<p>
</p>
<p>EH, I’m going to have to agree with MCD on this point and I’m just going to have to disagree with your Stanford prof. A 42 is a lot better at any school than a 37 is, or a 38, or even a 40. The MCAT is not a threshold test.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The calculation was by percentile. In most areas of the country, the populations that take the ACT and SAT are nearly identical (i.e., all high schoolers planning on applying to college). If you do the calculations, the ACT range covers a larger part of the normal distribution (above the mean) than does the SAT range.</p>
<p>This is clearly shown [here on the College Board website](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/act-sat-concordance-tables.pdf”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/act-sat-concordance-tables.pdf</a>), where we see that an 800 SAT Writing subsection score is approximately equivalent to a 35 on the ACT Writing. OTOH, we do not see the opposite trend when looking at M or CR (we see a near 1:1 correspondence).</p>
<p>I’d point out that if this USC medical student turned Stanford prof stated this opinion, it is dated to say the least (unless they went completely into research I assume they must have done a residency before being given a professorship so that’s at least a decade out of high school and maybe a decade out from the MCAT). If we want to name drop though I can vouch for my opinion based on extensive contact with multiple admissions committees, as well as at least one Dean of admission at my similarly ranked to Stanford medical school :D. It also comes from the fact that I have thought about the MCAT extensively because I have been through both processes. Perhaps you misunderstood your Stanford prof. There is indeed a cut off where, if you fall below it, many schools toss your application without a glance. This is not, however, the threshold of likely admission.</p>
<p>He did perform complete research. Being a professor at Stanford’s medical school, he encounters all of the best medical students across the nation from all of the best undergraduate schools (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Johns Hopkins, etc.) and questions all of them. He also has many acquaintances and friends on numerous medical school admissions boards such as Harvard and other top ranked medical schools who told him about a lot of what he knows. He also has great personal experience to add into his reasoning. He has written a “letter” for pre-med students concerning medical school myths (he calls out many of them, including this) as well as general tips and advice for pre-meds. At the end of the letter, he requests and encourages readers to give their insight on what he has written, what they think about it, and if it has helped them. I was actually expecting you to agree with this, BDM, but I guess not.</p>
<p>apumic,</p>
<p>Consider this: [Estimated</a> Relationship between ACT Composite Score and SAT CR+M+W Score](<a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/estimate.html]Estimated”>http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/estimate.html)</p>
<p>EH, I’m assuming you have a copy of this letter. If so, please post it. I’m more than interested. Or, if you’d rather, just post his Stanford.edu address and I’ll ask him for it myself. It would be a great help to others.</p>
<p>It would be a shame to just have it available to a select few and I’m sure that is not his intent.</p>
<p>About two to three years ago in 2007, a score of 39 on the MCAT was in the 99.3 percentile.</p>
<p>EDIT: Lol I’m not trying to withhold anything my friend, I am just not at home right now. At my cousin’s house watching season finale of LOST. I have the sites bookmarked, though. The website where I pulled 39 as being in 99.3 percentile is <a href=“MCAT vs. SAT scores | Student Doctor Network”>MCAT vs. SAT scores | Student Doctor Network; post #19.</p>
<p>EDIT: (To post below) I understand what you want to see. I am not on my computer, I do not currently have access to the website.</p>
<p>Eh, no. I can get figures. It’s this letter
that would be interesting to see.</p>
<p>What is complete research? What I meant was that he is not a practicing physician and never went to residency, instead going into just research. I agree, I would be very interested in seeing this letter. Preferably scanned but I’ll take a copy and paste job if necessary. Once again, I have a feeling what the letter says is exactly what we have been saying. There is a certain level where MCAT score becomes a matter of diminishing returns and what will get you in or keep you out starts to shift to other things. I especially look forward to the part where he explicitly says that one point above their matriculating average and a 44 are the same thing to Harvard.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I mean, it seems pretty clear to me that a 42 is better than a 37. You can take a look at mdapplicants.com if you want to.</p>
<p>I change my value to 39 after just finding that statistic.</p>
<p>As for “agree with this,” by “this” I meant that the MCAT is more of a threshold. Would you say the same with 39 as the new comparative range?</p>
<p>A 44 is better than a 39 on a significant level. Enought to merit acceptance vs rejection? Probably not. Enough to merit full scholarship versus partial? Definitely. Enough to be the difference between Waitlist and immediate acceptance, probably.</p>
<p>Absolutely not. A 41 is a lot better than a 40, which is a LOT better than a 39. Really.</p>
<p>A 44 is certainly a lot better than a 39 in terms of gaining scholarships and other competitive grants etc., however a 44 doesn’t translate into a better physician than a 39 does - and medical schools know this.</p>
<p>Medical admissions isn’t about just finding the better clinicians.</p>
<p>“Comparing MCAT and SAT” - is waste of time and irrelavant. There is no correlation. However, both depend on preparation efforts. Usually people who work hard to prep. for SAT, would work even harder to prep. for MCAT. But some could get a decent score without preparation for SAT, I do not see how it is possible to get a decent MCAT without preparing for it.</p>
<p>I wonder how MCAT distribution has changed in a past 2 years. Since 1% is 758 people - with score of 37, is it relevant to consider anything above 37? I also wonder about existing of other distribution tables that contradict the one below. Would be interesting to see others’ input.</p>
<p>Combined 2008 Administrations N = 75,809</p>
<p>Scaled Percent Percentile
Score Achieving Score Rank Range
45 0.0 99.9─99.9
44 0.0 99.9─99.9
43 0.0 99.9─99.9
42 0.1 99.9─99.9
41 0.1 99.7─99.8
40 0.2 9.5─99.6
39 0.4 99.2─99.4
38 0.7 98.5─99.1
37 1.0 97.6─98.4
36 1.3 96.2─97.5
35 1.9 94.4─96.1
34 2.4 92.0─94.3
33 2.9 89.0─91.9
32 3.9 85.1─88.9
31 4.6 80.5─85.0
30 5.2 75.3─80.4
29 5.7 69.6─75.2</p>
<p>I’m still not home, I tried to google for the letter but couldn’t find it. I did find this site however: <a href=“http://prehealth.buffalo.edu/pdfs/medicalmyths.pdf[/url]”>http://prehealth.buffalo.edu/pdfs/medicalmyths.pdf</a> it seems like whoever created this site essentially plagiarized from the guy, but their myths and explanations are essentially the same exact ones the Stanford guy proposes except that these are a lot shorter/concise. </p>
<p>I also wanted to make a correction: I made a presumptuous statement in saying that this guy was a medical school teacher at Stanford. I drew this from the fact that he is some kind of ER (I think?) doctor in the Stanford area, and so upon reflecting on this I realized I cannot draw this assumption. However, this answers (for whoever it was that called him out for not being an actual physician) for the fact that he is, indeed, a physician (medical school teacher possibly, must reread the letter when I get home).</p>
<p>EH: You misunderstood the nature of the calling out argument. The argument was this:</p>
<p>"Dude, if this guy is a physician, he’s been out of medical school admissions for a long time. Think about it: he had to do medical school (4 years), residency (4) years, and probably some time practicing. So whenever he wrote the piece, it was already eight years old and probably obsolete.</p>
<p>…although I suppose, if he went straight into a research career, it could be as little as four years total."</p>
<p>Thanks BDM. Don’t worry, my response to EH is coming as well :D. I typed it on my computer in my room and the internet wasn’t working so I have it sitting there for when I go home tonight. Something to look forward to!</p>