MD & DO 3.59 cGPA, 3.2 sGPA, 511 MCAT help with school list?

[Rdejong]

CA resident
Strong positive trends in both areas of GPA (very close to 4.0's for 2 semesters straight)
125 chem/phys, 128 CARS and Bio/biochem, and 130 psych/soc
10 shadowing hours with attending physician in an academic-based adolescent psych ward (I want to be a psychiatrist in an academic setting)
>300 hours EMT
around 100 hours in social psych research lab over 1.5 years
50 volunteer hours at food bank over one year
Countless hours leadership experience including senator in student government, founder of baseball club, VP of pre-health club over 4 years
Biology and statistics tutor at my university for 2 years
Tons of international travel including indonesia, japan, and the south of mexico

School list so far:
UCSF, UCD, Tuoro CA, Tuoro NY, Western CA, USC, UCSD, Rush, Midwestern, U of Illinois, Boston U, Cornell, Einstein, Temple, PCOM, Sidney Kimmel, Georgetown, George Washington, U of Maryland.

Any suggestions on school additions, DO or MD?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[KinesiologyNerd]

511 is ~30/31 right? I feel like your MD schools are big, big reaches except for Rush. I would think more along the lines of Wright State and Toledo. Shoot for the moon with DO. Was your travel for anything other than tourism? Otherwise ADCOMs won't really care.

 

[GrapesofRath]

If somehow you can take another year of classes and ace them as well it will really help your cause. 1 year upward trend isn't that much; a 2 year will be looked at differently and you'll probably raise your sGPA above 3.3 in the process.

Right now the only schools on your list I could recommend looking into are UCD, the Touro's, Western, Midwestern, PCOM, and maybe GW, Jefferson and Rush. And keep in mind the 3.2 sGPA is low even for a number of DO schools(although if you apply broadly you'll be fine there).

 

[Rdejong]

@KinesiologyNerd a 511 is comparable to a 33. It's the 85th percentile, that's probably an easier way to compare. Thanks for the help guys! I've added cal north state and Albany to the md list and NYIT and LECOM to the do list.

 

[gyngyn]

@KinesiologyNerd a 511 is comparable to a 33. It's the 85th percentile, that's probably an easier way to compare. Thanks for the help guys! I've added cal north state and Albany to the md list and NYIT and LECOM to the do list.

We're looking at 511 as if it were about a 31.
If you haven't already paid for a secondary, I'd delete: USC, Boston U, Cornell and U of Maryland.

 

[Rdejong]

@gyngyn good to know! Why is that? I've heard percentiles will be pretty important compared to raw score in the early stages of the new test. Is that true at all?

 

[gyngyn]

@gyngyn good to know! Why is that? I've heard percentiles will be pretty important compared to raw score in the early stages of the new test. Is that true at all?

The estimates published as a "sample" by the AAMC did not hold up as originally printed.
A 511 is the 85th percentile which corresponds most closely to a 31.

 

[Rdejong]

@gyngyn understood, thanks for your help.

 

[GrapesofRath]

The estimates published as a "sample" by the AAMC did not hold up as originally printed.
A 511 is the 85th percentile which corresponds most closely to a 31.

Wasn't 84th-88th percentile considered a 32 on the last released scale for the old test?

 

[gyngyn]

Wasn't 84th-88th percentile considered a 32 on the last released scale for the old test?

I took the comparators off of the old MCAT distributions of individual candidates from last cycle.

 

[GrapesofRath]

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf

This is what I was referencing this is there something public you were referencing to that says a 32 is 84th percentile is there anything public you can show that you are referencing to? Thanks as always

 

[gyngyn]

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf

This is what I was referencing this is there something public you were referencing to that says a 32 is 84th percentile is there anything public you can show that you are referencing to? Thanks as always

That what they sent us too.
I took the percentages right off the old applications since there are a lot of long overlaps in this graph (especially between 504 and 514). I'm sure that this was purposeful as they don't want us trying to compare the two tests...

 

[GrapesofRath]

That what they sent us too.
I took the percentages right off the old applications since there are a lot of long overlaps in this graph (especially between 504 and 514). I'm sure that this was purposeful as they don't want us trying to compare the two tests...

I'm not sure I understood what you were getting at.

What do you mean by taking percentages off old applications? You said you the AAMC sent you the info from the link I showed above. By that, it's clear that 85th percentile on the old test was a 32. So I guess what I want to know is what all goes into the thought process of making it a 31 and considerations that are taken beyond what is said in that data the AAMC sent?

Yes there is overlap which leads to some "grey areas" for this task of score conversion, but I wasn't aware this was also considered a grey area. To me n example of a grey area is trying to figure out what a 124 CARs(34th-44th percentile) is on the old scale because a 7 was 27th-37th percentile and 8 38-51st percentile. In this case, if a 511 is 84th-85th percentile, that from my uneducated viewpoint looks like a 32 rather distinctly as a 31 was 80th-83rd percentile.

Note, my goal here with all of this isn't to argue the fine details of what a "31 vs 32" should be but rather I am much more interested in seeing how ADCOMs are viewing the new MCAT and what all people should know and consider. Because if a 511 is viewed as a 31 by ADCOMs, then there is obviously more taken into account than just saying "the chart shows 511 to be 85th percentile which was a 32 on the old test" which is what I'm most interested in finding out.

 

[gyngyn]

I'm not sure I understood what you were getting at.

