Should you take GPA averages with a grain of salt?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

I feel as if the typical medical school has most matriculants in the 3.75-3.9 range. And a sprinkle of students below 3.6. But this "sprinkle" really drags down the average. So the average doesn't do much. The average can be 3.6 but for all you know, a few 2.8-3.3's are dragging down a class otherwise full of 3.7's- 3.9's

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[coldcase331]

Xanax.

 

[Govols22]

MSAR shows the median, not the mean. So one 2.8 isn't going to skew the data of matriculants as much as you think it would.

 

[Lucca]

MSAR shows the median, not the mean. So one 2.8 isn't going to skew the data of matriculants as much as you think it would.

This, the 10th and 90th percentile range will tell you how broadly GPA is represented at that school. Some schools have something like 3.3-3.8 and others are like 3.75-4.0. Same goes for MCAT.

 

[piii]

No

 

[Lost in Translation]

MSAR shows the median, not the mean. So one 2.8 isn't going to skew the data of matriculants as much as you think it would.

The first thing you learn in stats is that medians > means.

 

[Hitmann]

MSAR shows the median, not the mean. So one 2.8 isn't going to skew the data of matriculants as much as you think it would.

is there any way to find out the exact mean or just do a guess based on each schools percentiles

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

is there any way to find out the exact mean or just do a guess based on each schools percentiles

Many schools publish their MEAN mcat and gpa to their website. However the mean is pretty useless without a standard deviation. The MSAR median with 10th and 90th percentiles is far more useful.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

very roughly there were 21,000 acceptees over three cycles with GPAs under 3.6. That is roughly 6,000-7,000 acceptees a year with below 3.6 GPA. That is somewhere between a one quarter to one third of each incoming medical school class. I dare say that is more than a smattering

Agreed. However, most of these acceptes are probably low tier MD/DO schools. I'm referring to the mid tier schools.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

very roughly there were 21,000 acceptees over three cycles with GPAs under 3.6. That is roughly 6,000-7,000 acceptees a year with below 3.6 GPA. That is somewhere between a one quarter to one third of each incoming medical school class. I dare say that is more than a smattering

Agreed. However, most of these acceptes are probably low tier MD/DO schools. I'm referring to the mid tier schools.

That data is published by AAMC so it includes only MD schools. Since there is no definition of what constitutes a "Mid tier school" theres no way of figuring out how many people are "dragging down" their GPA average.

On top of that, you need to consider ECs, MCAT, and other factors to have an accurate picture of who a school accepts vs rejects. Even if you could see that NYU accepted 3 people with GPAs <3.0, that information would be useless without the rest of their AMCAS

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

An assumption that you need to prove

It's common sense really. California Northstate SOM most likely accepts more people in the 3.0-3.5 range than Harvard SOM
What my main point is, is that an average would not be as reliable as a median

 

[Lucca]

The first thing you learn in stats is that medians > means.

Not if your data is skewed to the right.

/joke

 

[GrapesofRath]

Agreed. However, most of these acceptes are probably low tier MD/DO schools. I'm referring to the mid tier schools.

DO schools are not included in this chart.

When talking about "mid" tier schools like Einstein, Emory, Case, Hofstra, Keck, Miami etc all have 10th percentile GPAs below 3.6. Many it is 3.5 or lower.

 

[Lawpy]

Not if your data is skewed to the right.

/joke

And here i was thinking skewness was unrelated to mean and median

 

[Goro]

If you're in the 10-90th %iles, you're competitive.

But the higher the LizzyM school of the school, the less leeway you have in being further away from the median (on the low side).

But more importantly, go refresh yourself on the concept of "median".

I feel as if the typical medical school has most matriculants in the 3.75-3.9 range. And a sprinkle of students below 3.6. But this "sprinkle" really drags down the average. So the average doesn't do much. The average can be 3.6 but for all you know, a few 2.8-3.3's are dragging down a class otherwise full of 3.7's- 3.9's

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

It's common sense really. California Northstate SOM most likely accepts more people in the 3.0-3.5 range than Harvard SOM
What my main point is, is that an average would not be as reliable as a median

It is correct that an average is not as reliable as a median. Hence why everyone always refers to the median.

Also every MD school in the US could matriculate people with 3.75+ gpas. The reason they dont is because (as @Goro often says) "4.0 automatons are a dime a dozen". If Northstate, Harvard, or any school in between accepted solely based on stats they could matriculate a class full of people with 75+ LizzyMs

The common sense logic that lower tier schools accept people with lower stats is just wrong, and this easy to see when you look at the rankings of med schools by median GPA. Just a quick search reveals that Vandy has a higher median than Stanford, even though Stanford is ranked ahead of Vandy. Or that FAU has the same MCAT average as Dartmouth

 

[WedgeDawg]

It's been hammered to death here, but use the GPA medians provided by MSAR and don't rely on self-reported data from school websites as you have no idea how accurate or up to date that information is.

When you're constructing your school list, if you are below the medians in both GPA and MCAT by a significant margin, you're likely not competitive, except in certain circumstances. If you are close to or above the the median, you're likely competitive stat-wise.

That's really all there is to it.