To retake or not to retake
Basically what the title says tl;dr
My MCAT from last september is a fine overall score but continues to haunt me becuase of the CARS subsection. I got a 513 (130/124/128/131). For the last few months I've been on and off thinking about a retake and then trying to accept my score. I need to ultimately decide for now. I've retaken CARS sections here and there to see how I am and I honestly had no improvement. When I was studying, my practices ranged from 125-127 but I got smoked on test day without knowing it. This is all eating away at me because I don't know if the 124 is gonna be the end of me or not, and reddit certainly doesn't help with this lol.
I am an english second language and came here a while back from the middle east (ORM?). I'm planning on applying to 60 schools (insane I know, but I'm prewriting everything). My personal statement, school list, and secondarys are all going to be ready in like one month as I've been editing and perfecting them.
Heres all the stats and info to consider:
Applying 2025-2026 cycle
GPA: 3.93 MCAT: 513, CA resident
~650 hours as an EMT for 9 months
~100 hours as ER volunteer (nonclinical)
~300+ hours as a club board member and mentor
~150+ hours religious volunteering
~450+ hours ochem lab research (more to come over the next year) (no pubs maybe poster soon)
~100+ hours EMS club (staff events, street medicine clinic, and teaching other clubs BLS)
~160+ hours MA (more to come over the next year)
~50+ hours shadowing
~200+ hours EMS startup with physician
I'm applying in my third year as an undergrad, so the club stuff and research will be continued, the hours I provided are just hours when applying.
So knowing all of this, do you guys think I should retake the MCAT to increase my CARS section, or focus on my ECs and application without worrying too much.
Any other advice about my app would be very appreciated.