MCAT Scores

[__sadboy15]

I hear that VR went up to 11 this year so they could lower the proportion of out-of-SWOMEN applicants, and thus increase the in-SWOMEN applicant proportion?

 

I got a 10 in verbal but exceed all of the other requirements specified for the 2009/2010 year (ie 9 in PS, 10 in BS and P in WS) and I'm trying to feel out what my chances are.

 

thoughts and comments would be much appreciated!

[HBP]

Your chances ar 56.78%.

[__sadboy15]

Your chances ar 56.78%.

 

lol

 

at least its over the 50% mark?

 

No I meant rather thoughts on if that reasoning behind raising the VR cutoff is true, so I can just have an idea of if this VR mark is going to go back down or what.. if its swomen applicant based I'd assume it won't, but if its indeed based on the pool then I still have a chance.

 

this is also going to affect my thoughts towards applying to UWO's MD/PhD program, cause if I don't meet the VR requirements then I obviously don't have a shot with them either.

[HBP]

The VR was increased to restrict interview numbers. I doubt it had any relevance to increasing SWOMEN proportions (though it probably did that as a side-effect--since the SWOMEN requirements were not changed).

 

Depending on the upcoming application pool, perhaps VR 11 will be unable to restrict interview numbers. In that case, we may see a drop to VR10 and an increase of other factors (BS11, GPA 3.75 etc.)

 

Everything you can read or hear is speculation. Last year I applied with all of the requirements of the 2008/2009 year. They dropped all the requirements but raised the VR in 2009/2010. I had a VR 10. It's impossible to predict.

 

For that reason, I'm rewriting my 10 VR.

[runningdoc]

This is not true, and your source isn't even credible because no one would know unless you are on the ad comm and you are under NDA.

 

Its one of the usual myths that run around constantly.

[__sadboy15]

yeah I know, but that's what I've been hearing around so just wanted to see what people thought about the truth behind that.

 

Thanks for the input .. gives me some hopes

[benhc911]

ugh, i really hate the whole MCAT rising cutoffs dealio... whats the point of a standardized test... when the interpretation of the results isn't standardized haha

 

I fear the day when I will be forced to rewrite my MCAT because my once great score becomes a liability to my application... I just hope I get in before then... Anyone think there is any chance of a VR 12 ever? at any school? I feel like that is the only cutoff that can really kill me...

[Nobodycirclesthewagons]

ugh, i really hate the whole MCAT rising cutoffs dealio... whats the point of a standardized test... when the interpretation of the results isn't standardized haha

 

I fear the day when I will be forced to rewrite my MCAT because my once great score becomes a liability to my application... I just hope I get in before then... Anyone think there is any chance of a VR 12 ever? at any school? I feel like that is the only cutoff that can really kill me...

 

It's just that they can only take so many people, and with seemingly more people wanting to do medicine/more people rewriting and eventually achieving high scores, it's only natural that the cutoffs will rise.

 

Yeah, it's possible. rior to this year, no one thought a VR cutoff of 11 would be implemented, but it was. Still, an 11 is something like a 90th percentile score I believe, so I don't think they'll be moving up to a 12 anytime soon. Also, by raising the VR cutoff to 11, Western was able to lower BS from 11 to 10, WS from Q to P, and GPA from 3.75 to 3.70. Even by lowering all of those other cutoffs, the number of interviewees decreased from 485? in 2009 to 430 in 2010.

[benhc911]

It's just that they can only take so many people, and with seemingly more people wanting to do medicine/more people rewriting and eventually achieving high scores, it's only natural that the cutoffs will rise.

 

Yeah, it's possible. rior to this year, no one thought a VR cutoff of 11 would be implemented, but it was. Still, an 11 is something like a 90th percentile score I believe, so I don't think they'll be moving up to a 12 anytime soon. Also, by raising the VR cutoff to 11, Western was able to lower BS from 11 to 10, WS from Q to P, and GPA from 3.75 to 3.70. Even by lowering all of those other cutoffs, the number of interviewees decreased from 485? in 2009 to 430 in 2010.

 

Fair enough, but the constant reshuffling of cutoffs means that what was once competitive, might no longer pass a hard cutoff, making the whole score useless and requiring a rewrite... The you rewrite... why? after you rewrite, even if up the one score, others may fall and the requirements may shuffle again.

 

I understand your point, but its really disheartening, especially when the increased metric is in your weakest scoring section (like me with verbal). They could raise the WS, BS and PS as much as they want and I wouldn't really worry... but my score is such that I would hate to be forced to rewrite, just so I could apply to a few schools who want to use one specific tool to lower other cutoffs... If they wanted to they take any measurement, and require it at a high level, and it would lower the requirements for the others... why verbal...

 

I'll try to not think about it and just focus on what I have control over I s'pose

[Apixaban85]

Fair enough, but the constant reshuffling of cutoffs means that what was once competitive, might no longer pass a hard cutoff, making the whole score useless and requiring a rewrite... The you rewrite... why? after you rewrite, even if up the one score, others may fall and the requirements may shuffle again.

 

I understand your point, but its really disheartening, especially when the increased metric is in your weakest scoring section (like me with verbal). They could raise the WS, BS and PS as much as they want and I wouldn't really worry... but my score is such that I would hate to be forced to rewrite, just so I could apply to a few schools who want to use one specific tool to lower other cutoffs... If they wanted to they take any measurement, and require it at a high level, and it would lower the requirements for the others... why verbal...

