What is a 31 MCAT score equivalent to for SAT?

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Kale01

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Friend who got a 31 MCAT told me that it's equivalent to getting a 1400 out of 1600 on the SAT. (We took the SAT 10+ years ago.) He also said 31 is the minimal score considered good. Is this true? Isn't it the 80th percentile though? How is an 80th percentile score considered good? Just as reference, I've taken the SATs, SAT IIs, and grad school entrance exams when I applied for grad school, and considered 98+ percentile good.
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Jepstein30 said:
If scoring better than 80% of the people who take the test isn't good, you have absolutely ridiculous standards...
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But a 1400 on the SAT is something like mid to upper 90s percentile (at least back when we took it.) I don't see how it compares to an 80th percentile on another test even if there is more self-selection.

I don't know if my standards are extreme. I aimed for 98+ percentile when I took grad entrance exams because I was only applying to top 10 programs.
 
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Kale01 said:
But a 1400 on the SAT is something like mid to upper 90s percentile (at least back when we took it.) I don't see how it compares to an 80th percentile on another test.
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different populations of people- SAT is a larger group with more diversity; MCAT is smaller group of intense pre-med students; i don't really think you can draw comparisons across these in terms of percentile or I don't know how that would work.
 
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So maybe the question you should be asking is how your friend derived such a ridiculous comparison?

As opposed to the one you posed: "How is 80th percentile considered good?"
 
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Kale01 said:
But a 1400 on the SAT is something like mid to upper 90s percentile (at least back when we took it.) I don't see how it compares to an 80th percentile on another test even if there is more self-selection.

I don't know if my standards are extreme. I aimed for 98+ percentile when I took grad entrance exams because I was only applying to top 10 programs.
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But the MCAT is a complete different beast...
 
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BestDoctorEver said:
But the MCAT is a complete different beast...
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If you do well on one standardized test you tend to do well on others. I don't see how an 80th percentile MCAT is remotely equivalent to getting a 98th percentile LSAT or GRE.

People I know who got upper 1500s/1600s on the SAT pretty much all got 36+ on their MCAT. People who scored poorly on the MCAT (say 28 or somewhere around there) also scored poorly on the LSAT (like 162).
 
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I guess I would compare the percentiles, so look at whatever the 80th percentile on the SAT's is. However, I don't see why doing this would be useful to you in any way at all.

To address your other question, a 31 is right around the average MCAT score for accepted students. Given you have a pretty solid application otherwise, you should be able to get in with a 31. It's definitely not the minimum though, as students with slightly lower scores but good GPA's and EC's are accepted each year. Obviously, the better your score the higher your chance of acceptance.
 
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Kale01 said:
If you do well on one standardized test you tend to do well on others. I don't see how an 80th percentile MCAT is remotely equivalent to getting a 98th percentile LSAT or GRE.

People I know who got upper 1500s/1600s on the SAT pretty much all got 36+ on their MCAT.
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What I am saying is comparing two different test is pointless. However, someone who is naturally smart and does its due diligence should be able to do well on both test (SAT and MCAT).
 
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Oso said:
I guess I would compare the percentiles, so look at whatever the 80th percentile on the SAT's is. However, I don't see why doing this would be useful to you in any way at all.

To address your other question, a 31 is right around the average MCAT score for accepted students. Given you have a pretty solid application otherwise, you should be able to get in with a 31. It's definitely not the minimum though, as students with slightly lower scores but good GPA's and EC's are accepted each year. Obviously, the better your score the higher your chance of acceptance.
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Yeah, I know it's not the minimum, but that's just what he said was good. I know someone who got into an MD/PhD program (white too, so not AA) with a 28 MCAT.
 
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Kale01 said:
Yeah, I know it's not the minimum, but that's just what he said was good. I know someone who got into an
MD/PhD program (white too, so not AA) with a 28 MCAT.
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A "good" MCAT score also depends on what schools you're aiming for. A 33 is competitive for some schools and not competitive at other schools.
 
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Kale01 said:
What about the top 10? Do you need a 36?
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You need more than just a good MCAT score. Top 10 schools reject high stat applicants each year because the rest of their application is pretty bland. For top schools, you need to have a very impressive overall application (which usually includes a lot of productive research).

Whenever you get ready to apply, purchase a copy of the MSAR. It will tell you the 10th percentile, 90th percentile, and median MCAT score for accepted students at each school.
 
