Verbal with 5?

[GatorWell]

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Hi, I am still depressed about my verbal score. I have gotten 10, 10, but 5 on verbal. I doubt it will improve over a month. I have solid GPA (3.9) with good extracurricular acitivies and rec letters. Do you guys know anyone in FL or anywhere else who got in? I heard that August MCAT is harder....is it really? Thanks.

 

[Allygator89]

At USF, you must have an average of 8 or better.

 

[aquaboy]

No school in FL will accept a verbal score that low. Except maybe NOVA, which is a DO school. Retake, a 5 is lower than the 25th percentile. The other scores are solid. Just spend a ton of time on verbal when you do retake. The previous poster is right, USF will just pass by your application if you have any score lower than a 7 on any section. Sorry. Don't let verbal be the reason you don't get in. You can improve, I did!😱

 

[thesocialbeast]

I know people who have gotten into temple, unc, njms, and few other schools with a 5 on verbal...the key is to apply early and to make contacts

 

[ashkan33]

socialbeast:
make contacts? does this mean emailing the school and kissing their @ss on a regular basis? can you please elaborate...

 

[scriznik]

practice tests, practice tests, practice tests.... I graduated from fl, and had fairly comparable scores but 11 verbal (12, 12 for the other two). Same gpa. In my op not great stats but i got in to a lot of really good schools. If you can pull that verbal up to where the other two are, you will have great success in applying. It is probably a mental thing, because if you are doing as well as you say on the other two sections, you should do well on the verbal also....good luck!

Oh, I took the August MCAT and it didn?t seem unduly difficult, so don?t let that freak you out.

 

[thesocialbeast]

by making contacts I am not suggesting someone goes and beg someone to let them in or kiss their @ss...showing sincere interest in a school and developing a tangible relationship with someone on or associated with the admissions process can make a lot of difference...I have learned from various friends and family who serve on various professional school admission committees that sometimes the smallest, most trivial things are used to separate candidates...an acquaintance of mine was accepted into a pretty competitive school with a 5 on verbal and the admissions folks told her it was her geniune interest in the school (as well as everything else of her application being near stellar) that got her in

 

[pathstudent]

I knew a guy who went to Finch AP with a 5

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by GatorWell
Hi, I am still depressed about my verbal score. I have gotten 10, 10, but 5 on verbal. I doubt it will improve over a month. I have solid GPA (3.9) with good extracurricular acitivies and rec letters. Do you guys know anyone in FL or anywhere else who got in? I heard that August MCAT is harder....is it really? Thanks.

What school did you go to? A 3.9 GPA and a 5 just makes no sense.

 

[Jet915]

I have a friend who got into Finch with a 5. His science MCAT scores were both 11 I think. He also had a very high science gpa (3.9+)

Jetson

 

[AlternateSome1]

Originally posted by scriznik
practice tests, practice tests, practice tests.... I graduated from fl, and had fairly comparable scores but 11 verbal (12, 12 for the other two). Same gpa. In my op not great stats but i got in to a lot of really good schools.

Wait...are you trying to say that a 35 is comparable to a 25 AND that a 35 isn't a great score? I'm sort of baffled here.

~AS1~

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Come on people... use your common sense here...

A 5 is not gonna make you competitive. A lot of the schools will probably reject your app pre or post secondary. Unless you have a good explanation (i.e. I had to fight off a band of pirates in the middle of the verbal section of the MCAT, and could only take half the verbal section test, or something like that), you're going to have a tough time getting interviews.

The only reason why I say common sense, is because there is an entire 75% more amount of people with a higher score in this section with relatively good gpa and score that you are applying with.

The only option is to do better and take tons of pretests.

Sometimes it is best to apply later than sooner to make sure your application will be solid. From what you have written about your stats, it seems like that is the only score that you need to raise. I might suggest Examkrackers Verbal book; it helped me raise my average from a 6 to a 9 on the MCAT; it might have similiar results for you.

Just my .01$ 🙄

 

[jennie 21]

I'm sorry to say it, but I agree with MDTom. A 5 on the verbal is not going to do it for you. You've got to re-take and score better. If you could get an 8 or 9 on the verbal, then you'd be in decent shape. There might be isolated instances of people getting in with a 5 on the verbal, but the majority of people with a 5 on the verbal do not get in. Why fight an uphill battle? Getting in with a 5 on the verbal is going to be a lot harder than it would be to raise your verbal score, and then apply. Unless there's something you're not telling us, i.e. you just learned English last year, or something. You must be pretty smart to score 10's on the science sections; you can raise your verbal score. There are lots of ways to do this! Prep courses, lots of practice, maybe tutoring in reading comprehension or something. Good luck.

