At what point does MCAT start to matter more than GPA?

[lolpremed22]

This is a hypothetical question. Which is better: 3.95 with 522 or 4.0 with 520. Or if the gap was more extreme: 3.8 with 525 vs 4.0 with 515.

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[cactusman]

I would say in both those cases the higher MCAT is better. In the first, there's very little difference, but 2 points beats 0.05 GPA. In the second, 515 is low for a number of schools, 3.8 won't keep you out of anywhere, and 525 puts you in an extremely small pool.

 

[Seihai]

I think this was something that was explored here:

Success rate of those who applied with your cGPA and MCAT

Old thread, so I'm not sure how relevant it is to the current date now.

The numbers you've given in terms of GPA are already high enough that I think the bottleneck would be in the MCAT score.

 

[Lost in Translation]

I think any sGPA over 3.6x is adequate for all but the top 10 schools. MCAT matters a lot more than GPA for sure. And it's the same with Step 1.

Such a broken system.

 

[Lucca]

High McAT scores are far rarer than high GPAs. For that reason, the MCAT is more valuable, generally speaking.

a GPA of 3.85 will be higher than the 10% line at basically every single school in the country, if not all of them. So I would say at that point it's more beneficial to have a higher mcat score.

 

[BombsAway]

High McAT scores are far rarer than high GPAs. For that reason, the MCAT is more valuable, generally speaking.

a GPA of 3.85 will be higher than the 10% line at basically every single school in the country, if not all of them. So I would say at that point it's more beneficial to have a higher mcat score.

Just for the lulz, check out UTMB's median GPA on MSAR.

 

[Goro]

This is a hypothetical question. Which is better: 3.95 with 522 or 4.0 with 520. Or if the gap was more extreme: 3.8 with 525 vs 4.0 with 515.

3.95 with 522 = 4.0 with 520. This is like asking "what's better, a 98 or a 97?"


3.8 with 525 > 4.0 with 515

 

[BombsAway]

3.95 with 522 = 4.0 with 520. This is like asking "what's better, a 98 or a 97?"

the 97 is better. Because seven ate nine.

 

[Lawpy]

I think this was something that was explored here:

Success rate of those who applied with your cGPA and MCAT

Old thread, so I'm not sure how relevant it is to the current date now.

The numbers you've given in terms of GPA are already high enough that I think the bottleneck would be in the MCAT score.

Here is the updated thread

 

[Lawpy]

This is a hypothetical question. Which is better: 3.95 with 522 or 4.0 with 520. Or if the gap was more extreme: 3.8 with 525 vs 4.0 with 515.

Past a 3.8, differences in GPA become insignificant. You compare MCAT scores by percentiles. Past a 520, differences in MCAT become insignificant. A 525 is significantly better than a 515 (difference of 7 percentile points).

 

[cactusman]

the 97 is better. Because seven ate nine.

Columbia will be afraid of you though.

 

[chillingpanda]

So is there zero point in stressing over a say a 3.7 sgpa vs a 3.8 sgpa if you're just trying to get into any low/mid tier MD schools?

 

[cactusman]

So is there zero point in stressing over a say a 3.7 sgpa vs a 3.8 sgpa if you're just trying to get into any low/mid tier MD schools?

Some mid-tiers do have pretty high average GPAs (e.g. SLU), but a 3.7 is approximately the MD matriculant median and it will get you where you want to be. Possible exception for TX residents, although "stressing" per se is unproductive.

 

[mwsapphire]

So is there zero point in stressing over a say a 3.7 sgpa vs a 3.8 sgpa if you're just trying to get into any low/mid tier MD schools?

Try to have as strong an UW trend as you can, ( w/o worrying about cum. GPA) , and you'll be fine for mid tiers/ lower tiers. Ntm a ton of mid teirs have mean matriculant means in the 3.7 range.

 

[chillingpanda]

Try to have as strong an UW trend as you can, ( w/o worrying about cum. GPA) , and you'll be fine for mid tiers/ lower tiers. Ntm a ton of mid teirs have mean matriculant means in the 3.7 range.

