High GPA and Low MCAT???

[shepdogg2]

Can someone please explain to me how so many people seem to have ridiculously high GPAs (3.7+) and then have sub-par MCAT scores (below 27).

This seriously makes no sense to me...I understand being unprepared or just having "one of those days," but how is this kind of discrepancy possible? Can someone who has this happen to them explain what they think went wrong on the exam?

From the other perspective, does anyone who has the opposite like me (bad GPA and good MCAT) think "why the hell couldn't I get a 3.8"?

 

[hferdjal]

From the other perspective, does anyone who has the opposite like me (bad GPA and good MCAT) think "why the hell couldn't I get a 3.8"?

Yea, lol.

I guess we're mysteries to each other. Although I haven't taken my MCATs yet to get my "sub-par score" but I have a feeling I will.

 

[J ROD]

Pressure breaks pipes on the first one and some do not apply themselves or have other interests for the second.

 

[Spartyon]

Yea I definitely broke some effin pipes on the first one. I rushed it because of not wanting to take the computer version but now it's not too bad. I've got a strong science GPA and overall but the test is like no other. It's all a mind game and with such a long exam some people don't have the stamina to last more than an hour or two. Ahhhh....feels good to vent and get my opinion out on this site. Good luck

 

[whoisthedrizzle]

Can someone please explain to me how so many people seem to have ridiculously high GPAs (3.7+) and then have sub-par MCAT scores (below 27).

1. They went to an easy school
2. They took an easy major
3. They thought they could breeze through the MCAT w/ minimal studying
4. They work their ass off but don't have the threshold reasoning ability to do well on the MCAT
5. They do horrible on VR cuz they're not native speakers

I feel bad for 4 and 5, but the rest deserve what they get

 

[littlealex]

Many people probably just aren't good at taking standardized tests. They struggled with the SATs, went to average colleges where they worked hard and got high GPAs.

 

[DrReo]

Well said, and easy school will give you a high GPA

1. They went to an easy school
2. They took an easy major
3. They thought they could breeze through the MCAT w/ minimal studying
4. They work their ass off but don't have the threshold reasoning ability to do well on the MCAT
5. They do horrible on VR cuz they're not native speakers

I feel bad for 4 and 5, but the rest deserve what they get

​

 

[medicalCPA]

I do not agree with this concept of "easy school." I go to a school that can be regarded as "easy." To give you some sense of how it is, 17 out of 71 people who graduated with honors last year at my school graduated with a 4.0! But the thing is, what they teach at this "easy school" is right on par with what would be taught at a more difficult school. I believe that if you take Organic Chemistry for a year, you will learn the same principles of Organic Chemistry as everyone else, irrespective of institution. And this was very evident when I spent the summer at Hopkins, and could hold my own academically with people from all over the country.
Of course, there will be people at my school who can goof off, get stellar grades, and then perform poorly when held to a standardized test that compares them to their peers around the country. But a good student will succeed anywhere, irrespective of school.

 

[Empi]

OK, you're making me feel better about my chances when I take the MCATs.

I have good grades 3.7+ and the unknown (aka MCATs) freak me out because I'm still convincing myself I'm intelligent.

I don't think my school is easy because the average grades in BIO and Chem classes tend to be in the 60's and 70's. Often they get curved in order to have the median grade a 75. Non science classes are laughingly easy by comparison.

 

[hferdjal]

Yea, I don't think any 4 year accredited colleges are "easy" as long as you take a science major. It's the 2-year technical colleges that some people attend over the summer to complete an organic credit that MAY be easy. And even that varies. Otherwise, it's the same.

 

[drizzt3117]

I do not agree with this concept of "easy school." I go to a school that can be regarded as "easy." To give you some sense of how it is, 17 out of 71 people who graduated with honors last year at my school graduated with a 4.0! But the thing is, what they teach at this "easy school" is right on par with what would be taught at a more difficult school. I believe that if you take Organic Chemistry for a year, you will learn the same principles of Organic Chemistry as everyone else, irrespective of institution. And this was very evident when I spent the summer at Hopkins, and could hold my own academically with people from all over the country.
Of course, there will be people at my school who can goof off, get stellar grades, and then perform poorly when held to a standardized test that compares them to their peers around the country. But a good student will succeed anywhere, irrespective of school.

