It's all about the stats.

[Neurocentric]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

So I just had a meeting with my pre-med adviser. I had faded away from the pre-med requirements since Texas didn't consider me a resident, and I knew that was a problem with OOS, so I wanted to wait a little bit before I continued on, in case getting residency was a problem even still.

Anyway. We had a great meeting; he suggested some classes for next semester and gave me some brochures and what not, and then I sort of asked him what other random advice he might have for me. This is what he said:

"Medical school is all about the numbers. Get the highest GPA you can, the highest MCAT score you can, prove to the admissions people you're normal, and you're in."

This doesn't sway me, but it kinda bugged me. I'm not in any way like some of the pre-meds I come in contact with, but I'm not an idiot. I know grades matter, and I'm working my ass off. But is that really all that matters?

Thoughts?

 

[sector9]

So I just had a meeting with my pre-med adviser. I had faded away from the pre-med requirements since Texas didn't consider me a resident, and I knew that was a problem with OOS, so I wanted to wait a little bit before I continued on, in case getting residency was a problem even still.

Anyway. We had a great meeting; he suggested some classes for next semester and gave me some brochures and what not, and then I sort of asked him what other random advice he might have for me. This is what he said:

"Medical school is all about the numbers. Get the highest GPA you can, the highest MCAT score you can, prove to the admissions people you're normal, and you're in."

This doesn't sway me, but it kinda bugged me. I'm not in any way like some of the pre-meds I come in contact with, but I'm not an idiot. I know grades matter, and I'm working my ass off. But is that really all that matters?

Thoughts?

Perhaps your pre-med advisor is trying to push you towards a Caribbean school

 

[Knocked Up]

"Medical school is all about the numbers. Get the highest MCAT score you can. The MCAT is EVERYTHING in this process."
Thoughts?

Fixed your premed advisors quote. He/she is right about one thing. The MCAT matters a lot. From my experience, at most schools it is far and away the MOST important aspect. Without it, all the ECs and personality in the world won't save you.

 

[Slowpoke]

It is evident that the higher GPA and MCAT you have the more likely it is that you will get in (according to the AMCAS GPA+MCAT tables).

But you won't be able to answer "Why Medicine" with good stats alone. What activities have you been involved with that allow you to come to the conclusion that medicine is for you?

 

[docbrill]

No.

 

[45408]

The stats get you the interview, the personality gets you the acceptance. If you don't have the stats, you won't even get the interview to prove yourself. I never interviewed an applicant who didn't have the numbers to back up their application.

 

[Neurocentric]

Fixed your premed advisors quote. He/she is right about one thing. The MCAT matters a lot. From my experience, at most schools it is far and away the MOST important aspect. Without it, all the ECs and personality in the world won't save you.

It is evident that the higher GPA and MCAT you have the more likely it is that you will get in (according to the AMCAS GPA+MCAT tables).

But you won't be able to answer "Why Medicine" with good stats alone. What activities have you been involved with that allow you to come to the conclusion that medicine is for you?

The stats get you the interview, the personality gets you the acceptance. If you don't have the stats, you won't even get the interview to prove yourself. I never interviewed an applicant who didn't have the numbers to back up their application.

I agree with all of these things, it just almost seemed like he was saying it to almost be the Devil's Advocate; like I was assuming being pre-med and trying to get into medical school is all butterflies and rainbows or some $hit. I know it's not, so it was interesting that he said this to me.

 

[Neurocentric]

But you won't be able to answer "Why Medicine" with good stats alone. What activities have you been involved with that allow you to come to the conclusion that medicine is for you?

I could answer the "Why Medicine" question right now.

Pre-med activities have been non-existent while I was trying to work all the time to get my residency. Now that I have that established, I'm moving forward on getting with my pre-med clubs, shadowing, volunteering, and all the other suggestions given to me.

 

[Gigantron]

"Medical school is all about the numbers. Get the highest GPA you can, the highest MCAT score you can, prove to the admissions people you're normal, and you're in."