Can you elaborate by what you mean without worrying about cum. gpa? My cgpa is ~3.84 rn, but my sgpa is about 3.77, and I have like 2 more science classes to take and some bs electives before I graduate, so I don't know if I should be disappointed if I can't bring my sgpa to a 3.8 if my current and fall semester doesn't go my way.

 

[bbbcccppp]

the 97 is better. Because seven ate nine.

True. But f didn't know where to find k


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[bbbcccppp]

Can you elaborate by what you mean without worrying about cum. gpa? My cgpa is ~3.84 rn, but my sgpa is about 3.77, and I have like 2 more science classes to take and some bs electives before I graduate, so I don't know if I should be disappointed if I can't bring my sgpa to a 3.8 if my current and fall semester doesn't go my way.

I think that the experts will tell you what you already know. Every little bit helps, but no particular bit supercedes the other bits. In ow my advice is to have a Good plan for the mcats, develop an idea of how you will score in the couple months before the test. I am thinking 509 would be a reasonable target for most people in a 375 gpa zone. Try to get good grades in your remaining classes. And I would navigate around prepping mcat rather than in notching gpa up.


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[chillingpanda]

I think that the experts will tell you what you already know. Every little bit helps, but no particular bit supercedes the other bits. In ow my advice is to have a Good plan for the mcats, develop an idea of how you will score in the couple months before the test. I am thinking 509 would be a reasonable target for most people in a 375 gpa zone. Try to get good grades in your remaining classes. And I would navigate around prepping mcat rather than in notching gpa up.


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Gotcha. I guess I'm just worried because I've been seeing people with 3.75 and 510 mcat not getting accepted or sometimes zero interviews on this forum. Granted, they may have not chosen the right schools...but it's pretty frightening how much of a crapshoot this is process is

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

I know some private schools mentioned they look at undergrad institution attended on some table I can't find right now (I think @gyngyn or @gonnif maybe have shared it in the past). I imagined that your undergrad institution puts your GPA into perspective for some AdComms if they cared that much. For example, I'm from Missouri. A 3.8 at WUSTL is possibly a bit more impressive than a 3.8 at a relatively unknown school like Missouri Western Univ. The MCAT sort of normalizes these GPA variances, so I always thought it was important to do well on for people from unknown universities/colleges.

TL;DR: If you have > 515 MCAT and > 3.80 GPA then you have nothing to worry about from a metrics standpoint for the vast majority of schools

Edit:

Gotcha. I guess I'm just worried because I've been seeing people with 3.75 and 510 mcat not getting accepted or sometimes zero interviews on this forum. Granted, they may have not chosen the right schools...but it's pretty frightening how much of a crapshoot this is process is

That is almost exactly me re: choosing the right schools. If you have those stats, then you have good chances of getting into somewhere provided you have ECs

 

[libertyyne]

Gpas can be goosed , greased , padded , or be so different in terms of rigor that they are harder to compare two candidates from different schools with a 3.5 vs a 3.6 . On the other hand MCAT is pretty straight forward and standardized. You need to meet a threshold of GPA , after that it is all MCAT.

 

[bbbcccppp]

Gotcha. I guess I'm just worried because I've been seeing people with 3.75 and 510 mcat not getting accepted or sometimes zero interviews on this forum. Granted, they may have not chosen the right schools...but it's pretty frightening how much of a crapshoot this is process is

It is and it isn't. If you get a 4.0 and a 520 on your MCAT then schools will be fighting over you. If you have a 3.2 and a 495 you probably won't get any MD schools to engage Then there are all gradations in between. GPA mcat volunteering research and clinical exposure and hobbies are all tipping the scale. MSAR has all the stats that you need. I recommend studying the stats but not worrying about anecdotal outliers that may be posted. Just put yourself in the best possible position. Consider the source of the posts you read here. There are some Admission Committee members kindly giving their time and advice on SDN. They tend to have 3000 or more posts on SDN and may give you very reliable information here.


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