Good question here

[longhorn]

Hey guys,
I am new to the board and has a question. Those MCAT averages given out by schools, how valid are they? Are they really a what we learned in class average?? Do you have to take into account Affirmitive Action and other quotas? The reason I ask is because I scored a 32R on my MCAT(which I am happy about) and I think all my other features are above or about average to top tier schools. But I notice my 32 might be a little low. Is this a huge factor for me, maybe preventing me from gettin' into a top 10? BTW I do have a 4.0 in Biochem as a Senior if that helps any. Any help would be appreciated. THANKS!!!

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[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

My pre-med advisor told me that MCAT scores and GPAs are inflated. But these numbers are not made up though. They take the average out of some pool of accepted students which mean that they do not include scores for some applicants for some reason.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Just remember that averages don't necessarily mean that there is an actual group of people with those scores. (e.g. if the average MCAT is 30, there is usually one group of people with MCATs around... say... 33, and another group who have say... 27.) That example is a bit exaggerated I think, but essentially, there is usually a two hump distribution.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

You may get into a top ten, but make sure you apply to a wide range of schools just so you can get in somewhere...that means include schools that are not in the top 50 or maybe not even in the top 20. There are so many good applicants that only want to go "top 10" that they don't apply elsewhere and then they are left with nothing...so please be careful!

In regard to what spiderman was saying, the average gpa and mcats listed are for accepted applicants, but those numbers are *slightly* inflated because schools accept stellar applicants who don't matriculate, thus raising the averages. :wink:

 

[relatively prime]

YOu do have to take into account that 1 in 10 of those students are minorities, people with connections, or other "special cases" that get accepted with stats significantly lower than the average stats of the "other" accepted applicants. Someone in another thread mentioned that you should add 1 or 2 points to the average MCAT and 0.1 to the average gpa to figure out what the average is for the non-"special case" students.

I didn't believe that at first, but upon further investigation, I found it to be true.