Ok...other questions about taking the MCAT twice...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Son just finished the MCAT and feels that he did fine. He felt ready, calm and actually enjoyed taking the test. Of course it's hard to guess his score, but I'm thinking he did well enough to work with. (he said that he felt an amazing calmness when he sat down...thanks to those who sent prayers. :) )</p>

<p>THANKFULLY, he didn't feel the need to cancel his score (thank goodness!!!). I had showed him your answers on the other thread and I think your words helped make the difference. (and thank you to GAMom who threatened to knock him upside the head if he canceled his score. I would have applauded the action, and would have asked Curmy to do a follow-up for good measure.)</p>

<p>That said, he still wants to QUICKLY schedule another test just in case his score isn't as good as he wants. He does say that if he likes this score, then he won't take that test (cancel in a month upon getting today's scores.)</p>

<p>BTW...the earliest he could do a retest is JULY (awful!!! But he doesn't understand why)</p>

<p>So...my gut (again) says don't do this, but I need input from you wise souls.</p>

<p>1) My concern is that with an outstanding test date out there, his AMCAS app will still be delayed...even though he'll have THIS score. I know that AMCAS asks if there is a test score coming in....I'm assuming that also includes an outstanding test date. </p>

<p>2) That even if he does better on the next test, it will be diminishing returns. A couple points up will not compensate for the delay.</p>

<p>3) Can he open AMCAS on Monday, without a future retest date, proceed....submit in June....then get his scores....then decide to retest? If so, what would he have to do with AMCAS?? provide some kind of change? </p>

<p>Again..I don't want him retesting AT ALL. But I need to better understand what AMCAS does when there's a scheduled test date out there. If AMCAS is aware that there is an upcoming scheduled test, do they put everything on hold EVEN if you don't need that score to proceed and maybe will cancel the test appointment.</p>

<p>Sorry for all these questions, but a misstep would be so costly.</p>

<p>For any new readers...Son is a junior, Chemical Engineering major, and has a 3.99 cum GPA (A- in Spanish), and a 4.0 BCMP. His school does do Committee Letters and he has very good LORs (for the Committee) and he has good ECs. But, he's not a super test taker...slowish reader...too meticulous for his own good. lol</p>

2

<p>Don’t do it, just say no, M2CK-DS! </p>

<p>Tell your son to read this:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1327198-apply-early-lesson-trenches.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1327198-apply-early-lesson-trenches.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That is a girl who should have gotten into TX schools, and even after retesting, still only raised her score by 1. Now, because schools waited for the retake, she is sitting out an entire year.</p>

<p>Unless you son felt like he was lost or was physically ill there is no reason to think there will be any improvement, so just take the score, as long as it is 28 or above and apply.</p>

3

<p>That’s what I’ve been saying. I’ve shown him the Curmy warning thread. He just has some friends that are telling him that taking a July MCAT is ok. I don’t think so!!! </p>

<p>I agree…go with the score he gets. Period.</p>

<p>Besides…I’m thinking this…</p>

<p>Even if he gets a tiny bit higher on a second test, I’m thinking that SOMs will think…yes, so what…everyone does better the second time.</p>

4

<p>m2ck - Your son is a resident of which State? It should be easy to figure out a score that gets him into the state school there?</p>

5

<p>We live in Alabama…we only have 2 SOMs…UAB and USA. </p>

<p>Also…what is the significance of the alpha part of the MCAT score? What’s good? ok? bad?</p>

6

<p>The Writing Section? lol. My kid skipped it, apparently. At least based on her score. No harm to her. :wink: Never drew a single question about it , except from me. “Were you drunk by then?”</p>

7

<p><a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nss/nav/pages/school/Med%20School%20MSAR%20Summary/MSAR%20Summaries%202012-13/Stateorprovince.xls[/url]”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nss/nav/pages/school/Med%20School%20MSAR%20Summary/MSAR%20Summaries%202012-13/Stateorprovince.xls&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This chart says he is already in.</p>

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<p>Texas… ok, I’m dense, what do I do with that chart. (I know that for one thing, I have to look at it on a real screen, not my small iPad screen. )</p>

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<p>The Writing Section? lol. My kid skipped it, apparently. At least based on her score. No harm to her. Never drew a single question about it , except from me. “Were you drunk by then?”</p>

<p>lol…I know I would have felt punch drunk at that point.</p>

<p>I’ve never seen anyone post anything that indicates that SOMs really care about the alpha. </p>

<p>That said, I did ask my son how he liked the essay questions and he said that one question made him happy. It was on a subject that his AP Gov teacher used to talk about a lot, so he whizzed thru that one. lol</p>

10

<p>m2ck - the spreadsheet provides the scores for each college. It shows a median, 10% and 90%ile numbers.</p>

<p>the two schools in your state Alabama followed by south are listed below. They have 151 and 59 seats for residents.</p>

<p>Overall GPA Median (10, 90 %iles) Science GPA Median (10, 90 %iles) MCAT median (10,90 %iles) Median VR Median. PS Median BS</p>

