Is med school really that hard to get into?

[malick1]

Good? They would have to be expectional. URM/amazing MCAT/publications/amazing ECs. Or more likely they just had connections. If you tell someone who has a 2.7 they have a chance its just bad advice

There are plenty of 2.7

What? Even at the lowest stat schools a 22 or 2.7 is horrible. There clearly is a floor around 3.2 and 27

MMM HBC bell curve ?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[efle]

There are plenty of 2.7 what? 2.7 MD acceptees? Maybe among URM

 

[Holmwood]

There are plenty of 2.7

MMM HBC bell curve ?

How many of those are legacies . . .

Arguably, there are some fine exceptions, but I wouldn't be hopeful if you did have a 2.7...

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

There are plenty of 2.7

MMM HBC bell curve ?

No there isn't plenty of 2.7.

 

[malick1]

No there isn't plenty of 2.7.

yes they are !

 

[efle]

7% of applicants with a 2.6-2.8 were accepted last year

 

[AlteredScale]

yes they are !

You're delusional if you think a 2.7 is an ok GPA for med school.

 

[Aloft085]

People who fit in the 10th %ile have something really outstanding going on, whether it's a compelling life story, a significant achievement, a massive upward trend or redemption via post-bac/SMP, some killer ECs, or URM status.

The generic low stats candidate is wasting their time and money and the rah-rah Polyanna "you can do it" mindset does not do any good.

That's why one needs to be realistic when viewing those numbers and not concluding "Oh, I have 20% chance of getting in because someone with those numbers got into Pitt!"

Compared to the pool of candidates, someone with a 3.0 GPA is not competitive, unless they've got something else in their packet.

You're making a lot of assumptions about medical school candidates, namely that they have qualifications exactly like yours. Plenty of people applying to medical school have exceptional differences on their applications, including my own. Telling people that they have no chance of getting into medical school with an MCAT less than 30 or a GPA of less than 3.4 is just patently false. I've quoted you the statistics showing as much. Hell, even if you have nothing else going on, you can get into medical school with less than a 30 and 3.4 simply by being a resident of a state like South Dakota or Puerto Rico, or by being an ethnic minority.

Give people the straight facts, not numbers that you just happened to make up.

 

[Aloft085]

The MSAR omits anything below the 10th percentile because they aren't competitive and are the exception to that school. If they added it then it would make many students with 2.7 foolishly apply because they see the number there.

I actually think that schools omit the bottom 10% because they don't want their ranges to look worse on paper in the event that they accept a candidate with unusually low GPA or MCAT. It allows them flexibility to accept someone who may be exceptional, but particularly weak in one area, without looking worse on paper. Of all people applying to MD programs with a GPA of 2.7 and MCAT of 36-38, for example, 33.3% of them were accepted. That's not much lower than the average of 45%.

 

[Aloft085]

That makes no sense, there is a floor for 90+% of applicants which you can talk about
Just because one well-connected URM got into their state school with a 2.7 and 22 does not mean there is no floor at the low 3's and high 20s

Fact: There is no floor for GPA/MCAT at that vast majority of schools. Period. Why are we still having this discussion? I cited you the statistics, move on with your lives.

 

[Aloft085]

Good? They would have to be expectional. URM/amazing MCAT/publications/amazing ECs. Or more likely they just had connections. If you tell someone who has a 2.7 they have a chance its just bad advice

How do you know that the guy asking you does *not* have an amazing MCAT/publications/EC's/research/work experience? Telling people that there is a flat out floor on GPA/MCAT is not just bad advice, but it is plainly factually incorrect. There are plenty of people out there with exceptional life experiences that are applying to medical school. Just check out the non-trad forum sometime.

You guys make a hell of a lot of assumptions for future doctors. Remember that not all of us are 22-year-olds working on a BA in Biology.

 

[AlteredScale]

I actually think that schools omit the bottom 10% because they don't want their ranges to look worse on paper in the event that they accept a candidate with unusually low GPA or MCAT. It allows them flexibility to accept someone who may be exceptional, but particularly weak in one area, without looking worse on paper. Of all people applying to MD programs with a GPA of 2.7 and MCAT of 36-38, for example, 33.3% of them were accepted. That's not much lower than the average of 45%.

