How far from the school's median MCAT can you be?

[freshprinceMD]

How far from the school's median MCAT can you be to have a realistic shot for getting admissions into that school?
I know they have 10th percentile and 90th along with 25th and 75th percentile in the new MSAR, but what's a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when choosing the schools?




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[freshprinceMD]

If you are below their 10%, you would likely need an amazing and outstanding academic , EC and the rest to be in the running. Frankly, if you are below 10%, and you are out of the running of many of the schools that you want, you should seriously consider a retake and possibly applying next cycle

My score is 510 which fits into the 10th percentile for a good number schools, but is being within the 10th percentile worth an application to that school?


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[freshprinceMD]

Without knowing the details of the rest of your application, I cant give you a reasonable opinion, but obviously some applicants made it

I know there is much more to a candidate than GPA and MCAT, but with regards to the MCAT, would it be worth it to apply to a school that has a median of 517 and 509 as 10th percentile with a 510 MCAT?


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[Goro]

I know there is much more to a candidate than GPA and MCAT, but with regards to the MCAT, would it be worth it to apply to a school that has a median of 517 and 509 as 10th percentile with a 510 MCAT?


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I can't recommend it

 

[libertyyne]

2 standard deviations below or above. There is usually wiggle room, but your LizzyM should be in line.

 

[freshprinceMD]

I can't recommend it

I see
How within range would you suggest?


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[freshprinceMD]

2 standard deviations below or above. There is usually wiggle room, but your LizzyM should be in line.

Ok that sounds reasonable
Would you mind just giving me a brief on the lizzyM score? I'm relatively new here but came across it multiple times



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[efle]

I know there is much more to a candidate than GPA and MCAT, but with regards to the MCAT, would it be worth it to apply to a school that has a median of 517 and 509 as 10th percentile with a 510 MCAT?

Only if you are URM or some other rarer demographic (rural background and interest in returning to that kind of community to practice, for example). Beyond that you would need some kind of amazing accomplishments to offset, like high impact journal pubs or years of incredible service, etc.

 

[efle]

Would you mind just giving me a brief on the LizzyM score?

The MCAT used to be scored differently, see this conversion table. A "LizzyM score" is (10*GPA) + MCAT on the old scale. So for example a 3.6/31 was a 67 LizzyM.

It was a useful heuristic for figuring out how much one of the two stats could balance out the other - a 3.8/33 and 3.5/36 would have the same LizzyM and could therefor reasonably apply to the same kinds of schools.

What are your current GPA and MCAT?

 

[freshprinceMD]

The MCAT used to be scored differently, see this conversion table. A "LizzyM score" is (10*GPA) + MCAT on the old scale. So for example a 3.6/31 was a 67 LizzyM.

It was a useful heuristic for figuring out how much one of the two stats could balance out the other - a 3.8/33 and 3.5/36 would have the same LizzyM and could therefor reasonably apply to the same kinds of schools.

What are your current GPA and MCAT?

Oh ok I see thank you so much for taking the time to explain

My MCAT is 510 and my GPA is 3.78 (upward trend from 3.56 sophomore year to 3.81 by senior year)


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[efle]

The good news is you have stats at or above the average for a successful medical applicant.

The bad news is you are not likely competitive for schools with 3.9/517 medians. You'll have to post an overall summary over in the What Are My Chances forum to get confirmation and more detailed help though.

 

[freshprinceMD]

The good news is you have stats at or above the average for a successful medical applicant.

The bad news is you are not likely competitive for schools with 3.9/517 medians. You'll have to post an overall summary over in the What Are My Chances forum to get confirmation and more detailed help though.

Thank you so much! One last question, is there a LizzyM range for each school that one can look at?


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[efle]

Thank you so much! One last question, is there a LizzyM range for each school that one can look at?


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Your stats are quite balanced - about the same as a 3.7/31 which are approximately the average admitted GPA and average admitted MCAT - so I would actually skip the LizzyM mashup altogether. Your approach should be to sort the schools in the MSAR by MCAT median, find the ones that are ~508-513. Next you want to rule out the ones that are public schools with little interest in out-of-staters, as well as any you would not attend for location reasons. The remaining schools should be what you work with to build the core of your list.

Add onto that any public schools your own state has, plus a handful of "reach" schools where your MCAT is more like the 25th percentile (these will probably have medians around ~514).

Your GPA shouldn't cause any issues for you, I think a 3.7 will be right inside the IQR for almost all the schools with MCATs like yours.

 

[freshprinceMD]

Your stats are quite balanced - about the same as a 3.7/31 which are approximately the average admitted GPA and average admitted MCAT - so I would actually skip the LizzyM mashup altogether. Your approach should be to sort the schools in the MSAR by MCAT median, find the ones that are ~508-513. Next you want to rule out the ones that are public schools with little interest in out-of-staters, as well as any you would not attend for location reasons. The remaining schools should be what you work with to build the core of your list.

Add onto that any public schools your own state has, plus a handful of "reach" schools where your MCAT is more like the 25th percentile (these will probably have medians around ~514).

Your GPA shouldn't cause any issues for you, I think a 3.7 will be right inside the IQR for almost all the schools with MCATs like yours.

I can't thank you enough for your help! You're input is greatly appreciated


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[freshprinceMD]

I would add first generation college, immigrant, peace corps or similar, veteran, etc. But again, it would take a complete review of an application to advise or not, and if you are very interested in certain schools above your MCAT, then reconsider a retake and/or delay in application

I see
Thank you so much for your help!


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[Goro]

My score is 510 which fits into the 10th percentile for a good number schools, but is being within the 10th percentile worth an application to that school?

Here are the schools I recommend. This is still a bit in flux, as I go through the new MSAR.

U VM
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rochester
Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, or LUCOM, for different reasons
Your state school.

 

[freshprinceMD]

Here are the schools I recommend. This is still a bit in flux, as I go through the new MSAR.

U VM
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rochester
Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, or LUCOM, for different reasons
Your state school.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help! I really appreciate it


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[freshprinceMD]

Here are the schools I recommend. This is still a bit in flux, as I go through the new MSAR.

U VM
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rochester
Rush (note: very service/experience oriented with a 150hr service requirement. Avg student has 800 hours of community service, and >1800 hours of health care exposure.)
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, or LUCOM, for different reasons
Your state school.

You responded to this a while back, but I just thought I'd ask if you would be willing to recommend 5 additional MD schools? I would be extremely grateful. I'm looking to apply to 35 schools (I'm a CA resident)


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