Cut-offs?

[Freddy23]

I was just wondering if anyone knew of the cut-off numbers i.e. GPA and MCAT of some med schools? I know that in most med school descriptions it states that there aren't any strict cut-offs, but I've heard that most med schools don't send out secondaries or give interviews below certain numbers.

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[Tigger Tiger]

I think you will receive a secondary from most schools since the majority of schools do NOT screen (the only ones that come immediately to mind are Duke, UC's, and Stanford).

Ok ... I want to edit this.

I think it is extremely difficult to give you cut-off numbers for schools. There is so much more than simply numbers when considering a candidate for admissions (or at least I hope so). For instance, I was told that as a caucasian male, I need at least a 11 in verbal to receive a Stanford secondary. This is *not* the case. I received one with a 10.

And of course, there are the stories of people with really low MCAT scores (PLEASE do not get into the URM debate since this also applies to non-URMs) getting into ivies.

To sum up, I don't think there are specific numbers that anyone can give you. Being a doctor is more than just numbers... I think the majority of adcomms realize this.

[This message has been edited by Tigger Tiger (edited 11-09-1999).]

 

[JamesBond]

I have a friend who matriculated at Harvard in the fall of 1998. He is white, had 33 on the MCAT, and a GPA of 2.9 from Princeton. However, before you cast stones on this guy--he worked in the Johns Hopkins University research lab for 3 years (with an immaculate track record); he was in the Peace Corps; he was involved in Habitiat for Humanity, and he taught ESL classes to immigrants in New York (he spoke French, Italian, Spanish, English, and Hebrew).

 

[Vegeta]

It sounds as if anyone opted to "cast stones" at your friend that recently got accepted to Harvard, he would be capable of running circles around the alleged caster of stones while rebuking them in several different languages while attempting to convert them to Christianity. P.S. I think a character like your friend deserves to matriculate into what arguably is the most prestigious Medical School in the nation.