 

I'll try to not think about it and just focus on what I have control over I s'pose

 

Yea but maybe others did good on verbal and not SO great on BS or PS. So it works out for some people but not for others, hard to balance everything

[Nobodycirclesthewagons]

Fair enough, but the constant reshuffling of cutoffs means that what was once competitive, might no longer pass a hard cutoff, making the whole score useless and requiring a rewrite... The you rewrite... why? after you rewrite, even if up the one score, others may fall and the requirements may shuffle again.

 

I understand your point, but its really disheartening, especially when the increased metric is in your weakest scoring section (like me with verbal). They could raise the WS, BS and PS as much as they want and I wouldn't really worry... but my score is such that I would hate to be forced to rewrite, just so I could apply to a few schools who want to use one specific tool to lower other cutoffs... If they wanted to they take any measurement, and require it at a high level, and it would lower the requirements for the others... why verbal...

 

I'll try to not think about it and just focus on what I have control over I s'pose

 

Yeah, I feel you. It's disheartening because really, the cutoffs are arbitrary. It's weird thinking that, perhaps if I had gotten one less question correct in my VR section, I wouldn't have received an interview at Western. (I don't know how close I was to dropping from an 11 to a 10, but it's possible that it could have been a one question margin).

 

As for why they would raise verbal? From what I've heard, Western simply tweaks the cutoffs to the point where they get the number of interviewees that they want, for that application cycle/applicant pool. I guess VR was the toughest section for this year's app pool, so increasing that (and lowering the other requirements) allowed them to get the magic number of interviewees this year. It's unfortunate that that's the way the cutoffs are determined.

 

Good luck, it sounds like the rest of your MCAT is excellent, so hopefully it helps you at other schools. One more thing, you never know if Western's VR requirements will decrease this year. There's always hope.

[benhc911]

Yea but maybe others did good on verbal and not SO great on BS or PS. So it works out for some people but not for others, hard to balance everything

 

 

I suppose that's what I'm getting at in a round about way... raising one metric to lower the rest seems a little weird unless there is good justification for that one specific one. Because any one section could easily be someone's weak point, I think high overall scores should be expected, but low individual score cutoffs. A single section of a single test... playing this much role in the application? Its silly! I think that 11 is ok, but if any section ever hits 12, I think its gone too far. I'm a big fan of something like a 9 or 10 in each section cutoff, and a 30 something average...

 

Oh well, its not my job to decide whats right (clearly) I guess I'm just venting some concern about the never ending increase to medical school requirements. When I was writing the mcat I told myself I would be happy with a 10-10-10, but now if I had gotten that score I wouldn't have made it... What is the minimum score that is good for all the schools these days? 11-11-11? If they raise it again, I just simply will have to give up, I got 14PS-11VS-14BS-T... I can't risk 3 sections dropping to try to raise something that seems as 'luck of the draw' as the VS.

[HBP]

It's not gonna go higher than 11VR... so what's the big deal?

[RandomGuy]

I suppose that's what I'm getting at in a round about way... raising one metric to lower the rest seems a little weird unless there is good justification for that one specific one. Because any one section could easily be someone's weak point, I think high overall scores should be expected, but low individual score cutoffs. A single section of a single test... playing this much role in the application? Its silly! I think that 11 is ok, but if any section ever hits 12, I think its gone too far. I'm a big fan of something like a 9 or 10 in each section cutoff, and a 30 something average...

 

Oh well, its not my job to decide whats right (clearly) I guess I'm just venting some concern about the never ending increase to medical school requirements. When I was writing the mcat I told myself I would be happy with a 10-10-10, but now if I had gotten that score I wouldn't have made it... What is the minimum score that is good for all the schools these days? 11-11-11? If they raise it again, I just simply will have to give up, I got 14PS-11VS-14BS-T... I can't risk 3 sections dropping to try to raise something that seems as 'luck of the draw' as the VS.

 

Your score is fine for Western. Period. If end ends up not being fine, I will explode in a fit of shock and you can take my place in the class.

[gb35]

Argh, worth a remark of my WS with a P in writing? I have a 36, got the 11 in verbal, but my worry is that the only scores in Ontario that care about the WS are Queen's/Western. Queen's was at R this year, and western was at P, but has used Q before...

[bloh]

I suppose that's what I'm getting at in a round about way... raising one metric to lower the rest seems a little weird unless there is good justification for that one specific one. Because any one section could easily be someone's weak point, I think high overall scores should be expected, but low individual score cutoffs. A single section of a single test... playing this much role in the application? Its silly! I think that 11 is ok, but if any section ever hits 12, I think its gone too far. I'm a big fan of something like a 9 or 10 in each section cutoff, and a 30 something average...

 

Oh well, its not my job to decide whats right (clearly) I guess I'm just venting some concern about the never ending increase to medical school requirements. When I was writing the mcat I told myself I would be happy with a 10-10-10, but now if I had gotten that score I wouldn't have made it... What is the minimum score that is good for all the schools these days? 11-11-11? If they raise it again, I just simply will have to give up, I got 14PS-11VS-14BS-T... I can't risk 3 sections dropping to try to raise something that seems as 'luck of the draw' as the VS.

 

I think the realization from all of this is that there really is no good way to about it. There's too many excellent candidates, which introduces an uncomfortable amount of lottery into the entire process. There's probably no significant difference between a candidate with a 10-10-10 or 11-9-10 or 9-11-11 or any of the numerous permutations possible when all is said and done.