Okay. But how many 2.7 GPA'ers are there with a 36-38 MCAT? And those acceptance stats mean you have a 2/3 chance of being rejected and making your chances of admissions exceptionally higher because you are a reapplicant.

I will tell the fresh out of college student (whom you seem to have a distaste for) and 40 year old with 15 years of healthcare experience the same general advice if they have a 2.7 GPA: retake courses to boost their GPA. Having great EC's does not fill in the space of a subpar GPA which WILL be a red flag.

Now if they had the 36-38 MCAT, then I would augment my advice of course.

 

[efle]

Aloft085 is delusional, and clearly very motivated to remain so by his own situation. The acceptance rates for 2.7s are sub 10%. Can you make up ridiculous exceptions like the person being a Native American from a Dakota whose parents both went to the med school and made large donations, or they were in the couple dozen B and C students who made top 5% MCATs? Sure.

Is it a good idea to tell someone with a 2.7 to plan for a future in medicine? Not via MD, no. For the vast majority there is little hope with a 2.7

 

[tymont12]

You're making a lot of assumptions about medical school candidates, namely that they have qualifications exactly like yours. Plenty of people applying to medical school have exceptional differences on their applications, including my own. Telling people that they have no chance of getting into medical school with an MCAT less than 30 or a GPA of less than 3.4 is just patently false. I've quoted you the statistics showing as much. Hell, even if you have nothing else going on, you can get into medical school with less than a 30 and 3.4 simply by being a resident of a state like South Dakota or Puerto Rico, or by being an ethnic minority.

Give people the straight facts, not numbers that you just happened to make up.

Great, people who are residents of South Dakota, Puerto Rico or are an ethnnic minority have a better chance with lower stats. These people are not the average low stat applicant.

You can "get in with a 30 & 3.4 and nothing else just because you're black or live in South Dakota" ? Really? You're going to pull that out after calling BS on other people's statistics?

Fact: There is no floor for GPA/MCAT at that vast majority of schools. Period. Why are we still having this discussion? I cited you the statistics, move on with your lives.

Yes, there is a floor. Most MD schools wont send out secondaries to people with stats lower than their cutoff. OHSU, for example, has a floor of 2.8 GPA and 24 MCAT. KEEP IN MIND, this is in general. The outliers, like you keep bringing up, do not cite a trend.

I actually think that schools omit the bottom 10% because they don't want their ranges to look worse on paper in the event that they accept a candidate with unusually low GPA or MCAT. It allows them flexibility to accept someone who may be exceptional, but particularly weak in one area, without looking worse on paper. Of all people applying to MD programs with a GPA of 2.7 and MCAT of 36-38, for example, 33.3% of them were accepted. That's not much lower than the average of 45%.

10th & 90th percentiles are a standard statistical range. I think you are reading into it too much.

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

I would be surprised if more than one in ten premeds eventually actually makes it to the point of application.

Many of those freshman pre-meds don't burn out and choose something else as a backup. Many discover other interests and enthusiastically change their goals. Some of these goals might even be more difficult than getting into medical school. There is no way to know how many there are, but I would guess it is a fairly high percentage, just based on my experience. Getting into medical school isn't the be-all and end-all of every freshman premed.

 

[NickNaylor]

I actually think that schools omit the bottom 10% because they don't want their ranges to look worse on paper in the event that they accept a candidate with unusually low GPA or MCAT. It allows them flexibility to accept someone who may be exceptional, but particularly weak in one area, without looking worse on paper. Of all people applying to MD programs with a GPA of 2.7 and MCAT of 36-38, for example, 33.3% of them were accepted. That's not much lower than the average of 45%.

And how many people were in that cohort? My guess is less than 100. At my school at least, a 2.7 will make the committee seriously wonder about your ability to handle a medical school curriculum, and that's if you even get to the interview stage.

 

[Goro]

Legacies or people who had massive upward trends, but said trends couldn't pull cGPA up > 3.0. Remember, these aren't common. Don't fixate on the outliers.

