What in the blue hell...

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wlee43

wlee43

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https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf

Looking at this chart, how do people with 2.5 gpa and 15-17 mcat score get accepted while there are people with 3.9+ gpa and 40 mcat that get rejected. How are we suppose to trust the admissions committee with this bulll****. This is like drafting a player out of community college instead of Michael Jordan
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wlee43 said:
https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf

Looking at this chart, how do people with 2.5 gpa and 15-17 mcat score get accepted while there are people with 3.9+ gpa and 40 mcat that get rejected. How are we suppose to trust the admissions committee with this bulll****. This is like drafting a player out of community college instead of Michael Jordan
Click to expand...

You should consider taking a course in probability and statistics. There was 1 applicant out of 57 who was accepted out of the 2.5 GPA 18-20 MCAT range. So with these stats you have an incredibly low chance of getting in and the 1 person who did get in probably has some extraordinary circumstances that really impressed adcoms. On the flip side 95% of people with 3.9 GPAs and 40MCATs got in. So almost everyone in this range gets in, the ones that don't probably have reasons for not being admitted as well (0 ECs, horrible interview skills, bad LORs, etc).

My advice, don't worry about who is getting in and who isn't. Worry about yourself. Get the best grades, best MCAT score, best LORs, and best ECs you can.
 
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It is fun looking at that chart to see the low end that make it in somewhere and the high end that don't.
 
I don't know man...if you look at some of those statistics they're just sad. I mean really, how is ANYONE getting accepted with a 14 MCAT. That's basically incompetent in sciences and reading comprehension. I can understand the low GPAs because someone can have really good explanations for low GPA such as "I failed all my classes sophomore spring semester because my brother died" (not making light of that kind of situation at all). The MCAT scores are just ridiculous though...you can retake the MCAT and if you had some explanation for a bad MCAT score you can wait a little while and retake it.

Yes, you could be in a situation where you don't have the time to wait and retake it but still...I really don't know how you can demonstrate you're competent in whats being tested at all with a 14 MCAT. I mean I have doubts with a 20 MCAT...

And yes I know the percentage is really low but think about what it takes to get a 14 total score...do you really think someone knows what the hell they're doing academically if they couldn't average at least a 5 on every section??
 
My guess would be that a non-traditional had the 2.5 with some extraordinary circumstances and that the 14 got into a school in Puerto Rico (native Spanish-speaker with a very low verbal score and somewhat low science scores)...
 
It doesn't say they got accepted to Harvard or anything... I'm sure some medical school would accept those stats
 
I used a random number generator on an AAMC test to select answers and got a 13, so yeah, a 15 is only a little better than random guessing...
 
Hoya2009 said:
I used a random number generator on an AAMC test to select answers and got a 13, so yeah, a 15 is only a little better than random guessing...
Click to expand...

That's actually mildly interesting. Also, how bored must you have been?
 
BadHorse said:
That's actually mildly interesting. Also, how bored must you have been?
Click to expand...

Well, some days in lab are reeeeealy slow when the PI is not around, and the rats don't know you're not working, so MCAT-hilarity ensues to get data for the entertainment of my Kaplan students....

And that spreadsheet was for whites only, so no URM/Asian/whatever else they have sheets for were included, FYI.

inb4URMrelatedflamewar
 
Hoya2009 said:
Well, some days in lab are reeeeealy slow when the PI is not around, and the rats don't know you're not working, so MCAT-hilarity ensues to get data for the entertainment of my Kaplan students....

And that spreadsheet was for whites only, so no URM/Asian/whatever else they have sheets for were included, FYI.

inb4URMrelatedflamewar
Click to expand...

no sense of sarcasm I see
 
You just need to live your life. What happened to some outlier is irrelevant to you. Don't worry about some random statistic - it is meaningless to you as you go through the admissions process.

Just do the best that you can and hope for the best, and if some guy with a low MCAT got into med school, well, it is very rare, and really has nothing to do with your life. Focus on what you can control, which is your med school application, and do not worry about what happened to someone else - just live your life, advocate as best you can for yourself, and do not worry or fret about what happened to somebody that you will never meet or know. Good luck.
 
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calvnandhobbs68 said:
I don't know man...if you look at some of those statistics they're just sad. I mean really, how is ANYONE getting accepted with a 14 MCAT. That's basically incompetent in sciences and reading comprehension. I can understand the low GPAs because someone can have really good explanations for low GPA such as "I failed all my classes sophomore spring semester because my brother died" (not making light of that kind of situation at all). The MCAT scores are just ridiculous though...you can retake the MCAT and if you had some explanation for a bad MCAT score you can wait a little while and retake it.