This is probably more important than anything. It may come as a complete shocker, I know, but many medical school applicants aren't normal. Not by any means. 🙄

 

[ksmajmudar]

The stats get you the interview, the personality gets you the acceptance. If you don't have the stats, you won't even get the interview to prove yourself. I never interviewed an applicant who didn't have the numbers to back up their application.

This. Assuming you're normal and have an answer to "why medicine" (it's not very difficult to come up with one...), stats are the name of the game. Now, I'm kind of an exception to this rule because I got in with a 3.08 sGPA, HOWEVER, I did have a ton of other things to back it up (and I write very well - they told me in the interview that my personal statement was one of the best they've ever read).

So the moral of the story: top-notch stats are everything, but if you don't have them, you need to have at least reasonably good stats, and you better have EVERYTHING else.

 

[Person0715]

The stats get you the interview, the personality gets you the acceptance. If you don't have the stats, you won't even get the interview to prove yourself. I never interviewed an applicant who didn't have the numbers to back up their application.

I agree. In this sense, numbers are everything. Even if you had the best personality in the world, you would not get a chance to prove it without the numbers.

 

[Stumpyman]

Stats are not everything, but they're the biggest part.

In texas, I know tons of people with very few ECs and above average stats, they all get interviews/acceptances at most Texas schools.

So tx is a little different with regards to volunteering, etc. BUT you still need to demonstrate a great personality at interviews.

 

[liveoak]

So I just had a meeting with my pre-med adviser. I had faded away from the pre-med requirements since Texas didn't consider me a resident, and I knew that was a problem with OOS, so I wanted to wait a little bit before I continued on, in case getting residency was a problem even still.

Anyway. We had a great meeting; he suggested some classes for next semester and gave me some brochures and what not, and then I sort of asked him what other random advice he might have for me. This is what he said:

"Medical school is all about the numbers. Get the highest GPA you can, the highest MCAT score you can, prove to the admissions people you're normal, and you're in."

This doesn't sway me, but it kinda bugged me. I'm not in any way like some of the pre-meds I come in contact with, but I'm not an idiot. I know grades matter, and I'm working my ass off. But is that really all that matters?

Thoughts?

Don't worry about it. Don't let it bug you. Just keep working.

 

[sector9]

Fixed your premed advisors quote. He/she is right about one thing. The MCAT matters a lot. From my experience, at most schools it is far and away the MOST important aspect. Without it, all the ECs and personality in the world won't save you.

You're just bitter because you have a 7 in VR and it's holding you back from getting interviews. If your GPA was low but MCAT was high, you'd say that GPA was the most important aspect of the application

 

[Stumpyman]

You're just bitter because you have a 7 in VR and it's holding you back from getting interviews. If your GPA was low but MCAT was high, you'd say that GPA was the most important aspect of the application

Good job using your analrapist skills.





....If anyone reads this and gets shocked, it's NOT what you think it means.

 

[centrigeugle]

....If anyone reads this and gets shocked, it's NOT what you think it means.

It wasn't really the pronunciation that bothered me.

 

[kexy]

I disagree from my own personal experience (I know, n=1). I have strong stats and mediocre EC's (but enough to competently answer why medicine), and this cycle is not going too well for me.

 

[45408]

I disagree from my own personal experience (I know, n=1). I have strong stats and mediocre EC's (but enough to competently answer why medicine), and this cycle is not going too well for me.

Yeah, that's not a useful anecdote at all. Your PS, LORs, secondary essays, and mediocre ECs could all be the problem. Or you applied to a poor selection of schools.

 

[gettheleadout]

I would bet that even a "normal" applicant with a 40 and a 4.0 and a compelling reason to want to be a doctor, but with no other EC's whatsoever would not get in.

 

[Slowpoke]

I would bet that even a "normal" applicant with a 40 and a 4.0 and a compelling reason to want to be a doctor, but with no other EC's whatsoever would not get in.

