Calling those with high MCAT, low GPA

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JustDoingMe said:
I'm applying right now with a 3.52 cgpa and a 3.5 sgpa and a 520 MCAT. I applied all over the board as well. I've gotten 5 invites (2 of my state schools, one OOS public school, one low tier private school and one top 20 private school) and have gotten rejections from 3 schools (2 mid tier private schools, one OOS public school). The discrepancy was asked about in one of my interviews and I just said something about life getting in the way and having a bad couple of semesters. I kind of regret not taking time off to work on my GPA and at least have this semester's grades factored in, but the process has been going well so far so I can't complain too much.
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Congrats dude!
I have very similar stats (3.47 cgpa and sgpa) and 520 MCAT. I don't have any invites yet, but I was complete at 31 MD schools between August 22nd and Sept 10th. If I ever get as many as you I'd be ecstatic.
 
baratheonfire said:
Congrats dude!
I have very similar stats (3.47 cgpa and sgpa) and 520 MCAT. I don't have any invites yet, but I was complete at 31 MD schools between August 22nd and Sept 10th. If I ever get as many as you I'd be ecstatic.
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Thank you so much 🙂 And good luck to you! I'm sure you'll be hearing back soon.
 
baratheonfire said:
Congrats dude!
I have very similar stats (3.47 cgpa and sgpa) and 520 MCAT. I don't have any invites yet, but I was complete at 31 MD schools between August 22nd and Sept 10th. If I ever get as many as you I'd be ecstatic.
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I have very bad sGPA <3.5. I have gotten some love from state schools and one private. Honestly I am grateful for any II's. Keep your chin up you should get some love if your school selection was broad enough.
 
Update on my situation (non-trad, 520 MCAT, 3.3 cGPA, 3.8 sGPA): My total is now 4 II, 2 rejections, and about 34 question marks. I seem to be getting most of my love from local schools with the exception of Georgetown. Honestly at this point even if every other school rejected me I would be happy with this result. All I wanted was a chance to show my stuff at the interview and I'm lucky enough to be getting it.

Keep your chin up people! You may have a discouraging year, like my last cycle, but it can turn around! So far 2 of my IIs came from schools who rejected me without an interview last cycle! I think it really can depend on just who happens to be looking at your app and what their mood is that day...
 
Marcion said:
Update on my situation (non-trad, 520 MCAT, 3.3 cGPA, 3.8 sGPA): My total is now 4 II, 2 rejections, and about 34 question marks. I seem to be getting most of my love from local schools with the exception of Georgetown. Honestly at this point even if every other school rejected me I would be happy with this result. All I wanted was a chance to show my stuff at the interview and I'm lucky enough to be getting it.

Keep your chin up people! You may have a discouraging year, like my last cycle, but it can turn around! So far 2 of my IIs came from schools who rejected me without an interview last cycle! I think it really can depend on just who happens to be looking at your app and what their mood is that day...
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Congrats friend! I have similar stats but no IIs yet lol, up to 3 rejections and 3 holds, 25 complete question marks
 
baratheonfire said:
Congrats friend! I have similar stats but no IIs yet lol, up to 3 rejections and 3 holds, 25 complete question marks
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Hang in there, you have a baller mcat so I'm positive you'll hear good news soon.
 
Figured I'd throw a post in just because. I applied to 20 schools (fairly late, especially since I applied MD/PhD). 3.29/3.63/519, strong upward trend. I know that my sGPA is not low, but my cGPA definitely qualifies me for the thread.

So far, I got 2 rejections (Utah and UNC) and 2 interviews in Texas, and then an II to WashU, but for MD-only. I know that MD/PhD tends to be fairly different, but I am outside of the 10-90 for both GPA and MCAT for one of the schools in TX and then right at the 90% MCAT in the other while still being <10% for GPA. For WashU, I am <<10% GPA and then ~50% MCAT. Both of my rejections had lower LizzyM than me, and Utah actually cut me out on a prescreen.

