The double edged sword

[musiclink213]

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This is just something I've been thinking about as I go for the MCAT again. Getting too low a score isn't good, but neither is getting too high. I know a girl who has a 37 on her MCAT, with a 3.9 UG GPA, and she was put onto 8 waitlists, no acceptances, and got rejected from all of the state schools and schools like Drexel, Temple, etc. because they probably figured she was too good for them. Her waitlists are at great schools, like Hopkins, Tufts, GWU, Einstein, etc. but at the competitive schools, everyone has those same numbers. So it seems like doing too low isn't good, but neither is getting an insanely high score. Thoughts?

 

[kelli]

Is this a joke?

Assuming it's not, I know a guy that scored a 44R on his MCAT, had a 3.85 GPA and was accepted into 8 schools, most of them top10. Maybe the schools he applied to liked high MCAT scores and the schools your friend applied to liked scores in the middle. 😀 *cough* Or maybe it's more likely that your friend had some weakness in her extra curricular activities, in her personal statement, or was just a poor interviewer. If your friend didn't apply to a wide range of schools, that's another strike against her. This is medical school. There were likely hundreds of applicants with the same scores as your friend or better. Bottom line: If there's anything I've learned from SDN, you can't judge if someone is going to get in by numbers alone, although great numbers certainly don't hurt. 🙄

 

[musiclink213]

Is this a joke?

Assuming it's not, I know a guy that scored a 44R on his MCAT, had a 3.85 GPA and was accepted into 8 schools, most of them top10. Maybe the schools he applied to liked high MCAT scores and the schools your friend applied to liked scores in the middle. 😀 *cough* Or maybe it's more likely that your friend had some weakness in her extra curricular activities, in her personal statement, or was just a poor interviewer. If your friend didn't apply to a wide range of schools, that's another strike against her. This is medical school. There were likely hundreds of applicants with the same scores as your friend or better. Bottom line: If there's anything I've learned from SDN, you can't judge if someone is going to get in by numbers alone, although great numbers certainly don't hurt. 🙄

No, I agree with what you're saying. Granted, I didn't go with her on her interviews, but she's generally very articulate when you speak to her. Maybe her PS wasn't so great, I don't know. I just found it so strange that with those number's, she'd be waitlisted. Although I just found out she was accepted into Tufts the other day off the waitlist.

The school she really wanted to go to, Downstate flat out rejected her. So if you want to go to the lower tier schools, I guess you shouldn't do so well on the MCAT?

 

[Heimerfink]

I'm one of those candidates - 36 and a 3.85. I was told I could apply anywhere with that. Of course, without significant research and mediocre extracurriculars, the top top schools wouldn't look at me. I've been placed on waitlists at ranked schools 15-30, but any school lower than that just flat out rejected me because they thought I was too good. The problem is that with a 33, I bet I would have gotten more invites at middle level, low ranked schools. But with a 36, they think I'm a snob.

In the end, I have no acceptances as of today. Coupla waitlists.

 

[yanky5]

This is just something I've been thinking about as I go for the MCAT again. Getting too low a score isn't good, but neither is getting too high. I know a girl who has a 37 on her MCAT, with a 3.9 UG GPA, and she was put onto 8 waitlists, no acceptances, and got rejected from all of the state schools and schools like Drexel, Temple, etc. because they probably figured she was too good for them. Her waitlists are at great schools, like Hopkins, Tufts, GWU, Einstein, etc. but at the competitive schools, everyone has those same numbers. So it seems like doing too low isn't good, but neither is getting an insanely high score. Thoughts?

NO KIDDING, I know a similar story. I know someone (my friend in college) with 3.9+ GPA, 34 MCAT, Chemistry major, Tons of research and publishing, awards, and did not even get waitlisted for any school he applied to!!! He was very pissed and decided to not try to get into medical school any more. NO JOKE. THESE MD SCHOOLS ARE SCREWED UP.

