Which schools screen MCAT scores below 8

[Medstudent85]

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Hey guys, I see all the time people saying how "certain schools" will def. screen you out if you have a 7 or below on any of the sections. Yet, I couldn't find a list of schools that do. I wonder if anyone that knows for sure which schools do this, could start a list for me.

 

[Dirt]

Hey guys, I see all the time people saying how "certain schools" will def. screen you out if you have a 7 or below on any of the sections. Yet, I couldn't find a list of schools that do. I wonder if anyone that knows for sure which schools do this, could start a list for me.

I don't know of any in particular but with a 7 or below in a section you will be hard pressed to get any looks even without screening. Sorry but a retake may be in order.

 

[Medstudent85]

I dont have a 7 score , I just feel this list would be useful

 

[Dirt]

I dont have a 7 score , I just feel this list would be useful

Again then in all honesty, there are those that do screen, and those that will likely take your 2ndary money off your hands.

 

[Kickback]

I went to a meeting with a member of the board from Medical College of Wisconsin two weeks ago, and they cut off at any score under 8, and a writing score above M... or it could be L... can't remember that one exactly though 😕

 

[Medstudent85]

OK so far we have:

Medical College of Wisconsin

 

[student1799]

I read in 2 different posts that Jefferson has a 9 cutoff. (These were people who called the admissions office and asked.)

 

[utjsm08]

Well, that may be true, but I got a 7 in verbal and I have had 5 interviews so far....I was afraid of getting screened out, but luck was on my side this time! Lets see if I get any acceptances 🙂

 

[student1799]

Well, that may be true, but I got a 7 in verbal and I have had 5 interviews so far....I was afraid of getting screened out, but luck was on my side this time! Lets see if I get any acceptances 🙂

Where did you get interviews, and what's your GPA? I have a 7 in PS, although my overall MCAT isn't terrible (31S: 7 PS 13 VR 11 BS). I'm thinking of adding some schools in case I get screened out from places I've applied to.

 

[drelizabeth292]

OK so far we have:

Medical College of Wisconsin

University of Utah-need at least a 7 in each section.

 

[Timus]

OK so far we have:

Medical College of Wisconsin
Rush Medical College
University of Maryland School of medicine

7 is by no means end of the day for anyone. You will get plenty of interviews if you do well in other two sections and GPA wise. Just apply broadly and dont be shy of applying to top schools if you genuinly believe that you are a good applicant.

 

[Ariadne]

I went to a meeting with a member of the board from Medical College of Wisconsin two weeks ago, and they cut off at any score under 8, and a writing score above M... or it could be L... can't remember that one exactly though 😕

MCW's cutoff is M or better for WS.

 

[mikethomp]

I had a 7 in one of my subsections... and guess what... I received 13 interviews all from MD schools.. and countless DO interviews.


Oh and by the way, I had more invites than some people who said they scored a 39, but lied and actually scored a 31.


So don't rule out what your capable of. I was strong in other aspects and it made up for it.

Also... try not to lie in life... it seems to come back at people..as I will never trust that person again.

 

[BlueElmo]

What about a 6 in verbal?

 

[XRanger]

jefferson..no sections below 8

 

[han14tra]

I read in 2 different posts that Jefferson has a 9 cutoff. (These were people who called the admissions office and asked.)

Jeff has a 8 cutoff in each section. I was accepted with a 8:8:9 (25P).

 

[Habeed]

I know someone with a 15/15/4 (guess which section had the 4...). So, she would be screened out?

 

[shnuffles]

15/15/4???????????????????????????lol

 

[Habeed]

A foreign national, from Germany. Incredibly attractive, btw. And she was doing summer research in Organic Chemistry (alas, not the kind I was interested in...)

 

[Medstudent85]

You got into NYU with a 7 , I'm guessing you were URM?

 

[funkydrmonkey]

West Virginia University and University of Arkansas, if I am not mistaken.

 

[RoadRunner17]

You got into NYU with a 7 , I'm guessing you were URM?

Don't leap to conclusions here..

 

[drbeck]

I have recently been accepted to both Medical College of Wisconsin and Creighton with a verbal score of 7 and a physical science score of 8...so clearly med college of wisconsin will take a score of 7.

 

[funkymunkytoes]

West Virginia University screens below a 9 if out of state.

 

[alibai3ah]

USC screens out anything below 9!!!

Also the screens might be different per section. For example, I would assume verbal would have the lowest number, possibly 8. On the sciences I would assume it would be 9 or higher at some schools.....

 

[KeyzerSoze]

OK so far we have:

Medical College of Wisconsin
Rush Medical College
University of Maryland School of medicine

7 is by no means end of the day for anyone. You will get plenty of interviews if you do well in other two sections and GPA wise. Just apply broadly and dont be shy of applying to top schools if you genuinly believe that you are a good applicant.