What do you mean by taking percentages off old applications? You said you the AAMC sent you the info from the link I showed above. By that, it's clear that 85th percentile on the old test was a 32. So I guess what I want to know is what all goes into the thought process of making it a 31 and considerations that are taken beyond what is said in that data the AAMC sent?

Yes there is overlap which leads to some "grey areas" for this task of score conversion, but I wasn't aware this was also considered a grey area. To me n example of a grey area is trying to figure out what a 124 CARs(34th-44th percentile) is on the old scale because a 7 was 27th-37th percentile and 8 38-51st percentile. In this case, if a 511 is 84th-85th percentile, that from my uneducated viewpoint looks like a 32 rather distinctly as a 31 was 80th-83rd percentile.

Note, my goal here with all of this isn't to argue the fine details of what a "31 vs 32" should be but rather I am much more interested in seeing how ADCOMs are viewing the new MCAT and what all people should know and consider. Because if a 511 is viewed as a 31 by ADCOMs, then there is obviously more taken into account than just saying "the chart shows 511 to be 85th percentile which was a 32 on the old test" which is what I'm most interested in finding out.

I lined up the old and new scores by percentage. They don't line up exactly so in the places where there is overlap it's going to be dealer's choice as to which number the new score is considered similar. 511's range overlaps with 31 and 32 to my eye.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I lined up the old and new scores by percentage. They don't line up exactly so in the places where there is overlap it's going to be dealer's choice as to which number the new score is considered similar. 511's range overlaps with 31 and 32 to my eye.

Well we might be looking at slightly different data, that might be where the confusion is

Let's do it this way. Here first are the percentile data from 2012-14.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf

31: 80th-83rd percentile. 32: 84th-88th percentile.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/434504/data/percentilenewmcat.pdf
This was the official link I copied above that you said you guys were also given. 510 from this is 81st to 83rd percentile, clearly a 31. 511 is 84th-85th percentile. From the data above that indicates a 32 with no overlap to a 31.

Now, some older versions of the MCAT (not all) had a slightly harsher curve in terms of converting to percentile.
Here is 2008 data.
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85332/data/combined08.pdf
84th percentile would be a 31 in this case. Still 85th percentile would be a 32.

The key question here is the data I'm showing you look like the data you used when comparing old and new MCAT? Maybe you are using data that is not publicly available but that your admissions committee has access to(or something that is that I just didnt find). Like I said above, none of this really matters in terms of specifics, I honestly don't care about whether a 1 percentile difference in scales, I'm more interested in if you(and other ADCOMs) are using publicly available info to make that connection because I don't really see any ambiguity based off public data. There IS ambiguity I'll add in certain scores; the 124 CARs is a good example. In that case like you said, it's in the eyes of the beholder(the ADCOM) to make the call. But I don't see that as the case here unless I'm missing something.

 

[md-2020]

Is 31 vs. 32 honestly going to make a difference...?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Is 31 vs. 32 honestly going to make a difference...?

Like I said above I could care less about what the actual number is be it 31 or 32 I'm just seeing if there is a better way to convert scores that gyngyn might be using because the way I thought of those don't add up according to what he's saying his school is doing.

 

[gyngyn]

Well we might be looking at slightly different data, that might be where the confusion is

Let's do it this way. Here first are the percentile data from 2012-14.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/430684/data/finalpercentileranksfortheoldmcatexam.pdf

31: 80th-83rd percentile. 32: 84th-88th percentile.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/434504/data/percentilenewmcat.pdf
This was the official link I copied above that you said you guys were also given. 510 from this is 81st to 83rd percentile, clearly a 31. 511 is 84th-85th percentile. From the data above that indicates a 32 with no overlap to a 31.

Now, some older versions of the MCAT (not all) had a slightly harsher curve in terms of converting to percentile.
Here is 2008 data.
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85332/data/combined08.pdf
84th percentile would be a 31 in this case. Still 85th percentile would be a 32.

The key question here is the data I'm showing you look like the data you used when comparing old and new MCAT? Maybe you are using data that is not publicly available but that your admissions committee has access to(or something that is that I just didnt find). Like I said above, none of this really matters in terms of specifics, I honestly don't care about whether a 1 percentile difference in scales, I'm more interested in if you(and other ADCOMs) are using publicly available info to make that connection because I don't really see any ambiguity based off public data. There IS ambiguity I'll add in certain scores; the 124 CARs is a good example. In that case like you said, it's in the eyes of the beholder(the ADCOM) to make the call. But I don't see that as the case here unless I'm missing something.

When the graph from the AAMC came out, I looked up the percentages to which each of the scores would correspond on the applications submitted by actual applicants. A 31 MCAT is reported to be 83rd percentile (even on this year's reports). This is the conversion we are using when one is needed, though admittedly these are different tests and not directly comparable.

 

[Goro]

In my advising of people on this, I use the most conservative score of the old MCAT, hence I'd go with a 31.

Like I said above I could care less about what the actual number is be it 31 or 32 I'm just seeing if there is a better way to convert scores that gyngyn might be using because the way I thought of those don't add up according to what he's saying his school is doing.

 

[GrapesofRath]

When the graph from the AAMC came out, I looked up the percentages to which each of the scores would correspond on the applications submitted by actual applicants. A 31 MCAT is reported to be 83rd percentile (even on this year's reports). This is the conversion we are using when one is needed, though admittedly these are different tests and not directly comparable.

Sounds good. Good to know.

 

[GrapesofRath]

In my advising of people on this, I use the most conservative score of the old MCAT, hence I'd go with a 31.

Yeah makes sense good to know.