Why are applicant median MCAT scores higher than matriculant scores

[Pusheen]

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So maybe I'm just being really dense here with the MSAR, but why am I seeing this? A large school like UCSD with over 7,000 applicants can't possibly have an applicant median of 35 can it? Goro once said that half of the applicants to medical schools shouldn't even bother applying with their stats..

 

[Nommonnom]

So maybe I'm just being really dense here with the MSAR, but why am I seeing this? A large school like UCSD with over 7,000 applicants can't possibly have an applicant median of 35 can it? Goro once said that half of the applicants to medical schools shouldn't even bother applying with their stats..

I see the stat you're referring to on MSAR; that box is for *ACCEPTED* applicants, median 35. That same box shows matriculating applicants median 34. This means the higher MCATs accepted are less likely to matriculate than the lower MCATs accepted.

The 2015 MCAT stats for applicants in the box above shows a median MCAT of 506 for UCSD,which is the stat for which you're looking.

 

[Pusheen]

I see the stat you're referring to on MSAR; that box is for *ACCEPTED* applicants, median 35. That same box shows matriculating applicants median 34. This means the higher MCATs accepted are less likely to matriculate than the lower MCATs accepted.

The 2015 MCAT stats for applicants in the box above shows a median MCAT of 506 for UCSD,which is the stat for which you're looking.

Got it, the entire box is for accepted applicants! Thanks so much!

 

[LizzyM]

The applicants with very high scores get admitted to so many schools and "appear" in the boxes of many schools where in the end each applicant can attend only one school and some of those applicants with high scores go elsewhere.