One MCAT score point

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phillySASer08 said:
saying that everyone who scores in the 36+ range is socially inept is identical to saying that everyone who scores below a 30 is in idiot. Both are equally ridiculous (hell, I've met socially adept 42s and boorish 30s; I got a 39 and like to think I'm mostly normal), but why is it that the latter elicits so much stronger a response on this forum?
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jealousy....

helps make up for one's own shortcomings...

etc etc.
 
I think you guys and gals should realize that the DIFFERENCE on the actual test between those types of scores could be as low as SIX questions on the ENTIRE test. If the scores are balanced, the difference is probably around 10-15 questions. As much as I would like to say, for MY sake, that higher scores indicate a lack of something else, there is no way that you can say someone who gets that many more questions right on a SINGLE test is socially inept. That's just absurd, and if you think that you need to step back and look at the big picture here. How about if I were to say anyone BELOW a 38 shows a lack of scientific knowledge? You wouldn't say that makes sense.

Anyway. Carry on.
 
dog0 said:
I believe so, but that is my own personal opinion. I'd much rather go to DUKE or Michigan than Harvard. They have an athletic department, plenty of school spirit within their undergraduate student body; consequently, there is life outside of the academic realm. A lot of Harvard MDs come from Ivy League schools. You cannot compare undergraduate life in Harvard to some random state school. Obviously, classes are a lot more rigurous at Harvard, the Greek system is a lot different, getting by with a fake in Boston I hear is quite difficult, there are no publicized sport events, and school spirit is solely limited to academics; I don't think there will ever be a Harvard BCS Championship shirt. Hence, I believe an Ivy Leage undergraduate student will experience less than your normal college student. Plus, a lot of those kids were the highschoolers who drowned themselves in SG, APs, and etc.

I am not saying all these students who eventually earn spots in top medical schools are like this, but a good amount of them have to be. Being social comes from a mixture of different life experiences; studying abroad, making mistakes, having fun, etc. I just don't see how on AVERAGE someone who went to an Ivy League school for undergraduate, busted their ass to score a 40 and have a competitive GPA, published 4,000 papers, and eventually went on to Harvard Med, had the time or opportunity to grow as a person. These people are nearly perfect...

Maybe I'm being ignorant, but I just don't see it... sorry.
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So what does any of this have to do with being effective as a physician? While I admit life experiences, such as some of those you described, may allow a physician to better interact with his/her patients, I fail to see how the lifestyle/POV you are criticizing will prevent someone from being successful as a physician.

Different people find pleasure in different things. I have an acquaintance who enjoys reading Aristotle on Sundays in Greek...for fun! Athletic events, school spirit, and boozing may be up there on your list of priorities, but why can't you tolerate people who don't share the same view? How can you objectively evaluate the relationship between "being social" and success in med. school/on the job?

It seems to me you are used to a certain way of doing things and wish to tout your perspective as being superior to all others. To each his own.

Why are there so many haters on SDN? If you go on MDApps for almost any high scoring candidate, people leave them nasty remarks. All that indicates to me is "I'm jealous of your high score, and I'm going to try to bring you down!" Chill out SDN Tanya Harding's...
 
dog0 said:
You cannot compare undergraduate life in Harvard to some random state school. Obviously, classes are a lot more rigurous at Harvard, the Greek system is a lot different, getting by with a fake in Boston I hear is quite difficult, there are no publicized sport events, and school spirit is solely limited to academics; I don't think there will ever be a Harvard BCS Championship shirt. Hence, I believe an Ivy Leage undergraduate student will experience less than your normal college student.
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Ok, this is just false. Is life at Harvard the same as at a huge state school like Michigan or something? No, but there are tons of sports events that are really well attended and have passionate fans, there are tons of activities outside of academics, and as far as life experiences go there are many unusual travel/volunteer/employment opps. If anything, schools like that get students with more interesting life experience because they stand out from the average crowd of students. Life experience goes beyond drinking, greek, and sports.
 
dog0 how many people could you possibly know who are scoring in the high 30's and 40's on the mcat to make a statement about them in general? do you associate with people who have the test in advance? i mean i know less then a handful of people who fall into this range, most are normal, but either way dont u realize that u could easily know 5 people who got 32's and by coincidence they were strange and then you would be saying that a 32 is a magic socially inept score but higher and lower scores result in normal people?
 
