It is like being too poor to afford health insurance but too wealthy to qualify for state insurance. This is the "gap coverage" thread lol.
In reality, this statistical group is in somewhat of a limbo chances-wise among the high stats applicants. It sounds really neurotic but here is my explanation for stress from being in this group:
65-83% chance of acceptance is good. It is really good. However, it isn't like....SUPER good. Hear me out, I know this is going to sound like I am too neurotic, but hear me out.
For high stats applicants, where there is only a 5-11% chance of rejection, that small amount can almost certainly be explained by either poor school lists or poor interview skills. A high stats applicant that gets rejected everywhere can almost certainly know that it was because of lacking in skills, not the inherent randomness of the cycle.
A mid/low-stats applicant has a 45-100% chance of rejection. These applicants inherently know that they are more likely to get rejected everywhere than not. They know it will be an uphill battle to get in and that getting rejected everywhere is a combination of poor school lists, insufficent stats, insufficient application, inherent randomness. They have room to improve. They can do better next cycle simply by retaking the MCAT or what have you.
mid GPA with High MCAT is limbo. We cannot do better simply by retaking the MCAT. Our GPA is not bad enough to justify a postbacc or an SMP. 17-35% chance of rejection is pretty low comparatively, but it is not a low enough rejection rate to be in our control. The best school list and the best interview skills cannot mitigate all of the rejections. So it is not as simple as 'getting rejected because of a lack of skills' or 'getting rejected by something we can improve.' The mid-ground application limbo folks don't know why we get rejected (all else equal) and the unknown is scary.
