GPA vs MCAT?

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Whats more important? What do schools count more?

 

[907914]

Whats more important? What do schools count more?

Both. Neither. Depends on the school. Those are the answers you will get below. And they are all correct. And they are all incorrect

Get MSAR. Judge for yourself. Ideally, it shouldn’t matter - you need to make sure both are good.

 

[Goro]

Whats more important? What do schools count more?

Both

 

[raiderette]

If you are unbalanced, people wonder why. 4.0, 508 might mean grade inflation. 3.3, 520 either you are lazy or don't have effective study skills.

 

[907914]

If you are unbalanced, people wonder why. 4.0, 508 might mean grade inflation. 3.3, 520 either you are lazy or don't have effective study skills.

At that, they will take in to account upward trend, post bacc etc

 

[puahate]

Both are important but I rather have the high MCAT.

 

[Gilakend]

If you have above 3.5 then MCAT matters more. If you have below 3.0 then GPA matters more.

 

[Stellaartwa]

Both are equally important. With one of these stats being relatively lower than the other, but still within normal range, either will "hurt" you roughly the same. When they're at exact opposite ends of the spectrum, based on the AAMC stats, high MCAT/low GPA is more faborable than the opposite. I suspect that's the case because many people who have low GPA/high MCAT have done post-bacc or have great grade trends.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

If you are unbalanced, people wonder why. 4.0, 508 might mean grade inflation. 3.3, 520 either you are lazy or don't have effective study skills.

When I first joined this site I used to think it was crazy how people with, say a 4.0 and 508 get told to apply to low tier MD's and DO's. I was like what the heck!!!??? Do they not know how hard it must be to maintain a 4.0 for 4 years? Forgot to factor in grade inflation and other stuff.

 

[algo]

Higher the better for both

 

[Mike Bagwell]

GPA + MCAT make you a competitive applicant but you have many competitive applicants. The higher MCAT opens up more doors than an average MCAT alone.

I have a 3.5 science cumulative and a 512. I received five invites and went to three interviews. Without that 512, I would be in a DO program.

 

[907914]

agree with gilakend, If you have above 3.5 then MCAT matters more. make sure the verbal section is high!

Looking on MSAR, I see CARS usually has the largest standard deviation at most schools and the ‘lowest’ mean. This would be indicative of more Leeway for CARS, wouldn’t it?

 

[DirtyNewYorker]

I don't know how valid this is but I thought it was pretty interesting when someone brought it up to me. He pretty much said just convert your GPA into an MCAT score, and then average it with your tested MCAT score. This was the scale if I remember correctly. I mean I wouldn't put much stock into it since he wasn't an ADCOM or anything, but it's kind of a neat way to look at it.

3.3=497
3.4=501
3.5 = 505
3.6 = 509
3.7=513
3.8=517
3.9+=521

For good undergrad schools, you add +4 (.1 to your GPA) to the MCAT score for your GPA.

So if Student A went to WUSTL, got a 3.4 with a 520 MCAT, he'll have a net score of 512.5. Thus, he'll probably be as competitive as someone with a 3.7, 512 from a state university. Or if a student with a 4.0, 509 from a state university, he'll be as competitive someone with a 3.7, 516 from the same state university.

I find it kind of neat, but at the end of the day your goal should just be to at the accepted median for GPA and MCAT for the schools you want to get into.

 

[907914]

I don't know how valid this is but I thought it was pretty interesting when someone brought it up to me. He pretty much said just convert your GPA into an MCAT score, and then average it with your tested MCAT score. This was the scale if I remember correctly. I mean I wouldn't put much stock into it since he wasn't an ADCOM or anything, but it's kind of a neat way to look at it.

3.3=497
3.4=501
3.5 = 505
3.6 = 509
3.7=513
3.8=517
3.9+=521

For good undergrad schools, you add +4 (.1 to your GPA) to the MCAT score for your GPA.

So if Student A went to WUSTL, got a 3.4 with a 520 MCAT, he'll have a net score of 512.5. Thus, he'll probably be as competitive as someone with a 3.7, 512 from a state university. Or if a student with a 4.0, 509 from a state university, he'll be as competitive someone with a 3.7, 516 from the same state university.

I find it kind of neat, but at the end of the day your goal should just be to at the accepted median for GPA and MCAT for the schools you want to get into.

Nah, that is kinda useless. A 4.0 509 won’t even be compared to a 3.7 516. Maybe a 3.4 516.

 

[NYCVillain]

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

This will give you your answers.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Both are important but I rather have the high MCAT.

I had a low (for MD) GPA and a high MCAT. It is actually kind of crappy because schools think you’re lazy or something. I got no love from schools where my MCAT was above their 90th %ile because my gpa was low. I’d gladly have given up 5 points on my MCAT to have a 3.8 or something.

Course I got into the one school I really wanted to go to, thank God. But it was a rough road before that.