So, for the TL;DR crowd, there appears to be little rhyme or reason to the pattern. 1 II from ~ my LizzyM, 1 II from well below, and 1 II from well above it. I would definitely apply broadly!
 
Anyone know how the high MCAT/low GPA is seen if the lowish (3.4) GPA is due to a difficult major? Getting a 3.4 in engineering probably helped me perform on the MCAT but damn, I can't help but feel I should have just done Biology and saved my GPA. Applying with a 514/3.4 and a 514/3.95 would be so incredibly different. Good ways to address this anomaly in an application?
 
WedgeDawg said:
There are certain schools that seem to have higher favorability towards applicants with higher MCATs and lower GPAs (assuming like a 3.4/36 or something like that). These include Hofstra, USC-Keck, Virginia Tech, a few of the NY state schools, and some of the schools that most recently opened.

If you want a general strategy, find schools where your MCAT is not above the 90th percentile and your GPA is not below the 10th percentile and use those schools as the base for your application.
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I'm confused. Would these schools accept someone with high MCAT AND high GPA?
 
cGPA/sGPA: both <3.0
MCAT: 510 (unbalanced)

I applied to 33 programs, but only completed 20 (due to finances, secondaries are expensive!) I've got 1 II so far...
 
CognitiveSci said:
cGPA/sGPA: both <3.0
MCAT: 510 (unbalanced)

I applied to 33 programs, but only completed 20 (due to finances, secondaries are expensive!) I've got 1 II so far...
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Congrats on the II
Md or do?
 
Not trynna be that guy but I wanna join the club! 3.6/3.2 518!
 
Since two people posted on here recently, I wouldn't mind resurrecting this thread. I'd love to hear how other people's cycles are going.
 
DBC03 said:
Since two people posted on here recently, I wouldn't mind resurrecting this thread. I'd love to hear how other people's cycles are going.
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Yeah, but half of that resurrection was somebody with a 3.6 gpa, not sure how helpful that will be on this subject.
 
mehc012 said:
Yeah, but half of that resurrection was somebody with a 3.6 gpa, not sure how helpful that will be on this subject.
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Humorously enough I posted that nearly a year ago toward the beginning of the last cycle, so I should probably update with my own results. GPA around 3.4, MCAT over 520. School list crafted by MCAT (to top schools known to be friendly to those with upward grade trends and work history), and by GPA (where I was within the 10th percentile, but over MCAT 90th)- basically applied just about everywhere that was friendly to non-trads with upward GPA trends.

I received interviews at six schools, accepted to four, scholarships at all four. Good luck to any who visit this thread for encouragement during the next cycle.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Last edited:
DBC03 said:
Humorously enough I posted that nearly a year ago toward the beginning of the last cycle, so I should probably update with my own results. GPA around 3.4, MCAT over 520. School list crafted by MCAT (to top schools known to be friendly to those with upward grade trends and work history), and by GPA (where I was within the 10th percentile, but over MCAT 90th)- basically applied just about everywhere that was friendly to non-trads with upward GPA trends.

I received interviews at six schools, accepted to four, scholarships at all four. Good luck to any who visit this thread for encouragement during the next cycle.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
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Wow, that's very odd...I swear to you I just got the notification TODAY. It popped up on my computer and so I didn't even check the date. I don't go into Pre-Allo anymore so you know I wasn't just digging around. How strange.

EDIT: NVM, rechecked and it turns out someone just 'like'd one of my old posts higher on the page and I just clicked in thinking it was a new post. My bad.
 
mehc012 said:
Wow, that's very odd...I swear to you I just got the notification TODAY. It popped up on my computer and so I didn't even check the date. I don't go into Pre-Allo anymore so you know I wasn't just digging around. How strange.

EDIT: NVM, rechecked and it turns out someone just 'like'd one of my old posts higher on the page and I just clicked in thinking it was a new post. My bad.
Click to expand...

I figured there was a reason you posted again!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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