How many of those are legacies . . .

Arguably, there are some fine exceptions, but I wouldn't be hopeful if you did have a 2.7...

 

[Goro]

I don't use "no chance" anymore, but stick to "highly unlikely." Just because people win the Lotto doesn't mean that we should all run out an buy tickets. But realistically, most SDNers aren't from PR or SD.

You're making a lot of assumptions about medical school candidates, namely that they have qualifications exactly like yours. Plenty of people applying to medical school have exceptional differences on their applications, including my own. Telling people that they have no chance of getting into medical school with an MCAT less than 30 or a GPA of less than 3.4 is just patently false. I've quoted you the statistics showing as much. Hell, even if you have nothing else going on, you can get into medical school with less than a 30 and 3.4 simply by being a resident of a state like South Dakota or Puerto Rico, or by being an ethnic minority.

Give people the straight facts, not numbers that you just happened to make up.

 

[Louis C.K.]

I don't use "no chance" anymore, but stick to "highly unlikely." Just because people win the Lotto doesn't mean that we should all run out an buy tickets. But realistically, most SDNers aren't from PR or SD.

Aloft085. I don't think your argument holds much weight against Goro's. Goro is an actual adcom member with experience in admissions, giving him/her insight well beyond the raw stats and data of who gets in and who doesn't. Sure, maybe some small percentage of those with absolutely sub-par stats get in, but can you imagine what type of achievements/ECs/life experiences they have to compensate for it? If you were an adcom member, would you admit someone who was "plain jane" across the board while also having poor MCAT and/or GPA? Probably not, because if this is the case, that person is just a weak applicant compared to the rest of applicants (who have great ECs, experiences, and academics), and that will simply not be impressive enough to a committee to warrant an acceptance.

 

[malick1]

You're delusional if you think a 2.7 is an ok GPA for med school.

I never said is OK, I said it is possible to get in with such GPA, different people have different challenges!

 

[malick1]

Aloft085. I don't think your argument holds much weight against Goro's. Goro is an actual adcom member with experience in admissions, giving him/her insight well beyond the raw stats and data of who gets in and who doesn't. Sure, maybe some small percentage of those with absolutely sub-par stats get in, but can you imagine what type of achievements/ECs/life experiences they have to compensate for it? If you were an adcom member, would you admit someone who was "plain jane" across the board while also having poor MCAT and/or GPA? Probably not, because if this is the case, that person is just a weak applicant compared to the rest of applicants (who have great ECs, experiences, and academics), and that will simply not be impressive enough to a committee to warrant an acceptance.

But Again he is 1 (one ) Adcom member out of many ? and many schools so everything is possible !!

 

[AlteredScale]

I never said is OK, I said it is possible to get in with such GPA, different people have different challenges!

And I never said it was impossible advising someone with a 2.7 GPA to go ahead and apply may potentially be more damaging to them because it WILL get them screened out of places.

Now if they have exceptional ECs or are from a rural or disadvantaged background, the story may change. But applying to medical school should be a onetime deal, and thus should apply with the best possible app. A 2.7 is something that can be changed.

 

[mimelim]

How do you know that the guy asking you does *not* have an amazing MCAT/publications/EC's/research/work experience? Telling people that there is a flat out floor on GPA/MCAT is not just bad advice, but it is plainly factually incorrect. There are plenty of people out there with exceptional life experiences that are applying to medical school. Just check out the non-trad forum sometime.

You guys make a hell of a lot of assumptions for future doctors. Remember that not all of us are 22-year-olds working on a BA in Biology.

Let me just say this...

I was about as non-standard as you can get. I had a 3.4 and interviewed at every top 10 I applied to. I sure as **** don't have a BA in Biology. I also read a couple hundred applications a cycle and know what a lot of applications and applicants look like. My guess is that @Goro looks at a crap ton more than me and almost by definition more than you. I am the first person on SDN to talk about how exceptional people will get into medical school even with academic metrics that are low. Nobody is denying that there are people with lower stats that get in. But, the reality is that for every one of those people that does, there are far more that don't get in and the number that have an 'attractive' story is actually quite low.