I would take you up on this bet... now to find a 40/4.0 with a compelling reason to be a doctor.

Btw, what do you mean by "compelling"? I imagine a compelling "Why Medicine" answer would be backed up by experiences outside of school related activities. In which case it is difficult to have a compelling reason without any EC's.

 

[gettheleadout]

I would take you up on this bet... now to find a 40/4.0 with a compelling reason to be a doctor.

Btw, what do you mean by "compelling"? I imagine a compelling "Why Medicine" answer would be backed up by experiences outside of school related activities. In which case it is difficult to have a compelling reason without any EC's.

Implying that super-high-stats people don't have compelling reasons? lol...

What I mean by compelling in the context of no EC's is like "well my family has a history of X horrible condition and I've seen my grandmother, mother, and sister fall to it and I've been inspired by the doctors we've worked with because they gave me hope and really stood out as the epitome of the compassionate, competent physician," or something like that.

I really don't believe you could get in (barring ridiculous in-state bias where they have to accept so many applicants or something like that) with no EC's (I'm talking not a single box filled out on the AMCAS work/activities section) regardless of your numbers.

 

[Laplace]

I don't know why so many people voted for the second option. You asked what matters the most in terms of getting INTO medical school (meaning any school). In that case, it's definitely stats because there's so many crappy schools that only care about stats. If you're looking at a top 20-30 though, you definitely need to have more.

 

[mauberley]

I don't know why so many people voted for the second option. You asked what matters the most in terms of getting INTO medical school (meaning any school).

No, the poll question is "Are the numbers really all that matter?". Emphasis mine. This is different from "are the numbers the biggest factor."

 

[sector9]

Good job using your analrapist skills.





....If anyone reads this and gets shocked, it's NOT what you think it means.

Someone reading through this thread once I change my avatar is going to be 😱

 

[notbobtrustme]

One of the best quotes on this site regarding GPA/MCAT vs EC was this:

"GPA/MCAT is hard money, ECs are soft money."

 

[typicalindian]

Hes right. Despite what everyone says, in the end high numbers ARE really important. Although they aren't the only thing that matter, they are a large part of the process. Did you expect him to say "half ass all of your classes and make sure you get sub par grades so you can just be mediocre like everyone else." I can guarantee you people with high numbers worry a lot less than than people who have low numbers in terms of getting into med school because that's one aspect of their application that they won't have to worry about.

 

[MilkmanAl]

The stats get you the interview, the personality gets you the acceptance. If you don't have the stats, you won't even get the interview to prove yourself. I never interviewed an applicant who didn't have the numbers to back up their application.

Yep, agree. Basically, if you have good enough numbers to get an interview and the requisite ECs and can play the interview game better than most med school applicants (which probably isn't actually all that hard to do), you're good to go.

 

[Neurocentric]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. Let me make something clear. I know the numbers matter, lol. I have read about students having the numbers but failing hard at the interview because they had no personality. Monotonous tone, the whole nine yards. Obviously, it goes without saying that you need to be personable with patients, too. I just wanted to confirm, since I've heard pre-med advisers tend to try and be Devil's advocate as another way to weed out the meek ones.

Thanks again for everyone's response and feedback. I apologize for any spelling mistakes in this reply; my iPod likes to auto correct.

 

[anbuitachi]

It's definitely not all stats. Stats is the easier part of the battle. Stats get you the interview. After that stats are meaningless for most schools

 

[MilkmanAl]

I don't think that's necessarily true, but they become part of the picture rather than the vast majority of the picture. The post-interview selection strategy varies by school, I'm sure.

 

[NickNaylor]

It's definitely not all stats. Stats is the easier part of the battle. Stats get you the interview. After that stats are meaningless for most schools

This is the case at some but certainly not all schools. Michigan, for example, downplays the importance of the interview relative to the rest of your application while Mayo essentially ignores numbers once you get an interview.