New MSAR is out

[LizzyM]

The school doesn't report anything except to whom they have offered an interview and/or an offer and who has accepted an offer. MCAT has all the data and who knows how they choose between/among an individual applicant's MCAT scores to come up with a median etc for a given school. At least we know that the same method is used for every school when you use the MSAR published numbers. What schools report on their websites is another story but I suspect (no proof) that they use the most recent score.

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[slatermd]

The school doesn't report anything except to whom they have offered an interview and/or an offer and who has accepted an offer.

I thought that might be the case as well. It requires a lot less work from the schools, as the AAMC can just pull everyone's data from the AMCAS

 

[RichardParker]

The MSAR is a ridiculous $65 with FedX charges if you want to ship it to Canada. I guess I have no choice but to buy the online version.

 

[slatermd]

The MSAR is a ridiculous $65 with FedX charges if you want to ship it to Canada. I guess I have no choice but to buy the online version.

You'll do just fine with the online version. Sounds like all the touchy-feely stuff that's hard copy only is almost unchanged from last year's. If your school has a copy you can check it out.

 

[frescoengano]

The MSAR is a ridiculous $65 with FedX charges if you want to ship it to Canada. I guess I have no choice but to buy the online version.

buy off amazon

 

[RichardParker]

ah good call, but I think I am just gonna stick with the online version. What I am most interested in is the GPA/MCAT stat which i guess i can get from the online copy.

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[chiapet874]

Just to clarify; the "earliest filing date" listed for each school is the earliest date the medical school looks at your primary and opens a file for you?

I ask cause I notice some schools list their filing date as June 1st which seems surprisingly early.

 

[sc4s2cg]

I can confirm the online MSAR is absolutely fantastic. Have the old MSAR book, so did not buy the new one, and I am 100% satisfied.

 

[frescoengano]

how long does it usually take to get the msar if ordered from aamc? i did the regular shippin & i'm in CA-

 

[tkhan180]

So should I buy the $15 online one or $25 online+book version? Is it worth it for some info on med schools i probably already know? and why is the median more useful than the average for the mcat?

 

[TTigers70]

So should I buy the $15 online one or $25 online+book version? Is it worth it for some info on med schools i probably already know? and why is the median more useful than the average for the mcat?

I have last year's as well so can't comment on the first part of your question. However, medians are generally more useful because they are not subjected to the same error from extreme outliers. For example, if you were looking at 5 MCAT scores: 29, 30, 32, 38, 45; the mean would be 34.8 while the median is 32. The same thing would happen if instead top heavy scores, the sample had some mid 20s etc.

 

[aSagacious]

I have last year's as well so can't comment on the first part of your question. However, medians are generally more useful because they are not subjected to the same error from extreme outliers. For example, if you were looking at 5 MCAT scores: 29, 30, 32, 38, 45; the mean would be 34.8 while the median is 32. The same thing would happen if instead top heavy scores, the sample had some mid 20s etc.

The median/mean disparity is generally negligible with admissions statistics. You are talking about hundreds (or thousands) of applicants/matriculants per school, so the sample size is large enough to make data robust against outliers.

 

[Slack3r]

...and I am 100% satisfied.

That's what she said.

 

[BadHorse]

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Student Doctor Network has already supplanted the great MSAR as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom about getting into medical school, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has lolcats.

 

[Nappy Napoleon]

Whats in the MSAR book that I'd need that I can't get online?

 

[SouthParkMD]

Forgive my ignorance, but exactly what is the point of this? I looked online and read about it from AAMCAS. I could just get the statistics off med school admission websites and make an excel sheet for free….so im missing something…..

 

[aSagacious]

Forgive my ignorance, but exactly what is the point of this? I looked online and read about it from AAMCAS. I could just get the statistics off med school admission websites and make an excel sheet for free….so im missing something…..

You are correct. For the by-the-numbers approach, you could construct a GPA/MCAT/etc excel sheet from each school's website. There are a few details that you may want to read up on, though, that are tricky to find on the schools' websites (USMLE step policies, curriculum description, % receiving financial aid, average graduate indebtness, etc)
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181264/data/comparison_chart.pdf

It's also convenient to just pay $15, rather than hunt down statistics for each school (allows for side-by-side comparisons, sorting, etc).

 

[Frazier]

Forgive my ignorance, but exactly what is the point of this? I looked online and read about it from AAMCAS. I could just get the statistics off med school admission websites and make an excel sheet for free….so im missing something…..

Yes. However, if you wanted the collect the same breadth of information for every school MSAR listed, I guarantee that it would take well beyond 10 hours of your time.

...Or you could just spend $15 and have it all ready to go.

The question is how important is your time? Do you want to work for under $1.5/hour?

 

[Damia]

.

 

[medzk]

*SIGH*

I have been trying to buy the online version for about 30 minutes. In Chrome, Firefox and even IE - everytime I get the error "We apologize, but customer information for one or more line items has been lost. Please empty the shopping cart and try adding the products again. "

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! /end rant

Help?

I've been trying to purchase it as well, although my error is different. I think your problem might be solved by clearing cache or deleting cookies or something.

When I go to pay after I've entered all my info, I get this message: "Could not load type 'AAMC_AC_Components.AAMCac_utility' from assembly 'AAMC_AC_Components, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'."

 

[TTigers70]

I have last year's hard copy and thought about getting the online edition, but don't think numbers have changed all that much. Also, I'm applying to schools more based on geography than matching up my numbers (conveniently worked out that the Northeast has a wide range of schools). Would anyone be willing to update the numbers on less than 10 schools for me? At the end of the day I see myself applying to about 12-15 but am concerned with changing numbers for 8 or 9 of them. Don't think I would need commentary on what the school's mission is as I don't think that should change that much in 1 year.

On a similar topic, does anyone know what schools have an 18 month pre-clinical curriculum vs the traditional 24 month? I know Columbia does and so too does NYU I believe. I know there are others out there. Even with the hard-copy of MSAR I am having trouble finding this kind of information. Any addition to that list would be really appreciated (and ideally again keeping it to the northeast).

 

[iceman132]

What is the guidebook good for? Not really sure if it's worth the extra 10 bucks.....

Edit: Especially after looking through this thread.... Are there any positives?