We value academic excellence in our physicians. It is by no means the only metric and from where I'm sitting right now, probably not even the most important. But, a reality check is necessary for anyone applying with lower stats. You are competing with a different group of people. That is very very clear.

 

[Beargryllz]

Hi

I've recently discovered this forum website, and almost everywhere I look here, it makes it seem like I won't get into med school unless I have a 3.8+, super hard science classes, outstanding ECs, a few pubs, and about 300 volunteering and shadowing hours.

Is this really that hard to get into med school or is (some) of this forum just crazy?!

Sincerely,
wondergirl3

It wouldn't be too hard for you. If you're a really strong candidate it isn't hard. If you're a typical student that wants to be a doctor then yes, it is really hard to get into medical school. In fact, it is so hard that unless you have a solid plan, solid results, and serious dedication, it isn't even worth applying to medical school.

 

[Aloft085]

Okay. But how many 2.7 GPA'ers are there with a 36-38 MCAT? And those acceptance stats mean you have a 2/3 chance of being rejected and making your chances of admissions exceptionally higher because you are a reapplicant.

Now if they had the 36-38 MCAT, then I would augment my advice of course.

Right, I never claimed that it was an ideal spot to be in. My argument is merely that claiming that there is some kind of 'floor' on GPA/MCAT for medical school admissions is plainly false. Admissions committees take the whole candidate into consideration, and ones that do have 'floors' generally keep them at a fairly low level (like 3.0 / 24). That's not even bringing DO schools into consideration.

When you give advice, it shouldn't be so simplistic as "You need a minimum 3.4 and 30 MCAT to get accepted", but rather it should be more nuanced. "The average accepted candidate has credentials X, Y, and Z. So if your GPA really sucks, you need to hit the MCAT out of the park, and vise versa. It also helps to have advanced degrees or unique post-graduate work experience."

 

[Aloft085]

Aloft085 is delusional, and clearly very motivated to remain so by his own situation. The acceptance rates for 2.7s are sub 10%. Can you make up ridiculous exceptions like the person being a Native American from a Dakota whose parents both went to the med school and made large donations, or they were in the couple dozen B and C students who made top 5% MCATs? Sure.

Is it a good idea to tell someone with a 2.7 to plan for a future in medicine? Not via MD, no. For the vast majority there is little hope with a 2.7

I'm delusional now? Apparently you're bad at logic, so let me give you a refresher. Someone makes the statement that you need a minimum of 3.4 and 30 MCAT to get accepted. I provide statistical evidence that plenty of people get accepted with scores lower than that. I am then called "delusional". It worries me that you may actually be a physician one day with that kind of logic. I hope they beat some sense into you in medical school.

 

[AlteredScale]

Right, I never claimed that it was an ideal spot to be in. My argument is merely that claiming that there is some kind of 'floor' on GPA/MCAT for medical school admissions is plainly false. Admissions committees take the whole candidate into consideration, and ones that do have 'floors' generally keep them at a fairly low level (like 3.0 / 24). That's not even bringing DO schools into consideration.

When you give advice, it shouldn't be so simplistic as "You need a minimum 3.4 and 30 MCAT to get accepted", but rather it should be more nuanced. "The average candidate has credentials X, Y, and Z. So if your GPA really sucks, you need to hit the MCAT out of the park, and vise versa. It also helps to have advanced degrees or unique post-graduate work experience."

I think our perspectives are aligned. Perhaps it's delivery of argument.

 

[efle]

I think we mean different things by floor. You mean, is there any chance. We mean, is there good enough chance for someone to reliably plan for a future in medicine. As the adcoms who actually review thousands of applications have repeatedly expressed, it is delusional to think a sub 3.0 sub upper 20's stands a good chance sans extreme exception.

I'm not too worried about you having a future in medicine myself, since I'm pretty well protected from docs with very low numbers by their extremely poor acceptance rates

 

[Aloft085]

Great, people who are residents of South Dakota, Puerto Rico or are an ethnnic minority have a better chance with lower stats. These people are not the average low stat applicant. You can "get in with a 30 & 3.4 and nothing else just because you're black or live in South Dakota" ? Really? You're going to pull that out after calling BS on other people's statistics?

