521 MCAT Frequency

[dodolol21]

not true at all if you have a few reasonable interesting ECs/passions that you are accomplished in. i go to one of these "top schools" and the only thing that is more common that high mcats (which make up only half our class statistically) is everyone has things they are passionate about and have devoted time and energy to that are interesting.


imo other than excelling in the cookie-cutter stuff/strong academic backgrounds, the single most important thing in getting accepted to a "top school" is demonstrating that you're the type of student who would actually make the most out of the resources a top school has to offer. most of my classmates didnt even check most or all the "premed boxes" like volunteering/shadowing/research publications, but almost all of them dug deep into the ongoing projects/opportunities/funding available at my school as soon as it started.

three years ago when you applied a 518 was worth alot more than it is today. Also -- it's really unreasonable to assume that 3/4 of the people who score in the 52X range don't have great extracurriculars too. The fact just is that there are more great applicants than seats available and not every qualified applicant can land a spot at a T20

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[kb1900]

three years ago when you applied a 518 was worth alot more than it is today. Also -- it's really unreasonable to assume that 3/4 of the people who score in the 52X range don't have great extracurriculars too. The fact just is that there are more great applicants than seats available and not every qualified applicant can land a spot at a T20

That’s not what I’m saying at all. I know how the interview and review process works at my school and have participated in the review myself.

Someone with a 518 and interesting enough experiences gets an interview 100% of the time barring red flags.

Re the three years ago thing. My application cycle is the one currently represented by MSAR if I understand things correctly. If not I’m 1 year older at most, not three.

 

[dodolol21]

That’s not what I’m saying at all. I know how the interview and review process works at my school and have participated in the review myself.

Someone with a 518 and interesting enough experiences gets an interview 100% of the time barring red flags.

Re the three years ago thing. My application cycle is the one currently represented by MSAR if I understand things correctly. If not I’m 1 year older at most, not three.

lol take a glance at my app and if you can tell me why I didn't get an II at your school I will accept defeat

also, if you're an MS2 doesn't that mean you started school in 2017? meaning you applied in 2016, so yeah my bad 2 app cycles ago and 1 year old on the MSAR.

 

[kb1900]

lol take a glance at my app and if you can tell me why I didn't get an II at your school I will accept defeat

also, if you're an MS2 doesn't that mean you started school in 2017? meaning you applied in 2016, so yeah my bad 2 app cycles ago and 1 year old on the MSAR.

got the same # of interviews as you with similar stats. can't speak to your acceptances tho... 2 acceptances from 10 interviews feels low

i also dont know your experiences whatsoever - whether they were interesting/cookie cutter/highly accomplished and so on...so im not really sure what point you're trying to make except that you're salty about how your cycle went which i can understand. fact of the matter is that you won't care within a month of starting school - but i get it.

maybe i didnt clarify enough but "interesting enough experiences" = something thats not cookie cutter or catches someones interest

 

[dodolol21]

got the same # of interviews as you with similar stats. can't speak to your acceptances tho... 2 acceptances from 10 interviews feels low

i also dont know your experiences whatsoever - whether they were interesting/cookie cutter/highly accomplished and so on...so im not really sure what point you're trying to make except that you're salty about how your cycle went which i can understand. fact of the matter is that you won't care within a month of starting school - but i get it.

maybe i didnt clarify enough but "interesting enough experiences" = something that's not cookie cutter or catches someone's interest

lol sorry it's hard to read emotions off text but I'm not salty about my cycle, I'm just trying to debate (in a friendly way) with you on the point that "Someone with a 518 and interesting enough experiences gets an interview 100% of the time barring red flags."

 

[deleted962973]

got the same # of interviews as you with similar stats. can't speak to your acceptances tho... 2 acceptances from 10 interviews feels low

i also dont know your experiences whatsoever - whether they were interesting/cookie cutter/highly accomplished and so on...so im not really sure what point you're trying to make except that you're salty about how your cycle went which i can understand. fact of the matter is that you won't care within a month of starting school - but i get it.

maybe i didnt clarify enough but "interesting enough experiences" = something thats not cookie cutter or catches someones interest

Lol @dodolol21 has been pretty reasonable about his cycle and expectations. It’s not a matter of being salty, I think he’s just expressing that you can do most things right and not end up with a T20 acceptance.

 

[riverrunner]

I haven't heard of state schools yield protecting students. A good amount of high scorers end up at their state schools, and talking to high scorers, state schools know this and give A's if you can explain your ties to the area.

I don't know if "yield protect" is the right term for what I'm observing, but I'm seeing 520+ students rejected from our regional state schools that have a mission statement leading with "training primary care doctors to serve rural communities". I wonder if these high-scoring students are perceived as being doctors who will ultimately not be interested in running a clinic in a small town. These same students are admitted to more selective private medical schools. So there's nothing inherently wrong with their applications.

Do states tasked with recruiting primary care physicians select against super-high scorers? It seems like that might be the case. I like the statement that a 518 is the perfect score.

