Schools that screen for GPA and/or MCAT?

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Does anyone know which schools screen for GPA and MCAT before sending out secondaries? OR do they screen after recieving the secondaries?

 

[AppleseedCast]

I don't have it on me now, but I believe the MSAR labels schools that screen pre-secondary. As far as post-secondary screening.... this is where they decide who to give interviews to.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

This has been covered many times before.

If a school says that they screen, it really doesn't mean what you think it does. All they do, if they do screen, is to look at your state of residence and then apply somewhat low cutoff values to your GPA and MCAT scores accordingly (so getting a secondary doesn't mean you are within the limits of people that they generally accept). They don't have the time at this stage to read your personal statement, look at your "upward trend" in grades, nor review your listed activities in AMCAS as they get thousands of applications. They may just want you to send in money as a way of self-selecting.

Basically, don't rely on any medical school pre-secondary screening to make the decision process for you. They'll all probably send you a secondary unless your stats are lopsided or low.

 

[Phoenix.]

Does anyone know which schools screen for GPA and MCAT before sending out secondaries? OR do they screen after recieving the secondaries?

Screening means deciding not to send you a secondary/supplemental application based on some set of criteria. For most schools it's gpa and/or MCAT while for others it could be residency or international applicant status. If they weed you out post-secondary it's basically just a rejection. At least that's how I understand it.

For screening, some schools seem to screen based solely on gpa, while others will put you on a pre-secondary hold until they receive your MCAT score. For example, I got secondaries without an MCAT score from Miami and EVMS (which both screen), while UIC, Loyola and Vanderbilt all told me they would wait to see my MCAT before sending me a secondary. Check out the MSAR. It says which schools screen, although it certainly won't tell you on what basis. But if you go to the school's web sites, they usually indicate what the cutoff is. For example, on Miami's site it says you need a 3.6 or greater gpa OOS and a minimum 24 MCAT. I believe the cutoff for instate is 3.2, but I could be wrong. So, check out the schools' sites if MSAR says they screen.

 

[Despina]

To the OP, what's your home state? I think Cali makes there cutoffs much higher than most schools, which means getting a secondary from them is actually meaningful. UCSF for example only gives out about 1500 secondaries out of 5000 applicants (I think)...

 

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Home state is California.

Is there a free MSAR online or everyone has to buy it from AAMC?

 

[146233]

Is there a free MSAR online or everyone has to buy it from AAMC?

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