Reply to Why do top US universities weed out most pre-med kids & then we import foreign MDs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Having gone through this process at a top med school:

1. GPA does really matter. I went to a weed out HPYS school and wasn’t premed. I ended up deciding on med school later and did a post bacc. I had to have a perfect 4.0 gpa and I worked for it. You can actually get away with a much lower GPA at some schools and majors but MCAT must be high. A 520 MCAT makes up for a lot.

2. MCAT is so important!! Way more than GPA. Again a 520 will make up for a lot

3. Med school admissions suck. Even if you have good scores, nothing is guaranteed. Also, it matters what state you are in! Some states have great state schools that protect their own. New Jersey comes to mind. They have 3 state schools for MD and 1 DO that have to be 70% jersey resident. So a NJ student will have a better shot

4. Foreign MDs fill unmet residnecy spots usually in areas and fields that American students don’t want- though this may change with DO and MDs combining residencies in 2022.

[/quote]

I gather from your post you probably did very few courses that would qualify for the required pre-med classes and then jammed them into your post-bacc, in which you scored 4.0.

The numbers back you up on the MCAT being more important than grades, up to a point of course.  The MCAT scores and GPAs of med school applicants who are accepted by at least one med school are published:

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

What this shows is that only two thirds of applicants with a GPA of 3.8 or greater are accepted by at least one school.  On the other hand, the MCAT percentages are: 518 or higher (97th percentile +)--84%; 514-517 (90th-95th percentile)--74%; and 510-513 (82nd-89th)--63%.

Those with an MCAT score over 517 have a nearly 50% chance of being accepted even with a GPA between 3.0 and 3.2, about the same chance as an applicant with a GPA of 3.8 or greater who scores between 502 and 505 (57th to 67th percentile).  If an applicant with that MCAT range had a GPA between 3.0 and 3.2, they would have a chance of an acceptance of just 22%.

Only 42% of all applicants are accepted.  Other data shows that of that 40%, 20% are accepted by just one school.  Many apply to 25 to 30 schools.[/quote]

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