Plenty, eh?

Please don't waste your money applying to top schools if you have a 7.

 

[cast128]

USC screens out anything below 9!!!

Also the screens might be different per section. For example, I would assume verbal would have the lowest number, possibly 8. On the sciences I would assume it would be 9 or higher at some schools.....

I know USC accepts at least an 8 in verbal because one of my good friends just had an interview there with an 8.

 

[AH11]

University of DO

 

[GolfMustang07]

West Virginia University screens below a 9 if out of state.

Nope... Have an interview coming up 13/8/11

 

[mmagnett]

university of iowa

 

[Timus]

Everyone has a chance, open MSAR and see it for yourself. The range of VR for accepted students starts from 4,5.. SO dont loose hope.

 

[Timus]

Again then in all honesty, there are those that do screen, and those that will likely take your 2ndary money off your hands.

Have you ever opened a MSAR?? Try checking it out..its an AAMC publication so i trust it more than your random opinion.

Plenty of schools have a range of VR that starts from 4,5.. However you have to balance the low VR with good scores on other two sections.👍

 

[sidalexis]

Plenty, eh?

Please don't waste your money applying to top schools if you have a 7.

I know for a fact that there are some top 10 schools that interview with a 7. Obviously apply broadly, but you never know who might interview you so throw in one or two schools that you think are out of your range.

 

[phospho]

I'm not so sure about that mini-list... I got invited for an interview at MCW with a 7 in PS (V10B13T). I didn't go the interview because I had already been accepted to my #1 choice, but still...

 

[student1799]

I'm pretty sure that SUNY Downstate screens, since they took less than 2 weeks to reject me with 7 PS-13 VR-11 BS, and I'm in-state. (They interview 1/3 of IS students, and accept about half of those.) Meanwhile, I've seen them accept OOS students with lower GPAs and total MCATs than mine. I'm also pretty sure they screen at Stony Brook, AECOM and NYU. Basically, I'd say you're dead at almost any school in the NYC area with a 7. I strongly suspect the same applies to the Philly schools.

Really, the question you should be asking is, "Who DOESN'T screen MCAT scores below 8," because most schools do. Based on the schools that gave me interviews, I can tell you that Upstate, Vermont, EVMS, Rosalind Franklin and GW don't.

I'm not sure that the tippy-top schools necessarily screen out sub-8 section scores, but since they look for such high average MCATs to begin with, it's unlikely that you'd be competitive with their applicant pool with a 7 in any section, even if the other 2 were strong.

 

[alibai3ah]

Everyone has a chance, open MSAR and see it for yourself. The range of VR for accepted students starts from 4,5.. SO dont loose hope.

I disagree, I do not think anyone can be admitted with a 4 or a 5. Most schools screen around 7.... I have the latest MSAR, which US allopathic schools are you looking at?

 

[slants]

What about a 6 in verbal?

BlueElmo, its possible to get in with a 6 in VR. I did. Also, I think Mayo has a cut-off of at least 8s. When I filled out my secondary, I got a rejection letter almost the next day.

 

[Timus]

I disagree, I do not think anyone can be admitted with a 4 or a 5. Most schools screen around 7.... I have the latest MSAR, which US allopathic schools are you looking at?

Your beliefs are not FACTS. Now, I am not sure what edition of MSAR you have but the latest MSAR I have is from 2008-2009 (I guess there is even a newer one from 2009-2010) and it has MCAT scores for people accepted in 2006. I also had the MSAR for previous year and the list of schools was pretty much the same. According to my MSAR, schools with accepted students having a lowest score of 4 in Verbal are:

Univ. of S. Alabama (The 2nd school listed in MSAR in the list of US allopathic schools)
Univ. of Arizona
Univ. of Colorado
Loma Linda
Florida State
Rosalind Franklin
Indiana University
Tulane University
.................................................. and that is prolly half of them. I just do not have the motivation to write the complete list of schools.

There are also schools like, University of Illinois (Min. V=2) & Rush Medical College,Georgetown University (Min V=3).........who accept students with verbal even lower than 4/5.

The point is that no one can just write off an applicant if they had a poor score on a section of MCAT. If they have good scores on other 2 sections and a good overall application they can be accepted.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Your beliefs are not FACTS. Now, I am not sure what edition of MSAR you have but the latest MSAR I have is from 2008-2009 (I guess there is even a newer one from 2009-2010) and it has MCAT scores for people accepted in 2006. I also had the MSAR for previous year and the list of schools was pretty much the same. According to my MSAR, schools with accepted students having a lowest score of 4 in Verbal are:

Univ. of S. Alabama (The 2nd school listed in MSAR in the list of US allopathic schools)
Univ. of Arizona
Univ. of Colorado
Loma Linda
Florida State
Rosalind Franklin
Indiana University
Tulane University
.................................................. and that is prolly half of them. I just do not have the motivation to write the complete list of schools.

