GPA Acceptance Spread

[FutureDrB]

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So most of us know the average cGPA of matriculants is roughly 3.5, but I was curious to see what y'all thought the spread was to get that 3.5 average?

3.4 - 3.6

3.3. - 3.7

3.2 - 3.8

3.1 - 3.9

3.0 - 4.0

Obviously this is totally unscientific and I'm sure we all know people who've gotten in with 4.0's as well as 3.0's, but again, just curious... Really wish I could make this a poll instead of a question.

 

[LifeTake2]

Well, I don't know if there is a source of data for DO schools; but for allopathic programs they publish their 10th & 90th percentiles.

I looked at a couple that I am applying to and found one with a 3.5 accepted average. The 10th %tile was 3.16 and the 90th %tile was 3.86.

I'm guess it would be close to the same for DO.

 

[kcin]

Are you sure the DO average 3.5 now? I thought it was slightly lower like the MCAT scores

 

[TwinsFan]

The averages are published for osteopathic schools. It is a mean cGPA of 3.49 with a standard deviation of 0.26 (assuming the least favorable group, postbac students). You can use the corresponding z values to figure out the 10th and 90th percentiles:

10th percentile z ~ -1.28
90th percentile z ~ 1.28

3.49 + (-1.28) 0.26 = 3.1572 = 10th percentile cGPA

3.49 + (1.28) 0.26 = 3.8228 = 90th percentile cGPA

This is overall, not for a particular school. Also, while 3.0 is a cutoff for many schools it is only the 3rd percentile for accepted student cGPA.


MCAT

26.99 + (-1.28) 3.17 = 22.93 = 10th percentile MCAT

26.99+ (1.28) 3.17 = 31.05 = 90th percentile MCAT

 

[fiznat]

lol according to that I was <10th percentile GPA and >90th percentile MCAT. No wonder most adcoms didn't seem to know what to do with me!

btw killer work with the stats calculations. That z value stuff is loooong gone from my memory haha.

 

[LifeTake2]

lol according to that I was <10th percentile GPA and >90th percentile MCAT. No wonder most adcoms didn't seem to know what to do with me!

I fit the exact same place on GPA & MCAT; hopefully the adcom's will now know to just let me in since you made it 🙂

 

[TriagePreMed]

This is ridiculous. No range can be done from those figures. If DO schools accept eight students with a 3.6 and then 1 student with a 3.1 and another with a 2.8, you will get about a 3.5 average.

Are you sure the DO average 3.5 now? I thought it was slightly lower like the MCAT scores

3.47 to be exact. Many schools have a 3.6 average and a few bring it down by having a 3.3-3.4 average.

 

[IamaBanana]

lol according to that I was <10th percentile GPA and >90th percentile MCAT. No wonder most adcoms didn't seem to know what to do with me!

btw killer work with the stats calculations. That z value stuff is loooong gone from my memory haha.

Yup me too. High five for screwy applicants!

 

[FutureDrB]

Haha. Good work guys.

 

[TheBoss88]

.

 

[FutureDrB]

I only have a 3.45 AMCAS calculated GPA. I had a 1.8 GPA my freshman year followed by a 4.0 for my sophomore and junior years. Would schools look at my uptrend and consider me in the competitive range even if my metrics are not up to par with their averages?

1. If you are applying to D.O. schools, you should be using the AACOMAS calculator (which allows you to replace grades) and not the AMCAS.

2. Yes, the uptrend will help.

3. Wrong topic to post this question under. 🙂

 

[TheBoss88]

haha I realized that this wasn't in the right place but since I am new to the forum, I didn't want to be the guy that posted a new thread. I just figured that AACOMAS calculate GPA the same way that AMCAS does.

Thanks for the reply anyway...

I'm just worried that if I don't meet the average metrics my application will automatically be tossed 🙁

 

[FutureDrB]

haha I realized that this wasn't in the right place but since I am new to the forum, I didn't want to be the guy that posted a new thread. I just figured that AACOMAS calculate GPA the same way that AMCAS does.

Thanks for the reply anyway...

I'm just worried that if I don't meet the average metrics my application will automatically be tossed 🙁

No problem. I was just giving you a hard time. 🙂

There's a great AACOMAS calculator on the board (I posted below) that will allow you to properly calculate your grades. (It actually has a few glitches that you'll need to fix. It messes up when you try to add in your Junior grades. I'd send you my modified version, but I've modified it so much to calculate in my graduate degrees, etc. it would probably be too difficult to figure out.) Just follow the post below and if you have even minor Excel experience you can figure out the problem.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450050&highlight=AACOMAS+calculation

 

[TheBoss88]

Thanks a lot for your help FutureDrB 🙂

 

[TwinsFan]

This is ridiculous. No range can be done from those figures. If DO schools accept eight students with a 3.6 and then 1 student with a 3.1 and another with a 2.8, you will get about a 3.5 average.


3.47 to be exact. Many schools have a 3.6 average and a few bring it down by having a 3.3-3.4 average.

I somewhat agree. However the z values are based on a large sample size, which we definitely have, with 4978 matriculants reporting, and a normal distribution, which typically represents a population of this type (majority is near mean, moderate number of outliers). This is the purpose of providing the standard deviation. For a single school the standard deviation is less useful because the population size is moderately large (n=100 to 200)

Also, the 3.49 (not 3.47) is quoted because that is based on people who have done postbac or graduate work, and the 0.26 is the lowest standard deviation for the three groups (undergrad, undergrad+post bac, all w/ graduate) to give the most conservative results. Of course individual schools have higher averages, this is for the overall osteopathic matriculant population as was requested above.

