would i be hurting my app?

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oreo2004

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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.

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I would think that would be good to include on your personal statement. But a brief letters with your secondaries would help.

I know many people that had their verbal scores lower do to the same circumstqances as well. Most Adcoms will be understnading, as it frequently happens.


Good luck!!!
 
if there is a pre-med committee for your school - have them discuss your ESL status in their letter.
 
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You can probably include this with secondaries, as I'm not sure if a letter will get you past the initial screen at most schools. But, most secondaries contain a "is there anything you'd like us to know?" section.
 
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 think this phrase is problematic. In medical school, you will be required to learn a huge amount of material based on reading an even larger volume of written books, notes, etc. So from the standpoint of the adcom, if it will take you extra time to get through readings and learn the material, you may not be as successful of a student. Please understand that I am not putting down your application or your ability to be a successful med student and physician, I am just reacting to one possible interpretation of the phrase you have written here.

I think the suggestion to have your committee letter address this issue is a good one (if it's not too late for that). I have been trying to think of another phrase to substitute for the one you have now, but unfortunately I'm not coming up with anything at the moment. Good luck to you, and sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
 
I think this phrase is problematic. In medical school, you will be required to learn a huge amount of material based on reading an even larger volume of written books, notes, etc. So from the standpoint of the adcom, if it will take you extra time to get through readings and learn the material, you may not be as successful of a student. Please understand that I am not putting down your application or your ability to be a successful med student and physician, I am just reacting to one possible interpretation of the phrase you have written here.

I think the suggestion to have your committee letter address this issue is a good one (if it's not too late for that). I have been trying to think of another phrase to substitute for the one you have now, but unfortunately I'm not coming up with anything at the moment. Good luck to you, and sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

I agree. I think I wouldn't send them anything, and hope they think its an aberration. Your writing score shows that you have a good grasp of the language. I certainly wouldn't emphasize your lack of reading comprehension skills when going into a profession where reading comprehension is important.
 
I appreciate all the input!! Keep em comin!
 
I appreciate all the input!! Keep em comin!

Just my two cents, but less is more. Find a way to mention in your applications that english is your second language without a separate letter trying to justify how your skills have attrophied while out of the country. Something in one of the optional essays that is shorter and more to the effect that your first language was not english, your family didn't speak english at home, and that you have spent substantial portions of your life away from english speaking countries, and that that may have unfortunately contributed to your performance on the verbal section, should make your point.
I'm not sure the rest is that helpful, and I would personally spend the rest of the space talking about positive accomplishments.
 
I appreciate all the input!! Keep em comin!

it used to be that if english wasn't your first language, your mcat verbal score was a complete wash, i.e. it didn't matter. you could have gotten a -5 and med schools wouldn't care. if your application is otherwise competitve, then they'll discover that you can, in fact, converse intelligently during your interview. this practice was so well understood that you didn't really need to explain yourself. you simply had to mention, almost in passing, that english was your second language. sounds like more of an explanation is needed now, so i would definitely bring it up. just don't dwell on it.
 
For the most part, med schools want to see now lower than an 8 or 9 on a section. Given the competative nature of med school these days a 9 or 10 is probably a better estimate.

Although an 11 and 12 on the science sections is commendable, I was once told that if you get an 8 or 9 on the science sections, it isn't as bad as getting an 8 or less on the verbal section. The reason being, they can always teach you science, but verbal reasoning is something you learn over a lifetime. You will find on SDN that the verbal section has become more and more important, since it is infact the major section that differentiates students the most. Science is universal, thus the science sections, and the science-based passages in the verbal section is relatively easy. However the non-science stuff can be a real kick in the behind.

