School's mcat and gpa question

[Infinitydrop]

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I am sure this question has come up before but if someone could kindly answer it again....

The schools often list their averages for mcat and gpa. I am wondering is this the accepted student's average or the matriculated student averages. So wouldn't the former be a bit inflated, and not so much represent the averages of the matriculated students?

 

[metallica81788]

Yes. MSAR only lists accepted, so it's inflated. School websites will have matriculated stats, which are sometimes far lower.

 

[randombetch]

I am sure this question has come up before but if someone could kindly answer it again....

The schools often list their averages for mcat and gpa. I am wondering is this the accepted student's average or the matriculated student averages. So wouldn't the former be a bit inflated, and not so much represent the averages of the matriculated students?

But why would people be interested in the average matriculated stats when using the MSAR as an admissions tool?

 

[Infinitydrop]

Wouldn't that more accurately tell you the stats of what you need to be accepted at a school? It makes more sense to given the national average of people who get into medical school with a 30, while I feel like a disproportionate number of schools have medians far above this number and hardly any school have medians below this number.

 

[wanderer]

But why would people be interested in the average matriculated stats when using the MSAR as an admissions tool?

Hypothetically speaking, what if there was some school that accepted everyone with an MCAT >35, but that few people with an MCAT above a 32 actually went there. So their average accepted would be 35 and average matriculant would be 31. If you're trying to get into that school which average would be a better indicator of the kind of student that will likely end up there?

 

[johncalvin]

I think MSAR users want to know the ballpark of accepted applicants, not necessarily matriculating applicants.

I say this because the matriculation data includes waitlists, deferred admission from the previous year, etc., and few applicants think "gee I could get in here off the waitlist..." Instead most want to know where they will be accepted outright.

 

[Infinitydrop]

Hypothetically speaking, what if there was some school that accepted everyone with an MCAT >35, but that few people with an MCAT above a 32 actually went there. So their average accepted would be 35 and average matriculant would be 31. If you're trying to get into that school which average would be a better indicator of the kind of student that will likely end up there?

To me, it would seem to indicate that kids with 31 average have a pretty great shot (better than one would predict based on the accepted average) to get into said school since that is the statistics of the people that actually ended up at the school. It would predict that the group with the 35 actually ended up elsewhere. I don't know, this is total speculation.

 

[randombetch]

Hypothetically speaking, what if there was some school that accepted everyone with an MCAT >35, but that few people with an MCAT above a 32 actually went there. So their average accepted would be 35 and average matriculant would be 31. If you're trying to get into that school which average would be a better indicator of the kind of student that will likely end up there?

Say for the sake of simplicity that this situation occurs:
5000 students apply to "Bimodal School of Medicine"
4000 students with a 32 on the MCAT apply and 100 get in.
1000 students with a 40 on the MCAT apply and 400 get in.
The average MCAT is a 38.4 with an acceptance rate of 10%.
Only the 100 students with a 32 matriculate.

Well, if you knew that the average matriculated MCAT score is a 32 and the acceptance rate is 10%, you might start feeling really confident for the wrong reasons because the acceptance rate for applicants with a 32 is only 2.5%. Whereas if you knew that the average accepted score is a 38.4 and your MCAT is 32, you'd know accurately that your chance of getting in is much below the average acceptacnce rate.

 

[brooklynblunder]

overthinking to the greatest degree

 

[rdr44bb]

overthinking to the greatest degree

Randombetch made a good case to illustrate how the stats work. I don't see how that is being overthinking.

 

[slowbutsteady]

Remember, the "average" MCAT person and the "average" GPA person are not the same person. Many/most of the below average GPA people had above average MCATs and vice versa.

So if you are average, or slightly below average, in both, not so good.

 

[Infinitydrop]

Say for the sake of simplicity that this situation occurs:
5000 students apply to "Bimodal School of Medicine"
4000 students with a 32 on the MCAT apply and 100 get in.
1000 students with a 40 on the MCAT apply and 400 get in.
The average MCAT is a 38.4 with an acceptance rate of 10%.
Only the 100 students with a 32 matriculate.

Well, if you knew that the average matriculated MCAT score is a 32 and the acceptance rate is 10%, you might start feeling really confident for the wrong reasons because the acceptance rate for applicants with a 32 is only 2.5%. Whereas if you knew that the average accepted score is a 38.4 and your MCAT is 32, you'd know accurately that your chance of getting in is much below the average acceptacnce rate.

Good point. But the fact that when you apply to a school with a 38.4 average with a 32, your chance of getting is still 1/4 of that of someone with a 38.4, stistically speaking, thats better odds that you would expect right?

I almost feel like schools like to inflate their averages to make themselves look more competitive and thus more attractive to premeds.