Yes, you could be in a situation where you don't have the time to wait and retake it but still...I really don't know how you can demonstrate you're competent in whats being tested at all with a 14 MCAT. I mean I have doubts with a 20 MCAT...

And yes I know the percentage is really low but think about what it takes to get a 14 total score...do you really think someone knows what the hell they're doing academically if they couldn't average at least a 5 on every section??
Click to expand...

One key point to factor in is 8 year BS/MD programs and early assurance programs that guarantee exceptional students a spot at a medical school without taking the MCAT. Some of these programs require that the student take the MCAT as a formality (and they may score a 15 or 16), and often they only need to maintain a subpar GPA like a 3.2+ (there are some BS/MD's that have strict maintenance requirements, but a few with very lax ones)

In fact, I personally know two kids in one of these programs who purposely tried to score as low as possible on the MCAT for the lulz, since their acceptances were not conditional on the score.
 
patel2 said:
One key point to factor in is 8 year BS/MD programs and early assurance programs that guarantee exceptional students a spot at a medical school without taking the MCAT. Some of these programs require that the student take the MCAT as a formality (and they may score a 15 or 16), and often they only need to maintain a subpar GPA like a 3.2+ (there are some BS/MD's that have strict maintenance requirements, but a few with very lax ones)

In fact, I personally know two kids in one of these programs who purposely tried to score as low as possible on the MCAT for the lulz, since their acceptances were not conditional on the score.
Click to expand...

This.
 
searun said:
You just need to live your life. What happened to some outlier is irrelevant to you. Don't worry about some random statistic - it is meaningless to you as you go through the admissions process.

Just do the best that you can and hope for the best, and if some guy with a low MCAT got into med school, well, it is very rare, and really has nothing to do with your life. Focus on what you can control, which is your med school application, and do not worry about what happened to someone else - just live your life, advocate as best you can for yourself, and do not worry or fret about what happened to somebody that you will never meet or know. Good luck.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
YouNeverKnow22 said:
probably a URM
Click to expand...


Pure ignorance! I hope you did well in the verbal section. LOL The chart title is, Table 25: MCAT and GPA Grid for White Applicants and Acceptees.


I am, however, more concerned about how two students with GPA 2.20-2.39 and 18-20 MCAT got in. :confused:
 
Did Anyone else notice that 6 people actually applied with less than a 2.0, AND a MCAT between 5 and 14? :eek:
 
Raryn said:
Compare https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf (white) to https://www.aamc.org/download/157590/data/table25-hbn-mcatgpa-grid-0810.pdf (all URM combined)

Being URM isn't as big an advantage as SDN always makes it out to be ;) Its only worth 3-5 points on the MCAT or .2 on your GPA (or, not and)
Click to expand...

4mceko5.gif
 
Raryn said:
Compare https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf (white) to https://www.aamc.org/download/157590/data/table25-hbn-mcatgpa-grid-0810.pdf (all URM combined)

Being URM isn't as big an advantage as SDN always makes it out to be ;) Its only worth 3-5 points on the MCAT or .2 on your GPA (or, not and)
Click to expand...

Don't give me that BS,

It may not be a HUGE difference for higher numbers... but in the low and mid range values the advantage is huge.

Let me draw your attention to the fact that for a 3.0-3.2GPA and 24-26 MCAT, an 8% acceptance rate magically becomes a 45%.

This extrapolates to a GPA higher than 4.0 with the same MCAT score. It could also be looked at as getting a 36-38 MCAT with the same GPA (10-12 pt boost).
So essentially 3.1 GPA and 25 MCAT URM becomes a 3.5 GPA 32 MCAT. (and, not or)


Granted while I think URM's and most whities are on an unfair playing field, It is absurd to give this much of a handicap.
 
Raryn said:
Compare https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf (white) to https://www.aamc.org/download/157590/data/table25-hbn-mcatgpa-grid-0810.pdf (all URM combined)

Being URM isn't as big an advantage as SDN always makes it out to be ;) Its only worth 3-5 points on the MCAT or .2 on your GPA (or, not and)
Click to expand...

Not exactly. There are saturation points at either end of the spectrum. Really competiive applicants of any race will get in 90% of then time and really bad ones will get in 2% of the time.
But, if you look at the middle of the road candidates, the acceptance rates for URM candidates are significantly higher than for whites.
 
Hoya2009 said:
Well, some days in lab are reeeeealy slow when the PI is not around, and the rats don't know you're not working, so MCAT-hilarity ensues to get data for the entertainment of my Kaplan students....

