The Exact Opposite...

[SnudgeMuffin]

I think we talked about sucessful stories of people with less than mediocre stats getting into medical schools ALOT. Likewise, we heard something like, "Oh, I heard that this guy with 3.7+ GPA and 34+ MCAT didn't get into anywhere." Why do you think that is??? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

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[Coalboy]

Because he/she was a complete social incomp?
The interviews are there to weed these people out.

 

[AmateurChef]

Interviews, usually. I know of a 3.8/43 who didn't take his interviews very seriously -- or so I heard -- and didn't get in anywhere during his first year applying. The second year, though, was an entirely different story...

 

[Medical123]

Sometimes, I don't know what these schools are thinking. I work with a woman whose son was "Man of the Year" at his university and was rejected by that university's medical school, despite his 4.0 GPA and "good" (I don't know the score) MCAT! He got in elsewhere and is extremely happy!Since the schools look at the "whole picture", I think a lot of it may have to do with extracurricular activities, previous health care experience,and letters of recommendation.

 

[Mystique]

I have two friends who had great stats and were waitlisted/rejected. I KNOW for a fact that they have great extracurriculars and are very people-oriented. So, it's not as if they were social rejects. Sometimes, it's just beyond my comprehension why they reject the most promising candidates.

What I'm about to write is all in jest, so no one get mad at me...but, I think the adcoms blindfold themselves and throw darts at candidates names. It really makes a lot of sense to me. I know a bunch of insincere a**holes who've gotten in the past few years. I could go on and on....back to the nice/naughty list.

 

[postbacchus]

My philosophy has become this: every med school is looking for something different. There are so many variables, and no one I've met has every single one covered. These variables include:

overall GPA
science GPA
MCAT
undergrad institution
AMCAS essay
secondaries
leadership experience
research experience/publication
letters of rec
clinical experience
maturity

There are a lot more things to consider than just stats. Especially with the top 20 type schools, they're splitting hairs. Maybe someone has only 1 published article and everything else is GREAT. Maybe that school had a 2+ article threshhold for interviews. They can afford to be picky, so they exclude that person.

The moral of the story: IT'S A CRAP SHOOT. That's why many of us apply to 25+ schools.

 

[SMW]

I think that they just don't have enough spots for all the qualified applicants they get, same as the highly competitive undergrad programs. Inevitably some worthy candidates are going to be passed over. So I think rejections shouldn't be taken so personally. Imagine if you had 10 different suitors clamoring to marry you, all of them perfectly acceptable and with very different personalities, accomplishments and backgrounds. You'd have to choose somehow, and the 9 rejected would never understand your reasoning!!

 

[Mystique]

Originally posted by SMW:
•Imagine if you had 10 different suitors clamoring to marry you, all of them perfectly acceptable and with very different personalities, accomplishments and backgrounds. You'd have to choose somehow, and the 9 rejected would never understand your reasoning!! •••


I'm sure you're speaking from personal experience!

I think SMW's explanation actually makes a lot of sense. Now, if only the # of applicants would go down by 1/2...

 

[Ohiobuddhist]

Don't assume that just because it's medical school that there's a science to this whole admissions process.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by Santa Claus:
•I'm sure you're speaking from personal experience! •••

Not really, only 1 thus far!

Originally posted by Santa Claus:
•I think SMW's explanation actually makes a lot of sense. Now, if only the # of applicants would go down by 1/2...•••

The number of applicants did go down this year by about 6,000. So we won't see as many qualified applicants rejected this year!! A silver lining to the AMCAS dark cloud!

 

[Incendiary]

While it would seem true from a statistical point of view that the number of applicants decreasing would increase everyone else's odds, I think that in the end it won't make a difference. All the people who aren't applying probably weren't that gung-ho in the first place, so now the pool is probably filled with ONLY the gunners and cutthroat types...

 

[jase133]

I have a theory too. Maybe the interviewers just simply didn't like the way the applicant looked.

"I don't like his/her face... Let's reject the sucker."

Hehe

 

[EpiII]

Originally posted by Santa Claus:
•What I'm about to write is all in jest, so no one get mad at me...but, I think the adcoms blindfold themselves and throw darts at candidates names. It really makes a lot of sense to me. I know a bunch of insincere a**holes who've gotten in the past few years. I could go on and on....back to the nice/naughty list.•••

Taken in jest, but I talked with a 4th year med student (one of the UCs) last winter who is now in a neurosurgery residency and he said there is an element of luck to the process. If you app. goes to a small review committee that for some reason likes you then you are lucky. On the other hand, if the one or two people are not turned on by your research or your experience overseas or your undergrad school then you are unlucky.

He said that after being on both sides of the process, he felt that at times, the process might work out better by just taking all the applications and throwing them up in the air and accepting or interviewing the applicants whose applications landed on a table.

I know what he said was also in jest, but there is an element of truth in their somewhere.

 

[idiot]

You said the application pool decreased by 6000? What was the total pool last year?

Just curious; someone told me the pool decreased this year to the extent that 50% of all applicants will get accepted.

Mil gracias.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by idiot:
•You said the application pool decreased by 6000? What was the total pool last year?

Just curious; someone told me the pool decreased this year to the extent that 50% of all applicants will get accepted.•••

<a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=006798" target="_blank">This thread</a> has the answer to your question.