intimidating forum!

[gotigers]

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hey ya'all--

i've been perusing the various posts on this forum and i get the feeling that everyone who has been accepted has an mcat score of 35+ and a ridiculous gpa. is there no hope for a 30/3.5er anymore? any of you humans out there have similar stats, and if so, any positive stories to keep me sane before i apply? thanks a lot!

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

This board is NOT a representative sample.

Plus, I get the impression a lot of people exaggerate.

 

[Fumoffu]

I got a 32 mcat...

I don't think everyone has insane stats although when I first was here and saw two threads "Stanford vs. Harvard" and "Harvard vs. Upenn" I think my head exploded.

 

[skiz knot]

Don't worry about what you see here. This is hardly a representative sample of people applying to med school. Plus, a lot of people lie, I'm sure.

As for stats of 30/3.5... Those are very solid, you should probably do very well in your applications.

I only had a 3.34 cum gpa (3.2 sci), but I had a good MCAT (34), and I have multiple acceptances.

Good luck, and don't worry so much.

 

[dcesnc]

Tigers fan, I wouldn't worry too much. I think part of it is that the people with high scores have no problem telling the world their scores. But the rest of us really don't have the need to talk about our scores. My scores weren't off the charts, but they were good enough to get into school, which is all that matters.

Keep the faith, and don't get intimidated.

 

[mackaikai]

3.46 GPA (3.56 Science) , 31 MCAT

feel better?

 

[kito]

You must not have met SnS.

 

[celticmists18]

hey ya'all--

i've been perusing the various posts on this forum and i get the feeling that everyone who has been accepted has an mcat score of 35+ and a ridiculous gpa. is there no hope for a 30/3.5er anymore? any of you humans out there have similar stats, and if so, any positive stories to keep me sane before i apply? thanks a lot!

Your hope is restored! I have a 30 and a 3.58 and will be starting med school in the fall . . . Good Luck!

 

[Alexander99]

hey ya'all--

i've been perusing the various posts on this forum and i get the feeling that everyone who has been accepted has an mcat score of 35+ and a ridiculous gpa. is there no hope for a 30/3.5er anymore? any of you humans out there have similar stats, and if so, any positive stories to keep me sane before i apply? thanks a lot!

3.5/30's should get you in--just not necessarily where they want to go in most cases. For example, if you're a CA applicant, those #'s may make it hard for you to stay in CA. If you just want to get into an MD school in general though, you should be golden.

 

[Spitting Camel]

3.7/29 yes, you can get in with less than a 30!

 

[ih8biochem]

I have precisely those stats. 3.5 from my state university and 30 o mcat (10, 12, 8).
I got rejected from all 9 schools I've applied to and now back for another round of applications. It's tough getting in, buddy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Alex

 

[Premedtomed]

Apply to a lot of schools

 

[Dr Scorpio]

Hey gotigers,

I had a 3.89/28 and I got into 2 of the schools I applied to. Keep your head up.

 

[willthatsall]

It isn't that intimidating if you think about it. The average GPA/MCAT around here is probably 3.9/34. That's about average for people who get accepted.

 

[hamhamfan]

Don't be too worried about it. These people are probably just more motivated (or addicted to SDN) than the rest of the population.

I notice lots of new members or people with lower post counts. Welcome guys. We'll be seeing each other post for this cycle. 👍

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

It isn't that intimidating if you think about it. The average GPA/MCAT around here is probably 3.9/34. That's about average for people who get accepted.

Either you are joking, misinformed, or trolling.

2003 Avg. GPA's & MCATs:

http://mysite.verizon.net/res21aye/sdn/stats.doc

 

[rgporter]

Don't worry about what you see here. This is hardly a representative sample of people applying to med school. Plus, a lot of people lie, I'm sure...

I wouldn't be so sure. About 900 people score 36 or higher per administration of the MCAT. The MCAT is offered twice a year. There are a surprising number of really impressive MCAT scores floating around out there.
I would guess only a few lie and they are usually obvious trolls. But still you shouldn't worry, numbers are just numbers. In the end what kind of person you are, is going to have a much greater effect on admissions than a few points on a standardized test.

