formula for determining if you get an interview?

[brats800]

i've heard mention of formulas, taking into account GPA and MCAT and maybe other things, that medschools will use to determine if you get an interview...does anyone have a specific formula? just wondering how it all goes together. it doesn't help me much to know that there IS a formula if i don't know it

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[jlee9531]

i dont think anyone can give you anything specific...

adcoms do their own thing and surely will not tell anyone how they exactly pick you out for interviews.

 

[essbe]

Ich, gross. Formulas?!? Color me optimistic, but I'd hope most adcoms will actually read my essays.

All I've heard is that there may be a cut-off point using this: (GPA x 10) + MCAT = composite

e.g., school A might have a 64 composite cut-off; school B might have 67 as theirs.

There might be some secret underground code for a variable accounting for EC's/volunteering, but I haven't heard of it.

 

[brats800]

that's the kind of formula i was thinking of, essbe...i've heard that some will automatically give you an interview if you get such and such a score on the formula....of course the PS and essays will be reviewed, but if i could get an interview automatically in addition to my essays, all the better

 

[Pooh Chong]

I have also heard of a composite from up by doing the following:
10x GPA + MCAT

I this can help decide if you get a secondary...but for an interview I do think they take into account your ECs, LOR, PS - I would hope, but some schools value #s more than the intangibles.

 

[LUBDUBB]

I've heard (cum gpa x 10) + (sci gpa x10) + mcat.

If you're >= 100 then you're good to go.

 

[TTSD]

I've heard they look at your application thoroughly and give you an interview based on whether or not they think you'd make a good doctor as opposed to raw numbers.. hahahaha, who am I kidding?

 

[soreed]

haha, i remember benton on e.r. had a formula. maybe he's was just as good as the ones we "hear" about.

 

[ForensicPath]

There must be more to it than formulas because according to both formulas given I would be in crappy shape (I am a 21 year old white male). I have 5 interviews (had 3 already) and only 1 rejection (Vermont). So I know that I'm not the best candidate, but I still seem to have a chance. I do have great clinical experience and good LORs, so they must look at those to in order to determine an interview.

The one thing that we can be sure of is that no one really knows what goes on behind the closed doors of an admissions office.

 

[PianoGirl04]

I would think that formulas come into play when schools screen you for a secondary, but that people actually read your app before deciding to give you an interview. Why else would it take over a month or 2 to get an interview from some schools?

 

[Smitty3L]

My premed advisor gave me this formula
(GPA*3.75+MCAT)/2

I was told that U of Okla med school used this formula to make a cut-off point for who got an interview. I think the cut off was somewhere around 21.7

 

[Idiopathic]

The Texas school system uses a formula similar to this in determining who gets interviewed.

 

[Alcon]

These formulas work great for people like me with low GPA but high MCAT... the difference between a 30 and a 36 is equivalent to a 0.6 jump in GPA!

For schools that use such formulas, I guess this answers the question of whether GPA or MCAT is more important.

 

[Aptamer]

Idiopathic,
Are you sure about the formula in Texas? Because as I recall, as of November 2001, any professional school in Texas, funded by the state, can not use a formula to determine interview or acceptance. I believe it was Texas House Bill 588. I also believe that the bill states that any tools that these schools use must be released to the public upon request. I also believe that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision did not affect this bill at all.

 

[Megalofyia]

I'm pretty sure Texas uses a formula to decide who gets an interview.

 

[AverageMan]

The actual method of choosing interviewee's is an old C program. After some stelthy infiltration, I managed to get the code to this program.

void main(void)
{
float GPA, interview_rating;
int MCAT;
printf("\nEnter GPA:");
scanf("%f", GPA);
printf("\nEnter MCAT Score:");
scanf("%d", MCAT);
interview rating = (GPA * 10.0) + MCAT - (rand()%90);
if (interview_rating > 0)
printf("Give Interview!!!");
else
printf ("Dump the loser!!!");

printf("Wait %d weeks to let the applicant know his/her status", rand()%10);

}

Thus the mystery is solved

 

[king_robert12]

Smitty, that equation can't be right. According to that equation the average matriculant to OU wouldn't even receive an interview.

(3.7*3.75+28)/2=20.94

 

[Smitty3L]

Hey you're right!
I know that is what my premed advisor told me, I have it written down. I have been so obsessed with getting my numbers to beat the formula I didn't even notice that.

I will definitely be making another trip to her office. I wonder if she gave me bogus info, she was very discouraging to me. She had this attitude like, I wasn't perfect and so many other people were that I might as well not try.

 

[king_robert12]

I sent you a pm smitty.

 

[Cat67]

Originally posted by Pooh Chong
I have also heard of a composite from up by doing the following:
10x GPA + MCAT

I this can help decide if you get a secondary...but for an interview I do think they take into account your ECs, LOR, PS - I would hope, but some schools value #s more than the intangibles.

Even this can be baloney. This formula was bandied about as a Mayo-used formula. My numbers, according to the rumors, were fine. No secondary for moi. So don't believe everything you read on SDN. Big surprise.

 

[NE_Cornhusker1]

Cool! I'd be in at Oklahoma [3.1(drugs are bad kids)*3.75 + 32]/2=21.8