And that spreadsheet was for whites only, so no URM/Asian/whatever else they have sheets for were included, FYI.

inb4URMrelatedflamewar
Click to expand...

At first I thought this said inb4URMrelatedflower. I was like, :confused:

white_water_lily_pad.jpg
 
searun said:
You just need to live your life. What happened to some outlier is irrelevant to you. Don't worry about some random statistic - it is meaningless to you as you go through the admissions process.

Just do the best that you can and hope for the best, and if some guy with a low MCAT got into med school, well, it is very rare, and really has nothing to do with your life. Focus on what you can control, which is your med school application, and do not worry about what happened to someone else - just live your life, advocate as best you can for yourself, and do not worry or fret about what happened to somebody that you will never meet or know. Good luck.
Click to expand...

We're human. We're curious about anomalies. If we weren't, medicine, technology, and life as we know it wouldn't exist.
 
I'm more interested in how terribly robotic the interviews for the top-end 3.9/40 rejects were. Must have been some really ****ty interviews or something.
 
Acceptance rates for certain MCATs and GPAs are very different for urms, but isn't the overall acceptance rate for urms actually lower than whites and asians? Or did I just dream this?

Edit: Nevermind it's right there on the chart. 47.6% for whites (37,104/78,024) and 44.0% for urms (8,693/19,739).
 
ejay286 said:
Acceptance rates for certain MCATs and GPAs are very different for urms, but isn't the overall acceptance rate for urms actually lower than whites and asians? Or did I just dream this?

Edit: Nevermind it's right there on the chart. 47.6% for whites (37,104/78,024) and 44.0% for urms (8,693/19,739).
Click to expand...

But thats cause a lot of URM's are still super low on the numbers and can't compete even with the "bump" of the URM handicap.

Maybe they figure their URM status is enough to get accepted and thus don't bother trying. Maybe its because many URM communities don't put much value in education so there is little familial motivation to succeed. Maybe its cause as URM's they have some unknown obstacles that are preventing them from succeeding

There are many factors that could contribute, but the take home message is that you still have to be halfway a decent student for the URM advantage to take effect.
 
movax said:
I'm more interested in how terribly robotic the interviews for the top-end 3.9/40 rejects were. Must have been some really ****ty interviews or something.
Click to expand...

Anybody can sit in a library all day for four years and do nothing but homework and study for the MCAT and get a 4.0, 40+. But, this makes for a extremely lame med school applicant. These rejections didn't have to be interview related.
 
NewEngland21 said:
Anybody can sit in a library all day for four years and do nothing but homework and study for the MCAT and get a 4.0, 40+. But, this makes for a extremely lame med school applicant. These rejections didn't have to be interview related.
Click to expand...

The first part of this is a bit of a stretch, but I agree with the last part. I've heard of applicants who had almost no clinical exposure or research or volunteer work, and that kind of applicant would probably get rejected at a lot of schools.

Still, for the rejected 4.0/40s who got to the interview stage, I'll bet those interviews were interesting.
 
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Spin said:
The first part of this is a bit of a stretch, but I agree with the last part. I've heard of applicants who had almost no clinical exposure or research or volunteer work, and that kind of applicant would probably get rejected at a lot of school.

Still, for the rejected 4.0/40s who got to the interview stage, I'll bet those interviews were interesting.
Click to expand...

I bet at least a couple of them applied to only ~3 of the top schools thinking that acceptance was a "sure thing"... Cast those nets wider.
 
Spin said:
The first part of this is a bit of a stretch, but I agree with the last part. I've heard of applicants who had almost no clinical exposure or research or volunteer work, and that kind of applicant would probably get rejected at a lot of schools.

Still, for the rejected 4.0/40s who got to the interview stage, I'll bet those interviews were interesting.
Click to expand...

Right. I didn't literally mean "anybody" can get 4.0, 40+, but the art of sarcasm has been lost on SDN. I was just saying that if you got these stats by doing nothing but studying and being a hermit in the library then their app would be lacking.
 
halethsonofhama said:
But thats cause a lot of URM's are still super low on the numbers and can't compete even with the "bump" of the URM handicap.

Maybe they figure their URM status is enough to get accepted and thus don't bother trying. Maybe its because many URM communities don't put much value in education so there is little familial motivation to succeed. Maybe its cause as URM's they have some unknown obstacles that are preventing them from succeeding

There are many factors that could contribute, but the take home message is that you still have to be halfway a decent student for the URM advantage to take effect.
Click to expand...

Nobody is going to throw a match at this powder keg?
 
Yet, another parade of little penises. :smuggrin:
 
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