There are also schools like, University of Illinois (Min. V=2) & Rush Medical College,Georgetown University (Min V=3).........who accept students with verbal even lower than 4/5.

The point is that no one can just write off an applicant if they had a poor score on a section of MCAT. If they have good scores on other 2 sections and a good overall application they can be accepted.

Here are some facts, from the '09 - '10 MSAR. If you look at chapter 5, pp. 25 - 27, you'll see a bunch of graphs showing accepted applicants, rejected applicants, and all applicants by MCAT subsection scores. The numbers below are slight approximations, since the graphs aren't that precise.

VR Accepted Total % Accepted
4 50 800 6.25%
5 150 1500 10%
6 600 3200 18.75%
7 1000 3500 28.6%

BS Accepted Total % Accepted
4 10 750 1.3%
5 25 1000 2.5%
6 100 1750 5.7%
7 250 2100 11.9%

PS Accepted Total % Accepted
4 10 550 1.8%
5 60 1500 4%
6 250 3000 8.3%
7 1000 5500 18.2%

In summary, VR was the most tolerated of very low scores (MSAR reports that some schools did in fact accept applicants with VR's of 1), but even then 90 - 95% of applicants with scores of 4 or 5 were rejected everywhere they applied. Almost three quarters of applicants with 7's were not accepted anywhere. Applicants with very low BS or PS scores fared even worse.

The MSAR doesn't tell us enough details about these applicants, but I think it may be reasonable to assume that the fact that they took the trouble to apply indicates that their application was stronger in other areas. That's really just speculation, though.

 

[Timus]

Here are some facts, from the '09 - '10 MSAR. If you look at chapter 5, pp. 25 - 27, you'll see a bunch of graphs showing accepted applicants, rejected applicants, and all applicants by MCAT subsection scores. The numbers below are slight approximations, since the graphs aren't that precise.

VR Accepted Total % Accepted
4 50 800 6.25%
5 150 1500 10%
6 600 3200 18.75%
7 1000 3500 28.6%

BS Accepted Total % Accepted
4 10 750 1.3%
5 25 1000 2.5%
6 100 1750 5.7%
7 250 2100 11.9%

PS Accepted Total % Accepted
4 10 550 1.8%
5 60 1500 4%
6 250 3000 8.3%
7 1000 5500 18.2%

In summary, VR was the most tolerated of very low scores (MSAR reports that some schools did in fact accept applicants with VR's of 1), but even then 90 - 95% of applicants with scores of 4 or 5 were rejected everywhere they applied. Almost three quarters of applicants with 7's were not accepted anywhere. Applicants with very low BS or PS scores fared even worse.

The MSAR doesn't tell us enough details about these applicants, but I think it may be reasonable to assume that the fact that they took the trouble to apply indicates that their application was stronger in other areas. That's really just speculation, though.

So moral of the story is? You cannot ask people to write off their entire application based on a bad score on one section. If other 2 sections have good scores and you have a good overall application, you have a chance.

 

[pathongko]

West Virginia University screens below a 9 if out of state.

I have an 8 in VR (15P 11B) OOS and got an interview at WVU. You just have to show your interest in rural medicine.

 

[student1799]

So moral of the story is? You cannot ask people to write off their entire application based on a bad score on one section. If other 2 sections have good scores and you have a good overall application, you have a chance.

But there's a huge caveat: a lot depends on where you live/where you apply. While schools in smaller or more rural states might be more forgiving of an unbalanced MCAT, those in highly competitive urban locations will have little tolerance for this and will tend to reject the applicant pretty quickly.

I am a case in point here. Due to a bad case of nerves during the PS section, I have an unbalanced MCAT score: 7 PS-13 VR-11 BS. I am also unlucky enough to live in NYC, where I wanted to be able to stay for med school. That isn't going to happen. Although I have managed to get 6 interviews (including 2 at state schools where I am OOS), they are all at least 200 miles from NYC, and one school is 800 miles away. The NYC-area schools, on the other hand, have been very quick to reject me without interviews, including the 2 NYC-area SUNYs (the 2 upstate ones gave me interviews).

An unbalanced MCAT is going to make it a lot tougher for you to get into med school no matter what, but if you are applying somewhere like NY, CA or even Philly, it's pretty much the kiss of death.

 

[Medstudent85]

Seems like there isn't a definitive answer to this question. I would recommend then to remove that stigma that a 7 or below will eliminate your chances from certain schools.

 

[Bob Marley]

Seems like there isn't a definitive answer to this question. I would recommend then to remove that stigma that a 7 or below will eliminate your chances from certain schools.

