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MCAT Requirements


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I know this topic has been discussed on gizillion occasions but just to confirm again does the MCAT cutoffs change every year or was last year's change a bit of an anomaly?

 

POTENTIALLY changes every single year. Sometimes they are stable as the applicant pool doesn't change much in characteristics. Do things like drop the writing sample off the table from the MCAT, and have people super focus on the VR even to the point of repeating the MCAT over and over (as now Western, Mac, and Queens value it plus OOP) and the cut offs have to respond. It is literally a zero sum game here with respect to admission spots and interviews after all.

 

Prior to the previous 3 years of stable cut offs they bounced around each year. I was used to thinking that was just how it was - and then the same cut offs were used year after year for a bit and people started over thinking they were fixed. Natural of course, but wrong.

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POTENTIALLY changes every single year. Sometimes they are stable as the applicant pool doesn't change much in characteristics. Do things like drop the writing sample off the table from the MCAT, and have people super focus on the VR even to the point of repeating the MCAT over and over (as now Western, Mac, and Queens value it plus OOP) and the cut offs have to respond. It is literally a zero sum game here with respect to admission spots and interviews after all.

 

Prior to the previous 3 years of stable cut offs they bounced around each year. I was used to thinking that was just how it was - and then the same cut offs were used year after year for a bit and people started over thinking they were fixed. Natural of course, but wrong.

I see. I guess no one can accurately predict whether the requisite total score will remain at 32 or go back down to 30...

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I see. I guess no one can accurately predict whether the requisite total score will remain at 32 or go back down to 30...

 

No one can - not even the school can. They simply look at all the information of the people that applied that year and in Dec or Jan etc select cut offs that hit the number of people they want to interview. It is entirely reactive with some thought towards what sections of the MCAT they think are relatively important - I mean there are a huge number of variations of MCAT + GPA that could get 450ish people for interviews so there is some priorities to the sections etc.

 

This is why so many people apply even if they don't have the prior year's cut offs. Cut offs have gone up, down, or stayed the same in the past. You just have to do as best as you can on the MCAT and hope for the best. Of course that is not a recipe for a stress free situation :)

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What were the breakdown of the cutoffs for the previous few years? VR has always been around 11, right?

 

Off the top of my head:

 

2013-2014 Cycle: 12/11/9

2012-2013 Cycle: 10/11/9 

2011-2012 Cycle: 10/11/9 Q

2010-2011 Cycle: 10/11/9 Q? Might have been P, can't remember anymore 

 

So, yes, VR has been 11 for a while now.  I think it jumped to 11 for the 2010 cycle, but rmorelan can probably shed more light on that   ;)

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Off the top of my head:

 

2013-2014 Cycle: 12/11/9

2012-2013 Cycle: 10/11/9 

2011-2012 Cycle: 10/11/9 Q

2010-2011 Cycle: 10/11/9 Q? Might have been P, can't remember anymore 

 

So, yes, VR has been 11 for a while now.  I think it jumped to 11 for the 2010 cycle, but rmorelan can probably shed more light on that   ;)

 

The writing section requirements were different (Q in 2012-13, lower in the years before), but it's not like that matters these days  :P

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Are there any implications for writing the MCAT twice? I really want to get into Western but I'm worried about the final file review.

 

We don't know how things are considered post-interview, but since it doesn't matter pre-interview where the MCAT is the major cutoff, I think it'd be safe to guess that doing multiple writes - particularly only two writes - won't be counted against you in any meaningful way.

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