 

[gildas]

2.75 GPA (3.3 science) and 26 mcat.
You got hope brother

 

[SunnyS81]

Never fear. There is at least one person in my class with ~ 28 3.6 ......if you do lots of searches you might even find her posts......

What's really scary is when you end up in a class, and slowly find out that some of your friendS (pleural) are 40+'ers.......now that's WACK!

There's a med school for everyone.....I know some people have headed to the caribean and to poland......(I don't know why someone would opt for poland over the caribbean!)

Good luck!

 

[Spitting Camel]

I have precisely those stats. 3.5 from my state university and 30 o mcat (10, 12, 8).
I got rejected from all 9 schools I've applied to and now back for another round of applications. It's tough getting in, buddy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Alex

Why would you apply to only 9 school with those stats? You shouldn't be complaining because there is a school out there that would take you, you just didn't apply to it the first time..

 

[bigbassinbob]

The average GPA for people who are accepted to med school is about 3.6, while the average MCAT for accepted students is 29.something. I think some nutjob said the average was like 3.9/34? Perhaps for ivy league schools. The truth is that over half of the accepted students have below a 30 on their MCAT and about half also have below a 3.6. This board obviously represents selective sampling of some of the stronger applicants, and also if you got a 35 on the MCAT wouldn't you shout it to the high heavens? I know I would.

 

[jdg222]

29oMCAT/3.75 GPA from an unknown state school

Applied to 9 schools, interviewed at 4 schools, accepted at 2, waitlisted at 2.

There's a lot more to it than stats. I only applied to nine schools, but I made sure that they were 9 schools that really fit my personality and what I wanted to do. Keep the faith man (or woman), I thought I was screwed when I first saw that my MCAT score didn't break the magic 30. It's not easy and there's a lot of luck involved, but don't lose hope.

 

[clevertooth]

jdg222,

check your PM.

 

[pekq]

The most common posters on SDN are quite hardcore about getting into med school and thus often succeed in acquiring acceptances. In real life, a lot of people do not have such stellar stats. Not to mention the occasional trolls. People who only get waitlists and rejections don't exactly go around bragging about it either.

IMO, SDN makes getting into med school easier than it seems because people with low stats who get in trumpet it but people with good stats who fail tend to keep quiet about it.

 

[Alexander99]

The average GPA for people who are accepted to med school is about 3.6, while the average MCAT for accepted students is 29.something. I think some nutjob said the average was like 3.9/34? Perhaps for ivy league schools. The truth is that over half of the accepted students have below a 30 on their MCAT and about half also have below a 3.6. This board obviously represents selective sampling of some of the stronger applicants, and also if you got a 35 on the MCAT wouldn't you shout it to the high heavens? I know I would.

Just cause the average GPA/MCAT is 3.6/29 doesn't mean the division of people above and below those numbers are half and half. I tend to believe that many people do have numbers at or greater than those numbers while there are fewer people with significantly lower stats (URMs, those with great experiences, etc) that bring the average down.

In addition, there are many state schools in (e.g. Texas) that have pretty low averages for their residents but are pretty hard to get into for out of state applicants. This brings down the average as well. If you took out all the state schools that have low averages and predominatetly take in staters, I'd venture to say the average would be closer to 3.7/31-32.

So unless you happen to live in Texas or a similar state, (if you live in CA for example), a 3.7/32 might be more of a level where you should feel confident.

Of course, numbers are just a part of it (extracirriculars matter a lot too) but they are important.

 

[getcloned]

x

 

[jlee9531]

haha another one of these threads....

no you do not have to be superhuman to get in.
there are many people who get in below those numbers...
but its funny that you say this cause there are a lot of us lower gpa people that post all the time.

3.4 31...here multiple acceptances.

 

[exmike]

3.4 31...here multiple acceptances.

Essentially the reverse, likewise.

 

[DMBFan61]

me too, i have a really high gpa, but im afraid that my mcat will be 28-31 range