<p>“Numbers get you to the door, but ECs get you through the door.” </p>
<p>I want to echo those saying pay attention to all parts of the application. D got IIs before some of her higher stats classmates, and I think it was the other parts that made her stand out. At more than one school interviewers commented on her personal statement, and that her LOR were personal. One stated that usually you can find everything in a LOR on a student’s application, but Ds had written very personal things about her. Those are parts of the application that may not get as much attention by applicants. Also, make sure the ECs and volunteer activities are meaningful to you and you can discuss them passionately either on the app or in an II; that they are more than just a box to check off to get into med school. Med schools get thousands, some ten thousand + apps a year, and you will need more that MCAT and GPA to stand out.</p>
<p>And don’t forget to go to the schools’ websites and read about their mission, what they look for in a med school class, etc. You need to come across as knowledgeable about the school, and make sure that your responses on apps and secondaries show that you are a candidate well suited for the school. This may be hard with 20+ apps, but is a necessary step.</p>
<p>If someone attends Baylor interview, they are told they have a score already and all that will happen is that their interview score gets added to it. It is quite clear GPA and MCAT carry a lot more weight there and everything else just adds a little more. However, you apply to Harvard, they are looking at many other things including ethnicity, personal story etc which can eventually get you through despite a 31 MCAT. Couple of years ago, Yale admitted a 3.3 from Caltech and Caltech counselors are bragging that it happens with their students because they have good personal stories. Someone applying to Southwestern on the other hand, has no chance of getting in if their app is filed after August. </p>
<p>People need to understand how the process works at each school they are applying to and they are not all equal.</p>
<p>“People need to understand how the process works at each schools they are applying to and they are not all equal.”</p>
<p>I fully agree, but the process of how adcoms work at most med schools is not readily available and tends to be quite opaque. All an applicant can do is offer adcoms the most competitive app in all aspects they can (easier said than done); apply broadly taking into account info from reliable sources (e.g., MSAR, premed advisors (well maybe not momworried S’s advisor (see post 55 above)), or some posters on CC/SDN, etc); if offered an II, do well; and then wait for hopefully good news, or IMO, if a reject, just be mercifully quick about it. </p>
<p>Welcome! If your son is strongly against doing a Glide Year, then I would advise that he not wait til May or June to take the MCAT. Two years ago, my son took the MCAT the last week in April, and that seemed late (altho not tooooo horribly late). </p>
<p>taking the MCAT in June means not getting scores until July…that can push back things a bit. </p>
<p>Applicants are getting their apps in and completed as soon as they can these days, and it really helps getting IIs the earlier a student gets verified. </p>
<p>D. said that taking MCAT right after spring finals was the best. She actually had 2 weeks in between and instead of having some “breathing” time, was very rustrated with the fact that she lost 2 weeks out of her summer. She wished that she had only couple days. She said that material from the final exams was very fresh and that was helpful for MCAT. It was physics and one of those higher level Bio, physiology or genetics. Taking the MCAT in May was perfect from the timing of application standpoint Her pre-med committee was very much on top of things so she was ready to submit as soon as she got her score.
Best wishes. As for my D., she is interviewing for residency and this process is soooo much more stressful and simply mind boggling, so please, stay cool and enjoy. We are trying our best to stay calm, but my H. cannot even check some informational things, he said he would have a heart attack. </p>
<p>Thanks Plum! They seem to be adding more and more exams, must be lots of demand for it. Essentially current MCAT still ends in January right?</p>
<p>m2ck - it is under 35 and balanced (10 or above in all) but kid seems to think a high 30s score is warranted based on testing. Possible Texas and a nearby state residency because one parent is trying to obtain Texas residency and the kid goes to a Texas school with a 3.75-3.8 GPA. However, they are interested in applying broadly, outside of Texas to other publics and privates.</p>
<p>What actually happens with a lower score when a person has 2 of them? What happens if the score is higher? Does every school follow their own policy?</p>
<p>^ I think the MSAR might state how schools deal with multiple MCAT scores (but not sure, we didn’t buy it). Some schools take highest, some take average, some take most recent, etc… No consistent policy. </p>
<p>Some adcoms on SDN will view a mid 30’s MCAT retake with suspicion and view it negatively. They say it shows bad judgment to retake such a score. I have no idea how widespread this view is with adcoms in general though. It seems to be a very vast generalization and it does make it hard on CA applicants who really do need rather high MCAT scores (especially if they wish to stay IS). </p>