breeak said:
Ok, this is just false. Is life at Harvard the same as at a huge state school like Michigan or something? No, but there are tons of sports events that are really well attended and have passionate fans, there are tons of activities outside of academics, and as far as life experiences go there are many unusual travel/volunteer/employment opps. If anything, schools like that get students with more interesting life experience because they stand out from the average crowd of students. Life experience goes beyond drinking, greek, and sports.
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I go to a small, private university in Minnesota, and it's the same way here. School spirit infiltrates not only sports, but service opportunities, study abroad, student employment, classes, research, and campus, dorm, and community activities. It's actually quite amazing the spirit and pride our school has, despite being small.
 
betheltim said:
I go to a small, private university in Minnesota, and it's the same way here. School spirit infiltrates not only sports, but service opportunities, study abroad, student employment, classes, research, and campus, dorm, and community activities. It's actually quite amazing the spirit and pride our school has, despite being small.
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If it's the one I think you're talking about, one of my hs classmates went there, loved it, and it's a great school.
 
chubster (i hope I can call you that)

so I've always wondered.....are you one that is chubby, enjoys a good chubby chase, or both???


and being "normal" is relative people....I think we all have some "abnormal" parts to us or else the world would be freakin boring
 
breeak said:
If it's the one I think you're talking about, one of my hs classmates went there, loved it, and it's a great school.
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It's Bethel University in St. Paul. I didn't like it here at all my first year (a physically and verbally violent roommate and bad grades don't make for a good year), but the past two years have been amazing. It's a great school and the faculty and staff are incredible. For example, in the chemistry department, one of the professors is here all the time, sometimes until midnight and on weekends, and for our advanced inorganic class I would have questions and even at midnight he'd say, "Oh sure! Come on in!" And we'd have a conversation about class and other things... At midnight! All the professors here are like that; helpful, willing to stay longer to help students, etc.

Anyway. It's a great school, haha.
 
I got a 9V 10BS 10 PS

I do not think I will retake out of fear of getting a lower score or disrupting the balance.
 
Sorry but I will never be convinced that on average someone who received their undergraduate degree from Harvard will have the same life experiences than someone who went to a state school. For one, state schools usually have a much larger student body. Hence, statistically, your odds of interacting with individuals of different socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and interests are inevitably higher. Cultural competence and social awareness, two very important qualities in physicians, come from these sort of interactions. The more exposed you are to such individuals, the more likely you will be to relate to/with them. That is specifically why it's highly valued for applicants to have some foreign life experience; by living or spending time in other countries, it obviously shows that you can appreciate differences; hence, you gain cultural competence.

Now if you attend a small Ivy-League undergraduate school, I don't see how diverse the student body can be. You literally had to be flawless during high school to receive that admission. Of course there are your usual outliers, but on average I think the student body will be pretty predictable: overly-zealous students who busted their ass in high school (but props to them for getting into Harvard). It's difficult to find a healthy balance between academics and a social life when you're nearly academically perfect. YES, THERE WILL BE YOUR EXCEPTIONS, but on average, it's quite difficult to have flawless academic credentials and your fair share of partying, etc. I am not praising social gatherings, but the level of social activity that takes place in these events are unparalleled.

Now, most MDs at Harvard, have done well in school for a while now. They have always taken it very seriously and although undergraduate is a joke for some, it's very hard to score a 40, have a 4.0, do 3 years of research, be superman, and still have a fair share of college fun. YES THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, but most can't handle both scenes (also, sports at Harvard cannot be compared to the SEC, ACC, and Pac-10). Furthermore, this process has slowly been taking place since high school. These individuals continuously deprive themselves of normal adolescence and college life to earn those steller credentials. I am not really hating on it but it has to be acknowledged.

And the earlier you start the easier it will be down the road. If you've been hanging out a lot since high school, it sort of becomes your little niche. You become comfortable going out and meeting new people. The younger you are, the more naive you are and the more likely you will be to accept something. You aren't as reluctant and approach things with the slightest hesitance. You probably will make some mistakes here and there, but good judgment comes from bad judgment. In that perspective, I think social activity is comparable to sports; the earlier you start, the better. Personally, I believe that on average all these Undergrad superstars at Ivy-League institutions that eventually go on to Harvard Med and etc, don't fit that population pool and miss out on a ton of experiences that may not have seemed valuable at the time, but will surely facilitate patient/doctor interactions. It is never too late to start, but you'll never have the swagger and confidence of someone who has years of experience. Kind of like clubbing, if you didn't start at a young age, it's going to be difficult to haaaaaaaaang...

