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So, I got a 7 on the MCAT verbal (11,12,R on others). My app is very strong otherwise with ECs, research (writing a thesis) and over 300 hours of volunteer clinical experience.People have recommended that i send in a letter with my secondaries briefly explaining why i have this mcat spread. I've come up with the following letter, are any parts of it going to hurt my app by presenting a weakness? Please give me any advice on what to include or exclude:
I wanted to take this opportunity to inform the admissions committee of my ESL status. However, my situation is rather unorthodox and I wanted to clarify this issue for the admissions committee. I was born in the United States and moved overseas when I was 5 months old. As a result, the first language I learned was Persian. At the age of five, I returned to the United States and was exposed to English for the first time. After a year of ESL classes, I reached the same English level as my peers. When I was eleven years old, family circumstances forced me to move overseas once more. I was given the chance to learn more about my heritage and fully develop my Persian language skills; however, my English skills began to atrophy. I returned to the United States at the age of sixteen (November of my junior year in high school). Considering that I had spent my formative years (for language development) overseas, I was beginning to realize how my English had suffered. I began to see that my writing and critical reading skills were not at the same level as my peers. As a result, I began to work diligently on these abilities. The task was more difficult considering Persian comes from a non-latin/greek language root, but I was determined to improve these abilities. I believe that I have come a long way and my R on the writing portion of the MCAT is a direct result of the extra effort I put in over the past 5 years. However, I believe that my reading comprehension ability still has ample room for improvement which I will continue to work on. Thank you for your consideration.
I wanted to take this opportunity to inform the admissions committee of my ESL status. However, my situation is rather unorthodox and I wanted to clarify this issue for the admissions committee. I was born in the United States and moved overseas when I was 5 months old. As a result, the first language I learned was Persian. At the age of five, I returned to the United States and was exposed to English for the first time. After a year of ESL classes, I reached the same English level as my peers. When I was eleven years old, family circumstances forced me to move overseas once more. I was given the chance to learn more about my heritage and fully develop my Persian language skills; however, my English skills began to atrophy. I returned to the United States at the age of sixteen (November of my junior year in high school). Considering that I had spent my formative years (for language development) overseas, I was beginning to realize how my English had suffered. I began to see that my writing and critical reading skills were not at the same level as my peers. As a result, I began to work diligently on these abilities. The task was more difficult considering Persian comes from a non-latin/greek language root, but I was determined to improve these abilities. I believe that I have come a long way and my R on the writing portion of the MCAT is a direct result of the extra effort I put in over the past 5 years. However, I believe that my reading comprehension ability still has ample room for improvement which I will continue to work on. Thank you for your consideration.