I quoted you the statistics for white people applying to MD schools in the continental United States. Go back and read them. It doesn't get any more relevant than that. Continue quibbling if you desire.

Yes, there is a floor. Most MD schools wont send out secondaries to people with stats lower than their cutoff. OHSU, for example, has a floor of 2.8 GPA and 24 MCAT. KEEP IN MIND, this is in general. The outliers, like you keep bringing up, do not cite a trend.

The original claim was that the effective GPA/MCAT floor for medical school admissions was 3.4 GPA and 30 MCAT. So you're just proving my point that this is incorrect. Now thanks and have a nice day.

 

[efle]

I quoted you the statistics for white people applying to MD schools in the continental United States. Go back and read them. It doesn't get any more relevant than that. Continue quibbling if you desire.



The original claim was that the effective GPA/MCAT floor for medical school admissions was 3.4 GPA and 30 MCAT. So you're just proving my point that this is incorrect. Now thanks and have a nice day.

Make sure you buy lots of lottery tickets, after all it isn't impossible to win.

 

[Aloft085]

Aloft085. I don't think your argument holds much weight against Goro's. Goro is an actual adcom member with experience in admissions, giving him/her insight well beyond the raw stats and data of who gets in and who doesn't.

He's an adcom member at a single school. I cited you statistics from the AAMC that plenty of people get into medical school with MCAT's less than 30 and GPA's less than 3.4. The numbers don't lie.

Sure, maybe some small percentage of those with absolutely sub-par stats get in, but can you imagine what type of achievements/ECs/life experiences they have to compensate for it? If you were an adcom member, would you admit someone who was "plain jane" across the board while also having poor MCAT and/or GPA?

Nowhere in any of my posts did I argue that a "plain jane" candidate with sub 3.4 and 30 MCAT would be competitive. I am simply arguing the actual fact that the GPA floor isn't 3.4 and the MCAT floor isn't 30. For some reason you kids keep wanting to set up straw-man arguments. Plenty of people read these forums that are not traditional students, and plenty of people go to medical school that are not traditional students. If you spread straight-up falsehoods like "the floor GPA/MCAT to get accepted is 3.4 and 30", then some otherwise-qualified candidates will end up thinking that they have no chance and not applying.

Did you ask if they have an MBA or PhD? Do you ask if they have some stellar career experience? Did you ask if they're an ethnic minority, or living in a state with a less-competitive school? No, you (plural) simply said that the MCAT/GPA floor is 3.4 and 30. That's wrong, and I showed you evidence proving as much. Now stop arguing with me about it.

 

[Aloft085]

I don't use "no chance" anymore, but stick to "highly unlikely."

Now we're getting back to actual facts. Thank you.

 

[Aloft085]

I think we mean different things by floor. You mean, is there any chance. We mean, is there good enough chance for someone to reliably plan for a future in medicine. As the adcoms who actually review thousands of applications have repeatedly expressed, it is delusional to think a sub 3.0 sub upper 20's stands a good chance sans extreme exception.

Again, you're changing the argument. The discussion was about the GPA/MCAT floor being 3.4 and 30. I'm not going to continue to discuss this with you. Good luck in medical school, I'm sure everyone will love your attitude.

 

[efle]

Goro called it an effective floor, and I have been using 2.7 and < ~27 as my example criteria. I'll consider your childish withdrawal from the discussion as a sign that you know you're mistaken and can't admit it. Good luck with your freshman year, I'm sure you'll also be a joy to live and work with.

 

[Aloft085]

Goro called it an effective floor, and I have been using 2.7 and < ~27 as my example criteria. I'll consider your childish withdrawal from the discussion as a sign that you know you're mistaken and can't admit it. Good luck with your freshman year, I'm sure you'll also be a joy to live and work with.