And all my comments about 40+ scores come from personal experience. I interviewed at 10 different schools, including some of the best. The applicants I met were EXTREMELY COCKY and cliquish; when Harvard applicants ran into Harvard alumni, it was like OMG, LEMME SUCK YOUR D!CK. Seriously, get over it...

Sorry if I'm picking on Harvard but the interactions I had with some of their applicants, were the least pleasant. Hey, but who cares if they were cocky, socially inept fools, right? They scored 40+ on their MCAT! It seemed like all these dudes wanted to know was where else I interviewed at and if they happened to be rejected at that particular school, my stats, including GPA and MCAT, were always questioned.
 
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dog0 said:
Sorry but I will never be convinced that on average someone who received their undergraduate degree from Harvard will have the same life experiences than someone who went to a state school......
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Are you actually speaking from knowledge or stereotypes? Because I'm speaking from firsthand knowledge, and what I'm telling you is that you are WRONG. You sound insecure. There are great students at every college, your school doesn't define you, just stop making broad generalizations about who people are without a basis on which to speak.

Some of your choice comments:

overly-zealous students who busted their ass in high school (but props to them for getting into Harvard).
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Backhanded compliment.

but the level of social activity that takes place in these events are unparalleled.
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:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: Ridiculous. Getting plastered and groping at a party qualifies as unparalleled social activity? I did my fair share of that, but it isn't how social skills are built.

Now, most MDs at Harvard, have done well in school for a while now.
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We are talking about undergrads, not HMS students.

Anyway, you seem committed to holding onto this view, so be my guest.
 
Did I not acknowledge excptions?

I didn't define social gatherings as getting plasetered. But if you're going out you're meeting new people. It might happen unconsciously, but you're hanging out with different personalities, styles, and backgrounds. You start to realize that some individuals are a lot different than you and just by interacting with them, even on the most superficial level as possible (because we all know that most people we meet out don't turn into BFF), you gain exposure to a different world. Now how else, do you gain this type of exposure? By being involved in 30 different student organizations. I don't think the level of diversity compares...

And I apologize for saying all 40+ MCATers are socially inept. But this is how I look at it; if you rocked undergraduate at a top school, the chances of you have similar study habits during high school are reasonable. Ever since high school you have been the cream of the crop. Continuously, students at Harvard Med have been the cream of the crop. And in order for you to be "cream of the crop," you've had to continuously bust your ass. THE AVERAGE PERSON CAN'T BUST THEIR ASS ALL THOUGHTOUT HIGH SCHOOL, AND COLLEGE AND HAVE THE SAME SOCIAL EXPERIENCES AS THE AVERAGE JOE.
 
dog0 said:
Regardless, if you're scoring within that percentile, there is something wrong with you; I hope I don't sound too judgmental, but I met a few while interviewing, and they stood out like an orange hat with a neon veil... intellectually and socially.
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Wow... jealous much? Did it occur to you that some people are just smart, and they didn't necessarily study more than you, but just got a much higher score?

With that lovely, tolerant, non-judgmental attitude, you should count your blessings you actually stumbled past the Adcoms and made it IN to medical school. Let me get this straight, YOU got chosen as an interviewer? That's the funniest thing ever. I shudder to think what kind of attitude you'd cop as a physician when your patient isn't the attractive A&F jock you're accustomed to being around...
 
unsung said:
With that lovely, tolerant, non-judgmental attitude, you should count your blessings you actually stumbled past the Adcoms and made it IN to medical school. I shudder to think what kind of attitude you'd cop as a physician when your patient isn't the attractive A&F jock you're accustomed to being around...
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You obviously stereotyped jocks in that post. I love it how it's always so acceptable to demean people who are on the lower end of the bell curve. Whatever happened to considering both sides of the spectrum. If it's OK for you judge A&F jocks, what's wrong with me judging the geniuses on the other side of the spectrum?

I could care less; I am just trying to make a point. I am not going to look at 40+ MCATers as weirdos; I give everyone a chance but if they do turn out to be socially inpet, the ends justify my means.

Furthermore, I wasn't raised in America and spent plenty of time traveling throughout college...
 
dog0 said:
...And in order for you to be "cream of the crop," you've had to continuously bust your ass. THE AVERAGE PERSON CAN'T BUST THEIR ASS ALL THOUGHTOUT HIGH SCHOOL, AND COLLEGE AND HAVE THE SAME SOCIAL EXPERIENCES AS THE AVERAGE JOE.
Click to expand...

Who said medical students were "average" pepole. At least, I like to think I'm beating the curve when it comes to everyone in the great American education system...
 
