importance of MCAT vs. GPA (i.e. stats), and EC's/essays, and LOR's after interview?

[aspiringdoctor87]

just curious - been seeing many theories about what matters post-interviews and it seems like MCAT/GPA matters a ton
however, I think I saw an AMCAS chart somewhere that said LOR's actually matter most after interviews
so do schools just...not care about all those essays/EC descriptions we poured hours into after interviews? lol...
also, are MCAT and GPA weighted the same? even though MCAT is standardized, having a strong GPA also takes a lot of work since it's like your entire college career

sorry for posting guys, I honestly just need an outlet to distract myself and you guys are a wonderful community who can relate to all my problems hahahaha

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[907914]

just curious - been seeing many theories about what matters post-interviews and it seems like MCAT/GPA matters a ton
however, I think I saw an AMCAS chart somewhere that said LOR's actually matter most after interviews
so do schools just...not care about all those essays/EC descriptions we poured hours into after interviews? lol...
also, are MCAT and GPA weighted the same? even though MCAT is standardized, having a strong GPA also takes a lot of work since it's like your entire college career

sorry for posting guys, I honestly just need an outlet to distract myself and you guys are a wonderful community who can relate to all my problems hahahaha

If the GPA is good (>3.5 at most schools, >3.6 T20), MCAT matters more. LORs take too much time to read 8000 applicants. Basically, your ECs have already been evaluated and LORs matter a lot post interview because they are used to confirm your narrative and confirm what they saw of you on interview day.

And to the bolded part, it really isn’t your whole college though. Your college is everything you were doing. Also, GPA is so variable from school to school and ability person to person...like, I literally have to put in the physical minimum effort possible in my classes to get an A. What does having a 4.0 say about me? Not much. So, yah past the threshold, MCAT matters much more.

 

[notsobabydoc]

If the GPA is good (>3.5 at most schools, >3.6 T20), MCAT matters more. LORs take too much time to read 8000 applicants. Basically, your ECs have already been evaluated and LORs matter a lot post interview because they are used to confirm your narrative and confirm what they saw of you on interview day.

And to the bolded part, it really isn’t your whole college though. Your college is everything you were doing. Also, GPA is so variable from school to school and ability person to person...like, I literally have to put in the physical minimum effort possible in my classes to get an A. What does having a 4.0 say about me? Not much. So, yah past the threshold, MCAT matters much more.

I think actually LOR's are mostly sanity checks pre-II. Any bad LOR immediately triggers a flag. Good LOR's, who cares?! I really seriously doubt they even bother with LOR's after your interview. They got the first hand visual already so why do they care about how others think of you at that point?

 

[aspiringdoctor87]

Seeing how insane the Mcat scores are for the T20, what would be a competitive MCAT score post-interview? Like if you’re below their median (520/521 nowadays...) are you still competitive?

 

[notsobabydoc]

Seeing how insane the Mcat scores are for the T20, what would be a competitive MCAT score post-interview? Like if you’re below their median (520/521 nowadays...) are you still competitive?

by definition, if you are below the median, your MCAT is not competitive. However other things can make it up.

 

[907914]

520/521 nowadays...

Only 2 schools have an accepted median higher than 521, only 8 have a median of 520 or higher. If you have a 518+ then you are solidly in the running/near equal footing all else equal at every T20 aside from the stat ******.

Correction* 3 at 522

 

[notsobabydoc]

Only 2 schools have an accepted median higher than 521, only 8 have a median of 520 or higher. If you have a 518+ then you are solidly in the running/near equal footing all else equal at every T20 aside from the stat ******.

I thought 3 at 522?? NYU, Yale and WUSL?

 

[907914]

I thought 3 at 522?? NYU, Yale and WUSL?

Thank you for the correction. Updated. I didn’t apply Yale, forgot they were a thing.

 

[Goro]

just curious - been seeing many theories about what matters post-interviews and it seems like MCAT/GPA matters a ton
however, I think I saw an AMCAS chart somewhere that said LOR's actually matter most after interviews
so do schools just...not care about all those essays/EC descriptions we poured hours into after interviews? lol...
also, are MCAT and GPA weighted the same? even though MCAT is standardized, having a strong GPA also takes a lot of work since it's like your entire college career

sorry for posting guys, I honestly just need an outlet to distract myself and you guys are a wonderful community who can relate to all my problems hahahaha

SDNers are advised not to obsess over single metrics. It's the entire app that counts when the Adcom meets.

if you need an outlet, get off of SDN.