With your grades, I would apply to a LOT of LOW MD schools too since the high rate schools are VERY COMPETATIVE and if you set your standards too high, you will only get burned.

 

[yellowpersuazio]

I'm one of those candidates - 36 and a 3.85. I was told I could apply anywhere with that. Of course, without significant research and mediocre extracurriculars, the top top schools wouldn't look at me. I've been placed on waitlists at ranked schools 15-30, but any school lower than that just flat out rejected me because they thought I was too good. The problem is that with a 33, I bet I would have gotten more invites at middle level, low ranked schools. But with a 36, they think I'm a snob.

In the end, I have no acceptances as of today. Coupla waitlists.

Wow, some of you seem pretty arrogant. Did you know that extracurriculars are pretty commonplace to the average applicant? The fact that you acknowledged your lack of them is probably the reason why you weren't accepted. A 36 MCAT and a 3.8 is great with supporting items like ECs, a strong personal statement, research, etc., but a 36 and a 3.8 without them is pretty average. So before you think that you've been rejected because schools think you're too good or too much of a snob, maybe you should reevaluate your credentials and application.

 

[NapeSpikes]

The problem is that with a 33, I bet I would have gotten more invites at middle level, low ranked schools. But with a 36, they think I'm a snob.

I highly doubt your having a 36 vs. a 33 was the deal-breaker. 🙄

 

[Algorhythmik]

Those of you complaining about high scores being nailed to the cross for the sake of "snobbery" or being "too good". A few thoughts.

1. This is the U.S. Med-School system - if you think you're hot **** - I guarantee there's someone unassuming next to you who can probably blow you away with the numbers.

2. I know a lot of people who have some of the most amazing number averages I've ever seen ... BUT ---> despite his 42 T MCAT and 4.0 from an Ivy League - he had ZERO Extra-Curricular activities, and not much more than a few (as in 3 to 4)shadowing experiences in 4 years of college.

GUESS WHAT - he got wait-listed at 8 schools, rejected from 4 others. No outright acceptances, and he's still waiting.

3. Doctors deal with people. Yes, med-schools want top-rated, bright people taking care of tomorrow's generations, but there's a reason a Doctor is not a mechanic, and a mechanic is not a doctor. Not to spew on the profession of mechanics (who repaired my car wonderfully after a fender-bender) - but after schools screen for numbers ... do you THINK it's over?

4. Doctors = PEOPLE. Why do you think NO U.S. medical school will accept applicants without interviews? C'mon --> DUH - they want to weed out weirdo's, people who are in it for the wrong reasons (including not really knowing why), and people who are self-consumed with number idolatry - i.e. those of you bask in the radiance of your MCATs and GPA's and think mid/low-tier schools wait-list or reject you because YOU'RE TOO GOOD.

To be quite honest, those schools who are not research powers tend to be more clinical in prowess - those schools care even MORE about what kind of person you are when you train as a physician that the research super-powers. This may explain why you're being rejected/wait-listed with high-scores, esp if you came off as cocky to them, as you have to me.

Truth be told - you're probably too cocky for your own good. Sorry to bust your bubble like that. I mean, mad kudos for your awesome number stats, but numbers aren't everything. Esp not in this business where your job, think about it, is about making people feel better when all is said and done.

What's more - until you realize that med-schools are recruiting top-rated PEOPLE (and not academic machines incapable of communicating and CARING for other people) - you will probably find yourself standing on the shore, wondering, like the shackled men in the Allegory of the Cave, why there is nothing beyond the shadow of your form. The answer lies in the light behind you dum-dum's. Turn around and smell the HUMAN coffee.

 

[NontradICUdoc]

What EC's do you have?

If you volunteered at a hospital, what did you do? If you folded towels or were a candystriper how does this qualify. If you worked in a nursing home, what did you do? Did you interact with the patients or did you clean up their crap and let it be?

Are you an EMT? if so, how many calls have you done? If you think getting an EMT license will show that you are interested in medicine, think again.