Med School MCAT averages

[golgiapparatus88]

I always hear that you need at least a 30 to really have a shot at med school. But then I started thinking, if say a school like George Washington has an MCAT average of 30, not everyone who is accepted had over a 30. There had to have been a good amount of people with maybe 27,28,29 as well. Otherwise, the averages of every school would be much higher.

Does my reasoning have any truth behind it?

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[IamSuperDoctor]

I know that for Canadian universities, most cut offs are at 30 total and 8 for each section. if u do not meet these criteria, they dont even look at your application.

 

[golgiapparatus88]

I understand the cutoffs, I just don't understand how the averages can be a 30 when a school only accepts people with a 30 haha.

 

[SS01]

30 is considered competitive..but you are right many schools do definitely accept people with scores below 30.. there may be other factors like ECs, letters, minority status. There's no telling for sure if your score will get you accepted/rejected!

 

[DrBowtie]

While true that there are people getting in with 27-29s they often have something else special to compensate for a lower MCAT. Publications, great volunteer work etc.

 

[MCAT guy]

I always here that you need at least a 30 to really have a shot at med school. But then I started thinking, if say a school like George Washington has an MCAT average of 30, not everyone who is accepted had over a 30. There had to have been a good amount of people with maybe 27,28,29 as well. Otherwise, the averages of every school would be much higher.

Does my reasoning have any truth behind it?

maybe, maybe not.

You can check the 90th and 10th percentiles though.

Btw, a 30 average can be attained many ways.

Average of 30: 26,30,30,30,30,30,30,30,30,30,30,34

Just got to MSAR.

 

[MightyMoose]

I think this is what you are looking for. Don't forget to check by your race as well. Just click on the hyperlink on the top right hand side of the speadsheet.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-mcatgpa-grid-hbn-morerace.pdf

 

[golgiapparatus88]

Woah, thanks for that data. That's awesome.

 

[deleted74029]

I bet the matriculant average for a lot of the regular state schools are below 30. Think about it, a guy with a 35 MCAT is gonna raise the acceptance average for a lot more schools than a guy with a 27 will lower that average, simply due to the guy with the 35 being accepted to more schools while the 27 may only get into 1.

Furthermore, if a school's acceptance average is 30. The top students will often times choose other schools, while the school is pulling up people from the waitlist with lower scores.

An admissions officer for my state school, which reports it's acceptance average as 29, told the students at my undergrad that by the time the first day of class starts the average for that school is probably closer to 27.5ish.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I bet the matriculant average for a lot of the regular state schools are below 30. Think about it, a guy with a 35 MCAT is gonna raise the acceptance average for a lot more schools than a guy with a 27 will lower that average, simply due to the guy with the 35 being accepted to more schools while the 27 may only get into 1.

Furthermore, if a school's acceptance average is 30. The top students will often times choose other schools, while the school is pulling up people from the waitlist with lower scores.

An admissions officer for my state school, which reports it's acceptance average as 29, told the students at my undergrad that by the time the first day of class starts the average for that school is probably closer to 27.5ish.

Great point about the acceptance average versus the matriculant average. Many schools are accepting 35 to 40s that will never attend their school, so their acceptance averages are inflated.

Also, there are some schools that combine MCATs to maximize their students scores and thereby artificially raise their school's status (or so it would seem that's the purpose). If someone took the exam twice and got a 12, 9, 9 the first time and then repeated and got an 8, 11, 11, then depsite getting two 30s, they are a 12, 11, 11 in the data set for the school.

i think the important factor to consider is that the average MCAT score is about 24.5 at each sitting, with just under 80,000 exams given each year to about 50,000 to 55,000 people. If the applicant pool is around 41,000 with an average MCAT around 28, then it's safe to assume most of the 18s and below are opting not to apply. With just under 50% of applicants getting accepted, the window of scores for matriculants should be around 28 and above, with some exceptions here and there.

All this tends to make me think a 30 is a safe score to get in somewhere and a cutoff at the 31-60-something ranked schools.

 

[zachjm2]

I always here that you need at least a 30 to really have a shot at med school. But then I started thinking, if say a school like George Washington has an MCAT average of 30, not everyone who is accepted had over a 30. There had to have been a good amount of people with maybe 27,28,29 as well. Otherwise, the averages of every school would be much higher.

Does my reasoning have any truth behind it?

Yes, you are absolutely right. If you look through the MSAR, it lists median MCAT scores and GPA's for each school. A lot of the schools have a median MCAT score of 30, which by definition means that 50% of accepted students had a score lower than 30. Anyone who says that you have to have a 30 doesn't know anything about statistics. The higher your score, the better your chances, but fortunately people are not test scores. There are plenty of other parts of your application that admissions looks at.

