Are current physicians unaware what a modern competitive MCAT score is?

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a few physicians ive talked to and a few older people whose siblings/cousins/friends/etc went to medschool are blown away when i tell them I scored high 20's on my MCAT. Is this common now-a-days? obviously a small population size to draw from for me so im wondering if other people have similar/different experiences.
 
Well the avg MCAT of matriculated students seems to have steadily increased each year. Over time, these small increases result in a large gain.
 
The physician I work for (she's about 40) asked me what subjects were tested on the MCAT because she forgot. I just think that once you pass that stage in your life, you don't care about/remember specifics anymore...
 
medic86 said:
All the docs I've spoke to are like "that's a great score!" (28)

Suffice it to say: they don't participate in the admissions process. 😛
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Its also possible that they're saying that because they don't want you to feel bad. 😛
 
When I took the MCAT and Step 1, my father couldn't remember if he took either of those tests (MD from the 70s). I doubt any of our attendings know even the most basic scoring of the MCAT. Nobody cares what your MCAT is after you get into medical school. It is as meaningless as your SAT score.
 
mimelim said:
... my father couldn't remember if he took either of those tests (MD from the 70s).
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Please, everyone remembers their SAT and MCAT scores. 🙄

Pre 1985-ish, the MCAT was not as important as it is now as a demarcation between applicants (because they'll let anyone into medical school now, even the middle class :yuck:). General knowledge questions were just that, not meant to be hard or anything. Met a medical school applicant last cycle with a 3.82 GPA from Brown and a 36 MCAT who could not answer the name of the space shuttle that blew up on take off and in what year, the name of the president that went by "LBJ", and what language do they speak in Hungary? She was great at math though...
 
I had my podiatrist tell me a 42 was competitive back in his day🙄 (I scored a 39 and he told me I'd have trouble getting into podiatry school, let alone MD)

The ER doc I shadowed (he got into med school sometime in the 80's I believe) said you used to get separate scores for physics, chem, biology, organic, and verbal? So i guess that 42 was probably across 5 sections (so 8-9 average). The doc I shadowed scored a 14V 10B 8-9 for the other three (he wasn't totally sure about the physics chem and orgo sections, and he couldn't remember if they gave subscores to a combined chem/physics section or if they were separate sections).

Can anyone else confirm this?

Edit: Just confirmed this. Pre 1992 MCAT was actually 6 subscores. So thats probably why my podiatrist thought I was bats*** crazy when I said I'd be applying to MDs with a 39...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_College_Admission_Test

So older physicians who don't do admissions probably don't understand modern scores, anyone who took it after '92 probably does.

Quite honestly I probably won't understand the new scoring system either 😉
 
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Danbo1957 said:
Please, everyone remembers their SAT and MCAT scores. 🙄

Pre 1985-ish, the MCAT was not as important as it is now as a demarcation between applicants (because they'll let anyone into medical school now, even the middle class :yuck:). General knowledge questions were just that, not meant to be hard or anything. Met a medical school applicant last cycle with a 3.82 GPA from Brown and a 36 MCAT who could not answer the name of the space shuttle that blew up on take off and in what year, the name of the president that went by "LBJ", and what language do they speak in Hungary? She was great at math though...
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Dang well I didn't know off the top off my head the first two... I guess I'm going to withdraw from medical school :arghh:
 
Yes, several doctors have said my 27 MCAT was great and that they got in with lower. Not just DO's, there were 2 MD's I shadow who said so. I just think like someone does when their grandpa says something wrong, Maybe 20-30 years ago. Then get back to my MCAT retake studying.
 
I found that, unless they are on the admissions committee for medical school or residency programs, a lot of physicians are clueless on what it takes to get accepted nowadays. Many doctors I shadow or work with directly are always so sweet and saying everything I want to hear.
During one of my meetings with this other doctor who is on the admissions team, I pretty much got straight up told- I'm boring. I don't stand out and I'll most likely be looked over. OUCH. lol but honest words helped me rethink my approach. I think I have that one conversation a few years ago to thank for my interviews.
 
Old&InTheWay said:
Why would any physician not involved in med school admissions have any idea about MCAT scores? Seems like something you never need to talk/think about again once you get accepted.
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I'm not even sure how to tell people to study for Step 1 and that was only 3(?) years ago.
 
My parents are unimpressed with anything under 35.... would rather their score delusions be pointed in the other direction
 
Danbo1957 said:
Please, everyone remembers their SAT....
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Negative...I took the SAT 15 years ago and haven't the foggiest clue what I got aside from the fact that it was evidently good enough to get into college :laugh:.
 
asdf123g said:
Are current physicians unaware what a modern competitive MCAT score is?
Click to expand...

Why would they care? MCAT scores should cease to exist the moment you get accepted into medical school.
 
Hospitalized said:
Why would they care? MCAT scores should cease to exist the moment you get accepted into medical school.
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A reason they might want to care is because they may be the only person in the medical field in the family and other family members may seek them for advice on admissions. If they are not aware the average MCAT score went up, they may unwittingly being giving some bad advice when they say your 29 is just fine.
 
When I was shadowing, I spoke with multiple residents and attendings. Not one would tell me their MCAT score.

I'm pretty sure some of them remembered their score (some were only 4 years post-test), but it was pretty clear they did not want to give it in order to keep the conversation from turning into a d#ck-measuring contest.
 
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One of my humanities professors is an MD who graduated from medical school in the 1960s(!!) and when I told him I wanted to go to medical school he seemed very knowledgeable about the process but he interacts with a lot of pre-meds in the humanities in general so there's that. I guess it all depends on how often you talk to neurotic undergrads.
 
Danbo1957 said:
Please, everyone remembers their SAT and MCAT scores. 🙄

Pre 1985-ish, the MCAT was not as important as it is now as a demarcation between applicants (because they'll let anyone into medical school now, even the middle class :yuck:). General knowledge questions were just that, not meant to be hard or anything. Met a medical school applicant last cycle with a 3.82 GPA from Brown and a 36 MCAT who could not answer the name of the space shuttle that blew up on take off and in what year, the name of the president that went by "LBJ", and what language do they speak in Hungary? She was great at math though...
Click to expand...

Haha, as a Hungarian speaker myself, I always get that question. "What do they speak in Hungary?" Sometimes I think the MCAT is more annoying that it needs to be, especially with physics (really, when are we going to use free body diagrams in medicine?) but it is what it is I guess.
 
I'm an older generation MD and took the MCAT in 1990. Scores were from a 0-90 scale along 6 sections (max of 15 on each section).

Back when I took it, a 'pretty good' MCAT score was anything >=60. Getting above a 60 with a decent GPA was almost a sure-fire way to get at least one acceptance. Top tier schools required total score >=70. In my medical school class there were kids with scores in low 40's and some with scores in mid-70's.
 
Spinach Dip said:
When I was shadowing, I spoke with multiple residents and attendings. Not one would tell me their MCAT score.

I'm pretty sure some of them remembered their score (some were only 4 years post-test), but it was pretty clear they did not want to give it in order to keep the conversation from turning into a d#ck-measuring contest.
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did you ask them? or did they just not mention their scores?
 
DrHart said:
did you ask them? or did they just not mention their scores?
Click to expand...

It usually came up when they asked where I was in the app process. Always congenial, but never talking about specific scores.
 
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