doctors w/1270 SAT or lower?

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zippitydoodoc

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Does anyone know any med students who scored a 1270 or lower on their SATs?
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zippitydoodoc said:
Does anyone know any med students who scored a 1270 or lower on their SATs?
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1270? Really, that is super low. I am surprised schools actually let people into any undergraduate college with that low of a score, much less medical school. I would honestly say that the threshold for getting into medicine is at least a 1400 if not 1450... I mean everyone in pre-allo knows that.
 
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People can change a lot from their junior year in high school til junior year in colllege.
 
Standardized exams only matter up until you pass that checkpoint: that is, no one cares which high school or SAT score you got once you got into college, no one will care which college or MCAT score you got once you make it into medical school, and so forth.
 
Instatewaiter said:
1270? Really, that is super low. I am surprised schools actually let people into any undergraduate college with that low of a score, much less medical school. I would honestly say that the threshold for getting into medicine is at least a 1400 if not 1450... I mean everyone in pre-allo knows that.
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145 IQ is also standard. If anybody with an IQ lower than 145 actually knew what the word medicine meant, I'd be astounded.
 
braluk said:
Standardized exams only matter up until you pass that checkpoint: that is, no one cares which high school or SAT score you got once you got into college, no one will care which college or MCAT score you got once you make it into medical school, and so forth.
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It's odd that many of my med school applications have asked for SAT scores then.
 
walkoffhr said:
It's odd that many of my med school applications have asked for SAT scores then.
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It's a mystery why, I can't get a straight answer from anybody in the know.
 
I'd love to correlational studies with SAT/MCAT/GPA/Step scores.
 
Instatewaiter said:
1270? Really, that is super low. I am surprised schools actually let people into any undergraduate college with that low of a score, much less medical school. I would honestly say that the threshold for getting into medicine is at least a 1400 if not 1450... I mean everyone in pre-allo knows that.
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I guess i'm way out of my league here then. :scared:
Look, I'm a different person than I was in high school so I hope the SAT's aren't really that important. 😳
 
The schools that ask for them (such as Jeff . . . and my premed committee for some reason) are probably just interested in them as an afterthought.

"Oh, Johnny only scored 1000 on his SAT but scored a 36 on the MCAT. Marked improvement."

"Hmm, Suzie scored a 1580 on her SAT but hasn't shown the same promise with the MCAT."


Even that's dubious at best.
 
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braluk said:
Standardized exams only matter up until you pass that checkpoint: that is, no one cares which high school or SAT score you got once you got into college, no one will care which college or MCAT score you got once you make it into medical school, and so forth.
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The steps are an exception to this though, with fellowships still looking at Step I after you've been in residency.
 
braluk said:
Standardized exams only matter up until you pass that checkpoint: that is, no one cares which high school or SAT score you got once you got into college, no one will care which college or MCAT score you got once you make it into medical school, and so forth.
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Well mostly. I know VCU asks what your ACT/SAT score was. My interviewer mentioned it briefly too.
 
It's not really true that SATs have nothing to do w/who you are four years later or w/medicine in general. I'm twenty-five and took mine eight years or so ago. In many ways, yes, I am also a different person. In some ways, though, I am not. My hair still grows brown. I'm still 6'2''... etc. SAT is an imperfect test, but it is an indication of your test-taking skills. Those skills are not set in stone (yes, hair color is an imperfect analogy), but they're not completely within your power to change either. Whether or not you can become a doctor has a lot to do with whether or not you can score high enough on the MCAT, which has a lot to do with whether or not you have good test-taking skills, which has a lot to do with your SAT score.

That said, I am waiting to hear some sincere answers as to whether or not there are any admitted med-students w/scores close to 1270.
 
Well I scored higher than my school's valedictorian on the SAT, and I have a 1250 or something. She got into med school.

It takes more than an SAT score of X to get into med school.

End of discussion?
 
corbis11 said:
people actually studied for the SAT?
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When I was in high school, I feel like no one studied for the SAT. Then again, although I was friends with many other smart people, very few of them (if any) seemed like the Jessie Spano type.
 
Ya I was just thinking I didn't do that much better than that, but that was out of 1600. If you're talking about 2400 then ya I prolly agree.
 
mellowgirl said:
I guess i'm way out of my league here then. :scared:
Look, I'm a different person than I was in high school so I hope the SAT's aren't really that important. 😳
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Maybe you scored so low on SAT verbal because you couldn't discern sarcasm.
 
I actually only got a 1230 on the SAT... But it doesnt matter that much to me at this point. I just scored 247 on Step 1 and I'm planning a career in neurosurgery... Chances are none of my patients will care that I didnt study hard for the SAT.
 
mellowgirl said:
Whatever. I guess i'm way out of my league here then. Look, I'm a different person than I was in high school so I hope the SAT's aren't really that important.
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That's sarcasm? You mean you aren't a different person than you were in HS? 😕
 
zippitydoodoc said:
It's not really true that SATs have nothing to do w/who you are four years later or w/medicine in general. I'm twenty-five and took mine eight years or so ago. In many ways, yes, I am also a different person. In some ways, though, I am not. My hair still grows brown. I'm still 6'2''... etc. SAT is an imperfect test, but it is an indication of your test-taking skills. Those skills are not set in stone (yes, hair color is an imperfect analogy), but they're not completely within your power to change either. Whether or not you can become a doctor has a lot to do with whether or not you can score high enough on the MCAT, which has a lot to do with whether or not you have good test-taking skills, which has a lot to do with your SAT score.

That said, I am waiting to hear some sincere answers as to whether or not there are any admitted med-students w/scores close to 1270.
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My SAT score was significantly lower than 1270 (out of 1600). I got admitted to several med schools. Sure it helped that my MCAT score was closer to 40 than to 35. Getting straight A's on all my pre-reqs didn't hurt either. But that low SAT score will forever brand me as the loser that I am. Oh the shame!