Again, it is not an effective floor. See this: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2013factstable25-4.pdf

Let me repeat my earlier post for you, since you were too dense to understand it the first time around:

"The category of 24-26 MCAT have an acceptance rate of 37.5%. For a GPA of 3.00-3.19 the acceptance rate is 15.3%, and 22.9% for a 3.20-3.39 GPA. Considering that the overall rate is around 45%, those are non-trivial numbers. Those are also the stats for white people, and you can almost double them if you're black or latino."

That's a hell of an "effective floor" with an acceptance rate of 37.5%, when the average is 45%!

No go get lost, kid. You add nothing to this discussion.

 

[efle]

Note the word "and" which has a different meaning than "or". A 25 and a 2.7 is not in any way competitive; its delusional to think otherwise.

Try spinning the numbers again, I'm sure you can prove me wrong if you just believe hard enough!

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Again, it is not an effective floor. See this: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2013factstable25-4.pdf

Let me repeat my earlier post for you, since you were too dense to understand it the first time around:

"The category of 24-26 MCAT have an acceptance rate of 37.5%. For a GPA of 3.00-3.19 the acceptance rate is 15.3%, and 22.9% for a 3.20-3.39 GPA. Considering that the overall rate is around 45%, those are non-trivial numbers. Those are also the stats for white people, and you can almost double them if you're black or latino."

That's a hell of an "effective floor" with an acceptance rate of 37.5%, when the average is 45%!

No go get lost, kid. You add nothing to this discussion.

I read this post 6-7 times and I still don't get it.

 

[efle]

Yeah he's been making progressively less sense to me too. We must just be dumb, he's super smart and mature and knows better than goro what defines a competitive app.

 

[Goro]

You're still missing the point, so let me explain more carefully. The "effective floor" the bar between the schools stated minimum (as found on website, catalogs etc) and the the minimum the school will consider worth inviting or accepting. Most candidates who receive IIs have stats for both MCAT and GPAs that are above the effective floor. As an example, CCOM has an avg MCAT for acceptees of 30. That means the Dean will not consider people people with under 26, even if the website says "minimum of 22 (or whatever").

For MD schools, the game is played the same way. People whose AAMC stats fall below the effective floor of 3.4/27-30 (the 10-90%ile bar) have exceptional stories, like Mimelim. Those folks in the 10th %ile are there for a good reason.

And again, take a stats course.


Again, it is not an effective floor. See this: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2013factstable25-4.pdf

Let me repeat my earlier post for you, since you were too dense to understand it the first time around:

"The category of 24-26 MCAT have an acceptance rate of 37.5%. For a GPA of 3.00-3.19 the acceptance rate is 15.3%, and 22.9% for a 3.20-3.39 GPA. Considering that the overall rate is around 45%, those are non-trivial numbers. Those are also the stats for white people, and you can almost double them if you're black or latino."

That's a hell of an "effective floor" with an acceptance rate of 37.5%, when the average is 45%!

 

[tymont12]

The original claim was that the effective GPA/MCAT floor for medical school admissions was 3.4 GPA and 30 MCAT. So you're just proving my point that this is incorrect. Now thanks and have a nice day.

Fact: There is no floor for GPA/MCAT at that vast majority of schools. Period. Why are we still having this discussion? I cited you the statistics, move on with your lives.

?? My response was not to Goro's statement about his/her perceived 'floor,' it was to your statement about schools having, "no floor, period." Which is not true. Look at most school's MSAR page or admissions website and they will usually give you the absolute 'floor' after which they will not consider candidates. This can vary but is usually 2.8 GPA and 24 MCAT. I don't see how you can argue against this, because it's not an argument, it's cold hard fact.

Again, it is not an effective floor. See this: https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2013factstable25-4.pdf

Let me repeat my earlier post for you, since you were too dense to understand it the first time around:

"The category of 24-26 MCAT have an acceptance rate of 37.5%. For a GPA of 3.00-3.19 the acceptance rate is 15.3%, and 22.9% for a 3.20-3.39 GPA. Considering that the overall rate is around 45%, those are non-trivial numbers. Those are also the stats for white people, and you can almost double them if you're black or latino."

That's a hell of an "effective floor" with an acceptance rate of 37.5%, when the average is 45%!