Do you think those 17 people who graduated with 4.0s from your school would also graduate with 4.0 GPAs from Hopkins or Cal?

 

[Schaden Freud]

Getting a high GPA is easy, and you certainly don't need to be smart. Some ways to get a high GPA:
-picking an easy major
-selecting easy classes with pushover professors
-being a kiss-ass to the profs and TAs
-being aggressive about demanding grade changes, exam retakes, etc.
-being a hot blonde
-or a brunette
-cheating
-pretending to have a learning disability to get extra time on tests


The MCAT doesn't fall for any of that bull****.

Can someone please explain to me how so many people seem to have ridiculously high GPAs (3.7+) and then have sub-par MCAT scores (below 27).

This seriously makes no sense to me...I understand being unprepared or just having "one of those days," but how is this kind of discrepancy possible? Can someone who has this happen to them explain what they think went wrong on the exam?

From the other perspective, does anyone who has the opposite like me (bad GPA and good MCAT) think "why the hell couldn't I get a 3.8"?

 

[hferdjal]

Do you think those 17 people who graduated with 4.0s from your school would also graduate with 4.0 GPAs from Hopkins or Cal?

heh, I definitely wouldn't hold it out of the realm of possibility. There are quite a few gems in non-Harvard/Hopkin colleges.

 

[medicalCPA]

Do you think those 17 people who graduated with 4.0s from your school would also graduate with 4.0 GPAs from Hopkins or Cal?

Maybe, maybe not. I can't put them in "Hopkins or Cal" and find out. I do not think that I would have the GPA I have if I went to a school that used anything other than a straight scale. But on the MCAT, one will be tested on the same information, information that can be learned from my dinky school or from Hopkins or anywhere else.

 

[drizzt3117]

heh, I definitely wouldn't hold it out of the realm of possibility. There are quite a few gems in non-Harvard/Hopkin colleges.

Just out of curiosity, do you know how many people have graduated from Cal or JHU with 4.0s in recent years in hard science majors? Most years it's 0. While the coursework may be similar, the level of competition is higher in schools like that, as well as the level of difficulty of examinations. The MCAT helps correct for the difficulty of undergraduate education, which is why you see people with high GPA and low MCAT or low GPA/high MCAT.

 

[littlealex]

I do not agree with this concept of "easy school." I go to a school that can be regarded as "easy." To give you some sense of how it is, 17 out of 71 people who graduated with honors last year at my school graduated with a 4.0! But the thing is, what they teach at this "easy school" is right on par with what would be taught at a more difficult school. I believe that if you take Organic Chemistry for a year, you will learn the same principles of Organic Chemistry as everyone else, irrespective of institution. And this was very evident when I spent the summer at Hopkins, and could hold my own academically with people from all over the country.
Of course, there will be people at my school who can goof off, get stellar grades, and then perform poorly when held to a standardized test that compares them to their peers around the country. But a good student will succeed anywhere, irrespective of school.

I think there's a difference though. The 4.0 students of an easy college takes the same tests as those who barely studies. His grades are consequently very good because he's compared against the slackers. However, I would say that while he's shown that he is competent, his true potential has not been tested.

That same student will probably find Hopkins/Cal to be much more challenging, where he'll likely be matched with others who may be more intelligent then him. Of course there is a possibility that he'll still maintain his 4.0, but when he's just 1 in 500 students of his caliber, he's much less likely to climb to the top 10 spot he was so accustomed to at Podunk U.


In short, the 4.0 student at an easy school may not have learned as much as a 3.7 student from a more challenging school. The ceiling of his knowledge just wasn't tested.

It's no accident that students with lower GPAs from challenging schools regularly score 35+ on the MCAT.

 

[brianmartin]

It's not about people doing easy majors or attending "easy" schools.

People with high GPA can score low on the MCAT because in the actual science classes, you have time to work things out. The MCAT forces you to work faster...thus people who know all the concepts and did well in classes still miss a lot of questions.

Also, you don't need to be an excellent critical thinker to get a good GPA, but the MCAT requires that you have this quality.