<p>i agree pearl. </p>
<p>I have plenty of clinical experience yet no research. this is bad, but i may try to do independent research next semester</p>
<p>i have one more mcat related question:</p>
<p>How bad is it to have mcat scores that are lopsided? How bad is my 13 11 9 vs. a 11 11 11?</p>
<p>Also on a sad note: my mcat DIAGNOSTIC verbal was a 9. Most of my Practice tests i was scoring around 11 on the verbal. I really think the 9 was a fluke. Also i feel similar about P.S. ---> diagnostic there was a 10 and most practice tests were 13-14. But my Bio was slightly high on the actual, my diagnostic there was 9 and most practice tests were about 12. </p>
<p>sorry for being so crazed but i am a premed, remember?</p>
<p>One of the ways your MCAT score is assessed is by your lowest subsection. Of the three, VR is probably the most important.</p>
<p>My premedical advisor, for example, tended not to refer to our cumulative MCAT scores when discussing MCATs but instead would simply refer to our lowest subsection. Your score, then, would not be a "33", it would be a "9". And the straight 11's would also not be a "33", it would be an "11".</p>
<p>Instead of both being at the 87th percentile, our hypothetical balanced friend is the 82nd percentile while you're at the 52nd.</p>
<p>The truth is obviously somewhere in between there. You're obviously not equivalent to a balanced 27.</p>
<p>If you were to average these two ways of thinking about this score -- which is NOT necessarily reflective of what schools will do, I don't really know -- then you've just scored the equivalent of a balanced 30.</p>
<p>I would personally be inclined to err a little bit on (in your case) the pessimistic side, since my premedical advisor based her retake/keep advice based on lowest-subsection assessments rather than overall assessments. (She recommended that 8's or lower be retaken.)</p>
<p>Again, practice tests are not necessarily the best indicators. You should retake only if you have specific reasons which will change as to why you did poorly. Generally reasons that I would endorse include illness, a distracting environment, etc.</p>
<p>"Nerves" I do not endorse, since those will still be there the second time around.</p>
<p>that's what i was afraid of....</p>
<p>If i retook it i wouldn't score BELOW a 9(i mean i hope not). So it seems as though there would be no harm, i don't think i would ever score below a 9 on any section.
So scoring a "balanced" 31 or so would be better than an unbalanced 33.</p>
<p>The harm is that you have to retake the MCAT, which is annoying. And you would usually want a marked improvement -- not just a "no harm" -- to justify a second retake not just for work purposes but for application purposes too.</p>
<p>If I were an adcom -- and I'm not -- a second test that failed to improve would reflect a student who didn't really understand what went wrong the first time.</p>
<p>are the mcat's like SAT's where you "mix and match" so like if a person got 4-15-15 the first time and then got a 15-12-12, would they have a perfect score on it or a 39?</p>
<p>1.) Goodness no.</p>
<p>2.) I don't even believe colleges when they say that. I think they're not being completely honest.</p>
<p>This is so depressing. So much work.....just for a silly blunder, i mean the difference between a 11 on the verbal would have been answering maybe 3 questions differently, on a different day i probably would have, im so mad at myself. Oh well, that's life. Maybe i'll still get into UNC, maybe, who knows</p>
<p>A couple thoughts, especially on putting this into perspective...</p>
<p>1) A 33 isn't a bad score. There are thousands of kids who would kill for a 33. While you're disappointed in your performance, it still was a good one.</p>
<p>Likewise there are thousands of people who get accepted to medical school with scores far lower than a 33.</p>
<p>2) Remember that your primary goal is to get in SOMEWHERE - ANYWHERE. Your score is not going to be something that prevents you from this goal so long as you wisely pick schools to apply to. </p>
<p>While you've selected a wide variety of schools in the eastern half of the country, I'm really not a fan of how you've gone about thinking about them (ie as matches and so on). I'm not going to go through and research how your scores match up with all the schools you've listed, but I think it's important that you look at all of them and ask "Am I going to be a competitive applicant here based on my scores?" It's not bad to apply to a couple where youre significantly below their average entering class, but it's only wise to apply to a majority of schools where you are at or above the mean. </p>