 

[jennie 21]

I'm sorry to say it, but I agree with MDTom. A 5 on the verbal is not going to do it for you. You've got to re-take and score better. If you could get an 8 or 9 on the verbal, then you'd be in decent shape. There might be isolated instances of people getting in with a 5 on the verbal, but the majority of people with a 5 on the verbal do not get in. Why fight an uphill battle? Getting in with a 5 on the verbal is going to be a lot harder than it would be to raise your verbal score, and then apply. Unless there's something you're not telling us, i.e. you just learned English last year, or something. You must be pretty smart to score 10's on the science sections; you can raise your verbal score. There are lots of ways to do this! Prep courses, lots of practice, maybe tutoring in reading comprehension or something. Good luck.

By the way, I think you might be better off waiting till april to re-take, gives you more time to prepare. I also think you'd be better off waiting till after you re-take the MCAT to apply--why waste the money, and go thru the stress, knowing that your chances aren't very good. If you apply this year then (with luck) you might get into a place like Finch, wheras if you improve the verbal first you'll have a good shot at much better schools. Finally, cheer up--the rest of your application sounds very strong, if you can just bring up that verbal.

 

[DrDRE]

I am with jeannie and MdTom;

As long as everyone is telling the stories of the exceptions to the rule..."I know someone with a V5 who got in...."

I know someone with good letters, 12,12 and a 6 in the verbal, gpa I cannot remember but it was higher than 3.7, UCLA, and was doing a masters. He only got like 1 interview and did not get in.

If you can get 10 or higher in the sciences you CAN get at least an 8 or 9 in V. And I bet you could get higher than that too.

As someone else said...practice test over and over...figure out which ones your are missing, how you are wasting time, etc.

Jeannie hit the nail right on the head: it will be much easier for you to work on raising your score than likely wasting time and money and then having to reapply. Take a year to work and volunteer, do clinical work and just study and study. A 5 or 6 just raises way to many flags and triggers the cutoffs many schools have.

 

[jvarga]

Gatorwell, don't be discouraged. Remember that most sdn posters are not and have never been members of an Admissions Committee and therefore can offer you little educated advice on your situation. The fact is the admission process is a highly individualized process that takes everything into account. There are no set "rules" as alluded to by a prior post (as evidenced by the extraordinarily high number of "exceptions" that make it into med school every year). By what it sounds like, you have the makings of a competitive application (regardless of the verbal score) that would certainly be considered by many a med school in the US. Granted, applying to a more competitive school would probably necessitate an improvement in your verbal score, so another attempt after much practice is definately a smart move. However, dont forget about the other areas of the MCAT. Dropping any of your 10s would be a shame! By the way, the August MCAT is not harder than the other one. The average scores nationwide are typically lower, but do realize that most people that performed less than par on a previous test tend to repeat it in August. One last piece of advice: the best people to get advice from on matters like these are your advisors, MDs, or members the Admissions Committee (find out who they are). I hope you keep your hopes high and good luck on your application.

 

[pathstudent]

Finch must be a complete joke letting some one in with a 5.

That is horrible.

Anyone who has read at least one book should at least get an 8.

What a joke Finch is.

 

[thesocialbeast]

studying for the mcat again would probally be the most conservative thing to do...that I will agree with...but I think people too often go with the odds and miss out on some great opportunities...make a decision that you can live with all the potential consequences

 

[link26]

just keep reading. grab the paper and read the editorials.

bluntly speaking, if i saw a score of 5 alongside a 3.9 gpa, I'd think you were taking easy-A courses.... or the school has major grade inflation.

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

Originally posted by GatorWell
Hi, I am still depressed about my verbal score. I have gotten 10, 10, but 5 on verbal. I doubt it will improve over a month. I have solid GPA (3.9) with good extracurricular acitivies and rec letters. Do you guys know anyone in FL or anywhere else who got in? I heard that August MCAT is harder....is it really? Thanks.

I plan on taking the August (04) MCAT..that has to be just a rumor...i think ur very paranoid..the mcat is "standardized" remember😉

 

[republicandr]

I would recommend calling the schools you want to apply to and then speak with someone on the admissions committee. Many schools have cutoffs, where you have to score a 5, 6, or 7 in each section in order to be accepted, so ask the admissions staff about that.

Is there anything that may have adversely affected your score? Is English your second language, if so, the admissions committee will take that into consideration.

During a summer program that I went to, I was informed by admissions staff that it is traditionally easier to score higher on the August MCAT because people who didn't do well on the April MCAT retake the test and the curve is shifted.

Good luck on your decision,
Republicandr