New MSAR says UCLA MCAT is 508?

[TheBiologist]

Is this significantly lower than in previous years?

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[md-2020]

I don't have access to MSAR anymore, but are your sure this is Geffen and not Drew? IFAIK those are separate. Otherwise yes, that would be a pretty substantial decrease for Geffen.

 

[Goro]

Is this significantly lower than in previous years?

Median applicant????????

EDIT: I just looked at MSAR. Wow! What a different format! And you're right...median acceptee is 508; median matriculant is 505! there are DO schools with higher MCAT scores! it may be that Drew is included in the overall number. I wonder if the wise @gyngyn can shed some light on this?

 

[TheBiologist]

I don't have access to MSAR anymore, but are your sure this is Geffen and not Drew? IFAIK those are separate. Otherwise yes, that would be a pretty substantial decrease for Geffen.

yup, Geffen

 

[Lord Kek]

Median applicant????????

EDIT: I just looked at MSAR. Wow! What a different format! And you're right...median acceptee is 508; median matriculant is 505! there are DO schools with higher MCAT scores! it may be that Drew is included in the overall number. I wonder if the wise @gyngyn can shed some light on this?

Wouldn't that mean Drew is taking many applicants with <500 MCAT??? I guess they really are doing a holistic view at UCLA.

 

[Goro]

Even more surprising...Western MI's median MCAT is 514!!!

 

[Lucca]

Drew has a class of ~26 students. Geffen has a class of ~180. If it is the case that Drew is lumped into the Geffen Stats, the Drew class size is not sufficient to explain the significance of the drop in UCLAs median MCAT.

They might just be one of 3 schools that actually bought the AAMC's suggestion to pay attention to the middle of the distribution. Their IQR is 503-517 so they definitely considered applicants from all over the stats pool, not just those at the top 3% like its peers in the USNWR rankings.

Good for you LA!

 

[MareNostrummm]

So its safe to say that UCLA will be converting to a DO school? (Have to restore balance to the order after UCI went from DO to MD).

 

[efle]

Looks like UCLA didn't get the holding pattern memo like UCSD/UCSF, and actually listened to the AAMC.

It will be very interesting to see whether they keep enrolling classes with a median of 28, or if they quickly shoot up after being left so far behind for the year.

 

[CharlieBillings]

Wow why did I even try on the MCAT. Should have studied for 1 month and spent the other 2 doing EC type things.

 

[efle]

Wow why did I even try on the MCAT. Should have studied for 1 month and spent the other 2 doing EC type things.

Nah don't worry, UCLA and UW are major outliers, for almost all the others looks like the MCAT score is still the biggest selector/hurdle

 

[DameJulie]

Looks like UCLA didn't get the holding pattern memo like UCSD/UCSF, and actually listened to the AAMC.

It will be very interesting to see whether they keep enrolling classes with a median of 28, or if they quickly shoot up after being left so far behind for the year.

What is the "holding pattern memo"?
I wish UCLA keeps this way, considering applicants holistically!

 

[efle]

What is the "holding pattern memo"?
I wish UCLA keeps this way, considering applicants holistically!

I mean that none of the other schools actually changed their behavior regarding the MCAT at all, they kept taking all people from the top 5-10%

UCLA alone dropped way down

 

[Astra]

damn, I should've applied to UCLA

 

[Lost In Transcription]

Looks like UCLA didn't get the holding pattern memo like UCSD/UCSF, and actually listened to the AAMC.

It will be very interesting to see whether they keep enrolling classes with a median of 28, or if they quickly shoot up after being left so far behind for the year.

...508 is a 28? Uhh

 

[Dr. Stalker]

...508 is a 28? Uhh

Serious question: I'm looking at MCAT percentiles right now
Current Percentiles: 508 : 79th Percentile
Final Old Percentiles: 30 : 79th Percentile

Why is a 508 a 28...?

 

[efle]

enrolling classes

their matriculant median is a 505 (so a 28-and-a-half i guess)

 

[Frogger27]

Serious question: I'm looking at MCAT percentiles right now
Current Percentiles: 508 : 79th Percentile
Final Old Percentiles: 30 : 79th Percentile

Why is a 508 a 28...?

You are correct. Not sure why people were saying 28. a 508 is 30

edit: Didn't see matriculant was different

 

[softball2344]

.

 

[efle]

Maybe they reported it wrong?

They'd have to report the wrong values for 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 100th

And actually I don't know that it gets reported? It might be something taken directly from the AAMC's own AMCAS data - they can see the scores of everyone applying to every school.

