What's weighed more in admissions?

[radioactive15]

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GPA + MCAT

Or

Extracirriculars


I personally think the former is, but still see a distinction in the people I interact with. Some people I know have a .2 GPA lower and 2 point mcat deficit but have stellar extracirriculars while others have a near perfect gpa and higher mcat but standard extracirriculars. In these two cases, which wins out?

 

[625233]

They're called EXTRAcurriculars for a reason.

 

[TxC]

Med schools want to make sure that the people they accept are able to handle the learning aspect of med school.

 

[NYCdude]

Someone who was on the admissions committee at a particular New York school told me that the order of precedence is as follows:

1.) MCAT
2.) GPA
3.) Clinical Volunteering
4.) LOR's
5.) Shadowing
6.) Research
7.) Non-Medical Volunteering

 

[efle]

Pre-interview it's sGPA, cGPA, MCAT > service and experiences

 

[TREDWISE]

The specifics depend on the school. For example...

Someone who was on the admissions committee at a particular New York school told me that the order of precedence is as follows:

1.) MCAT
2.) GPA
3.) Clinical Volunteering
4.) LOR's
5.) Shadowing
6.) Non-Medical Volunteering

No mention of research here.

 

[NYCdude]

The specifics depend on the school. For example...

No mention of research here.

You're right. That was just off the top of my head, I'd have to go back to my notebook to look up exactly what he said. IIRC, research falls after shadowing.

 

[Goro]

In general, because it's a seller's market, there are enough applicants who have great ECs AND great GPA+MCAT.

There are times a compelling life story, being a URM or a veteran can make up for lower than avg stats.

DO schools are more willing to trade off MCAT for GPA and vice-versa.

Stats get you to the door, but ECs get you through the door.

GPA + MCAT

Or

Extracirriculars


I personally think the former is, but still see a distinction in the people I interact with. Some people I know have a .2 GPA lower and 2 point mcat deficit but have stellar extracirriculars while others have a near perfect gpa and higher mcat but standard extracirriculars. In these two cases, which wins out?

 

[Lucca]

I think you can reason the top of the hierarchy out yourself.

Think: What is the bare minimum requirement for admissions to medical school? Survival. Can you handle it? The bare minimum should be more important. GPA and MCAT. What does GPA mean? Not much without context. MCAT can help provide context. Therefore, MCAT > GPA.

Now we have:
1) MCAT
2)GPA

What else do we need? Other stuff. But the bare minimum requirements will always dominate. They can go as high as they can because competition will let it but they always have to be met. You don't need to be a star researcher, athlete, volunteer, etc. even though you might want to be some of those things. But you need to be able to survive, above all things, the medical school curriculum and be of comparable ability to your classmates so you can teach them and they can learn from you.

 

[efle]

I think you can reason the top of the hierarchy out yourself.

Think: What is the bare minimum requirement for admissions to medical school? Survival. Can you handle it? The bare minimum should be more important. GPA and MCAT. What does GPA mean? Not much without context. MCAT can help provide context. Therefore, MCAT > GPA.

Now we have:
1) MCAT
2)GPA

What else do we need? Other stuff. But the bare minimum requirements will always dominate. They can go as high as they can because competition will let it but they always have to be met. You don't need to be a star researcher, athlete, volunteer, etc. even though you might want to be some of those things. But you need to be able to survive, above all things, the medical school curriculum and be of comparable ability to your classmates so you can teach them and they can learn from you.

And yet GPA came out above MCAT

 

[LizzyM]

I'll take a 3.8/38 over a 4.0/40 if the extracurriculars are better. Does that answer your question?

 

[TREDWISE]

I think you can reason the top of the hierarchy out yourself.

Think: What is the bare minimum requirement for admissions to medical school? Survival. Can you handle it? The bare minimum should be more important. GPA and MCAT. What does GPA mean? Not much without context. MCAT can help provide context. Therefore, MCAT > GPA.