Social scoring on the MCAT is done like it is in Golf, the lower the score the better. The MCAT is clearly tests social skills, and the lower the score the more gregarious the test taker. This is surely a valid discussion to be had. Incidently the higher you score on the VR the better you are at baseball and the higher you score on the PS the better you are at hockey.
 
I think both Dogo and Breeak are bringing some truth to the table here....of course I agree that Dogo's views are a bit too stereotypical and extreme....but I definitely know people personally that fit his descriptions.....on the other hand, I go to a tiny college as well and Im more of a "lets get a few people together and hang-out" type of guy rather than a "lets go to a block party and get smashed" type of guy.....I personally think actually meeting people and diversifying your experience is better with smaller, lo-key groups and situations than casually "meeting" people at parties....I mean, this summer alone I've met (actually talked to and learned about and now Know) over 20 people from just going over friends appt.s for hanging out.....no large parties here
 
redrumi said:
Social scoring on the MCAT is done like it is in Golf, the lower the score the better. The MCAT is clearly tests social skills, and the lower the score the more gregarious the test taker. This is surely a valid discussion to be had. Incidently the higher you score on the VR the better you are at baseball and the higher you score on the PS the better you are at hockey.
Click to expand...

Crap... I live in Minnesota and love hockey, but all my practice tests had my PS as the lowest score! What are my chances of making it as a professional hockey player? I'm using medicine as a stepping stone, but didn't realize the PS was so important!
 
rockydoc said:
I think both Dogo and Breeak are bringing some truth to the table here....of course I agree that Dogo's views are a bit too stereotypical and extreme....but I definitely know people personally that fit his descriptions.....on the other hand, I go to a tiny college as well and Im more of a "lets get a few people together and hang-out" type of guy rather than a "lets go to a block party and get smashed" type of guy.....I personally think actually meeting people and diversifying your experience is better with smaller, lo-key groups and situations than casually "meeting" people at parties....I mean, this summer alone I've met (actually talked to and learned about and now Know) over 20 people from just going over friends appt.s for hanging out.....no large parties here
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cmon no need to brag now...its not that easy:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=547200
 
betheltim said:
Crap... I live in Minnesota and love hockey, but all my practice tests had my PS as the lowest score! What are my chances of making it as a professional hockey player? I'm using medicine as a stepping stone, but didn't realize the PS was so important!
Click to expand...

Crap, maybe we should retake, I'm a hockey player too. 🙁
 
hopefuldoc87 said:
cmon no need to brag now...its not that easy:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=547200
Click to expand...

EDIT: dis-regard post, as this is a result of confusion

no bragging here.....I go to school out of state so when I come home for the summer I meet all of my friends' friends that they have made over the year while I was at school....usually a friend of a friend is easily someone you can be friends with too....its like that whole six degrees of separation thing or whatever
 
inefficient 😉
 
*
 
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dog0 said:
Sorry but I will never be convinced that on average someone who received their undergraduate degree from Harvard will have the same life experiences than someone who went to a state school. For one, state schools usually have a much larger student body. Hence, statistically, your odds of interacting with individuals of different socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and interests are inevitably higher. Cultural competence and social awareness, two very important qualities in physicians, come from these sort of interactions. The more exposed you are to such individuals, the more likely you will be to relate to/with them. That is specifically why it's highly valued for applicants to have some foreign life experience; by living or spending time in other countries, it obviously shows that you can appreciate differences; hence, you gain cultural competence.

Now if you attend a small Ivy-League undergraduate school, I don't see how diverse the student body can be. You literally had to be flawless during high school to receive that admission. Of course there are your usual outliers, but on average I think the student body will be pretty predictable: overly-zealous students who busted their ass in high school (but props to them for getting into Harvard). It's difficult to find a healthy balance between academics and a social life when you're nearly academically perfect. YES, THERE WILL BE YOUR EXCEPTIONS, but on average, it's quite difficult to have flawless academic credentials and your fair share of partying, etc. I am not praising social gatherings, but the level of social activity that takes place in these events are unparalleled.

Now, most MDs at Harvard, have done well in school for a while now. They have always taken it very seriously and although undergraduate is a joke for some, it's very hard to score a 40, have a 4.0, do 3 years of research, be superman, and still have a fair share of college fun. YES THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, but most can't handle both scenes (also, sports at Harvard cannot be compared to the SEC, ACC, and Pac-10). Furthermore, this process has slowly been taking place since high school. These individuals continuously deprive themselves of normal adolescence and college life to earn those steller credentials. I am not really hating on it but it has to be acknowledged.