Yup. 👍
However, like everything else in life, if one part of your application is weak then you have to make up for it through good performance in all the other aspects of your application.

 

[TheMagicCookie]

I'm pretty sure the University of Kentucky will not accept below 8.

 

[mikethomp]

This post is to give hope to all those who have lost it.

I had a 7 in one of my subsections as I previously posted before. I was also told not to apply to certain schools by certain individuals because of "their" opinion. However, I knew I was strong in other aspects so I decided not to listen to all the pessimism.

Heres my layout.

I received 14 interviews (all MD's) including West Virginia University (oos) and U of Arkansas (oos). ---> For the post that said these schools screen, your wrong.

I received interviews at top 10 schools...---> For the post that said don't waste your money because it is nearly impossible, you were wrong.

I received an acceptance from a NY school... For the post that said that was a

kiss of death

is completely farfetched.

If there is one thing I have learned from reading the posts on the SDN network, it's not to listen to everyone on here. Most people say things based on their opinions and not on actual experience. The opinions are usually biased and sophomoric, leading to a false view. Block them out, and continue to strive, and you can achieve your goals, just as I did.

Finally, I would like to end off with a side note. Not only is one acceptance possible with an 8 or lower in a section.. but multiple acceptances are possible. If you work hard enough and are able to compensate for apparent weaknesses, then don't sell your self out short and apply!

~~

 

[student1799]

I received an acceptance from a NY school... For the post that said that was a is completely farfetched.

Congrats on your acceptances, and I'm sure they were well deserved. But I have to say that your experience seems out of the ordinary. Obviously there are always a few exceptions, but very few people get interviews, let alone acceptances, at highly competitive schools with 7's. Search MDapps if you want some evidence for this. (No, it's not "official" data, but with about 11,000 applicants in the database by now, it's actually a decent-sized sample for spotting trends.) Also, I'd like to point out that I said "pretty much the kiss of death," implying that it wasn't always the case.

Furthermore, I don't appreciate your calling my real-life experience "farfetched," because it happened exactly as I described. And I also had a strong application in all other respects, as you say you did. Some people get lucky and some people don't.

Finally, I would note that I never said that people with 7's shouldn't apply--I just wanted them to be realistic about their chances, and apply broadly because of the long odds against them at most schools.

 

[flaahless]

This post is to give hope to all those who have lost it.

I had a 7 in one of my subsections as I previously posted before. I was also told not to apply to certain schools by certain individuals because of "their" opinion. However, I knew I was strong in other aspects so I decided not to listen to all the pessimism.

Heres my layout.

I received 14 interviews (all MD's) including West Virginia University (oos) and U of Arkansas (oos). ---> For the post that said these schools screen, your wrong.

I received interviews at top 10 schools...---> For the post that said don't waste your money because it is nearly impossible, you were wrong.

I received an acceptance from a NY school... For the post that said that was a is completely farfetched.

If there is one thing I have learned from reading the posts on the SDN network, it's not to listen to everyone on here. Most people say things based on their opinions and not on actual experience. The opinions are usually biased and sophomoric, leading to a false view. Block them out, and continue to strive, and you can achieve your goals, just as I did.

Finally, I would like to end off with a side note. Not only is one acceptance possible with an 8 or lower in a section.. but multiple acceptances are possible. If you work hard enough and are able to compensate for apparent weaknesses, then don't sell your self out short and apply!

~~

Co-sign 100%. This should be stickied.

 

[Timus]

I'm pretty sure the University of Kentucky will not accept below 8.

Incorrect.
If you see MSAR (2008-2009) Uky accepted applicants with lowest scores of 5 in Verbal, 6 in BS & PS sections.

 

[Timus]

This post is to give hope to all those who have lost it.

I had a 7 in one of my subsections as I previously posted before. I was also told not to apply to certain schools by certain individuals because of "their" opinion. However, I knew I was strong in other aspects so I decided not to listen to all the pessimism.

Heres my layout.

I received 14 interviews (all MD's) including West Virginia University (oos) and U of Arkansas (oos). ---> For the post that said these schools screen, your wrong.

I received interviews at top 10 schools...---> For the post that said don't waste your money because it is nearly impossible, you were wrong.

I received an acceptance from a NY school... For the post that said that was a is completely farfetched.

If there is one thing I have learned from reading the posts on the SDN network, it's not to listen to everyone on here. Most people say things based on their opinions and not on actual experience. The opinions are usually biased and sophomoric, leading to a false view. Block them out, and continue to strive, and you can achieve your goals, just as I did.

Finally, I would like to end off with a side note. Not only is one acceptance possible with an 8 or lower in a section.. but multiple acceptances are possible. If you work hard enough and are able to compensate for apparent weaknesses, then don't sell your self out short and apply!

~~

Right on!! 👍