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pjk77 said:
different populations of people- SAT is a larger group with more diversity; MCAT is smaller group of intense pre-med students; i don't really think you can draw comparisons across these in terms of percentile or I don't know how that would work.
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This. I'm pretty sure at least a couple people in the room may have been stoned when I was taking the SAT.
 
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You're comparing apples to cheeseburgers, OP. The SAT is a test that compares you to every kid that is going to any college for anything whatsoever. The MCAT puts you up against a group of all the people that were smart enough to do decently well in the most difficult weed out basic science courses that most colleges offer. Being in the 80th percentile of everyone isn't nearly as big of a deal as being in the 80th percentile of an already highly qualified, self selected group. It's like comparing a guy who was in the 80th percentile of high school physical education fitness standards with a guy who was in the 80th percentile of fitness standards for the marines. One is whatever, the other is quite impressive.
 
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BS. No comparison whatsoever. One of my good friends got a 23 on the ACT and went to a state school, killed it in Mechanical Engineering and got a 38 on his MCAT.
 
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Not trying to be mean, but your friend is a ****** lol.
I got 1550/1600 on SAT without even studying for a minute..
So tell him. How the hell is it equivalent to 31 on MCAT, which is really really hard to get even for many smart premeds?
 
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Kale01 said:
If you do well on one standardized test you tend to do well on others. I don't see how an 80th percentile MCAT is remotely equivalent to getting a 98th percentile LSAT or GRE.

People I know who got upper 1500s/1600s on the SAT pretty much all got 36+ on their MCAT. People who scored poorly on the MCAT (say 28 or somewhere around there) also scored poorly on the LSAT (like 162).
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162 on the LSAT is 85th percentile. That's far from what I'd consider "poor." It won't get you into Harvard, but it'll get you into law school.

While MCAT certainly has it's flaws, too, it's far more a test of content and wisdom than a biased POS test like the SAT. Even if it was true that students with high SAT scores (say...1500/1600) also achieved high MCAT scores (which would take far more than opinions of a few people in here and/or the OPs friends), there are many reasons why that could be. For starters, people who performed exceptionally poorly on the SAT (and I mean really sucked, may have even scored below 800 TOTAL) probably didn't end up going to schools with a strong pre-med curriculum, probably didn't do pre-med classes or pre-reqs wherever they did end up (if they went to college), probably didn't succeed in pre-med classes if they took them, and probably didn't take the MCAT (and if they did, probably didn't prepare well for it!). This is a much more selective group of people to begin with.

Mad Jack said:
You're comparing apples to cheeseburgers, OP. The SAT is a test that compares you to every kid that is going to any college for anything whatsoever. The MCAT puts you up against a group of all the people that were smart enough to do decently well in the most difficult weed out basic science courses that most colleges offer. Being in the 80th percentile of everyone isn't nearly as big of a deal as being in the 80th percentile of an already highly qualified, self selected group. It's like comparing a guy who was in the 80th percentile of high school physical education fitness standards with a guy who was in the 80th percentile of fitness standards for the marines. One is whatever, the other is quite impressive.
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SPOT ON.
 
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totally diff pool of people who take this test like 1900-2000 if i was speculating. it's the average of a pool of more competitive undergrad applicants. really though the sat doesn't have any correlation to mcat scores. being able to nitpick, do simple math (well that might work), and read cliche simple essays and the mcat are totally diff ball-games.
 
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mrh125 said:
totally diff pool of people who take this test like 1900-2000 if i was speculating. it's the average of a pool of more competitive undergrad applicants. really though the sat doesn't have any correlation to mcat scores. being able to nitpick, do simple math (well that might work), and read cliche simple essays and the mcat are totally diff ball-games.
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You really think only 2000 people a year take the MCAT?
 
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I got a 20 on my ACT and have now maintained a 4.0 BCSM gpa through freshman and sophomore year in college. I had a lot if maturing to do before I entered college but that's def what needed to happen. Taking the MCAT in August and am curious if these scores have any correlation at all....
 
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mathwhiz09 said:
162 on the LSAT is 85th percentile. That's far from what I'd consider "poor." It won't get you into Harvard, but it'll get you into law school.
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Except only the top 14 law schools are even worth going to these days. And i think the median scores for top 14 is around 168-169, which is around the 97 th percentile.
A 162 only gets you into a bad law school unless you're URM.

