Is there a correlation between MCAT scores & premed science grades? Because

[alexfoleyc]

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Well, our college had a medical school admissions officer come and speak to all the premeds. He said that medical schools can easily find out if there is grade inflation at a college just by looking at the mcat scores and science grades. He said if students are coming in from a college were their BMCP gpas are sky-high, thus their science grades are As or high Bs, but their mcat scores are just average or below, then we know that their is grade inflation at the college.

So, doesnt that imply that good premed course grades mean a good mcat score? But im one of those people who is horrible at taking standardized exams. I get really nervous and end up screwing up. Same thing happened to me in high school regarding ACT. What is a good way to counteract that? And is there a correlation between MCAT scores & premed science grades?

 

[patekpremed]

Well, our college had a medical school admissions officer come and speak to all the premeds. He said that medical schools can easily find out if there is grade inflation at a college just by looking at the mcat scores and science grades. He said if students are coming in from a college were their BMCP gpas are sky-high, thus their science grades are As or high Bs, but their mcat scores are just average or below, then we know that their is grade inflation at the college.

So, doesnt that imply that good premed course grades mean a good mcat score? But im one of those people who is horrible at taking standardized exams. I get really nervous and end up screwing up. Same thing happened to me in high school regarding ACT. What is a good way to counteract that? And is there a correlation between MCAT scores & premed science grades?

Well, this makes sense if someone comes in with a 4.0 in BMCP and then gets a 28 or less on the MCAT. The only way to counteract poor standardized test-taking is practice, practice, practice. Take as many full-length practice tests under testing conditions (earphones, low lighting(?), and time constraints). This will not only help you with the content, but the actual testing also.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Well, this makes sense if someone comes in with a 4.0 in BMCP and then gets a 28 or less on the MCAT. The only way to counteract poor standardized test-taking is practice, practice, practice. Take as many full-length practice tests under testing conditions (earphones, low lighting(?), and time constraints). This will not only help you with the content, but the actual testing also.

Completely agree with this. Half the test is knowing the content, and the other half is knowing the test. I took ten practice MCATs before the exam, and I've heard of people take more.

As far as what the adcom was saying, that's why he's talking in generalities. There will always be exceptions to the rule, such as yourself and people who just study for like two weeks before the exam, but I'd say that in general there is some correlation between BCPM and MCAT. So if EVERYONE from a particular school has high BCPM but low MCAT, then they could assume grade inflation. Therefore, I think they'll look at their entire pool of applicants from your school to determine if your school inflates grades, not you specifically.

 

[goldenwest]

Start preparing far in advance. Do a problem or two each night before you go to bed and look at note cards on the weekends. By the time the test comes around you'll be used to the way questions are asked and will be more familiar with the content.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Well, our college had a medical school admissions officer come and speak to all the premeds. He said that medical schools can easily find out if there is grade inflation at a college just by looking at the mcat scores and science grades. He said if students are coming in from a college were their BMCP gpas are sky-high, thus their science grades are As or high Bs, but their mcat scores are just average or below, then we know that their is grade inflation at the college.

So, doesnt that imply that good premed course grades mean a good mcat score? But im one of those people who is horrible at taking standardized exams. I get really nervous and end up screwing up. Same thing happened to me in high school regarding ACT. What is a good way to counteract that? And is there a correlation between MCAT scores & premed science grades?

I'm not sure who this admissions officer is, but I wouldn't trust a thing he said after that. Is he doing 10-20 year studies on grades/MCAT's at every school in the nation that applies to his medical school? If not, he can't make any reliable conclusions from comparing mcats/gpa.

I know 2 people that went to my undergrad who were the same major and graduated the same year:
Male: 3.2 gpa 33MCAT Accepted 2nd app cycle
Female: 3.9gpa 26MCAT Accepted 1st app cycle

What does the admissions officer do with the above 2 applicants? Cry?

Maybe the better conclusion: MCAT scores reveal an individual's preparation and desire to attend medical school.

 

[secants]

By average do you mean the average matriculated score or the average MCAT score by all those who had taken it this year?

 

[GoSpursGo]

I'm not sure who this admissions officer is, but I wouldn't trust a thing he said after that. Is he doing 10-20 year studies on grades/MCAT's at every school in the nation that applies to his medical school? If not, he can't make any reliable conclusions from comparing mcats/gpa.

