How much do stats matter post-II?

[premed hopeful]

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Hello everyone,

I just interviewed at several schools and I'm back to being my paranoid self. I'm afraid my MCAT score is going to hold me back a lot. I got a 512 (130/124/130/128). My cGPA and sGPA respectively are 3.90 and 3.96. I recently interviewed at a school and did pretty well.

My interviewer concluded the interview with, "You belong at this school." "I will give my full recommendation." "I want to see you here next year." So I KNOW I got a great interview score.

However, will a 124 throw me into the waitlist even though my overall MCAT is great?

The school I'm referring to has 125 as the 10th percentile in CARS. So out of the 400 they accept, there could be a maximum of 40 people below 125.

What do y'all think?

 

[efle]

Impossible to predict. You impressed the person who approved you for interview and you impressed your interviewer, but the final decision is a committee vote. You did everything right, so be optimistic, but you just have to wait and see.

 

[premed hopeful]

Impossible to predict. You impressed the person who approved you for interview and you impressed your interviewer, but the final decision is a committee vote. You did everything right, so be optimistic, but you just have to wait and see.

Yeah. Im trying to find ways to be optimistic but it's always hard with the what-ifs.

ALSO, my interviewer never even asked about my CARS score. What does that say? :X

 

[Kingsmen2018]

My interviewer said something along those lines, he said "you should really pick us when it comes time to choose, i think you'll really like it here" Fast forward 5 weeks later, got an R from this school. Cold world, but not really because i wouldn't have attended.

I doubt yours did the same, the committee did like you enough to invite you for an interview. But like the previous poster said its impossible to predict and time will tell. I wish u the best of luck

 

[TheBiologist]

My interviewer said something along those lines, he said "you should really pick us when it comes time to choose, i think you'll really like it here" Fast forward 5 weeks later, got an R from this school. Cold world, but not really because i wouldn't have attended.

I doubt yours did the same, the committee did like you enough to invite you for an interview. But like the previous poster said its impossible to predict and time will tell. I wish u the best of luck

ouch! although perhaps the interviewer did the best he could; it's probably not ONLY up to him/her

 

[premed hopeful]

My interviewer said something along those lines, he said "you should really pick us when it comes time to choose" Fast forward 5 weeks later, got an R from this school. Cold world, but not really because i wouldn't have attended.

I doubt yours did the same, the committee did like you enough to invite you for an interview. But like the previous poster said its impossible to predict and time will tell. I wish u the best of luck

So sorry to hear! Is this school Jefferson? Bc that's the school I'm referring to.

 

[Kingsmen2018]

Its not, but damn near close!

 

[chaim123]

I had an interviewer say to me "Look at your application! They're going to snatch you up so fast. It'd be a dream to have you here."

Apparently not everyone agreed with her.

Just wait it out. There's nothing any of us can do but wait.

 

[boogiecousins94]

It also seems as though they match your interviewer with your interests etc at some places, that may lead to your interviewer seemingly more "in awe" and impressed with your app (as at it resonates with them) compared to the committee as a whole

 

[Carmiche]

Still important, but not as important.

 

[Saifa]

Its not, but damn near close!

I had a similar experience and got the R like two weeks before the estimated decision time. It was on my birthday and arrived in a completely unsealed envelope. Cruel world we live in.

 

[MedicalDoge]

Thought I would chime in because I have almost the exact same stats as the OP: 512 (129,124,129,130) and 3.95 sGPA, 3.96 cGPA. I would be lying to you if I didn't say that the CARS score probably hurts. I think if I had a more balanced MCAT, I would be having more II.

I have attended 6 interviews, and have only heard back from 3 so far (1A, 2WL). I will update you when I hear back. The 2 waitlists I received were from mid/top tier schools, so I think that the 124 may automatically put me on the waitlist, though it is impossible to say. The acceptance I received was from a great state school though, so I am glad they saw past one measly subsection. I will say that if you interviewed well at all or most of your interviews ( I see you have 5), then you have an EXTREMELY high chance of being accepted at one IMO.

The more places I interview at, the more I get the feeling that interviewer recommendations aren't a big factor, and they just use interviewer notes to gain a new perspective, not make or break you. Again, that's just the feeling I got, considering most of the interviewers I interviewed with aren't the adcoms that actually make the decision.

 

[NickNaylor]

Every school approaches this differently, though I would imagine the most common approach is that numbers remain important but are not the end-all-be-all. The fact is that most schools can fill their classes and then some with applicants that meet whatever arbitrary “objective” cut off for GPA and MCAT that they decide to use, thus other factors play a role.

Some schools completely disregard the objective information in their final admissions decision - Mayo used to do this. Others (and I imagine most) continue to utilize this information but it becomes less important. I served on the admissions committee during my MS4 year, and I can’t recall a single case when someone’s numbers affected their final admissions decision either positively or negatively. At that point, it was simply one data point in a sea of other information with many things that, at least for me and many other committee members, was much more important.