 

[Yorick]

Maybe UCLA has some pre med programs with conditional acceptances or they accept a lot of students from and that drops the MCAT median? Idk how students in those programs typically perform on the MCAT though, I just know the gpa requirements are typically pretty low

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

It'll be interesting to see how this class performs on step 1. If they achieve similar results to prior classes, then other highly ranked schools may follow suit.

This is certainly a bold move!

 

[Ampharos]

Woah

 

[DrHart]

It's just a ploy to entice more people to apply. False hope. Only half kidding


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[OchemOficionado]

Did anyone determine if Drew stats were combined? I went to the last white coat ceremony and it didn't seem as if there were 200+ M1s present.

 

[efle]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that yes, the MSAR values include both. But Drew is so much smaller of a group it can't be moving the median more than a couple points.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that yes, the MSAR values include both. But Drew is so much smaller of a group it can't be moving the median more than a couple points.

Gotcha. Yeah, I think there's 28-35 in that group. If all of their MCATs were 505 ish, I wonder how that would explain things.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Keep in mind that despite the lower MCAT scores, these incoming UCLA students are high achievers in other regards. This change shouldn't be interpreted as an overall drop in admissions standards.

 

[efle]

Gotcha. Yeah, I think there's 28-35 in that group. If all of their MCATs were 505 ish, I wonder how that would explain things.

It still wouldn't explain much imo, because the previous MSARs included Drew as well, and yet UCLA had an old median of like 32-33 iirc

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

It still wouldn't explain much imo, because the previous MSARs included Drew as well, and yet UCLA had an old median of like 32-33 iirc

I'm pretty sure it was a little higher than 32-33!

 

[mariposas905]

Drew has a class of ~26 students. Geffen has a class of ~180. If it is the case that Drew is lumped into the Geffen Stats, the Drew class size is not sufficient to explain the significance of the drop in UCLAs median MCAT.

They might just be one of 3 schools that actually bought the AAMC's suggestion to pay attention to the middle of the distribution. Their IQR is 503-517 so they definitely considered applicants from all over the stats pool, not just those at the top 3% like its peers in the USNWR rankings.

Good for you LA!

What are the other two schools?

 

[mariposas905]

So its safe to say that UCLA will be converting to a DO school? (Have to restore balance to the order after UCI went from DO to MD).

What?!

 

[bluemachine]

Drew has a class of ~26 students. Geffen has a class of ~180. If it is the case that Drew is lumped into the Geffen Stats, the Drew class size is not sufficient to explain the significance of the drop in UCLAs median MCAT.

They might just be one of 3 schools that actually bought the AAMC's suggestion to pay attention to the middle of the distribution. Their IQR is 503-517 so they definitely considered applicants from all over the stats pool, not just those at the top 3% like its peers in the USNWR rankings.

Good for you LA!

I would say that UCLA, on average, definitely has a more holistic approach to admissions than our peers (with a large emphasis on personal story, extracurriculars, LORs, and MMIs)

nevertheless, im still surprised at this new average, as it is quite lower than the past years (IIRC, our average was like 34 two years ago) so maybe there's some error (or not, who knows). and also our total class is ~180, with 130 pure md geffen, ~20drew, ~20prime, and ~12 mstp's fyi.

 

[mariposas905]

I would say that UCLA, on average, definitely has a more holistic approach to admissions than our peers (with a large emphasis on personal story, extracurriculars, LORs, and MMIs)

nevertheless, im still surprised at this new average, as it is quite lower than the past years (IIRC, our average was like 34 two years ago) so maybe there's some error (or not, who knows). and also our total class is ~180, with 130 pure md geffen, ~20drew, ~20prime, and ~12 mstp's fyi.

Hmm, could it really be a mistake? I mean, google says UCLA's average MCAT score is 516 I don't know...but I hope it's true!

 

[CloverBale]

Please love me UCLA <3 <3!! I will do anything for you

 

[efle]

It's actually kind of crazy to think about, that the boundary for top 10% at U of Washington and bottom 10% at Vanderbilt ... are the same number.

 

[TheBiologist]

Look at duke"s 10th percentile it's 499 and median 513! That's a 24!!!

a 513 is not a 24! it's like a 33/34, about 90th%. perhaps still low for a tier 1 school

and way to semi-necrobump my thread lol

 

[allantois]

Next step: get rid of the stupid test

 

[efle]

a 513 is not a 24! it's like a 33/34, about 90th%. perhaps still low for a tier 1 school

and way to semi-necrobump my thread lol

The 499 is the 24

It's pretty crazy to think there are a dozen students at Duke with MCATs below what the AAMC even says predicts success!