I know 2 people that went to my undergrad who were the same major and graduated the same year:
Male: 3.2 gpa 33MCAT Accepted 2nd app cycle
Female: 3.9gpa 26MCAT Accepted 1st app cycle

What does the admissions officer do with the above 2 applicants? Cry?

Maybe the better conclusion: MCAT scores reveal an individual's preparation and desire to attend medical school.

This was my point earlier: you can't make any judgments about a schools' grade inflation (or lack thereof) by just looking at one or a couple of students' scores. There will always be outliers, and those two that you brought up may well be some outliers. However, if in the course of one year's application cycle, 100 people apply from a school and 60 of them have a 3.8+ GPA, but only 20/60 have a 30+ MCAT, then I think they could conclude from the BODY of evidence that the school on the whole inflates grades.

 

[NurWollen]

Whether what the adcom member said is true or not, that's probably the attitude many of them have. Even if they're wrong, they're still the ones who have the say. So, we can best prepare by studying as much has possible for the MCAT, and hoping for the best.

 

[pazan]

I think beyond numbers, adcoms evaluate a student's potential impact in medicine. Students from elite schools (HPY, MIT, etc) have competed against the best of their peers, which is something we're all going to have to do as physicians. Regardless of their GPA, I think adcoms see them as having the "pedigree" to make important contributions in science/medicine. Is that fair? Who knows, but top programs mold top students, while state schools weed out the incompetent ones.

 

[dienekes88]

For the individual it might not be the case since a person's preparation can change a lot (as TexasPhysician and GoSpursGo are saying).

However, if you have two schools:
School A: sGPAs are 3.6 and their average MCAT score is 33
School B: sGPAs are 3.8 and their average MCAT score is 29

I'm guessing an AdCom member will think, "maybe I can't make a straight unweighted comparison of science GPAs between these two schools." However, I don't know, I've never sat on a committee. I've had a couple AdCom members tell me that they have experience with schools so they have their app readers read apps from the same schools every year, because certain PreMed advisors use unique jargon and it takes some time to become acquainted with the kind of GPA that might be considered "good" from a specific school.

You don't have to have 100 people from one school applying in one year. Historical averages (cumulative over 5 years) probably work just fine.

 

[GoSpursGo]

You don't have to have 100 people from one school applying in one year. Historical averages (cumulative over 5 years) probably work just fine.

Agreed. I just used 100 cuz it's a nice round number 🙂

 

[HeatherMD]

I don't know. My school is hyper-competitive with grades.. it's all graded on a curve and you have to be an honors student in highschool to even get in so everyone's pretty smart. A lot of my friends that are B & C students have taken the MCAT and done fairly well. My boyfriend got a D in a chemistry class and still pulled a 27S on the MCAT! but then one of my friends has a 3.8 and got a 23 (she did get a 4 in VR though so she did fine in her sciences!)

To be honest, I was surprised with my MCAT because I didn't study and my grades are mediocre. When I made 80th percentile or whatever I was like wtf?!??!

 

[efitzpat]

I think the point he was making was that grades vary from school to school and the MCAT - as a standardized test - tries to show performance on a level playing field. Unfortunately, its not all that great because some people study as hard as they can and others don't.

My science GPA isn't very high at all, but my MCAT was. I worked hard for both, but I have a really hard time breaking the B barrier with the curves. So who the hell knows what the truth it

 

[funkydrmonkey]

I do not think there is too much of a correlation. I worked a lot harder for my classes than I did for my MCAT, so that is why my sGPA is a lot higher than my regular GPA, and my MCAT is not as high. It is based on how hard you work for something.

 

[BigRedder]

A word about standardized tests. Get used to them. You take tests all the time, in fact I imagine you take plenty of tests in your science classes. If you can do well enough on all of those to apply to medical school, you should be able to take one 4 hour multiple choice exam.

Once you get to medical school, you will be tested at least every few weeks. After two years, you take an exam much harder than the MCAT which will determine what kind of residency you can reasonably apply to. During 3rd year you will take shelf exams which many describe as harder than the USMLE. So, get good at taking tests; they aren't going away.

In any case, if one gets so nervous clicking radio buttons on a computer monitor, how will they handle a patient bleeding out? I'm not saying you won't be a good doctor, I'm saying you need to get control of your nerves in order to be successful. As long as you are prepared, you will be fine.