MCAT Is The Bigger Key To Acceptance.

[paranoid_eyes]

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i think both are taken into equal consideration, seeing as how you need to be both hardworking AND intelligent to make it through med school.

 

[Lecter]

i think both are taken into equal consideration, seeing as how you need to be both hardworking AND intelligent to make it through med school.

Are you equating GPA with work ethic and MCAT with intelligence? *gasp* 😱

 

[tiedyeddog]

Paranoid.... Prepare to be eaten..

 

[Excelsius]

First time I am hearing about academic index. There is some great information here, but personal insecurities elicited some gratuitous personal attacks. I think the bottom line is that MCAT scores likely weigh more than GPA not because the study says so, but because medical schools are more likely to accept students who will pass the USMLE. Given two AIs that are close, the person who has the most balanced GPA vs MCAT wins. Then come the applicants with high MCATs, and only then high GPAs and low MCATs.

That's all in terms of numbers, so other arguments are irrelevant. Of course, there are too many variables: GPA trend, cGPA ratio with BCPM, URM status, application date, grade on the essay, unique ECs and PSs, your age, where you work, who you know, your character, who's your daddy, your gender and the sexual orientation of your interviewer, whether he is married or not and whether you are just hot in body, in the face, both, or neither, and whether your interviewer is in the mood.

So, for those seeking perfection and saying that AI is totally BS, you are right. Once you create a formula for all of the above, I guarantee you that you will get the perfect formula. Until then, we just have to get by with some BS formula, which includes the ones for GPA trend calculation and the one suggested by Lizzy.

Thanks for all the great info!

 

[wizenedone]

First time I am hearing about academic index. There is some great information here, but personal insecurities elicited some gratuitous personal attacks. I think the bottom line is that MCAT scores likely weigh more than GPA not because the study says so, but because medical schools are more likely to accept students who will pass the USMLE. Given two AIs that are close, the person who has the most balanced GPA vs MCAT wins. Then come the applicants with high MCATs, and only then high GPAs and low MCATs.

That's all in terms of numbers, so other arguments are irrelevant. Of course, there are too many variables: GPA trend, cGPA ratio with BCPM, URM status, application date, grade on the essay, unique ECs and PSs, your age, where you work, who you know, your character, who's your daddy, your gender and the sexual orientation of your interviewer, whether he is married or not and whether you are just hot in body, in the face, both, or neither, and whether your interviewer is in the mood.

So, for those seeking perfection and saying that AI is totally BS, you are right. Once you create a formula for all of the above, I guarantee you that you will get the perfect formula. Until then, we just have to get by with some BS formula, which includes the ones for GPA trend calculation and the one suggested by Lizzy.

Thanks for all the great info!

Your age??

 

[Crash88]

People obviously tailor their responses according to their stats- someone with high mcat and low gpa will obviously say mcat is more important and visa versa

You need a good gpa and a good mcat- a low one of either compromises your acceptance

 

[deleted74029]

Your age??

Of course, someone who has been on the Earth 10 years longer should have 10 years more worth of ECs. Well I think so, unless they just decided in the past year or so that they wanted to go into medicine I guess.

 

[redlight]

Are you equating GPA with work ethic and MCAT with intelligence? *gasp* 😱

is this why he was banned?
😕
i still don't understand why some posters are banned at times

 

[sssddd]

Ok ok you guys stop arguing over the importance of the MCAT to show off your debate skills. This is wasting time. Here is what we can do, lets say MCAT is important, then by all means list some of the schools with lower MCAT requirements, and discuss if anyone got in easily. Lower MCAT scores are <32

If you dont want to do what I suggested then by all means give examples of schools and their MCAT average. We can then have people input whether their scores was close to it or not and whether they got acceptance waitlist or rejects and we can take it from there

This is an informative thread to help us applicants. It's not here for people to show off whether they are smarter or not

 

[gplex86]

Ok ok you guys stop arguing over the importance of the MCAT to show off your debate skills. This is wasting time. Here is what we can do, lets say MCAT is important, then by all means list some of the schools with lower MCAT requirements, and discuss if anyone got in easily. Lower MCAT scores are <32

If you dont want to do what I suggested then by all means give examples of schools and their MCAT average. We can then have people input whether their scores was close to it or not and whether they got acceptance waitlist or rejects and we can take it from there

This is an informative thread to help us applicants. It's not here for people to show off whether they are smarter or not

Since when is <32 a low score? The average matriculant has an MCAT of about 30, which is top 20% of test takers. Much of the debate, I think, is where to set the bar and at what point differences in scores lose meaning.

 

[chad5871]

Since when is <32 a low score? The average matriculant has an MCAT of about 30, which is top 20% of test takers. Much of the debate, I think, is where to set the bar and at what point differences in scores lose meaning.

I got a 31R and my percentile range was 79.1-83.3. If that's a low score, then that really sucks for 79.1% of people who take the MCAT.

 

[Vihsadas]

Since when is <32 a low score? The average matriculant has an MCAT of about 30, which is top 20% of test takers. Much of the debate, I think, is where to set the bar and at what point differences in scores lose meaning.

It's not a low score. It's a really good score. I agree with your second idea too. For me, you pass the MCAT when you get into medical school. If you get in with a 26, then that's a good score for you, ya kno? Afterall, once you get into medical school, your MCAT is totally meaningless and we'll all be on an even playing field again. 🙂

 

[Introspector]

Let me begin by apologizing in advance for the abundant ignorance displayed in this post, but I am new to the medicine application game, and some of you don't seem to mind alleviating ignorance.

I joined this site looking for the answer to the question "At which medical school are MCAT scores most heavily weighted in the admissions process ?", thinking that there were already plenty of people who had done abundant research into med school admissions, but if I get the gist of this thread, nobody could really be sure. I know with respect to law school most are fairly up front with a "65% LSAT; 35% grades" of "30% LSAT; 70% grades" sort of statement, but one of the posters alluded to that, so I imagine most of you are aware of the difference.

The above question was intended largely in pursuit of (I can be frank here) "At which medical school would a great MCAT have the best chance of compensating for mediocre undergraduate marks ?", but it looks as though no one who doesn't attend the Annual Conference of Admissions Committees could authoritatively answer that, either.

Canadian schools are quite transparent in their admission criteria. (But of no use to me, as the answer to my second question there would be : "Nowhere. MCAT scores are, at most, a secondary consideration at Canadian medical schools.") How about other medical schools in the English-speaking world ? Maybe Australia, or the UK ? Do they have any standardized test at all ?

And what, please, is an SMP ?

 

[HumidBeing]

An SMP is a Special Masters Program. Basically, it's a one year Masters that covers the first year of med classes. People who need a boost sometimes enter those. Students who do well in them have a much better chance of getting into med school.

A great MCAT score can help you get looked at. That's a good step closer to getting in.

 

[paradocs we are]

is this why he was banned?
😕
i still don't understand why some posters are banned at times

Welcome to SDN, the land of mysterious accusations.

 

[Maxprime]

so there's hope for a 39 MCAT w/ a 3.01 GPA (including 2 Ds, and 2 Fs)?

Definitely. 🙂 But don't count on where and how many app cycles it will take - weird stats really don't allow reasonably accurate predictions.

 

[Introspector]

Quick note to Eugene: The Colorado River no longer reaches the sea.