 

[kb1900]

Lol @dodolol21 has been pretty reasonable about his cycle and expectations. It’s not a matter of being salty, I think he’s just expressing that you can do most things right and not end up with a T20 acceptance.

Fair enough. Nothing in this process is a guarantee that’s for sure. I’m also definitely biased by my cohort of friends when put in perspective with other posters in this thread though I maintain that I think there’s a lot to be said about EC/hobby quality

 

[deleted804295]

three years ago when you applied a 518 was worth alot more than it is today. Also -- it's really unreasonable to assume that 3/4 of the people who score in the 52X range don't have great extracurriculars too. The fact just is that there are more great applicants than seats available and not every qualified applicant can land a spot at a T20

The difference between a 518 and 520 really comes down to a few missed questions. 520 is not the gold standard. It's an arbitrary number and 518 seriously is a beautiful score when it comes down to it.

 

[deleted804295]

I don't know if "yield protect" is the right term for what I'm observing, but I'm seeing 520+ students rejected from our regional state schools that have a mission statement leading with "training primary care doctors to serve rural communities". I wonder if these high-scoring students are perceived as being doctors who will ultimately not be interested in running a clinic in a small town. These same students are admitted to more selective private medical schools. So there's nothing inherently wrong with their applications.

Do states tasked with recruiting primary care physicians select against super-high scorers? It seems like that might be the case. I like the statement that a 218 is the perfect score.

I think the idea is with scores that high these are the sorts of high achieving students that would rather specialize.

Also 218....? Can Step 1 scores even go that low?

 

[ObjectiveBoba]

The difference between a 518 and 520 really comes down to a few missed questions. 520 is not the gold standard. It's an arbitrary number and 518 seriously is a beautiful score when it comes down to it.

It is a great score, but when adcoms are basically considering students from the 92nd percentile and onwards for ORMs, the difference between the 96th percentile and 98th percentile becomes much larger than I think one would expect.

An adcom at a T10 used to tell me that what you want is something to grab the reviewers attention so that they are forced to read your application closely. A 518 probably won't do it -- a 521 might (judging by the skyrocketing MCAT medians...).

 

[ThrowawayShmoaway]

Also 218....? Can Step 1 scores even go that low?

Yes; the passing score is 194, so scores can obviously go even lower than that

 

[deleted938090]

lol sorry it's hard to read emotions off text but I'm not salty about my cycle, I'm just trying to debate (in a friendly way) with you on the point that "Someone with a 518 and interesting enough experiences gets an interview 100% of the time barring red flags."

Not even a 528 guarantees an interview. My friends who have 524-528 and 3.9x-4.0 didn't get interviewed everywhere. I don't think it's possible to get an interview anywhere 100% of the time, and that's okay because there are many equally good programs (and I'm broke).
During my interview trail, I saw many people with MCATs around 517+ so certainly 518 won't prevent you from getting interviewed anywhere.

 

[907914]

Not even a 528 guarantees an interview. My friends who have 524-528 and 3.9x-4.0 didn't get interviewed everywhere. I don't think it's possible to get an interview anywhere 100% of the time, and that's okay because there are many equally good programs (and I'm broke).
During my interview trail, I saw many people with MCATs around 517+ so certainly 518 won't prevent you from getting interviewed anywhere.

I think it is possible to get pretty darn close to an interview everywhere you apply.

In it his last cycle, had a friend that applied 20, got 17 II and 13 acceptances...

URM, Military, Low SES background, great Essays and LORs. GPA 4.0, MCAT 504...Imagine if that MCAT were higher. Dude would have gotten those last three Interviews.

 

[deleted938090]

I think it is possible to get pretty darn close to an interview everywhere you apply.

In it his last cycle, had a friend that applied 20, got 17 II and 13 acceptances...

URM, Military, Low SES background, great Essays and LORs. GPA 4.0, MCAT 504...Imagine if that MCAT were higher. Dude would have gotten those last three Interviews.

I mean, I could argue that if he only applied to 6 of the schools he received II at, he'd technically have 100% interview rate 😛
But making an app that guarantees an interview from X SOM/COM? I don't think that's possible without significant connections.

 

[Lucca]

I mean, I could argue that if he only applied to 6 of the schools he received II at, he'd technically have 100% interview rate 😛
But making an app that guarantees an interview from X SOM/COM? I don't think that's possible without significant connections.

I've seen one clean sweep in 5 yrs and it was from a URM Rhodes Scholar with an 80+ LizzyM.

 

[907914]

I've seen one clean sweep in 5 yrs and it was from a URM Rhodes Scholar with an 80+ LizzyM.

All these years, avoiding any and all sports is the exact opposite of what I should have been doing...

 

[riverrunner]

I think the idea is with scores that high these are the sorts of high achieving students that would rather specialize.

Also 218....? Can Step 1 scores even go that low?

Typo: should have read "518" not 218; I was referring to MCAT not Step 1. Sorry about that.