Fwiw, when I took the LSAT I got a 170 (which is like 98th percentile). Maybe I have a skewed perspective, but a 162 is considered a bad score these days since it doesn't give you a shot in hell at a top 14 unless you're URM.
 
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brood910 said:
Not trying to be mean, but your friend is a ****** lol.
I got 1550/1600 on SAT without even studying for a minute..
So tell him. How the hell is it equivalent to 31 on MCAT, which is really really hard to get even for many smart premeds?
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Maybe, he's smart but not that smart. I think he studied for both and pulled 1400 something/1600 on the SATs and a 31 MCAT. He ended up going to a top 5 medical school though because of good ECs and GPA (not a URM either).

Is a 31 really that hard to get? I've never taken the MCAT, but literally every person I know who took it (friends, family) got a 31+, even people who were not so smart back in the day. Are you sure you aren't exaggerating?
 
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I think 31 is the in the 84 percentile so yeah, that's is better than that many people who took the exam so I'd say it's hard to get relatively.
 
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Kale01 said:
Some people say the ACT is a better predictor. Like what you got on the ACT will be within 2 points of your MCAT score.
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LMAO NO

to quote myself earlier in this thread

"BS. No comparison whatsoever. One of my good friends got a 23 on the ACT and went to a state school, killed it in Mechanical Engineering and got a 38 on his MCAT."

I know a couple others who were sub 25 ACT and managed 33 or above in the MCAT.
There is really no relation whatsoever.
 
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JohnnyRomanes said:
I think 31 is the in the 84 percentile so yeah, that's is better than that many people who took the exam so I'd say it's hard to get relatively.
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I guess it depends on your standards. For people who tend to score in the upper 90 something percentile on standardized tests, they'd probably be pissed and disappointed.
 
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JohnnyRomanes said:
LMAO NO

to quote myself earlier in this thread

"BS. No comparison whatsoever. One of my good friends got a 23 on the ACT and went to a state school, killed it in Mechanical Engineering and got a 38 on his MCAT."

I know a couple others who were sub 25 ACT and managed 33 or above in the MCAT.
There is really no relation whatsoever.
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Outliers. If you got a 23 on the ACT you're barely functioning mentally imo. Was he ESL or something? Maybe that's why - his English improved dramatically.
 
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Kale01 said:
Outliers. If you got a 23 on the ACT you're barely functioning mentally imo. Was he ESL or something? Maybe that's why - his English improved dramatically.
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Um, that's BS. I took the ACT 3 times, 22, 28, 34. All I did was practice more. Just because someone got a poor ACT/SAT score doesn't tell you anything about them. It took me a while to get good at MC exams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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23premes said:
Um, that's BS. I took the ACT 3 times, 22, 28, 34. All I did was practice more. Just because someone got a poor ACT/SAT score doesn't tell you anything about them. It took me a while to get good at MC exams.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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English is not my first language but that's not why I did poorly on the exam the first two times. My improvement was due to practice and getting faster at answering questions as well as getting good at POE.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Kale01 said:
Outliers. If you got a 23 on the ACT you're barely functioning mentally imo. Was he ESL or something? Maybe that's why - his English improved dramatically.
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The ignorance in this post is strong and quite frankly, disgusting.

Good to know that you think 74% of those who take the ACT are barely functioning mentally.

Maybe you should take a step back, realize that not everyone is gifted with innate intelligence or put in positions where they can develop such intelligence and stop making such asinine statements. I work with people who work tirelessly to score in the lower 20s and for you to tell me they are barely functioning mentally is an insult to YOUR intelligence, not theirs. Hell, on the basis of this thread.. I'd much rather them be my doctor than you. Barely functioning mentally.. what a ridiculous thing to say.

God, I never hope for people to not do well on the MCAT on this site even with some really ridiculous statements every so often.. but the ignorance and the ego you've shown in this thread is challenging that. Maybe a 80% percentile score would put you in your place (an absurd statement at that, just goes to show you how stupid you're being).
 
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Kale01 said:
Outliers. If you got a 23 on the ACT you're barely functioning mentally imo. Was he ESL or something? Maybe that's why - his English improved dramatically.
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You sound like a douchebag.

EDIT: Apparently you are a woman which is even more disgusting with the tone of your post, and you are not even applying via your previous posts? Have you sat for the MCAT? All you are talking about is the ACT and it've been shown that there is little correlation with any of that. What is your purpose on this board anyway? To give constructive feedback/criticism? None of your posts in this forum have shown that at the least and it seems all you are doing is putting down other peoples posts.
 
