I do not disagree that the 'sliding scale' is a myth. I don't really believe it exists either. But what I am disagreeing with is the assertion that he would not have much of a chance even with a god-like MCAT. He would. You can check the anecdotal evidence on mdapps, or where ever else. Fact of the matter is, with a godlike MCAT (39+ is what I consider extremely exceptional, 99th pecentile) you are in a very small cohort of applicants, and those students tend to get an interview and acceptance 1/3 years somewhere in america. It is doubtful that there are many students at all that scored 39+ and have been denied an interview three years in a row. (Notice I said 'interview' and not acceptance, because if you are offered an interview, then the game really is much more than just numbers.)
Let's look at it this way.
In 2007, 610 students who took the MCAT out of 62787 were awarded a 39 or higher. If we assume the MCAT is valid for three years, and take into account that most people who score that high get into medical school within two years, then there are probably about 1200 students currently applying with a 39+ MCAT.
1200 students is a small cohort of students, and a large estimate. It's probably much smaller than the cohort of students that have high GPAs (3.85 or higher). In my university, McGill, there are 3,000 students in science, and the top 3% of the graduating class had a 3.85 or higher. So thats 90 students, not even counting students in other disciplines. Of these 90 science students 30 said they were 'pre-med'. The number of universities in the US is quite high (2,618), so already you can see that the number is probably higher than those with high MCAT scores.
Again, I'm not arguing the central thesis of your post: There is no sliding scale. I agree, there is no sliding scale. I further agree that even with a very high MCAT, you are going to have to prove that you can handle the workload. Then again, I haven't seen an applicant who got a 38 or higher on the MCAT not get into medical school 1 out of the 3 years they applied. They may not go to the best schools, but they have gotten in. The admissions committees will consider your entire application, and they will look at your GPA and your MCAT. But the assertion that if one is not acceptable, but the other stellar, then you probably wont be considered is just not true. I've called many universities about the polarity of my application, and most if not all told me that even with my low GPA, because of my high MCAT I will be very seriously considered, and my transcript will be carefully looked at.
So I'm not sure that we are disagreeing as much as it seems. I do think that the OP should be aware of how hard he may have to fight to get into medical school, and I also agree that he should do everything in his power to raise his GPA to 3.0. (<- In fact, I think this is probably the most important thing he can do at this point to improve his application.) Also he should be willing, and expect to do an SMP, get a ridiculously high MCAT, or even pursue another undergraduate degree, or an SMP program.
I think that we could probably meet somewhere in the middle on this issue. It's true that you can't necessarily 'compensate' for a low GPA, but the higher your MCAT, the more seriously the admissions committee will look at your application in spite of a non-stellar GPA.
to you. 
