Admissions Formulas

[clinicalhopeful]

I've heard from various people that some schools have formulas they use to weed out students at the beginning, based on their GPA and GRE scores. How widely used are these formulas? And are there any that are known so I could input my current and projected stats into them?

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[JockNerd]

I've heard from various people that some schools have formulas they use to weed out students at the beginning, based on their GPA and GRE scores. How widely used are these formulas? And are there any that are known so I could input my current and projected stats into them?

(GRE-V)*.75 + (GPA)*1.25 + (# pubs and presentations)*2 + (Years research experience)^2 = your value as a person

There're no such formulas. Some schools (mine for example) have solid rules handed down from on high (college admin) about certain things--for example, no one with a sub-1000 GRE or sub-3.0 gpa can be admitted to my program, period; they wouldn't be approved by the college. My understanding is that most universities have similar requirements--very low minimums that most applicants should meet. They're not going to kick someone with a 1100 GRE and 5 first-author pubs for someone who has a 1550 GRE and a 4.0 GPA and nothing else. Assuming you're applying to phd programs, your fit with a prof will be the most important thing.

You didn't ask, but in my opinion when you're looking for formulas and equations to evaluate yourself in this way, it's time to take a day off preparing applications and go for a long walk in a nice park.

 

[cara susanna]

Some schools do have formulas for cutoffs. UW Madison does for sure.

 

[JockNerd]

Some schools do have formulas for cutoffs. UW Madison does for sure.

Right you are, here it is:

For Clinical Applicants: the Clinical Area Group has adopted the following minimum criteria: (a) [(Undergraduate GPA) x (393.9)] + [(GRE verbal score) + (GRE quantitative score)] must be equal to or greater than 2600; and (b) commitment to a research career.

But again, I see this as more of an exception that proves the rule. You also need a 1200 combined gre to apply, so that leaves 1400/393.9 = 3.55 for the absolute min GPA if you get as bad as allowed on the GRE. Not mountainous requirements.

 

[myelin]

.

 

[PinkSoil]

My school doesn't have cutoff scores for standarized test. They assign a point value (1-4) to each piece of the application--those that meet a certain total at the end get put aside... and then they pick the interviews from those.

My friend applied to George Washington U and his application was thrown out immediately because of his undergrad GPA-- even though he was almost done with a Masters and had a 3.8 grad GPA.

 

[SourPatchKid]

pinksoil, what GPA was that?

 

[PinkSoil]

pinksoil, what GPA was that?

oooh I love your name and signature line. Ummm, I don't remember what his exact GPA was, but I do know that it was pretty crappy. He had called the school to find out the reason for his rejection. He just found is a bit surprising since he obviously proved he could do graduate level work by his graduate GPA.