20% of people with a GPA of 3.8+ but MCAT of 18-20 get accepted?

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The weirdest thing to me is that there were people with an MCAT score between 5 and 14 who got in.

That's unbelievable.
 
sounds wild, especially coming from a skewed sdn perspective, it seems like a different universe
 
I believe that people who are accepted to BA/MD programs are counted in this table as applicants. Some of those programs do not require the MCAT, and so some people take them just for fun and to mess with curves and whatnot. Thats how they get in with scores like 5-18.
 
That is a awesome table. Thanks for sharing.
 
jult24er said:
Thats a great table.

Someone got in with a 2.60-2.79 and a 5-14. I hope they don't become a doctor.

Somone else got rejected with a 39-45 and a 3.80-4.00. In fact, 64 applicants did.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that particular applicant had an amazing background and extenuating circumstances, so stop being so quick to judge and jumping to conclusions, unless you're this guy:

office_space.jpg
 
CRB 717 said:
I'm sure that particular applicant had an amazing background and extenuating circumstances, so stop being so quick to judge and jumping to conclusions, unless you're this guy:

office_space.jpg
Click to expand...

Or, as someone else suggested, they may be going to lectures in a building named after their father 🙂. Though I guess that falls under extenuating circumstances.

It is probably more of the combined BA/MD degrees and people just take the MCAT for fun (even though they don't have to).
 
CRB 717 said:
I'm sure that particular applicant had an amazing background and extenuating circumstances, so stop being so quick to judge and jumping to conclusions, unless you're this guy:

office_space.jpg
Click to expand...

Who's that guy? The one in the basement form Office Space? Its not me.
 
What's perhaps equally surprising is that almost 50% of applicants with a MCAT of 24-26 got in, if they had a GPA of 3.8+.
 
And the converse is also true : a GPA of 3.2-3.39 and an MCAT score of 36-38 nets you a 61% chance of acceptance.

It's hard to say for sure, but it actually seems as those MCAT is a little more important than GPA. I noticed that the percentages for people with a high MCAT + lower GPA seemed to be better than for the opposite.

Here's the part that is interesting : I was frantic I wouldn't get in with a 3.4 and a 36. Yet, according to this chart, I had a 76% chance.

Well, I dearly wished I had the 'typical' stats of a successful applicant, which are 3.6 and a 31 MCAT. Yet, had I scored those numbers, I would have had a 76.8% chance.

And, I really wished I had a 3.8 GPA along with my 36 MCAT. My chances would have 'jumped' to 92%. Well, ok, that is a big difference.

Moral of the story : it looks like you can make up for a GPA that is a little on the low side with a high enough MCAT.
 
Last edited:
Habeed said:
And the converse is also true : a GPA of 3.2-3.39 and an MCAT score of 36-38 nets you a 61% chance of acceptance.

It's hard to say for sure, but it actually seems as those MCAT is a little more important than GPA. I noticed that the percentages for people with a high MCAT + lower GPA seemed to be better than for the opposite.

Here's the part that is interesting : I was frantic I wouldn't get in with a 3.4 and a 36. Yet, according to this chart, I had a 76% chance.

Well, I dearly wished I had the 'typical' stats of a successful applicant, which are 3.6 and a 31 MCAT. Yet, had I scored those numbers, I would have had a 76.8% chance.

And, I really wished I had a 3.8 GPA along with my 36 MCAT. My chances would have 'jumped' to 92%. Well, ok, that is a big difference.

Moral of the story : it looks like you can make up for a GPA that is a little on the low side with a high enough MCAT.
Click to expand...

looking at this table reminded me of when i first learned about the (electronegativity, size, ionization energy, etc.) trends on the periodic table. based on this framework, i think i'm somewhere around phosphorus.
 
cubssox2000 said:
I believe that people who are accepted to BA/MD programs are counted in this table as applicants. Some of those programs do not require the MCAT, and so some people take them just for fun and to mess with curves and whatnot. Thats how they get in with scores like 5-18.
Click to expand...

They should get slapped in the face. How dare they have fun while the rest of us slave away for this test?😀
 
CRB 717 said:
I'm sure that particular applicant had an amazing background and extenuating circumstances, so stop being so quick to judge and jumping to conclusions, unless you're this guy:

office_space.jpg
Click to expand...

AMAZING. best movie ever.
 
jult24er said:
Someone got in with a 2.60-2.79 and a 5-14. I hope they don't become a doctor.
Click to expand...

What about the one person who got in with a 1.5-2 GPA and a 15-17 MCAT? :meanie: That's like almost a D+ average
 
DarknightX said:
The weirdest thing to me is that there were people with an MCAT score between 5 and 14 who got in.

That's unbelievable.
Click to expand...

Even weirder than that is that some people got in with an MCAT score between 15-17 and GPA of 2.0-2.2.

WTF? Where are these schools that accept these people? Someone please tell me!