And the earlier you start the easier it will be down the road. If you've been hanging out a lot since high school, it sort of becomes your little niche. You become comfortable going out and meeting new people. The younger you are, the more naive you are and the more likely you will be to accept something. You aren't as reluctant and approach things with the slightest hesitance. You probably will make some mistakes here and there, but good judgment comes from bad judgment. In that perspective, I think social activity is comparable to sports; the earlier you start, the better. Personally, I believe that on average all these Undergrad superstars at Ivy-League institutions that eventually go on to Harvard Med and etc, don't fit that population pool and miss out on a ton of experiences that may not have seemed valuable at the time, but will surely facilitate patient/doctor interactions. It is never too late to start, but you'll never have the swagger and confidence of someone who has years of experience. Kind of like clubbing, if you didn't start at a young age, it's going to be difficult to haaaaaaaaang...

And all my comments about 40+ scores come from personal experience. I interviewed at 10 different schools, including some of the best. The applicants I met were EXTREMELY COCKY and cliquish; when Harvard applicants ran into Harvard alumni, it was like OMG, LEMME SUCK YOUR D!CK. Seriously, get over it...

Sorry if I'm picking on Harvard but the interactions I had with some of their applicants, were the least pleasant. Hey, but who cares if they were cocky, socially inept fools, right? They scored 40+ on their MCAT! It seemed like all these dudes wanted to know was where else I interviewed at and if they happened to be rejected at that particular school, my stats, including GPA and MCAT, were always questioned[b/].
Click to expand...


Are you serious!?!?? Other students ask you about your grades and MCAT and where else you were interviewing?!!?
 
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the 'where else are you interviewing' was one that came up a lot actually, and yes, usually ended up devolving into a a very polite group pissing contest. This usually happened early in the cycle, before people started learning that an interview is not the same as an acceptance.

i will be curious as to what dog0's attitude will be like after a few months of med school being surrounded by graduates of top undergrads. The idea that these people had to bust their ass continuously to get where they are is totally false. Sure, some of them did, but there are plenty of people out there who are either extremely talented academically, or had some unique attribute that got them admitted to a top medical school. Once you meet your fair share of these people, I hope you'll realize how foolish you sound and disabuse yourself of the sense of social superiority that you have (which largely seems to stem from your ability to get hammered at football games).
 
additionally, that argument that ivy league and similar schools are not as 'diverse' as state schools is simply laughable. These schools have smaller classes, yes, but they are carefully composed of people from diverse ethnic and geographic backgrounds, and the financial aid at the Ivy's is generous enough that the full socioeconomic spectrum is represented as well. Many state schools however, pull students from a much more narrow slice of the cultural and geographic pie, and i daresay are probably LESS diverse than the ivies.
 
phillySASer08 said:
additionally, that argument that ivy league and similar schools are not as 'diverse' as state schools is simply laughable. These schools have smaller classes, yes, but they are carefully composed of people from diverse ethnic and geographic backgrounds, and the financial aid at the Ivy's is generous enough that the full socioeconomic spectrum is represented as well. Many state schools however, pull students from a much more narrow slice of the cultural and geographic pie, and i daresay are probably LESS diverse than the ivies.
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Ehhhh, there were roughly 40,000+ undergraduates at the college I went to. I don't care how possibly diverse Ivies are, the numbers are on my side, and I assure you the level of diversity does not compare.

On top of that, I grew up in South Florida and just in my high school graduating class, there were 1250+ graduates. That is more than most private Ivy classes.

I don't have a problem with graduates from the top schools as long as they're down-to-earth and humble. The reason I am so strong minded about this issue is because of my own personal experiences. People that graduate from Harvard for some reason feel as if they're intellectually superior than most graduates. Alumni status shouldn't even be a factor, but Ivy League graduates always make it a big issue and seem to in absolute awe when they find out someone who went to a normal state school is comparable to them in any level what-so-ever.

I think Jack Welch said it best in his book, somewhere along these lines:

"When I first became the CEO of General Electric, so many people tried to fancy me with their Ivy League diplomas. They were shocked when they found out I actually went to a state school!"

I could care less where you graduated from. But personally, it's the guy from Princeton and Harvard that always bugged me during my interviews; not the Florida State or Penn State graduates. So as long as I don't encounter that type of attitude in medical school, I'll be fine. If so, I'll just make sure to ignore them 🙂
 
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dog0 said:
Ehhhh, there were roughly 40,000+ undergraduates at the college I went to. I don't care how possibly diverse Ivies are, the numbers are on my side, and I assure you the level of diversity does not compare.

