Are Med School Decisions Predictable?

<p>How predictable are medical school decisions compared to college decisions? College decisions seem to be a lot more subjective, and admissions officers claim to seek "well-rounded" individuals or athletic recruits or world-class musicians. Do medical schools care about any of this, or do they make their decisions mostly based on MCAT and GPA scores?</p>

<p>For example, would the same athlete who was recruited to Harvard with mediocre grades and SAT scores get into Harvard Medical School with mediocre grades and MCAT scores?</p>

<p>Conversely, would a 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT, rank #1 (but with little else) student who was rejected by Harvard get into Harvard Medical School with 4.0 GPA and 45 MCAT scores (again, with little else)?</p>

<p>Medical schools are very subjective. There are statistics which suggest that students with high GPA and MCAT scores are more likely to get accepted. But if you look at the average scores of all of the students you will find that people with C averages or low MCATs DO get accepted. So nothing is certain.</p>

<p>Of course a 45 MCAT would really be something since typically no one gets a perfect score. :-)</p>

<p>It's ironic that med school decisions are much less predictable even though med school admissions are much more numbers driven. I suppose it's because your GPA/MCAT can only get you so far within the admissions process. The acceptance rates to most med schools are very low. You can have stellar stats but if you have a bad interview and get asked a couple of random questions you can't answer, then boom you're rejected.</p>