Also, the next time someone comes on here and says he knows someone who got into an MD school with an MCAT of 16, let's not all call him a liar at once, k?
 
WeAreNotRobots said:
looking at this table reminded me of when i first learned about the (electronegativity, size, ionization energy, etc.) trends on the periodic table. based on this framework, i think i'm somewhere around phosphorus.
Click to expand...

Spoken like a true pre-med. 😉
 
Say what you will about these guys, but it takes balls of steel to apply to med school with a 5 on the MCAT.
 
jult24er said:
Who's that guy? The one in the basement form Office Space? Its not me.
Click to expand...

Its the guy from office space who has the jump to conclusions mat idea. He gets fired after interviewing with the Bobs and tries to kill himself. During his attempted suicide(the ol' car exhaust in the garage gag) his wife interrupts him. After being caught he tries to play it off like he fell asleep and backs out of his garage in his car. He is then in a traffic collision. He then sues the driver of the other car and with is new found riches develops a jump to conclusions mat. After returning home from the hospital he holds a party which is attended by Peter, Micheal, the O-face guy, and the foreign guy. It is also at this party that Peter discovers that Jennifer Aniston had sex with Lumbergh, albeit the wrong Lumbergh. The guy who is alway getting his desk moved is Milton or Jimmy from NewsRadio or Gordon from Dogeball.
 
cubssox2000 said:
I believe that people who are accepted to BA/MD programs are counted in this table as applicants. Some of those programs do not require the MCAT, and so some people take them just for fun and to mess with curves and whatnot. Thats how they get in with scores like 5-18.
Click to expand...

that makes sense. do some of those programs even require that the student take the MCAT, but they can do terrible on it ... (SLU's BA/MD program?), that would explain some ...
 
Are you sure this table is really official?😎. I doubt my fellow SDners would endorse such a table. On SDN, having numbers below 35 and 3.8 means an auto-rejection....usually.

An even more interesting table is the one below:
http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt-raceeth.htm

By the way, what is behind their combination of specific GPA's and MCAT scores? Does this mean that someone who has a 3.6 and a 33 is really not that different statistically from someone who had a 3.79 and a 35, provided every other criteria is similar of course?
 
Is a 5 even possible on the MCAT? what is theoretically the lowest score one can get on the mcat? i always thought standardized tests had a minimum, like the SAT minimum is 400 (old version) and 600 (new version)
 
If it was April 1st, I'd swear the AAMC put it up as a prank just so they could sit back and watch the heads of every SDN'er explode.
 
EyEnStein 07 said:
Is a 5 even possible on the MCAT? what is theoretically the lowest score one can get on the mcat? i always thought standardized tests had a minimum, like the SAT minimum is 400 (old version) and 600 (new version)
Click to expand...

I believe the minimum score for each section is a 1. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to those who scored a 3 or a 4, huh?
 
Just Joshin said:
I believe the minimum score for each section is a 1. Kinda makes you wonder what happened to those who scored a 3 or a 4, huh?
Click to expand...

They applied D.O.

Before 10 people tell me off, I'm KIDDING!!!!
 
Is it possible that med schools just randomly accept qualified students with GPA's below 3.5 and MCATs between 27-30 to scew acceptance patterns, making it hard to figure out what 'type' of students are accepted?

I heard some Ivy league med schools literally draw a few applications out of the pool to see if there's a potentially good doctor with GPA 3.4, MCAT 30..?

Any thoughts?
 
jult24er said:
that makes sense. do some of those programs even require that the student take the MCAT, but they can do terrible on it ... (SLU's BA/MD program?), that would explain some ...
Click to expand...

Some do, some don't. A lot of the ones that do want their students to take it just because they need the record. Others have requirements - ~27 with nothing below 9 was pretty common 4 years ago.

Also, some BA/MD programs, while lax on MCAT, are strict on GPA, and this would cause really high GPA/low MCAT combo.
 
I'd take my odds to Vegas with those probabilities. Too bad I always come home from Vegas broke.
 
Regardless of their wonderful life stories, extracurricular activities and URM status, I wouldn't want a doctor who got an 18 on his MCAT operating on me. If he saved handicapped children from a burning orphanage in Zimbabwe and wrote an essay on that, I don't care - he should be a fireman instead. I don't care what his GPA was. Maybe he went to some fairytale school where everyone gets A's and the teachers sing carols and blow bubbles up your butt.

The MCAT isn't like the SAT's, it actually does test you on what you learned in all your pre-req classes. There are some basic strategies and tricks, but overall it's a fair test of your knowledge. You can't beat it just by enrolling in expensive prep courses and learning the "secrets". Prep courses are just super-accelerated lectures that pile the material on you in buckets. Assuming you're not someone who cracks under the pressure of a test (in which case maybe this isn't the profession for you), then the more you know, the better you'll do on the test.
 