On top of that, I grew up in South Florida and just in my highschool graduating class, there were 1250+ graduates. That is more than most private Ivy classes.
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I dont think raw numbers correspond to diversity.....you could easily not encounter many of those diverse groups at such a large institution and get by with a group of people just like you....whereas at a smaller institution which is just as diverse percentage wise, you will encounter that diversity regularly b/c of the small, tight-knit atmosphere.....basically, in both situations, it is up to the individual how diverse his experience actually is.
 
Great. Anyways, enough of this.

I'll go back to my original conviction. OP, to me a 33 is equivalent to a 39 if you have a high GPA. MCAT is meant to evaluate your test taking abilities and science-based knowledge. I don't think a 33 shows that you're lacking in either of those departments. Just show your uniqueness and do well on the interview!
 
rockydoc said:
chubster (i hope I can call you that)

so I've always wondered.....are you one that is chubby, enjoys a good chubby chase, or both???


and being "normal" is relative people....I think we all have some "abnormal" parts to us or else the world would be freakin boring
Click to expand...
My Indian Name is Waddling Buffalo, so ill let you decide that for yourself😉
 
dog0 said:
Great. Anyways, enough of this.

I'll go back to my original conviction. OP, to me a 33 is equivalent to a 39 if you have a high GPA. MCAT is meant to evaluate your test taking abilities and science-based knowledge. I don't think a 33 shows that you're lacking in either of those departments. Just show your uniqueness and do well on the interview!
Click to expand...

Show them that pencil trick the joker taught you. 👍
 
dog0 -- You know some of us Ivy-leaguers actually did not have to bust our ass to get over 37+ on the MCAT. You make it sound like the test is impossible to destroy, unless you're a socially inept loser studying 24/7 for it....it's really not that bad. You would be surprised to see how diverse most Ivies actually are...the adcoms go out of their way to make sure of it.

BTW, are you gonna eat that chip on your shoulder? :laugh:
 
dog0 said:
I believe so, but that is my own personal opinion. I'd much rather go to DUKE or Michigan than Harvard. They have an athletic department, plenty of school spirit within their undergraduate student body; consequently, there is life outside of the academic realm. A lot of Harvard MDs come from Ivy League schools. You cannot compare undergraduate life in Harvard to some random state school. Obviously, classes are a lot more rigurous at Harvard, the Greek system is a lot different, getting by with a fake in Boston I hear is quite difficult, there are no publicized sport events, and school spirit is solely limited to academics; I don't think there will ever be a Harvard BCS Championship shirt. Hence, I believe an Ivy Leage undergraduate student will experience less than your normal college student. Plus, a lot of those kids were the highschoolers who drowned themselves in SG, APs, and etc.

I am not saying all these students who eventually earn spots in top medical schools are like this, but a good amount of them have to be. Being social comes from a mixture of different life experiences; studying abroad, making mistakes, having fun, etc. I just don't see how on AVERAGE someone who went to an Ivy League school for undergraduate, busted their ass to score a 40 and have a competitive GPA, published 4,000 papers, and eventually went on to Harvard Med, had the time or opportunity to grow as a person. These people are nearly perfect...

Maybe I'm being ignorant, but I just don't see it... sorry.
Click to expand...


It's ignorant to make these sweeping generalizations.
 
MacBook Pro said:
dog0 -- You know some of us Ivy-leaguers actually did not have to bust our ass to get over 37+ on the MCAT. You make it sound like the test is impossible to destroy, unless you're a socially inept loser studying 24/7 for it....it's really not that bad. You would be surprised to see how diverse most Ivies actually are...the adcoms go out of their way to make sure of it.

BTW, are you gonna eat that chip on your shoulder? :laugh:
Click to expand...

I kind of went off topic, and I was referring to was Ivy Leaguers who made it to Harvard Med. Or is Harvard that easy that yall spent all of college wacking off and still managed to have 4.0s and crazy EC activities?
 
Would you guys consider the difference between a 29 and a 32 to be considerable? I currently have a 29 but believe I would more than likely be able to get a 32 or higher on a retake. Assuming I could pull off a 32, would it really help me in admissions?

I know someone said that 29's get in more often than not, but are the stats insanely higher for someone with a 32? If my chances of getting in go from 51% to 56%, I wouldn't consider it worth it. But if 70% or 80% of 32's get in, then i'd be all over it.
 
The difference between a score of 29 and 30 is one point.

Get over it.
 
lol nevermind
 
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