<p>3.82 (3.50-4.00) 3.78 (3.43-4.00) 31 (27-37) 10 11 11
3.77 (3.45-3.96) 3.68 (3.29-3.98) 30 (27-35) 10 10 10</p>

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<p>This kid and his contingency plans! If he thinks he did well, he probably did well. The likelihood of him doing considerably better on a retake–when he left this test feeling great–has to be small, doesn’t it? I could maybe see desiring a contingency plan if he left feeling crummy–because then I could see how if he retook it feeling confident, there would be a good jump in his score. I could maybe see that.</p>

<p>The thing is, everyone wants a better score. But does that mean he will be able to get a higher score? It sounds like his testing experience really couldn’t have gone any better–and since that’s the case, I can’t imagine retaking it would yield much different results. The only way I could see him getting a much different result the next time around would be if he actually took the time to prepare even more diligently than he already has. Can that be accomplished between now and July? I doubt it.</p>

<p>This might be a bold and unpopular move, but my suggestion for him retaking it would be to wait another year and retake it then. That way, if he doesn’t get the score he likes, he can put some time between this bad score and his new one. He can have plenty of time to prepare more thoroughly and could schedule a test for, say, January so that he is surely done with plenty of time left for the next cycle. Is the MCAT score that important to him? Would he be willing to do what it takes to prepare even harder than he already has, so that if he retakes it he’ll surely do better? </p>

<p>Retaking the MCAT is a HUGE gamble, especially if he thought it went well the first time around. What would happen if he ended up doing worse? That would be a very difficult thing to explain.</p>

<p>I guess what I’m trying to say is, I can see why he’d want to have a contingency plan in place, but in his case, I just don’t think it’s in his best interest. I think the way to go is to keep the score he’s tentatively confident about and proceed as planned with an app this summer. (And I also think getting greedy about a few MCAT points might end up costing him big time in terms of having to explain why he retook and in terms of delaying his application, especially if he’s interested in schools where a few extra MCAT points would only have a very marginal benefit.)</p>

<p>Just thought I’d throw it out there :)</p>

<p>(Edited to add: what do I mean by schools where a few extra MCAT points would only have a marginal benefit? I don’t have a hard and fast answer. Really, just an observation at my school (state public). My school’s average is just above 30, and I think 10%ile-90%ile range is like 28-33. Is there a huge difference between an applicant with a 30 and an applicant with a 32, all other factors equal? In my opinion, for schools without stratosphere MCAT averages, no there isn’t. So for schools like mine, I think it’s reasonable to value an early application (provided the MCAT score is sufficient) over a higher MCAT score. Again, I’d like to stress this is based only on my observations.)</p>

12

<p>Kristin, I completely agree. And, you’re right…what if he were to do worse.</p>

<p>He did say that if his score came back as acceptable, he would cancel his reservation. Of course I’m saying that he shouldn’t even schedule another test because I think there are too many possible negatives, few positives, AND that it will hurt him AMCAS-wise.</p>

<p>Re: AMCAS…will having a scheduled test appt out there in the future delay his stuff with AMCAS? </p>

<p>(I also suggested that if he needs to retest to take a glide year and do it, but he’s opposed to a glide year for some reason. )</p>

13

<p>texaspg, are the numbers for accepted applicants (MSAR) or matriculants (USNEWS)?</p>

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<p>hi curm - I believe the numbers are for accepted students. Someone posted a link to dar<em>mouth documents for premed in another thread and the spread sheet above in post 7 shows the numbers for each college (2010?) and how the Dar</em>mouth college fared for their own applicants at those schools (if you scroll to right you can see them).</p>

<p>The 10%ile, 90%ile and median numbers for each school seem to be good indicators.</p>

15

<p>texaspg…thanks for the explanation. When I get home and have a full size laptop with me (now on an iPad), I’ll be able to better see what I’m looking at. </p>

<p>:)</p>

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<p>So…if you open AMCAS tomorrow and submit in June, but you have another test date out there, does that delay anything?</p>

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<p>It doesn’t delay anything in AMCAS itself. It CAN or MAY delay a complete status with each individual school depending on how they themselves process apps. Most (except those that screen for supps) will send the supplemental so until that is received by them you won’t be complete with the school.</p>

<p>Some schools screen for supplementals, some do not. If your AMCAS says another MCAT score is pending it is up to each school what to do with that info and that is where a delay can kick in. I will have to ask son which schools did that. Off the top of my head I think Penn (held off complete status til NEW score came in) did, but Cornell did not. UNC did not, nor Dartmouth. I can’t remember if Harvard or Michigan delayed status. Duke did not.</p>

<p>He applied to a bunch of schools, so I will ask him…he saved it to an Excel file, so he should have some answers. </p>

<p>However, just the fact that it could and can happen bothers me. He did not know ahead of time that would happen or he never would have retaken it. He thought with a score sitting there it would be fine. And it was at MOST schools but not all. Had he known it would have even been a possibility for delay he again would not have retaken. Since he made the effort to submit on the second day and had all his LORs and transcripts in as well he did not want to hamper any advantage in filing early.</p>

<p>Kat</p>