<p>Most MD schools will look at all your scores, apparently. A lower score is not a good thing. Most people would say to keep the score in the 30s unless you are consistently scoring higher on practice tests. </p>
<p>DS will be taking the new MCAT in May. His scores will be back in time to submit everything early (assuming his scores are in range, which is no guarantee with the new test. He refused to take the old MCAT but I had him take an old practice test in order to see how much content review he needed and he scored well enough that I started searching for a January test date. No luck, but he wants to take the new one since he is a psych major. </p>
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m2ck - it is under 35 and balanced (10 or above in all) but kid seems to think a high 30s score is warranted based on testing. Possible Texas and a nearby state residency because one parent is trying to obtain Texas residency and the kid goes to a Texas school with a 3.75-3.8 GPA. However, they are interested in applying broadly, outside of Texas to other publics and privates.</p>
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<p>well, is it closer to 35 than it is to 30?</p>
<p>A premed with a 3X MCAT and a 3.75+ GPA and a good application would have a very high chance of being accepted to at least 1 SOM. Assuming that his “nearby” residency is maybe NM, OK, Ark, LA or ? …I don’t think there are any states that are near Texas that someone with his stats would have a hard time getting into at least one MD school. </p>
<p>I would apply to his instate publics and the Texas SOMs that would give preference to an OOS student who attended a Tx undergrad. As for the other publics, why bother? The rest of his list should be a variety of privates, but including a good number of mid-tier privates and unranked privates. </p>
<p>If he gets Tx residency, then he may as well really slash his list because other schools will be leery of accepting him because they would fear that in the end, the student is going to choose a low cost Tx SOM. </p>
<p>texaspg- DS is not taking the new practice test until January. He will be doing intense work in December, but with the limited 2015 resources, he wanted to save them until closer to his date. Unlike the old test (with plenty of practice tests) there is essentially only a Q-bank for the new test from AAMC. The full-length sample test won’t even be out until after he takes the test. He does have PR and Kaplan tests. </p>
<p>texaspg-AAMC has only released 1 sample test, a Q-bank of 120 questions and 10-20 sample questions in prep materials. There are also a few questions in the Khan site. The next update of official sources was supposed to come in the fall, but it looks like they will have some enhancements in February. </p>
<p>Re: retaking the 32ish score in hopes of getting the 37ish he might have had on he practice tests–</p>
<p>If he reliably got 37ish on the practice tests, and then didn’t get near it on the real thing…why does he think he will get near it on the real thing, round 2? Practice tests don’t always perfectly predict real thing anyway. I guess I don’t agree that the 32ish was a fluke and the 37ish is more indicative of his skills. But maybe I’m just mean :)</p>
<p>The crummy thing is is that he cannot possibly know how the new score (let’s be nice and say he improved to 36) is viewed–just as a normal 36? Or as a 36* (second try)? Or as 32, but the kid was arrogant and thought he deserved a better score, so he retook it? Or as 34? What if TX treats a retake one way, and private SOM in Chicago treats it another way, and OOS public contiguous of TX treats it a different way too? It just adds so much variability!</p>
<p>With him thinking 37-38 opens more doors, he may be the kind of kid who thinks he deserves to go to Harvard (or fill-in-the-blank elite school) because of his great score/GPA/CV/whatever. He may be the kind of kid who doesn’t recognize that there are plenty of wonderful US MD schools (I would argue all of them are) and that he can be the kind of doctor he wants to be regardless of the school he goes to. That’s not to say don’t shoot for the moon. That’s not to say elite programs are inherently bad or evil or a waste of money or anything. It’s just to point out that a 32ish score is far far FAR from the end of the world, and public med schools are also far from the end of the world! </p>
<p>(Of course, there also exists the possibility that the kid does not feel entitled to go to an elite program and he is perfectly fine with the idea of going to any school to which he is admitted. I obviously don’t know the kid but I do know plenty of other applicants who aren’t very savvy about med school/med school admissions and thus expect to be accepted to an elite school and are dismayed at the possibility of going to a public school.)</p>
<p>I am not sure the idea is to apply to elites as much having more choices outside of Texas. Based on artloverplus’ posts, I am not sure a 3.8 and a 33 stands much chance outside of a home state public either but I don’t know how to advise this friend about what SOMs think about a retest.</p>
<p>My first input was to say concentrate on Texas schools and forget about other schools but who am I to guarantee a seat anywhere?</p>
Essentially current MCAT still ends in January right?</p>
but I do know plenty of other applicants who aren’t very savvy about med school/med school admissions and thus expect to be accepted to an elite school and are dismayed at the possibility of going to a public school.)</p>