I think there is a gray area in this statement. Your MCAT and GPA only get your foot through the door, but even with a decent score on either one of those can do you that justice. I believe it was 2013 when I saw a chart in the MSAR indicating what part of the application process held the most weight with the ADCOMs admitting a student. The statistic was ~75% of the ADCOMs say the interview was the most important part of the application process. Within the interview you should expect to talk about your life experiences, express your liking for their school, and evaluation of your personality.
You are quoting a rare/extreme case. In reality, there more people with bad stats+good EC than good stats+bad EC because those with applicants with good stats are not that stupid to apply with zero clinical hours. The gap between bad EC and good EC are very small (a few hundred hour clinical exposure can meet the requirements for most school), but stats are impossible for many to fix.
I don't think the case is rare or extreme at all. I am not sure how you know there are more people with bad stats+good EC since there is no way to quantify that situation. It's widely known that as long as you have good enough stats to get an interview, the ECs and personality are what get you in. I'm not discounting your statement that stats are very important, but the realistic approach is that stats can be considered good depending on where you apply. People get into MD/DO programs with 3.2+ GPA all the time, but you have to choose your schools wisely. DO schools are also more friendly towards non-traditional students and they pay more attention to ECs than MD schools do. The MCAT is one thing that I can't argue against, though. I had a surgeon tell me not even 3 months ago (in his own words) "Crush the fu**ing MCAT, crush that **** because medical schools don't give a damn about the rest." Now, obviously his quote can't be taken too literally, but I do believe the MCAT can make up for A LOT of slack in certain areas.
https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/app...mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html
I understand what you are talking about, but here is where I will introduce the all to famous phrase "correlation does not mean causation." Of course it would seem like those who scored very high on both ends would be more proactive and motivated to do well on the application and interview. It only makes sense that someone who would put their time and effort into doing that well in undergrad and on the MCAT would perform well on possibly the easiest part of the application that only takes motivation to accomplish (volunteering, clinical experience, interview skills.) What I am saying, though, is if you have good ENOUGH stats to permit an interview, your ECs carry the load the rest of the way for the most part. I have read it from medical students and ADCOM members on this forums. My cGPA is 3.47, but my upward trend is amazing since starting out. But, what people don't see in the lower numbers is when I had to deal with homelessness, poverty, moving from state to state, and supporting my family at times. That, along with the fact that I have thousands of hours of clinical experience and volunteering would carry weight from what I am told.
so based on your theory then, you should be able to get into any school you want!
