MCAT/transcripts required?

[omores]

Hey y'all.

There's an anxiety-ridden thread in the pre-allo section about whether MCAT scores and college transcripts can come back to haunt you during the residency application process.

I remember hearing that the SF match (neuro, neurosurg, ENT, optho, plastics) does ask for this information, but that NRMP doesn't. Can anyone confirm or deny?

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[Kalel]

I can confirm that the NRMP/ERAS doesn't ask. ERAS only asks for your undergrad school and major. The only thing that I was asked about from my pre-med years during my interviews was regarding my undergrad research.

 

[mcwmark]

sfmatch does as for all that information as part of your application, but i did not get asked once about my mcat score or college grades.

 

[pman95]

ERAS does not require that info. Out of 14 interviews I was on this year...approximately zero (0) asked about anything during my undergrad days.

...and it's a good thing, as I'd have some 'splaining to do!

 

[bobdobaleena]

some of the ortho programs require MCAT scores........

 

[medhopeful08]

On a related note, has anyone ever heard of acceptances being revoked because of bad senior grades?

 

[Museless]

Are we talking about acceptance to medical school being revoked when a college senior's recent grades are significantly less than what was on their transcript when the acceptance was issued?

Yes, I've heard of that happening. The school is expecting a student of a certain caliber, and if their standing changes might change their mind on wanting him/her to attend.

But if this thread is still about whether college can affect residency, then your question might mean whether a med student's senior year grades could affect his/her residency. To that, the answer's no, the match is a contracturally binding process.

 

[medhopeful08]

Museless,

where have you heard of that happening?

Originally posted by Museless
Are we talking about acceptance to medical school being revoked when a college senior's recent grades are significantly less than what was on their transcript when the acceptance was issued?

Yes, I've heard of that happening. The school is expecting a student of a certain caliber, and if their standing changes might change their mind on wanting him/her to attend.

But if this thread is still about whether college can affect residency, then your question might mean whether a med student's senior year grades could affect his/her residency. To that, the answer's no, the match is a contracturally binding process.

 

[Museless]

I went to college at a Big Ten University. My roommate and I both applied to medical school. She had a bad case of senioritis and once interviews were over, stopped going to class and studying. Her spring senior grades were dismal, med schools follow up to make sure that you finished coursework that was pending when you applied and completed the degree you were working on, and her position in the class went to someone on the wait list.

Don't freak out thinking if you got a 3.7 cumulative GPA freshman-junior years and a 3.4 in the senior year that you'll end up the same way. You have to screw up pretty bad for this to happen. i.e. 3.7 cumulative followed by 1.7 in the senior year.

 

[medhopeful08]

.

 

[Museless]

Don't worry about C's. Especially if you don't have all C's, I'm sure it's fine.

She failed a class in her major, and instead of repeating it changed majors (from one bio science to another) in order to graduate on time.

Just don't make any big changes to your application - don't change majors, don't fail classes, don't drop a minor you'd previously declared, etc.

 

[Blade28]

I've also heard of med schools withdrawing their offer of admission upon hearing that you did horribly in senior year. Similar things happen when applying to college, no?

The adcom of my school (when I was in college) said you basically just want to pass everything, and don't want a "D," "F" or "NP" on your transcript. And yes, keeping the same major is generally a good thing too.

 

[omores]

bumpbumpbu

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[Robz]

some of the ortho programs require MCAT scores........

are they looking at your PS section and your physics 1&2 grades to see you if you can hammer and drill?

 

[Kalel]

are they looking at your PS section and your physics 1&2 grades to see you if you can hammer and drill?

Actually, there is a fair amount of physics in ortho with knowing how to calculate opposing forces and torques or something like that. That's what one ortho resident tried to tell me anyways.

 

[kinetic]

Actually, there is a fair amount of physics in ortho with knowing how to calculate opposing forces and torques or something like that. That's what one ortho resident tried to tell me anyways.

Yeah, they're all sitting on the floor in the Ortho call room drafting out vectors and rotational oppositional forces during call night. The one guy who benches 400 lbs and is ripping through his scrubs asks, "hey, anyone know the differential for a sine-cosine function"? (Group laughter.) "Get a load of the new guy ...he needs a calculator for third-order functions!" (More laughter.)

 

[Kalel]

Yeah, they're all sitting on the floor in the Ortho call room drafting out vectors and rotational oppositional forces during call night. The one guy who benches 400 lbs and is ripping through his scrubs asks, "hey, anyone know the differential for a sine-cosine function"? (Group laughter.) "Get a load of the new guy ...he needs a calculator for third-order functions!" (More laughter.)

Yeah, he may have just been trying to make them all seem smart while I was watching them do their bone crunching thing. If I had to be a surgeon, I'd definitely be an orthopedist. I got to crunch up a rib for use in a patient's spine one time, and I like the tools that they use. It's funny, a couple of thoracic surgeons came in after the ortho guys had left the OR, and one of the thoracic guys points to the ortho's hammers and saws and told me that they were "monkey tools". Inter-specialty rivalries can be funny sometimes. I'd mainly be choosing ortho over the rest of the general surgery stuff for reasons that you are talking about in the IM forum though (ie lifestyle issues). I have a uncle who is an orthopedist who easily makes over a million per year while only doing surgeries 3 days per week. On a side note, now that I think about it, it's kind of funny how your lifestyle thread is in the IM forum. Anyone who picks IM and it's subspecialties over the more lucrative surgical subspecialties must have some other factors in their decision besides lifestyle.

 

[kinetic]

Anyone who picks IM and it's subspecialties over the more lucrative surgical subspecialties must have some other factors in their decision besides lifestyle.

Touche. Actually, if you read my posts closely, you'll see that I quite clearly state that I don't begrudge anyone their money. We all work hard to get it. What I was P.O.'d about was when people act hypocritical by going for the money and lifestyle and then lecturing colleagues or students that "I went into Dermatology (sorry to pick on you guys) because I really wanted to make a difference in people's lives. I would have become a Dermatologist even if I got paid in food stamps!" Anyway, this isn't the point of this thread, so if you want to discuss it further, post something in my thread.