Order application is reviewed....

[wiseman]

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When an initial application is submitted including the GPA, Personal Statement, and other biographical information what is the order in which it is evaluated? For example, are the applications sorted by GPA and then the Personal Statements are read of the people meeting the minimum GPA cutoff followed by the evaluation of other pieces of information? Or maybe the Personal Statement is read then the GPA is looked at?

I guess what it comes down to is I am wondering at what point the PS is read, before seeing grades allowing it to form a first impression or after the adcom member looks over your grades and has formed an idea about what kind of student you are. Has anyone else ever thought about it this way? I also am aware it probably differs among institutions.

 

[b-real]

When an initial application is submitted including the GPA, Personal Statement, and other biographical information what is the order in which it is evaluated? For example, are the applications sorted by GPA and then the Personal Statements are read of the people meeting the minimum GPA cutoff followed by the evaluation of other pieces of information? Or maybe the Personal Statement is read then the GPA is looked at?

I guess what it comes down to is I am wondering at what point the PS is read, before seeing grades allowing it to form a first impression or after the adcom member looks over your grades and has formed an idea about what kind of student you are. Has anyone else ever thought about it this way? I also am aware it probably differs among institutions.

Highly dependent on the school. Logically, it would make the most sense to screen initially on numbers, then go for personal statement. Why waste time reading the PS if you're not going to interview the candidate? But again, some schools pride themselves on "looking at the whole candidate," so who knows.

 

[Barcu]

I would expect a number screen first, though many schools have cutoffs that are much lower than their averages (or so they say 😉).

Edit: With interviews though, many schools do partial blind or completely blind interviews, so your interviewer may have only read your PS and seen your ECs or they may have seen nothing at all. But you gotta get there first.

 

[Tapepsi]

Like everyone's been saying, numbers are usually looked at first. If you have a 2.0 GPA and a 15 MCAT score, odds are they aren't going to continue reading your app no matter how fantastic your PS is.

 

[LizzyM]

At my school there is a cut point below which only one (very overworked) person who is very high ranking looks at the application. In most cases the only people salvaged from that cut off are URM and VIP applicants.

The rest of the applicants are sent out to volunteer faculty and medical students to be reviewed. We see the applicant's name, school, major, gpa, science gpa and MCAT Scores (B, P, V and W) and gpa by year. The reviewer then has the choice of looking at the AMCAS, the secondary or the LORs. Everyone has a different approach but in the eind the reviewer should read everything before making a decision about an interview.

Interviewers may see your application or they may not. If they have access to it they may or may not read it. Some will give it a thorough going over and others will just say, "tell me about yourself".

 

[surfingbhudda]

Are cutoffs at schools generally to knock out really low gpas, or are there schools that are known to have reasonably high cuts like 3.5? For these schools with cut offs, do they make them known on their websites so applicants don't waste time filling out secondaries for these schools?

 

[Barcu]

Are cutoffs at schools generally to knock out really low gpas, or are there schools that are known to have reasonably high cuts like 3.5? For these schools with cut offs, do they make them known on their websites so applicants don't waste time filling out secondaries for these schools?

Usually a gpa and MCAT score cutoff (like several won't take less than an 8 in any section).

Some schools post it where it's obvious to find, and some don't. The best bet is to search the website and maybe make a call.

3.5 is really a really high cutoff, but I think some do. The one case that sticks out in my mind is Oregon (I think) where you need a 3.7 or 3.8 or something ridiculous to apply as an out-of-state applicant. I would say the vast, vast majority of schools would never have a cutoff that high unless for special populations (like OOS).

Of the ones I have seen, most are pretty low (like a 3.0 and 24 MCAT).

 

[LizzyM]

I suspect that some schools have a cut point but they won't publicize it because there are exceptions to the rule... this might be the case for less than 1% of the interviewed applicants but if there was a published cut-off they'd have some explaining to do.