Myth #1: Top 10 med schools are filled with smart, well-rounded individuals because they could have filled their classes with 4.0 and 40 MCAT individuals but they don't.
The people I know who have gotten interviewed or accepted @ Hopkins, Yale, Penn, Duke, etc. in the last couple years have had 3.85+ GPA and 38+ MCAT (the ones with 4.0 GPA can have MCAT as low as 33 and still do fine if they go to an Ivy-league school or have done extensive research). That's the reality I see. You guys are underestimating the number of applicants out there with near 4.0 GPA and 35+ MCAT! You can be a tool all you want and be an arrogant a$$ to your classmate, but if you can pull off being a normal sounding individual in two separate 30-minute interviews and apply to all the top 15 schools out there, you should get into at least one if not several of them. Because honestly, if Hopkins doesn't want you, no problem....because Duke and Columbia will grab you. If Stanford finds that you are a tool because your tongue slipped during your stanford interview and some inappropriate freudian phrases came out, Yale or Penn might happily wecolme you.
And then of course, in my experience during the last couple years looking at SDN, many applicants countered my point of view with "Oh....this [fill in the name of a top 10 school here] school looked beyond the number! I had 3.6 and 32, and GREAT EC's + recommendations. So they asked me for an interview last week!!! And I am going to go to the interview and impress the heck out of them!"
I usually have nothing to say but check back a few months later on SDN, most of these people eventually get placed on the waitlists while other cookie cutters with 3.95 and 38 + normal premed EC's get accepted outright and have their first pick. that's the reality I see but you disagree and see another reality, join in the discussion!
