Do adcoms look at GPA and/or MCAT in bins?

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A question that I have been wondering for a while and wanted to ask some adcoms on this site:

When reviewing an application, are GPAs and MCAT scores viewed as part of bins/categories or as stand-alone numbers?

So like is a 516 in a 515-517 bin or is it just a 516? Similarly, is a 3.73 in a 3.7-3.75 bin?

Because I guess the MCAT is reported with a confidence interval range.

 

[Goro]

A question that I have been wondering for a while and wanted to ask some adcoms on this site:

When reviewing an application, are GPAs and MCAT scores viewed as part of bins/categories or as stand-alone numbers?

So like is a 516 in a 515-517 bin or is it just a 516? Similarly, is a 3.73 in a 3.7-3.75 bin?

Because I guess the MCAT is reported with a confidence interval range.

We do NOT look at them this way. Only pre-meds seem to.

We tend to like %tiles.

SDNers should not focus on single metrics.

 

[Catalystik]

A question that I have been wondering for a while and wanted to ask some adcoms on this site:

When reviewing an application, are GPAs and MCAT scores viewed as part of bins/categories or as stand-alone numbers?

So like is a 516 in a 515-517 bin or is it just a 516? Similarly, is a 3.73 in a 3.7-3.75 bin?

Because I guess the MCAT is reported with a confidence interval range.

Each adcomm has a limited view of how other schools do things. Based on my view, I'd guess that most schools are likely to use complex formulas that incorporate multiple metrics (with raw numbers) and various adjustment factors. Only a few share their approach in a transparent manner. At least one school does assign all applications with MCAT scores across a given short range to one screener, but I don't know that the range covers what you'd consider an entire bin. I haven't heard of this being done with GPAs, but then it's less reliable to do head-to-head GPA comparisons unless applicants come from the same school.