so why ignore them in some instances? why say that i will use numbers in this manner for one person and then disregard them for others?
1. who is ignoring the numbers? 2. who are the numbers being disregarded for? they are being used the same for everyone - to see if the applicant meets the minimum requirements for the school to warrant an interview. minimum requirements = the level which the school has set to satisfy the applicant can successfully make it through med school. they are being used the same for all applicants. if the min reqs are a 28 mcat and 3.0 gpa, then both students have met the min reqs. notice i said min reqs.
based on? you mean that since one person has spent time volunteering at a refugee camp in rwanda or happens to be a particular race then that suddenly elevates their intrinsic intellect above that reflected by test scores that are applicable to others? odd.
no. i made no mention of a person's ec's nor their skin color. read carefully. if you must, read it two or three times. what i said was, each school has min requirements that each applicant must exceed in order to prove to the adcom that they can successfully graduate from med school. a person who greatly surpasses these mins, like a 4.0 and 40, will probably make better grades in med school. but, the person who barely passes the min, like a 3.1 and 31, while they may not make as high grades as the other person, has still exceeded the mins necessary to prove they can handle the courseload. i made no inference that ec's would boost someone's intrinsic intelligence. if that were the case, i would reccomend you go do lots of ec's (jk).
so you believed him? assuming you were the last person picked for an interview that day you actually believed that you were equivalent to their number one prospect?
yes. abso-freaking-lutely. here is the part you are not grasping. as he said, every person in that room has satisfied to the adcom that they could pass medical school. now they wanted to interview us............hold for the big reveal...............to get to know us, something they could not do merely by looking at our mcats and gpas. if there number one prospect turned out to be an arrogant prick, who thought he was entitled to med school b/c he had a high gpa and mcat, and their last person picked turned out to be a very likable, social person who showed sincere interest in their reasons for wanting to become a doctor..........then you bet the last person was picked. these people are picking their colleagues.
should not the opposite occur too? shouldnt minorities stop doing themselves a disservice and saying that if they dont get in with their 2.9 and 27 that they didnt get in because of institutional racism?