No go get lost, kid. You add nothing to this discussion.

That 'magical' 37.5% you keep quoting for 24-26 MCAT is individuals with 3.8-4.0 GPA's. When reading the table correctly, the average acceptance rate is 20% for 24-26 MCAT.

Stop throwing 'quibs' at the end of every post telling everyone they are unimportant, dense, idiotic kids; it is very disrespectful.

I get the sense that you believe your application contains a 'curve ball' or a 'game changer' which will make up for a low GPA/MCAT. Mind sharing it with us?

 

[efle]

?? My response was not to Goro's statement about his/her perceived 'floor,' it was to your statement about schools having, "no floor, period." Which is not true. Look at most school's MSAR page or admissions website and they will usually give you the absolute 'floor' after which they will not consider candidates. This can vary but is usually 2.8 GPA and 24 MCAT. I don't see how you can argue against this, because it's not an argument, it's cold hard fact.



That 'magical' 37.5% you keep quoting for 24-26 MCAT is individuals with 3.8-4.0 GPA's. When reading the table correctly, the average acceptance rate is 20% for 24-26 MCAT.

Stop throwing 'quibs' at the end of every post telling everyone they are unimportant, dense, idiotic kids; it is very disrespectful.

I get the sense that you believe your application contains a 'curve ball' or a 'game changer' which will make up for a low GPA/MCAT. Mind sharing it with us?

He's an older non-trad who has worked several years in a semi-lucrative field. I think he expects his infinite wisdom and special snowflakeness as a real adult to trump a past of poor academic performance.

 

[wannabeMD38]

I am an older non-trad URM re-applicant this year. That being said, it is still very difficult to get accepted into medical school! I have a downward trending ugpa (doesn't get lower than 3.2), 3.5 ggpa, 31mcat (2nd attempt, 1st 26), great ECs, research, 2 publications (decent journals), stellar lors... I applied late last year (waiting for new mcat score) interviewed at one school and was rejected post interview (no hold). This year I applied earlier and broader, currently have one rejection (UChicago, reach school lol) and one interview nymc. The point is, I would never advise someone with a 2.7/24 to apply to medical school (allopathic). It's just not feasible, unless they have something else truly extraordinary. Do people with lower stats get in? Yes, but they are few and far between. Anyone with less than 3.0/27 should do a post-bac or masters maybe. Applying with low stats because you know someone that got in with low stats is like saying, "I know someone who made $500k in vegas, I'm gonna give it a try too!" I know a urm with a 3.4/26 that got into my state school and interviewed at mount Sinai, but he spent his summers in Haiti working with children and has research. I also know a urn with a 3.2/32 and she didn't get in anywhere, sub par ECs. The entire process can seem so stochastic at times.
Again, yes people with low stats do get in (with other factors considered) however, always advise students to work their ASS off and maintain the highest GPA they can and score the highest mat possible. Because nothing is guaranteed, so give your self that best chance possible. Don't rely on the fact that Jonny had a 2.7/24 and still got in.

 

[TheIllusionist]

remember to contextualize with race on aamc tables

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Is this rare or can 9 times out of 10, students get in with the bare minimum if they are solid everywhere else?

Don't focus on the bare minimum. Assume it will be the hardest thing you will ever do. Still interested? Then treat it like it will be the hardest thing you'll ever do and you'll get in.

 

[arabet]

Depending on your state of residence it can be not too bad

 

[Goro]

Depending on your state of residence it can be not too bad

That's why we call them lucky states!

 

[Osminog]

remember to contextualize with race on aamc tables

Remember to not necro-bump Obama-era threads

 

[TeddyBears]

Don't focus on the bare minimum. Assume it will be the hardest thing you will ever do. Still interested? Then treat it like it will be the hardest thing you'll ever do and you'll get in.

Good advice!

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

That's why we call them lucky states!

What are the lucky states?

 

[Goro]

What are the lucky states?

IA, NM, SD, ND, MS, AL, GA, TN, WA, KS, AR, LA, NE, HI, IN, IL, WI, MN, MO, KY