<p>A little.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Probably a little at most, might be a bigger deal at a few.</p>
<p>like college admissions, med schools like to see leadership roles and well rounded people. Even taking year “touring Europe” and writing about it works. </p>
<p>Something to set you apart from everyone else. We admitted a top college quarterback that probably could have gone pro</p>
<p>My feeling is if one with MCAT=29 gets accepted, how it will make feel the one who got rejected with MCAT=34, if their GPAs are similar? Would it not cause some action from the second candidate? The number of spots is limited, and some kind of general policy in acceptance is there, am I wrong?</p>
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<p>On what grounds? There’s no legal right to be admitted primarily by MCAT score.</p>
<p>My daughter worked in the fields on an organic farm one summer late in college. At the time she took the job I was skeptical but it did tie in to her interest in public health. After the fact she could speak about the organic farming industry with some hands on understanding. Interviewers were actively interested. </p>
<p>I have only watched a few students go through the med school application process but from my limited observation it seems like as long as the sciences are covered almost anything else goes as long as it is done well and with enthusiasm. I do get the impression that they like seeing something beyond being a lab rat.</p>
<p>Miami, scores and grades aren’t everything. That’s not just my view, that’s the truth.</p>
<p>"There’s no legal right to be admitted primarily by MCAT score. " - I am sorry, I did not mean to say that it is based only on mcat score. All pre-meds are so busy with everything that they are doing and maintaining very high GPAs. D and her friends have very little time to sleep and they absolutely love and see very deep meanning in what they are doing volunteering / minors / reserch / sorority board …whatever. I ment that other staff ECs, GPAs is similar, interesting, good recs and so forth just like everybody else who applies to Med. School, then how they possibly can accept MCAT=29 over mcat=34? That was my question. I understand there are no legal terms about it. But would not it be some kind of formal complaint?</p>
<p>No, there is no way to or reason to complain. It would only look petty. This such as essays, interviews, and ECs are difficult for us to judge on the outside. Who knows what a given adcom member is looking for in an applicant?</p>
<p>There are also issus of race/gender as well.</p>
<p>Miami- I would think there is some sort of minimum MCAT at most med schools, anything above that number and the student is likely to succeed on subsequent standardized testing, other than that it is not all about numbers…like Harvard or Stanford turning down tons of 2400/4.0 HS seniors to pick up any one from a football player to a tuba player to an international student. It is not all about the numbers, it is also about an interesting class.</p>
<p>Of course, since my DD has a 29 I have a vested interest in asserting that she is good enough and more interesting than some one else who may have tested better but done less ;)</p>
<p>If the average applicant has a 27 and the average Med student has a 29/30 ( it may have increased, but last year that is what charts were showing) then a 29 is probably going to pass their exams and may have something different to add.</p>
<p>You have a ton of LD students who may do well in real life but not under the artificial constraint of MCAT testing, these would probably be the same kids who do well in labs, better than lectures even. The adcoms are going for an interesting class of people who are all good enough.</p>
<p>What about a 40/4.0 who applies at the last minute and gets in no where with no substantive ECs? Do they have a right to complain?</p>
<p>Would intramural sports count as a good Ec? I like to play sports for fun and to relax…If I continue intramural flag football, I could probably be my team’s captain by sophmore year…Would that count as a leadership position?</p>
<p>IDK if a specific intramural sport counts more than others. Maybe rugby if you apply to Columbia. Play what you like to play for the reasons you have cited. It will count as whatever you want it to count as so long as you can justify your claims that it is somehow beneficial to you as an applicant/doctor/student.</p>
<p>"What about a 40/4.0 who applies at the last minute and gets in no where with no substantive ECs? " - I cannot imagine that person that shows such a superior intelligence would not realized / researched about other reguirements like meanningful ECs. In addition, this person is surronded with other students who are very involved not only because of reguirements but also because of the nature of all pre-med students. I cannot believe that this type of pre-med student has ever existed.</p>
<p>You’d be surprised MiamiDAP.</p>
<p>I’ve known plenty of people with excellent grades who say they are pre-med but know almost nothing about how the process works.</p>
<p>You can read many re-applicant story on SDN of students who believed the stated deadlines were in fact workable deadlines</p>
<p>Miami- Just go to MDapplicants.com. There are several students with the stats that you have mentioned that blamed their failure on applying last minute or having no ECs.</p>
<p>I wonder if applicants with 40/4.0 + ECs in last two years of their degree may not be considered favorably. Schools likely expect a commitment to ECs throughout their degree, right?</p>
<p>4 > 2, but I don’t think it would be a major hit as long as the 2 were substantive.</p>