High Stat vs. Low Stat Essay Writing

[CornellMANheh]

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To all adcoms,

Have you found high stat applicants to have better writing (Personal Statement, Secondaries) than low stat applicants or are they more or less the same?

Also, how frequent are high stat applicants (3.9/520+) who are lacking in EC's? Are they relatively rare or common?

@LizzyM

 

[Goro]

To all adcoms,

Have you found high stat applicants to have better writing (Personal Statement, Secondaries) than low stat applicants or are they more or less the same?

Also, how frequent are high stat applicants (3.9/520+) who are lacking in EC's? Are they relatively rare or common?

@LizzyM

No correlation. They're all the same. Really bad essays are actually rare.

 

[LizzyM]

I see too narrow a band of the applicant pool to make any broad generalizations.

 

[CornellMANheh]

I see too narrow a band of the applicant pool to make any broad generalizations.

How about the 2nd question? How often do you come across high stat applicants (3.9/520+) who are lacking in EC's? Are they frequent?

 

[JIMMYJOHNivy]

As I said in my original post


To expand on this, often other ECs are too academically centric such leadership will be president of premed club, TA for courses, etc

I appreciate your input! Though I would like to get LizzyM's opinion as someone who's a T20 adcom and has seen hundreds of such applicants.

And is service/volunteering even important for T20 schools who value research/academic EC's more anyways?

 

[deleted972488]

I appreciate your input! Though I would like to get LizzyM's opinion as someone who's a T20 adcom and has seen hundreds of such applicants.

Because if most high stat applicants have good EC's and similar PS, secondaries... then what factors do adcoms use to distinguish them? (for the T20 schools).

ECs, life experiences, essays, and interviewing skills. High stat applicants are not identical...

 

[DokterMom]

How about the 2nd question? How often do you come across high stat applicants (3.9/520+) who are lacking in EC's? Are they frequent?

20% of applicants with 517 or higher MCAT, do not get an acceptance and over 10% of 3.8+/517+ do not get an acceptance. About a third of the students I advise are high stat reapplicants, which can be due to poor narrative, not enough EC, applying to wrong array of schools, etc

Who do you think these 20% / 10% folks are?




Edited to clarify, in case it wasn't obvious: The high stats folks who aren't admitted are overwhelmingly those with insufficient service to others. This is a deficit that's completely within your power to remedy, so don't let yourself be one of these!

 

[LizzyM]

I appreciate your input! Though I would like to get LizzyM's opinion as someone who's a T20 adcom and has seen hundreds of such applicants.

And is service/volunteering even important for T20 schools who value research/academic EC's more anyways?

Their applications come in, I suppose, but they aren't interviewed; in past year or two I've only seen applicants at or after interview. Service/volunteering and clinical experience and research are all important. Everyone wants the applicants who might be called the triple threat.

 

[CornellMANheh]

Their applications come in, I suppose, but they aren't interviewed; in past year or two I've only seen applicants at or after interview. Service/volunteering and clinical experience and research are all important. Everyone wants the applicants who might be called the triple threat.

Are these "triple threat" applicants rare at your school?

 

[LizzyM]

Are these "triple threat" applicants rare at your school?

No, I'd estimate that they comprise about 80% of those who are interviewed and <50% go on to be admitted so you tell me who ends up most likely to be at the top of the staircase when offers are handed out.

 

[CornellMANheh]

No, I'd estimate that they comprise about 80% of those who are interviewed and <50% go on to be admitted so you tell me who ends up most likely to be at the top of the staircase when offers are handed out.

Those with the highest LizzyM score already at the top of the staircase pre-interview? Or those that rock the interview?

 

[LizzyM]

Those with the highest LizzyM score already at the top of the staircase pre-interview? Or those that rock the interview?

You might be too new here to know how the staircase works.

Your application on paper places you on a stair. It is a wide staircase and more than one person can be on each step. MCAT and GRE mean quite a bit but work and activities (research, service and clinical), letters, and essays count, too.
After the interviews, some people move up and some people move down relative their prior place on the staircase.