Now we have:
1) MCAT
2)GPA

What else do we need? Other stuff. But the bare minimum requirements will always dominate. They can go as high as they can because competition will let it but they always have to be met. You don't need to be a star researcher, athlete, volunteer, etc. even though you might want to be some of those things. But you need to be able to survive, above all things, the medical school curriculum and be of comparable ability to your classmates so you can teach them and they can learn from you.

You could have 43 and 4.0 written on a piece of paper and you won't get into medical school without something else. That is the wisdom behind what Goro said a few posts above yours.

I think that a regular pre-med student (emphasis on the word student) it is tempting to think that the best student (i.e. best GPA and MCAT) will be the most successful when applying to medical school. The issue with this line of thinking is that admissions committees are looking for people who would make good doctors. Obviously you have to be a good student to make it through the first two years but there is far more to it than that.

 

[sunflower18]

n=1, but I have gotten interviews and acceptances at schools for which my MCAT score is significantly lower than average (around the 10th percentile), and I think it's because I have strong ECs. Stats aren't everything -- they can't be, with my experiences. But this is totally anecdotal, and there is no way to quantify or predict anything based off of it. I just thought I'd share the results of my own cycle.

My belief is that stats are the most important thing to admissions committees pre-interview, but good or bad ECs can have significant sway.

 

[Lucca]

You could have 43 and 4.0 written on a piece of paper and you won't get into medical school without something else. That is the wisdom behind what Goro said a few posts above yours.

I think that a regular pre-med student (emphasis on the word student) it is tempting to think that the best student (i.e. best GPA and MCAT) will be the most successful when applying to medical school. The issue with this line of thinking is that admissions committees are looking for people who would make good doctors. Obviously you have to be a good student to make it through the first two years but there is far more to it than that.

I believe it and I agree. I'm not saying it's the only thing or even the most important thing but there isn't a doubt in my mind it's the first thing that's looked at when considering an invite to the interview.

 

[efle]

n=1, but I have gotten interviews and acceptances at schools for which my MCAT score is significantly lower than average (around the 10th percentile), and I think it's because I have strong ECs. Stats aren't everything -- they can't be, with my experiences. But this is totally anecdotal, and there is no way to quantify or predict anything based off of it. I just thought I'd share the results of my own cycle.

My belief is that stats are the most important thing to admissions committees pre-interview, but good or bad ECs can have significant sway.

Aren't you also URM with a super overcoming obstacles story?

 

[sunflower18]

Aren't you also URM?

No.

 

[efle]

Was it you who was saying you were like working two full time jobs on top of school at least? Or am I completely thinking of the wrong poster

 

[sunflower18]

Was it you who was saying you were like working two full time jobs on top of school at least? Or am I completely thinking of the wrong poster

Two full time jobs? No. My ECs totalled 30-50 hours a week for most semesters on top of full time school, though. Sorry if I was unclear in any of my posts! Or you might be thinking of the wrong person.

 

[efle]

Hahah there's so many insanely hard working people on here they might all morph into each other in my brain. Congratz btw

 

[sunflower18]

Hahah there's so many insanely hard working people on here they might all morph into each other in my brain. Congratz btw

So true! Being a part of this community is incredibly humbling, to say the least. Sorry for the confusion though! Thanks 🙂

 

[senzen]

Congrats @sunflower18! You sound like you're going to be an amazing doctor (I read your MDapps profile). Best of luck!

 

[sunflower18]

Congrats @sunflower18! You sound like you're going to be an amazing doctor (I read your MDapps profile). Best of luck!

Oh my goodness, that's so incredible of you to say!! Thank you so much!!! It means a lot 🙂

 

[ridethecliche]

You're right. That was just off the top of my head, I'd have to go back to my notebook to look up exactly what he said. IIRC, research falls after shadowing.

Depends on the school. Some would weigh it higher than clinical volunteering.

I'd say clinical experiences are more important...