be able to explain it well in my essay and/or interview. I'm glad you think I'll be competitive if I continue the way I'm going. . . I'm quite freaked out about the MCAT, looking at some of the review material I sometimes find myself wondering "what the heck was my (insert course) instructor teaching? Cause he didn't cover this!". . . Not that a little self teaching ever hurt anyone 🙂 . . .