In principle you'd think medical schools would have an awesome, streamlined, unbiased way to objectively rank candidates at the interview stage, but unfortunately the process is highly variable and politicized, and there's a lot of dumb luck involved at the end of the day, particularly for caucasian and asian males.
texan2414, I know you're lamenting the fact that UTMB may not focus on non-cognitive factors as much as you'd like, but the irony is that the very process of emphasizing non-cognitive factors under the aegis of "holistic review" is set up to work
against you if you are an ORM (over represented minority or majority, i.e. caucasian or asian male). Your
LizzyM score likely puts you in the top 15% of candidates at UTMB. txmed7's case is even more egregious. His 3.9/517 combination puts him more in the top 5% of all applicants, but probably only the top 15 or 20% among caucasian/asian male applicants. If medical school admissions were a pure meritocracy, both of you would likely have already been accepted - certainly at UTMB.
Diversity within medical school classes is absolutely essential for training an effective physician workforce, but at the end of the day it's a zero-sum game and someone has to lose. There are a finite number of seats. If medical schools in Texas ranked purely based on GPA and MCAT, you'd have entire classes filled with high achieving caucasian/asian males who (statistically speaking by mere virtue of their ethnicity, sex, and
likely socioeconomic background) probably want to specialize or sub-specialize during or after residency unless there's convincing evidence to the contrary on their application (i.e. having a significant proportion of healthcare volunteer hours spent in underserved/rural primary care settings).
Anyways sorry for going off on that rant. I have a family member on the admissions committee of a top 25 (by research) medical school (not in Texas), so I have significant insight into the process. It's also important to note that not all medical schools are the same. The admissions process at my relative's (private) medical school is far more meritocratic than the admissions process at certain public texas medical schools.