The Formulauys

[sgilani]

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hey g

 

[sgilani]

hi guys
sorry about the above mess... still getting used to the keyboard on the laptop
anyways... i was talking to my advisor who gave me some formula regarding getting into medical school
she said take your gpa and multiply by 10.
take your science gpa and multiply by 10.
add the 2 numbers together and then add to that your mcat score. if your total is around 95 you have a decent shot at getting in. if your total is >100 you're pretty much going to get into a school.
i was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this "forumla" or if this is completely bogus.

 

[LP1CW]

I don't think it works. I just added up mine and I have 109. I guess I'm in. I think that the process is more involved.

 

[exmike]

I hope your advisor isnt on the admissions committee of the schools I'm applying to

 

[AverageMan]

You can think of it as more of a guide, and only in the sense of whether you would make a number's cuttoff. So the thing the formula would be most accurate for is pre-secondary cuttoffs. Plus, consider this. A 100 by the formula can be achieved by a 3.4 GPA, a 3.3 SGPA and a 33 MCAT. While by your reasoning that would indicate an almost certain acceptance, common sense would indicate that those GPA's are slightly below average and you would definately have to work to present yourself well in essays and such, and it's definately far from a sure thing.

 

[HollyJ]

I think that these formulas are pretty decent rules of thumb -- in other words, if you use this little formula and have a 71, you're probably not going. On the other hand, it's important to remember that these are NOT formulas that the adcoms use, so they're not actually relavant to whether or not you are going to get in, just whether or not you've got a decent shot. I wouldn't worry if you're a little below that magic 95 number, nor should you see a 110 and feel like you have guaranteed admission.

Also, one thing that these formulas leave out is disqualifying grade points or scores. For example, someone could conceivably have a 4.0 in cumulative and science GPAs, a 15 on the MCAT, and have a 95. That person is probably still not going to (allopathic US) med school in this application cycle. On the other side, someone could have a 35 MCAT, a 3.5 science, and a 2.5 cumulative, and I wouldn't say that they've got a great shot, either.

The point is, those formulas can be useful for telling you whether you're in the ballpark, but don't feel like they will keep you out or get you in.

 

[....]

it worked for me.

But good point about the disqualifying scores.

I bet if somone tried they could model the problem quite well. You just need to add a term to make positive extremes less weighty than negative extremes.

Im going to try and work on it.