MCAT - Should I rewrite?... again

[thatiswhat]

Hi everyone,

 

I rewrote the MCAT on July 26th hoping to improve my VR score, while also masking my horrid WS mark, but ended up with the same verbal score of 10 (10/12/12 overall). Even though a 34 isn't a bad score, I feel like the 10 will hold me back from getting an interview at the schools I can apply to - mainly Queen's, Western and Mac. I don't have the necessary prerequisites for other schools.

 

Is it worth writing the test again to try and get an 11? I was consistently scoring an 11 or above on practice tests, which makes it more frustrating that I can't seem to replicate those performances on the real thing. Any advice would be really helpful. I work full time, so I'm not too keen on taking more of my vacation time to prepare for the exam.

 

Thanks!

[meaningful_life]

Hi everyone,

 

I rewrote the MCAT on July 26th hoping to improve my VR score, while also masking my horrid WS mark, but ended up with the same verbal score of 10 (10/12/12 overall). Even though a 34 isn't a bad score, I feel like the 10 will hold me back from getting an interview at the schools I can apply to - mainly Queen's, Western and Mac. I don't have the necessary prerequisites for other schools.

 

Is it worth writing the test again to try and get an 11? I was consistently scoring an 11 or above on practice tests, which makes it more frustrating that I can't seem to replicate those performances on the real thing. Any advice would be really helpful. I work full time, so I'm not too keen on taking more of my vacation time to prepare for the exam.

 

Thanks!

 

I don't understand why you want to rewrite for the sake of Mac or Queen's? They don't have hard and fast cutoffs for VR, you'd be fine with a 10. You'd only be ineligible at Western (unless your SWOMEN). You can also look at OOP schools like MUN that just ask for 10/10/10, you would've also been fine for Dal but I think the deadline is now passed. I would not rewrite, VR is so unpredictable.

[Jaybird]

I don't understand why you want to rewrite for the sake of Mac or Queen's? They don't have hard and fast cutoffs for VR, you'd be fine with a 10. You'd only be ineligible at Western (unless your SWOMEN). You can also look at OOP schools like MUN that just ask for 10/10/10, you would've also been fine for Dal but I think the deadline is now passed. I would not rewrite, VR is so unpredictable.

 

Actually, I believe Queen's VR is more or less inflexible at 11. They won't outright turn you down on that basis, but I don't recall a single person last year getting in with a sub-11 VR.

[Savac]

Actually, I believe Queen's VR is more or less inflexible at 11. They won't outright turn you down on that basis, but I don't recall a single person last year getting in with a sub-11 VR.

 

They certainly interviewed people with a 10 in VR, although I don't remember if any of them got in

[meaningful_life]

Actually, I believe Queen's VR is more or less inflexible at 11. They won't outright turn you down on that basis, but I don't recall a single person last year getting in with a sub-11 VR.

 

This is up for debate in some of the Queen's threads on MCAT cutoffs. Some reasons being such a high VR + Queen's known high WS cutoffs would really diminish their applicant pool, make it similar to Western's, etc. With Queen's removing their stage by stage admission process on their website, getting rid of pre-reqs and aiming to be moving toward holisitic admissions, I personally find an 11 VR to be an inflexible cutoff highly unlikely.

[Selstaar]

They certainly interviewed people with a 10 in VR, although I don't remember if any of them got in

 

A friend of mine - third year applicant - was interviewed and accepted with a VR of 10.

[viseguy]

Look under the Queens forum, there seems to be a fair number of acceptances with VR of 10. However it seems very holistic now.

[thatiswhat]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think it's probably just best to wait and see how the applications go first. I actually found it interesting that in my rejection email from Western last year, it only made note of my WS score being below the cutoff and not my VR. Perhaps there is some flexibility with their cutoffs.