<p>What can a 7 VR do to an application? Is it worth retaking the test given that 7 will always be there?</p>
<p>35 is an awesome score, I do not know about 7 (vr). I also do not know about taking MCAT multiple times. I would apply and see what happen. Congrats! </p>
<p>Below was pretty accurate for my D. She had very even section scores though.</p>
<p>[Are</a> your MCAT Scores competitive? Find out.](<a href=“http://www.studentdoc.com/medfind.html]Are”>Are Your MCAT Scores Competitive? - StudentDoc)</p>
<p>if i were you, i might look into retaking if you can raise your vr scores to a 10. right now, your scores are really unbalanced even though it does add up to a 35. a 7 will def hurt you (8 is prob the lowest i would want verbal to be), but if you cant raise it, work on boosting other parts of your app instead</p>
<p>I appreciate the advice. For MD/PhD programs, would you think a stellar GRE verbal would make up for the less than stellar MCAT verbal?</p>
<p>Oy. I’ve never actually seen a score that unbalanced before. The conventional wisdom would say that you’re not going to get in anywhere without a retake. It might be too optimistic (even a retake might not help) or too pessimistic (a 35 is a very strong score overall) because I’ve never actually seen the theory tested.</p>
<p>I’m afraid you’re probably beyond the bounds of this board’s expertise. I know it’s expensive, but you might want to consult with a private admissions consulting company.</p>
<p>Provisionally, I’d say this:</p>
<p>1.) If you believe you can get a V10 or higher, then you should retake. I’m not sure it’ll help, but it won’t hurt provided that you can hit that 10+.</p>
<p>2.) This isn’t tangible advice per se, because I have no idea whether you should apply, retake, or wait it out. But psychologically, be prepared to take a few years off. That score does expire eventually – typically in about three years, I think – and if you can retake and excel then, I don’t see it being a problem for you.</p>
<p>MD/PhD candidates generally have to spend a couple of years in lab before applying to medical school anyway. So you would not by any means be “behind the game.”</p>
<p>I don’t know that that will be necessary. But psychologically, I want you to be prepared for the worst case scenario.</p>
<p>md/phd complicates things even more. from what i hear, 35 would be on the low side of applicants. that 7 verbal makes it even worse.</p>
<p>ive seen a 12,8,12 get into 2 med schools, but in texas which is different. good luck</p>
<p>I agree with everyone that the 7 may well kill you for both MD and MD/PhD. But it might not and it’s going to be there for a while, so …work what ya got. ;). </p>
<p>How’d you do on that confounded essay? How were you doing on the practice VR’s you took? IOW, was this an abberation? If it was a consistent 6-7-8 I wouldn’t retake. If you were consistently hitting 10+, I’d retake. How did you do in your English or writing courses? Is English your first language? What is your home state? </p>
<p>If you do decide to take the plunge this next cycle, make sure you work that PS and the secondaries as well as all other parts of the app. Maybe have a rec from a liberal arts/writing intensive course prof expressing their faith in your communication skills, both oral and written as shown in papers and classroom discussion. Maybe another from a volunteer coordinator about your engaging personality, wit, and compassion as shown through your interactions with those you helped.</p>
<p>Will that get you through some schools auto-filter that eliminates 7’s? Nope. But if you can make it to the adcom’s desk, and have something else to bolster your app like I suggested above, I’d say you have a shot somewhere. Apply broadly and ignore the reach schools. Concentrate on mid-tiers and below and all your state schools.</p>
<p>I did a quick search on mdapp’s and found a caucasian male who got into UNC with a 3.76 GPA and this listed profile, a large non-elite regional school and a 14 BS 11 PS 7 VR Essay= O.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My guess is those in bold helped “round him out” and stand out. But…it was the only MD admission listed for the student.</p>
<p>Is English not your first language? If not, do med schools give any kind of allowance for that?</p>
<p>The OP previously posted that he got a D in Ochem II. While I know he can replace that grade with a retake for DO programs, does that also apply for MD/PHD programs?</p>
<p>Again, going one more time into discussion of improving VR. My D. could not improve it, no matter what she did. However, she tried to improve from 9-11 at practice tests. While other section scores improved dramatically, VR stayed 9-11 and she just got very lucky to get 11 on actual exam, which was not anticipated at all. Just try harder on other aspects of your application. As everybody said, 8-14-14 is hard to predict as nobody knows examples of such combo. Also, others have been pointing to the fact that 8 will not go away even if you retake MCAT.</p>
<p>That’s such a great question, GA2012MOM, and to the rest of you, thank you for the genuine help. Had I known I’d be background-checked, I’d have mentioned that I’m posting this for a friend who does not have an account but is checking this link.</p>
<p>The 7 sounds like nothing more than a fluke to me. He is indeed a native speaker and scored above 10 on all five of his practice tests. Aside from the MCAT he has a 4.0 after five semesters at UW-Madison and is well-rounded otherwise.</p>
<p>I understand that medical schools will see both scores if he retakes, but if he scores above 10 the next time, will he still be filtered out of application pools because of the first 7?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP, it wasn’t my intention to offend you. It is not uncommon practice to look up prior posts to get a bigger picture, especially since your OP was so brief. Again, sorry if I offended you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Nobody really knows. My guess is yes – but that’s just a guess.</p>
<p>If he was scoring above a 10 on practice tests and he’s planning to apply MD/PhD, he should definitely retake. This is a no-brainer. He’s not going anywhere with a 7 on verbal.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If he was scoring above a 10 and is applying MD or MD/PhD, re-take.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that he might want to keep some space between his two takes. If he wants to wait for the 7 to expire, he might want a nice window where one score is still valid.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice. I underestimated the importance of each MCAT and how quickly each score expires, which are both incredibly important to keep in mind.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Your posting history is public and the fact that people check it to get a better idea of your situation, ■■■■■-checking, etc. is pretty standard. Yes, you should state if they are posting a question for someone else, it helps avoid confusion.</p>
<p>Medical school, particularly the first two years requires doing a huge amount of reading and learning written material. I recall nights when I would have to read and retain 50 to 100 pages from Harrison’s Internal Medicine. The reading required to prepare for the USMLE exams were brutal. I had a 10 on the Reading section of the MCAT and could barely keep up with the reading I had to do at MCP Hahnemann, now Drexel, so it would not surprise me if there are no medical willing to take a chance on a non-URM applicant who only scored a 7 in Reading despite spectacular scores in PS and BS. A deciency such as a poor understanding of Organic Chemistry can usually be fixed with additional study but by the time you have reached your 20s there is really nothing that can be done to improve an individual’s reading comprehension. Even though his practice tests show he might be capable of getting better than a 7 in Reading, all the medical schools will know is that is what he got on the actual test and will likely see it as a fatal and irrepairable flaw that will overshadow all of the strong points of his application.</p>