If you're trying to figure out if you can do better on the MCAT than on the SAT, then I'd say you can.

If you're trying to get a pat on the back for having a high SAT score, and can't possibly imagine how someone with a low score could be worthy of med school, then I'd say you're a little deluded.
 
if i get into a med school this year, i'll be one.
 
No, not trying to pat myself on the back at all. All the people I know going into medicine have had MUCH higher SAT scores then I did, so I derive a lot of assurance from hearing from real people who say they did well on the MCAT and got into med school in spite of sub-1300 SATs. So far there seem to be a few of you, which is very encouraging to me. The decision to pursue medicine is daunting, especially at 25 not having taken any of the pre-reqs yet. I want to really believe that getting admitted to med-school is more than a remote possibility. It's not as simple as saying, I got SAT score X so I can or can't practice medicine. I'd rather be treated by an experienced Physician's Assistant over a young GP any day of the week though most PA's probably have lower average test scores. I'm just trying to feel more confident about the idea of taking the MCATs in a year in spite of the fact that all the people I know who are going to medicine are much better at standardized tests than I am.
 
kenmc3 said:
I actually only got a 1230 on the SAT... But it doesnt matter that much to me at this point. I just scored 247 on Step 1 and I'm planning a career in neurosurgery... Chances are none of my patients will care that I didnt study hard for the SAT.
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What up 1230!! I got the same score, didn't study either. 🙂
 
I thought about this issue and I honestly don't know anyone who got a 1200 SAT and scored a 35+ on the MCATs. Then again, at my school I actually only know 1 person with a 1200 SAT, and he isn't premed.
 
Wow I don't even remember what I got on those exams. I'll have to look that up, I heard some med schools (Wayne) actually ask. I was always under the impression that those exams didn't measure how intelligent you are, just how well you prepare.
 
littlealex said:
I thought about this issue and I honestly don't know anyone who got a 1200 SAT and scored a 35+ on the MCATs. Then again, at my school I actually only know 1 person with a 1200 SAT, and he isn't premed.
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It really isn't that hard to believe. I don't consider the SAT to be a knowledge test at all like the MCAT mostly is.

Anyway, anyone who has done research would certainly know that "correlation does not prove causation".
 
littlealex said:
I thought about this issue and I honestly don't know anyone who got a 1200 SAT and scored a 35+ on the MCATs. Then again, at my school I actually only know 1 person with a 1200 SAT, and he isn't premed.
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<1200, 37R. Nice to meet you.
 
Didn't even know people studied for the SAT back in the day, lol. I had a 1230 and am now a M2.
 
psipsina said:
Didn't even know people studied for the SAT back in the day, lol. I had a 1230 and am now a M2.
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You know, people actually pay for SAT prep classes. That's insane!
 
TheRealMD said:
You know, people actually pay for SAT prep classes. That's insane!
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Yeah I didn't even know such a thing existed! I think I remember my mom bought me a SAT vocab book I never looked at, lol.
 
Most likely everyone who is in med school now took the SAT on the 1600 point scale.

I bet there are lots of doctors with sub 1270 scores.
 
RokChalkJayhawk said:
Most likely everyone who is in med school now took the SAT on the 1600 point scale.

I bet there are lots of doctors with sub 1270 scores.
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Ahh, then again you have to remember that the grading scale changed in 1995 to where a 1240 pre-1995 is now a 1400. There's quite a bit of score inflation now.
 
new test or old... lol I took it before they changed it and added that writing section... or w/e they added... but I got a really LOW score, because I didn't have money for a prep course and plus I am not good at standardized test...:scared: the MCAT scares me... only because it's standardized...
 
zippitydoodoc said:
No, not trying to pat myself on the back at all. All the people I know going into medicine have had MUCH higher SAT scores then I did, so I derive a lot of assurance from hearing from real people who say they did well on the MCAT and got into med school in spite of sub-1300 SATs. So far there seem to be a few of you, which is very encouraging to me. The decision to pursue medicine is daunting, especially at 25 not having taken any of the pre-reqs yet.
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Well, I'm 25 and recently started taking pre-reqs with a non-trad crowd, and the SAT probably hasn't crossed my mind since early college. In fact, in thinking about it right now, I can't remember my exact score. It seems absurd to me that people at this age would be discussing SAT scores, no offense. I suggest not even thinking about this... it doesn't matter. Bond with your classmates over the far more relevant present. Don't worry about it.
 
TheRealMD said:
Ahh, then again you have to remember that the grading scale changed in 1995 to where a 1240 pre-1995 is now a 1400. There's quite a bit of score inflation now.
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Very few people posting on this board took the SAT 12 years ago.
 
RokChalkJayhawk said:
Very few people posting on this board took the SAT 12 years ago.
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You'd be surprised... There's a lot of non-trads floating around here. I took my SAT more than 10 years ago, and am applying to med school this year.
 
Ummm....Don't lose any sleep over an SAT score. I'm sure it only even gets a second glance if it is ridiculously low or high. I took my SAT in 1994... the scaling has changed so much since then that my 1240 is just a meaningless 4 digit number that can't really be compared to any scores received by anyone in the last decade.
 
1270 on my SAT (when it was out of 1600), back in... crap, was that really 2001? Didn't study for it though.

I got a 35Q on my MCAT and three acceptances. So yes, us 1200s SAT/35+ MCAT folk do exist in larger numbers then you want to believe.

So basically, its not a big deal. I was under the impression >1200 was a pretty good score anyways. I wasn't shooting for ivy leagues but got accepted to every undergrad I applied to out of high school.
 
1430/1600 here. trust me when i say that test has nothing to do with anything a person does in college
 
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