DM'd you mate.
I didn't bother listing them all out, hence the "etc." lol. Also, I figured if I listed the powerhouse schools in my opinion we'd derail the thread and wouldn't address OP's question! But yeah, the schools you listed.
Here's my definition of the "Top 20". There are several classes of schools in this group, like battleships of different classes. List is in no particular order
Why dartmouth?
The powerhouse schools I like to think of as the "old money." Harvard for instance. Its just on its old level. Yes there's some schools students argue to be better or, at least, equivalent to, but they will never be Harvard.
Maybe @Goro has different reasoning, but between 2010-2014, the plurality of Geisel grads matched at a residency affiliated with Harvard med school. Dartmouth (and Brown Alpert, from what I've seen) seems to have connections similar to that group that bounces in and out of the USNews top 20. I wonder if this shows in the US News PD rankings.
Yes , yes. Mcat 518+ and gpa of 3.95+ are excellent ECs.
The Harvard of the Caribbean is easily a Top 4 and they're fine with a 500 MCAT.
3.9 median cGPA for acceptees, 515 MCAT (~34 on the old scale = LizzyM of ~72)...I 'd send my kids there. Harvard is ~75.
@libertyyne brings up a good point. I was also foolish in college. I spent 1000s of hours on "ECs" that would set me apart. I had a solid GPA (near perfect) and then got a 29 on my MCAT. Very few MD schools interviewed me, those that did waitlisted me and said they couldn't admit a 29 despite an otherwise flawless application and interview. I saw "flawless application and interview" because upon being rejected, I contacted to the schools to see what I could improve upon, and all of them said my MCAT locked me out.
I love what you said so much. Seriously, you should be a pre-med adviser! Enough of this bullsh*t where applicants and students are like "well I did 3k research and volunteering hours with a 501 and 3.2, I'm definitely getting interviews."
There are 3000 people with MCATs=+518, there are ~2700 seats in the top 20. Some of those folks probably have terrible GPA's so it excludes them.
You are the exception not the rule. These schools dont end up with 10th percentiles above 3.6 by making a habit of accepting people with a gpa of 3.4. UCLA might be different though.
100% agree
Sorry to barge but I want to give my 2c here. MCAT and college courses are separate things. You can be good at one and not the other. In addition, schools and courses of study vary widely in rigor. So a 4.0 in basketweaving does not necessarily equate to a 517+ MCAT. While there are a lot of kids who are certainly capable of scoring high on the MCAT, the nature of the test is so different from college classes that it's more difficult than you'd think. Remember AP classes in high school? Ever make an A in the class but get a 2 or 3 on the exam? It's the same idea.
This^. GPA has no bearing on MCAT.
I respect and see your point of view. I'm saying the overwhelming majority, if not half of your top 10 class did have stellar numbers?
I have a series of "great excuses" as to why my score wasn't top, but at the end of the day, they're excuses. The thing was I was burned out. I spent 2 months at 80 hours a week (I log my studying hours...) and took my exam just completely exhausted. I was also a bit more immature in college, I thought hard work = good grades. Not with the MCAT. Its a marathon, not a sprint or whatever the hell the phrase is.
What were your stats if you dont mind sharing?
521 mcat, 3.80-3.85 gpa. I'm not denying they're pretty good, but I don't think that by themselves they were enough to get me in. Especially since I applied so late (I think my first completed secondary was on the last day of August).
lol. You have a 100th percentile MCAT score. By definition exceptional.
I stand corrected. The principle still stands though.
But that's like average for the school I'm going to haha. Not to derail this thread, but here's my two cents: mcat isn't as important in some respects as GPA. GPA shows hard work and dedication. The MCAT doesn't require as much studying as it does critical thinking, which I would say I'm much better at than rote memorization. For instance, my CARS score didn't change much at all from day one of studying to test day. I studied about 2 months during the school year for my MCAT, but I worked longer (and thus, one could argue, harder) on my GPA. And from what I've seen, medical school, and life in general, is more about hard work. Ok. End of tangent.
I dont disagree with you , however medical school admissions are heavily weighted on the MCAT. No one is giving the time of day to 4.0 25's, except new DO schools.
Well, I didn't think I had an exceptional application and just wanted to get into a med school, so I only applied to two top twenties.
What were your average stats if you dont mind sharing. never mind, you might be the exception and your app does have special sauce in the ECs.
Dayum. All it takes is one. But seriously, you were in the top 1%, definitely exceptional.
lol I only applied to about handful but I didn't apply to just 2. It just that out of those I applied to only 2 were "top 20s". Thanks, but there are far more exceptional candidates than me.
Yeah, I knew you meant 2 Top 20s + others, but 1/2 is pretty good since (like most med schools) the Top 20s have sub-5% acceptance rates and (unlike most med schools) they have a lot of applicants with your (overall exceptional) stats.
Seriously 99th percentile vs 100th...?
Yes they will! since MCats are more scarce than 4.0s.