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Kale01 said:
Outliers. If you got a 23 on the ACT you're barely functioning mentally imo. Was he ESL or something? Maybe that's why - his English improved dramatically.
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Looks like it is true that ppl become friends with ppl with similar characteristics.
You are no different from your ******ed friend.
 
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JohnnyRomanes said:
You sound like a douchebag.

EDIT: Apparently you are a woman which is even more disgusting with the tone of your post, and you are not even applying via your previous posts? Have you sat for the MCAT? All you are talking about is the ACT and it've been shown that there is little correlation with any of that. What is your purpose on this board anyway? To give constructive feedback/criticism? None of your posts in this forum have shown that at the least and it seems all you are doing is putting down other peoples posts.
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Wow, best post of the entire thread. Because I'm a woman "it" is "even more" disgusting? Yeah, believe it or not, women do well on standardized tests, you sexist chump. Apparently you've already read through my posts to figure out what my purpose on this forum is, so why bother asking.
 
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@Kale01

I think Johnny is referring to the fact that you seem to be filled with aggressive tendencies more commonly seen in men, and you lack an air of nurturing commonly seen in women.

This makes you seem sociopathic.
 
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Cmdr_Shepard said:
@Kale01

I think Johnny is referring to the fact that you seem to be filled with aggressive tendencies more commonly seen in men, and you lack an air of nurturing commonly seen in women.

This makes you seem sociopathic.
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I guess this proves why interviews are really important to screen out people like her.
 
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Thoroughbred_Med said:
I got a 20 on my ACT and have now maintained a 4.0 BCSM gpa through freshman and sophomore year in college. I had a lot if maturing to do before I entered college but that's def what needed to happen. Taking the MCAT in August and am curious if these scores have any correlation at all....
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If they have any correlation, it will be minimal. They are two different test... Based on you sGPA, I think you should be ok for MCAT if you study and use the right resources.
 
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Cmdr_Shepard said:
@Kale01

I think Johnny is referring to the fact that you seem to be filled with aggressive tendencies more commonly seen in men, and you lack an air of nurturing commonly seen in women.

This makes you seem sociopathic.
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So you're comparing what you consider an average man to a sociopathic woman? If this statement evidences your knowledge gained during your pre-med studies, good luck getting into med school. And since you're offended by people who consider a 23 ACT bad, truth be told, you're probably a bad test taker, so your fate is sealed anyway.

It's funny how sexist some of you chumps are in defining gender roles based on Victorian ideals. Good luck getting your ass kicked by women, on the MCAT, and in medical school if somehow you scrape your way into one.
 
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Kale01 said:
So you're comparing what you consider an average man to a sociopathic woman? If this statement evidences your knowledge gained during your pre-med studies, good luck getting into med school. And since you're offended by people who consider a 23 ACT bad, truth be told, you're probably a bad test taker, so your fate is sealed anyway.

It's funny how sexist some of you chumps are in defining gender roles based on Victorian ideals. Good luck getting your ass kicked by women, on the MCAT, and in medical school if somehow you scrape your way into one.
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Another proof that people do not realize their own faults.
We never said we do not agree with you on the fact that 23 is a bad score for ACT.
It's just the way you said it.
Speaking of mentality, I think you should go see a psychotherapist.

This is why they are adding psychology to MCAT, I guess. People like her do not understand how their behaviors affect others' emotions.

Good luck with your interviews btw. You will really need it even though I doubt you will even get one.
 
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@Cmdr_Shepard nailed it lol 🙂

^^
What say do you even have about the MCAT? You haven't even sat for the exam. You have a disgusting elitist attitude that nobody will like, regardless of whatever path of higher education you take. Putting down other people based on scores and claiming "ESL" or some ridiculously mocking remark shows what kind of person you are. A 23 doesn't mean someone is stupid, which is what you insinuated through your previous post. I've seen and heard plenty of people get PhDs, and MDs, and DDS degrees from great universities who didn't do so well in high school and got a sub 25 ACT or sub 1000 SAT. It's all about hard work and dedication. Of course there is an intelligence factor in ACT/SAT but I would think that would lean forward to the geniuses of people who get PhDs at Caltech, MIT, Ivies etc. Point is, your posts reek of ignorance and you scoff at people based simply on test scores which in itself is still just a number.
 
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