 

[MightyMoose]

I bet the matriculant average for a lot of the regular state schools are below 30. Think about it, a guy with a 35 MCAT is gonna raise the acceptance average for a lot more schools than a guy with a 27 will lower that average, simply due to the guy with the 35 being accepted to more schools while the 27 may only get into 1.

Furthermore, if a school's acceptance average is 30. The top students will often times choose other schools, while the school is pulling up people from the waitlist with lower scores.

An admissions officer for my state school, which reports it's acceptance average as 29, told the students at my undergrad that by the time the first day of class starts the average for that school is probably closer to 27.5ish.

First off, I'm jealous. My state school has an average of 32.

Here is a spreadsheet with some data on matriculation by state of legal residence. It's not exactly what you're describing, but realistically, schools with lower MCAT averages by state will have more people matriculating with lower MCAT scores. This can help to narrow it down.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table21-mcatgpastatemat09.pdf


Also, this page has a ton of data you can use to make this process more clear.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/

 

[MightyMoose]

Yes, you are absolutely right. If you look through the MSAR, it lists median MCAT scores and GPA's for each school. A lot of the schools have a median MCAT score of 30, which by definition means that 50% of accepted students had a score lower than 30. Anyone who says that you have to have a 30 doesn't know anything about statistics. The higher your score, the better your chances, but fortunately people are not test scores. There are plenty of other parts of your application that admissions looks at.

That is an incorrect assumption of a mean/average.


Take these two scenarios as examples:

Scenario 1:

20 30 30 30 30 40 = Average of 30

25 25 31 32 33 34 = Average of 30

So, averages/means are really just the sum/# variable, which means that they don't imply any particular percentage above or below the average, because they could all be the average... This is why there are additional statistical measures such as the median with is the middle most point (for odd data) or the average of the two most middle points (for even data) or the mode (the value that occurs the most in your data set).

 

[phltz]

So, averages/means are really just the sum/# variable, which means that they don't imply any particular percentage above or below the average, because they could all be the average... This is why there are additional statistical measures such as the median with is the middle most point (for odd data) or the average of the two most middle points (for even data) or the mode (the value that occurs the most in your data set).

I hope you demonstrate(d) better reading comprehension than that on your MCAT. You're responding to a poster who was talking specifically about a median score of 30, not a mean score of 30.

 

[deleted74029]

First off, I'm jealous. My state school has an average of 32.

Yeah I live in one of those poor southern states. But looking through the MSAR I was surprised by how many schools had an average mcat at 30 or below. I was expecting only 2 or 3 schools but there were a considerable amount.

That is an incorrect assumption of a mean/average.


Take these two scenarios as examples:

Scenario 1:

20 30 30 30 30 40 = Average of 30

25 25 31 32 33 34 = Average of 30

So, averages/means are really just the sum/# variable, which means that they don't imply any particular percentage above or below the average, because they could all be the average... This is why there are additional statistical measures such as the median with is the middle most point (for odd data) or the average of the two most middle points (for even data) or the mode (the value that occurs the most in your data set).

Yeah he was talking about median, which by definition means half of the students are at or below a 30.

 

[MCAT guy]

Yeah he was talking about median, which by definition means half of the students are at or below a 30.

functional word here is "at", he was saying below.

 

[MightyMoose]

I hope you demonstrate(d) better reading comprehension than that on your MCAT. You're responding to a poster who was talking specifically about a median score of 30, not a mean score of 30.

Sigh... Good point. I am at work and quickly scanned his bolded text without reading it completely. I took the average conversation from above and assumed. I guess it's true what they say about assuming, but in this case I just made an ***** out of me.. haha.

 

[MCAT guy]

I hope you demonstrate(d) better reading comprehension than that on your MCAT. You're responding to a poster who was talking specifically about a median score of 30, not a mean score of 30.

why does every misunderstanding have to relate to MCAT VR?

SDN, ye filled with troubled souls!

 

[zachjm2]

why does every misunderstanding have to relate to MCAT VR?

SDN, ye filled with troubled souls!

Because paying attention can help your verbal score for the MCAT. And later on as a doctor, paying attention could save lives.

 

[golgiapparatus88]

Because paying attention can help your verbal score for the MCAT. And later on as a doctor, paying attention could save lives.

Good think I didn't get called out for typing "here" instead of "hear" in my original post

On a side note, that chart that MightyMoose posted is the stats for people who did NOT identify as being white. I'm sure the stats aren't THAT much different but it made me laugh when I noticed.

 

[MightyMoose]

Because paying attention can help your verbal score for the MCAT. And later on as a doctor, paying attention could save lives.

Well, luckily I'm done with my MCAT and have a medical school interview, because I'm sure I'll leave surgical instruments in patients, incorrectly alter their dosages, and disconnect their oxygen tanks, because I didn't thoroughly read a forum I casually glance at while at work, which prior to that poster was discussing averages...