<p>Or they may simply be going to schools where LizzyM doesn’t work (no one knows where she does but since UC is included as having grade deflation, I wonder if it is UC).</p>
<p>[Preparing</a> for Medical School - Caltech Caltech Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://admissions.caltech.edu/learning/premed]Preparing”>http://admissions.caltech.edu/learning/premed)</p>
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<p>Texas,</p>
<p>the way I got the 190 estimation (which I then realized was obviously incorrect) was that I calculated the Z score for a score of 44 using the reported mean and standard deviation and then used that other link to get a probability of being at or above that Z score. I then multiplied that by the total number of test takers listed and you get 190. I am assuming that 0.0 does not mean “truly zero” but only means “less than 0.1.” That’s where I got the 95 number. </p>
<p>As I write this today, I realize that 0.0 probably means less than 0.005 (because 0.005 and up would probably get rounded up to 0.1) and so in fact the number of 43-45 scorers is probably more like below 47 people out of 95,000 nationwide.</p>
<p>Assuming 0.05% or less makes sense for scores between 43-45 and a max of 47 if there are any. </p>
<p>I wish AAMC gives a second/third decimal when they are dealing with 95,000 applicants to get a better picture or they could just provide the numerical values which should not be hard at all.</p>
<p>texaspg, Although the list of med schools in post #21 looks impressive, I actually think any of HYPSM may have the similar result if not better, especially when it is for the years 2002-2011.</p>
<p>Although Caltech is a science oriented school, it has a high representation of ORMs. It is quite natural that many of their students may choose medicine as a career path. (Jeremy Lin is much rarer than those who are aspired to be a doctor though. Many really applaud his parents for “letting” him do what he likes, i.e., playing basketballs even though his parent is “just an engineer” and an immigrant, I think.)</p>
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<p>According to LizzyM they do care about the rigor of major. I will quote LizzyM from SDN as she wrote:</p>
<p>“Adcom really do make a distinction between majoring in engineering and majoring in some humanities or social science hybrid like “peace studies” or a vocational major like dietetics. One is considered much more difficult than the other so a 4.0 in engineering is considered a superhuman feat whereas a 4.0 in an “easier” major is not considered to be as strong. Double majors and minors never seem to impress the committee members I work with.”</p>
<p>“HYPSM may have the similar result if not better”</p>
<p>Possible but the whole point of the conversation is that deflation of GPA does not seem to detract Caltech students from being admitted at top schools. People seem to think P is the only school that falls in to the same category of grade deflation in HYPSM. </p>
<p>"According to LizzyM they do care about the rigor of major. "</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, LizzyM score is what gives rise to the notion of GPA+MCAT score governing admissions to a large extent. </p>
<p>The way I read that statement is to say if someone has 3.9 in engineering and someone else has 4.0 in dietetics from the same school, the engineering person will get the nod if they only have one seat to give. OTOH, I also think LizzM’s school is a top private which seems to consider factors such as grade deflation and so LizzyM score may not be the gospel at her own school.</p>
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This is a very “unlikely to be false” claim if she referred to these two majors.
Even many CCers who are “amateurs” about this topic are fully aware of this. What is not sure for most CCers is whether those majors which “look academic enough” but not as intense as, say, engineering may look slightly “worse” in the eyes of adcoms.</p>
<p>Somehow I tend to believe that the important thing is that you need to be among the top X percents among those who are somewhat like you (the majors, the kind of schools, or even the geometric region, and so on.) This is why students from the grade deflated top schools like Caltech still do quite well. adcoms will never evaluate their numbers in the same way as someone from a Podunk university. (Again, what is unclear to many CCers is that whether the GPA numbers are viewed differently if you school is ranked 15 or 50 in the US N&R ranked list of colleges. I think a more influential factor is whether your school has a good track record of sending their graduates to a certain med school.)</p>
<p>In DS’s class, HMS took a student who graduated from a X studies major but he was outright rejected by YSM. Go figure! (It seems though HMS appears to like students who are enthusiastic about social issues and who may move and shake in this area, in my limited observation of 2 cases only.)</p>
<p>Somehow I suspect that many med schools value the MCAT score slightly more than GPA.
It is more like, say, 9.5 * GPA + MCAT - 1. (I still can not remember this: Do we have the “minus 1” here?)</p>
<p>It depends; like everything else, it’s looked over and taken into moderate consideration.</p>
<p>I suspect that they valued advanced degrees even more.<br>
BTW, just occurred to me, since D. had 3 A- in her Minors, that lowred her GPA to 3.98, she had a perfect 4.0 in her major. I suspect there are many pre-meds who have a pefect 4.0, but very few with the 40 MCAT. D’s MCAT did not reflect her GPA. However, her Step 1 score was more in line with her grades in general. The reason is there is no Verbal section in Step 1 (finally!!!), which has been always her lowest.</p>
<p>Med schools don’t really look close enough to see how intense the courses and course load you took were. Some slack is given to engineers, etc, but not very much. When applying, assume this is irrelevant to admissions, and keep your course load to a level where you can get a high GPA.</p>
<p>In general, course difficulty is not considered. Honors or super honors O-chem vs. regular O-chem, no difference.</p>
<p>But a student with a history of purposeful consistent research with strong math/science background may be at an advantage at schools that favor research. Some schools even split their admissions, like HMS, into HST (health sciences, required linear algebra and multivariate calculus, and calculus based physics) and new pathway (basic calc and intro physics). And MSTP combined MD/PhD programs certainly favor strong research backgrounds. So take a look at the schools that are interesting to you before deciding on research and coursework level.</p>