<p>3) Let's hold off on ranking which schools are your favorites until after you've gotten an interview, or even better, an acceptance. The fact is that youre most likely to get only one acceptance, and then it's not going to matter which school you liked best, because even if you hated the school that admitted you, you're not going to pass it up. This ranking is another reason why I dislike your match/safety/reach approach, because it inherently (even if only a minimal amount) seems to imply a favoritism towards certain schools. Are you going to be disappointed if you only get into ECU or UNC (it seems like you might given your last comment about UNC)? You might feel like that now, but when the day comes, and you get that envelope that says "congratulations" you're really not.</p>
<p>4) Your score is what it is. For the reasons I've listed, including the retake stats, I think it'd be a very bad idea to retake, unless, as BDM has noted, there were significant contributing factors that won't be present a second time around. It might have just been three questions, but another test, another day, there might be another passage you end up just bombing. The test is designed to separate people out. It's dumb to sit here and agonize over those questions because you'll just get sucked into agonizing over thousands of other little details. You have to let it go.</p>
<p>Bottom line: It's not the end of the world, it's still a good score, you're still in a great position to get accepted somewhere if you make smart decisions on where to apply, and you're still on the path to becoming a doctor. There are hundreds of thousands of kids who never made it this far, there are thousands who won't progress past the MCAT, and there still thousands who will apply who aren't in as good a shape as you.</p>
<p>Thanks Bigredmed. That was very thoughtful, and i agree with what you've said. </p>
<p>I would be very happy to get into UNC. </p>
<p>The top US med schools(harvard, hopkins etc.) the ave. mcat is just 35, so im not too far behind there, and my gpa is above any med school's ave. in the country. </p>
<p>I guess now i should just focus on doing research this summer and independent research next fall/spring. If i register for ind. research next semester will that be looked upon as research? (The fourth year is generally when students do ind. research and write the thesis.)</p>
<p>Yo,</p>
<p>So i've received all my grades this past semester, gpa this semster is 4.0</p>
<p>Physics II A+
Physics II lab A
Biology Core I(cell) A+
Biology Core III(evolution) A
Introduction to theatre A
Biology II lab A </p>
<p>So, this was a decent semester. GPA is now 3.946</p>
<p>I have one more question: </p>
<p>WOULD IT MAKE A LARGE DIFFERENCE IF SENT IN MY AMCAS IN MID AUGUST RATHER THAN MID JUNE? ARE ADMISSION COMMITTEES REALLY ALREADY MAKING DECISIONS IN THE SUMMER? THE REASON I AM CURIOUS IS BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED IN A RESEARCH LAB THIS SUMMER AND WOULD REALLY LIKE TO BE ABLE TO TALK MORE ABOUT IT ON MY APPLICATION.
THANKS</p>
<p>-Joe</p>
<p>Not worth it. You can still talk about it during your interview.</p>
<p>This is the first undergraduate research that i've done, you still think it would be wise to apply in june vs. august?</p>
<p>Can't you put in classes you plan to take on the AMCAS? I seem to remember this...or if you wait until you start the class you could say you are currently taking it on the application...</p>
<p>Bigredmed,</p>
<p>It's actually not a class, i had an interview with a professor from a local uni in my hometown and he offered me a position in his lab; we're researching certain plant genes. The position will be May-August. I guess i could go ahead and put on my app May-August even though i havn't actually completed it? Or would i have to just put May-Present? This is why i would rather wait until August so i can say for sure since it is my only research experience.</p>
<p>If you want the experience on your app, still submit early, but just write May-Present. Even though at the time you won't have much to say, by the time you interview, you will be able to discuss your research. Good luck. I'm applying this cycle too.</p>
<p>Yea, that's probably the best idea, thanks.</p>
<p>When are you going to submit your app?</p>
<p>First or second week of June. I'm moving to DC after graduation so I have to get settled first. I've already sent my transcripts to AMCAS.</p>
<p>if you don't mind, what are your stats?</p>
<p>3.93, 37</p>
<p>Research: will be beginning a 1-year research fellowship at the NIH, 2 years of research at school, summer research internship
Clinical: shadowed a couple of physicians, volunteered at a couple of hospitals, volunteered in a hospital in Africa
Volunteer/work experience: a lot of misc. stuff </p>
<p>My committee letter should be excellent although my prof. LOR's are probably around avg.</p>