A confidence interval would need to be done to further validate the data, but the results provided above are probably fairly accurate in such a large sample size.

 

[SSVicious]

The averages are published for osteopathic schools. It is a mean cGPA of 3.49 with a standard deviation of 0.26 (assuming the least favorable group, postbac students). You can use the corresponding z values to figure out the 10th and 90th percentiles:

10th percentile z ~ -1.28
90th percentile z ~ 1.28

3.49 + (-1.28) 0.26 = 3.1572 = 10th percentile cGPA

3.49 + (1.28) 0.26 = 3.8228 = 90th percentile cGPA

This is overall, not for a particular school. Also, while 3.0 is a cutoff for many schools it is only the 3rd percentile for accepted student cGPA.


MCAT

26.99 + (-1.28) 3.17 = 22.93 = 10th percentile MCAT

26.99+ (1.28) 3.17 = 31.05 = 90th percentile MCAT

Argh, you're bring me back to my statistics class and then my horrible econometrics class! No! 😀

 

[SoulinNeed]

I somewhat agree. However the z values are based on a large sample size, which we definitely have, with 4978 matriculants reporting, and a normal distribution, which typically represents a population of this type (majority is near mean, moderate number of outliers). This is the purpose of providing the standard deviation. For a single school the standard deviation is less useful because the population size is moderately large (n=100 to 200)

Also, the 3.49 (not 3.47) is quoted because that is based on people who have done postbac or graduate work, and the 0.26 is the lowest standard deviation for the three groups (undergrad, undergrad+post bac, all w/ graduate) to give the most conservative results. Of course individual schools have higher averages, this is for the overall osteopathic matriculant population as was requested above.

A confidence interval would need to be done to further validate the data, but the results provided above are probably fairly accurate in such a large sample size.

It's 3.47. http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/cib/Documents/2012cib/2012cib-p12-13.pdf

 

[Phi Psi]

1. If you are applying to D.O. schools, you should be using the AACOMAS calculator (which allows you to replace grades) and not the AMCAS.

come again? what does that mean? im only allowed to replace 2 grades by my undergrad. are you saying if i took community college courses for classes i did bad in, they would replace as many of my bad undergraduate grades as i wanted?

 

[FutureDrB]

come again? what does that mean? im only allowed to replace 2 grades by my undergrad. are you saying if i took community college courses for classes i did bad in, they would replace as many of my bad undergraduate grades as i wanted?

Yep.
However, be aware that the admissions board may question you as to why you retook them at a community college versus a university.

 

[Dissected]

come again? what does that mean? im only allowed to replace 2 grades by my undergrad. are you saying if i took community college courses for classes i did bad in, they would replace as many of my bad undergraduate grades as i wanted?

Don't do that

 

[nicknickp3]

Don't do that

Why not?

 

[Phi Psi]

Yep.
However, be aware that the admissions board may question you as to why you retook them at a community college versus a university.

$1200 per class at my undergrad vs small change at a CC.

I have a C- in biochemistry and would like to retake that course. in addition to that, I was going to take 2 classes i havent taken before just to beef up my gpa

I'm submitting my primaries tomorrow.. i wont have my next set of grades (replacement and gpa boosting) til december. how do i go about this? should i individually contact each school telling them that I should have grade updates around that time since i wont be able to include that in aacomas?

 

[Dissected]

Why not?

Because it's the easy way out, and more importantly adcoms will pick up on it real fast. Maybe you could get away with it for a few no-brainer classes that aren't your pre-reqs (i.e. art, fitness, dance class...), but it looks really bad to replace a bunch of university grades with community college ones.

If you need to replace grades, especially pre-req's, I would strongly encourage you to take them at a university level. Even if it costs tons more and the classes are way harder.

 

[mud91]

$1200 per class at my undergrad vs small change at a CC.

I have a C- in biochemistry and would like to retake that course. in addition to that, I was going to take 2 classes i havent taken before just to beef up my gpa

I'm submitting my primaries tomorrow.. i wont have my next set of grades (replacement and gpa boosting) til december. how do i go about this? should i individually contact each school telling them that I should have grade updates around that time since i wont be able to include that in aacomas?

I think you just send your official transcript to AACOMAS and they change your grades for you and send it to schools. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[FutureDrB]

$1200 per class at my undergrad vs small change at a CC.

I have a C- in biochemistry and would like to retake that course. in addition to that, I was going to take 2 classes i havent taken before just to beef up my gpa

You wouldn't be able to retake a biochemistry course at a community college anyway. Biochemistry is an upper-level course only offered at universities. At least it is that way in Texas.

Oh, and trust me. It kills me paying tuition at my university (got my $4,500 bill today for this semester) just for prerequisites. I'm doing my prerequisites at a university post-degree and it makes me sick paying this much, when I could take the same classes down the street at the community college for $600. But, you gotta play the game. ADCOMs tend to look down on taking ALL your prerequisites at a community college and I don't want to give them any reason to question my application.

 

[TwinsFan]

It's 3.47. http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/cib/Documents/2012cib/2012cib-p12-13.pdf

The 3.49 is pulled from people who have done post bac or graduate work, see page 5 of the matriculant summary here:

http://www.aacom.org/data/applicantsmatriculants/Documents/2010Matriculantsummary.pdf