Regardless of the reason why your english skills diminished, med schools want hard quantifiable evidence. Your EC's only show your enthusiasm for the profession, but not neccessarily your academic ability. The writing section on the MCAT isn't too indictive of ones ability as well since just by following the instructions of the MCAT test, you can receive an average to above average score. Therefore I agree with both Bruinboy310, and Law2Doc. Adcoms are not interested in excuses. I would recommend retaking the MCAT to get at least a 9 on the verbal section, however if that is not an option, then at best you can probably address in one sentence, in a positive way, why you got a 7. However that may not go very far, as Bruinboy310 mentioned, there are many people who was ESL for some time, but still manage to do well on the VR and other sections of the MCAT. Heck even people who are non-ESL do poorly on the MCAT, and thus they do not get in.
 
Just my two cents, but less is more.

I agree here. No need to go into superlong explanations about out of the country/need to improve and point out that you got an R so "see I can speak english!" They can see that themselves on your score.

MCAT will affect you most in the screening process - and they don't really read your essays anyway at that point. Personally, I say do not address your MCAT score anywhere. It's calling attention to something you'd rather them not think about. Don't mention negatives or try to explain them. Just mention somewhere in an essay that you grew up speaking Persian most of your youth. Adcoms can make the connection from there.
 
There are some foregin students from Taiwan or Korean in my school that got over 10 on verbal so ... Making excuses really isn't going to help much. Why not retake?

agreed. it immediately struck me as an excuse as opposed to a legitimate answer...

upon reflection, i do understand the strife you have gone through, but everyone in essence has issues too. the mcat was my very first standardized exam ever and i took it when i was 18. ive also going to another country and english was technically also my second language.

if you are adamant on applying this year, id take law2doc's advice. but other than that, id retake it.
 
How are your grades in your reading-intensive coursework (history, literature, philosophy)? One can forgive a weird blip in VR if you have had a strong academic record that also addresses those qualities.

That said, VR is viewed as a good predictor of your preparation to pass the USMLE Step 1. You claim you have "room for improvement", but I'd be more interested in knowing what your plan to improve would be.
 
Verbal scores are sometimes used as indicators of future medical school success and as such are often given more weight than the science scores. No one wants a doctor that is unable to quickly and accurately interpret written results, notes, etc. This is especially true since medical writing is in itself a new language. I know some schools have hard cutoffs regarding subscores. Here at Wake, secondaries are only given out to applicants with no lower than a 28 composite and no lower than an 8 subscore. I imagine that other schools have similar policies, but a letter informing a committee of your ESL status would not hurt.
 
i agree with Law2Doc. the fact that your writing is very good doesn't agree with the verbal. sure there is not necessarily a strict correlation between the two sections, but that may be what adcoms think. if you feel the need to talk about it, elaborate in the secondaries or an optional essay area but don't send an extra letter, which will draw attention to your verbal score.
 
Just something you mentioned in your original post, your formidable language years are not in your teens, it's your early years of life, when you're young that matter. I just wouldn't want to make excuses. I can't see anyone on the ADCOM looking upon that, because lets face it, would you rather someone with a 10 in VR or someone with a 7 and an excuse letter?
 
Just something you mentioned in your original post, your formidable language years are not in your teens, it's your early years of life, when you're young that matter. I just wouldn't want to make excuses. I can't see anyone on the ADCOM looking upon that, because lets face it, would you rather someone with a 10 in VR or someone with a 7 and an excuse letter?

While vocabulary and spoken language develops at a young age, reading comprehension is something that is built on year after year from ages 6-16. Being able to read and make inferences from an op-ed piece in the NYTimes is not something one learns in infancy. So, if the OP was being educated abroad in a foreign language from 11-16, there is no surprise that their was a lag in reading comprehension.

You can address your years abroad in your PS, and note that your first language is Persian and that your other langugages include English (and any others). Most adcom members see the verbal score & then look at grades in humanities courses in undergrad and at the LORs to get a feel for whether the candidate will be able to perform well despite the less than optimal verbal score.

Don't bother with a letter to the adcom. Address it in the secondary if not the AMCAS personal statement.
 
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