How fast do school's average MCAT/GPA increase over the years?

[TheBiologist]

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Say, 15 years ago could you have a good chance at Harvard with a 513 or lower?

 

[efle]

Yes

 

[DameJulie]

Not sure about GPA, but the theory of increasing average MCAT was that there were many more resources over the recent years.

I would imagine there were not much "Anki" "Khan Academy" "Online Full Lengths" 15 years ago.

 

[efle]

Not sure about GPA, but the theory of increasing average MCAT was that there were many more resources over the recent years.

I would imagine there were not much "Anki" "Khan Academy" "Online Full Lengths" 15 years ago.

The score distribution has been stable - that is, the percent of people being awarded 30+ has not changed in the last decade.

There are more people applying each cycle now (about 30% greater than a decade ago), so the raw number of 30+ applicants has increased. However the applicant pool's growth has not been nearly enough to explain the rate at which top schools increased their medians.

 

[Iz_FtB]

The score distribution has been stable - that is, the percent of people being awarded 30+ has not changed in the last decade.

There are more people applying each cycle now (about 30% greater than a decade ago), so the raw number of 30+ applicants has increased. However the applicant pool's growth has not been nearly enough to explain the rate at which top schools increased their medians.

Where were the applicants in all this? Where were the 37+ applicants applying if not Harvard and Yale?

 

[efle]

Where were the applicants in all this? Where were the 37+ applicants applying if not Harvard and Yale?

What if... bear with me... they applied back then as well, but the schools didn't care as much about the MCAT so they just didn't get admitted in such overwhelming proportions.

 

[Iz_FtB]

What if... bear with me... they applied back then as well, but the schools didn't care as much about the MCAT so they just didn't get admitted in such overwhelming proportions.

I see, the 37+ crowd was being outshined by them 30-33 scorers. Of course.

 

[efle]

I see, the 37+ crowd was being outshined by them 30-33 scorers. Of course.

Shocking right? Because you'd totally expect the people who score better on the MCAT to be stronger at everything admissions finds value in, amirite

 

[Lawpy]

Say, 15 years ago could you have a good chance at Harvard with a 513 or lower?

Yes

yeah academic metrics are measure of school selectivity and what schools/adcoms want in applicants. for Top 20 schools' averages hovering in ~33 15 years ago to hovering ~36-37 now, I bet these schools became much more addicted to scores now and weighed them much more heavily.

 

[Thienyl15]

The good news is unless you plan on waiting to apply for 10 years, the impact should be minimal on your app. Score creep is a problem with MD/PhD candidates, but that's another ball of wax.