Wow its NICE to see GPA can save you! if you have a 3.8+ with a 27 mcat you still have 75% chance?! That's freaking awesome!
 
rayden001 said:
Are you sure this table is really official?😎. I doubt my fellow SDners would endorse such a table. On SDN, having numbers below 35 and 3.8 means an auto-rejection....usually.

An even more interesting table is the one below:
http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt-raceeth.htm

By the way, what is behind their combination of specific GPA's and MCAT scores? Does this mean that someone who has a 3.6 and a 33 is really not that different statistically from someone who had a 3.79 and a 35, provided every other criteria is similar of course?
Click to expand...

Strong affirmative action wow!
 
Uhh ohh. SDN may explode. I'm glad this table was released. It should be stickied so we can see how skewed SDN is compared to real life.
 
Superman78 said:
Regardless of their wonderful life stories, extracurricular activities and URM status, I wouldn't want a doctor who got an 18 on his MCAT operating on me. If he saved handicapped children from a burning orphanage in Zimbabwe and wrote an essay on that, I don't care - he should be a fireman instead. I don't care what his GPA was. Maybe he went to some fairytale school where everyone gets A's and the teachers sing carols and blow bubbles up your butt.

The MCAT isn't like the SAT's, it actually does test you on what you learned in all your pre-req classes.
Click to expand...

My MCAT and pre-req classes (which are towards the upper right of that chart) haven't taught me much about surgery. Apparently that's what medical school and residency are for.
 
DrWookie said:
Or, as someone else suggested, they may be going to lectures in a building named after their father 🙂. Though I guess that falls under extenuating circumstances.

It is probably more of the combined BA/MD degrees and people just take the MCAT for fun (even though they don't have to).
Click to expand...

The are MANY, MANY better things I'd rather do with the money rather than taking the MCAT
 
I don't even understand how you can be admitted to medical school with <2.0 GPA. The minimum at my ugrad was 2.0 to graduate, how are these people getting their undergrad degrees?
 
Superman78 said:
Regardless of their wonderful life stories, extracurricular activities and URM status, I wouldn't want a doctor who got an 18 on his MCAT operating on me. If he saved handicapped children from a burning orphanage in Zimbabwe and wrote an essay on that, I don't care - he should be a fireman instead. I don't care what his GPA was. Maybe he went to some fairytale school where everyone gets A's and the teachers sing carols and blow bubbles up your butt.

The MCAT isn't like the SAT's, it actually does test you on what you learned in all your pre-req classes. There are some basic strategies and tricks, but overall it's a fair test of your knowledge. You can't beat it just by enrolling in expensive prep courses and learning the "secrets". Prep courses are just super-accelerated lectures that pile the material on you in buckets. Assuming you're not someone who cracks under the pressure of a test (in which case maybe this isn't the profession for you), then the more you know, the better you'll do on the test.
Click to expand...
The truth hurts huh. Must feel like you were looking through the wrong end of a kaleidoscope. Interesting.

For the record, the MCAT doesn't have anything to do with being a doctor. You've got a better chance arguing for the Boards.
 
flaahless said:
Uhh ohh. SDN may explode. I'm glad this table was released. It should be stickied so we can see how skewed SDN is compared to real life.
Click to expand...
Don't count much on it. In just a week, SDN will be back to "normal."
 
xanthomondo said:
I don't even understand how you can be admitted to medical school with <2.0 GPA. The minimum at my ugrad was 2.0 to graduate, how are these people getting their undergrad degrees?
Click to expand...
Hmm, I don't think my undergrad has such a minimum...You're just not allowed to fail too many courses at once 🙄
 
Keep in mind this includes the Puerto Rican schools which have way lower stats than the mainland ones (exempting Hawaii 😛) but most people are not qualified to go to (ie not spanish fluent). The MSAR shows score ranges of people that matriculate and I do not recall seeing more than a few schools where any individual MCAT subsection was below a 5.
 
Funny stuff on that table. Technically, there was one person with an MCAT from 39-45 and a GPA below 2.4...

He or she got in...

And the success rate for someone with a below 2.4 and 39+ MCAT is 100%...

I can't believe my eyes, actually. I sort of thought that med school adcoms stopped 'counting' GPAs below 3.0, and started trashing applications...

That's still true, but evidently there is an exception to every rule...
 
Habeed said:
Funny stuff on that table. Technically, there was one person with an MCAT from 39-45 and a GPA below 2.4...

He or she got in...

And the success rate for someone with a below 2.4 and 39+ MCAT is 100%...

I can't believe my eyes, actually. I sort of thought that med school adcoms stopped 'counting' GPAs below 3.0, and started trashing applications...

That's still true, but evidently there is an exception to every rule...
Click to expand...


lol! When I see 2.4 gpa and 39 MCAT it SCREAMS "Brilliant person who is lazy as ****" haha
 
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