How can this be?

I have a friend that completed his undergraduate degree in May of 2016 from the University of Texas in Austin with a 4.0 GPA in Biology/Pre Med.

His goal is to go to Med School and become a Physician. He studied and took the MCATs but was not satisfied with his score so he decided to take a GAP year. He got a job in San Diego working at a research lab and studied and took the MCATs again. He scored a 510 (84th percentile). He applied to between 20 and 30 medical schools across the country and across the spectrum of prestige.

His results? Zero for everything. No interviews, no waitlists, all declines.

How can that be? Is his MCAT score that low?

@jpc763

  1. Most medical schools average multiple MCAT scores, so his “actual” MCAT is lower than the 510 you cite. Did the applicant apply to where his averaged MCAT score was within the 25-75 percentiles of accepted students as reported in MSAR? Did he apply to both MD and DO programs?

  2. Medical school admissions is more than just numbers. The only thing a decent MCAT and GPA will do is keep an applicant from getting auto-rejected. ECs are just as important to a successful application as is having good stats.

  3. California is probably the single most competitive state in which to gain an admission to med school. Applicants who are residents of California are disadvantaged by the sheer quantity and high quality of their fellow California pre-meds.

  4. You haven’t said anything about this person’s "soft factors’–like his ECs, the quality of his LORs, his PS and secondary essays, or whether he has any red flags in his application packet–like any academic integrity issues or arrests.

Med school admission is nuanced. Academics are just one part of a much larger picture.

BTW, the median MCAT of an accepted allopathic med school applicants last year was 511.

@WayOutWestMom - Thanks for the reply. He is from CA so that is probably part of the issue. I do not know what his previous MCAT was but he did tell me what schools he applied to. Some were reach, but he felt that the bulk were matches. I am not sure if there is a concept of a safety for medical school!

UCSD
UCLA
USC
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UT Southwestern
UT Houston
Baylor
Wisconsin
Virginia
Georgetown
Wake Forest
Emory
Tufts
Dartmouth
Boston University
Loyola Chicago
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington University
Brown
UNC
Vanderbilt
Saint Louis University

For EC’s, I am not sure really. I know that he is working in a research lab for another year now. He did some volunteer work at UT.

Its just baffling that it is that hard to find a school.

@jpc763

His averaged MCAT is probably too low for UCLA, UCSD, USC, Virginia, Emory, Tufts, Vanderbilt, Baylor, UTSW.

UCD and UCI have missions to provide physicians for the state of California. Other than living in CA, has he done any medical or non-medical volunteering in CA to demonstrate his service/commitment to the state?

Texas medical schools are required to law to preferentially admit TX residents. Schools are ~93-95% instate. (Except Baylor which is a public-private hybrid and is “only”~75% instate.) Since he is no longer a TX resident, he doesn’t get the in-state preference.

UNC has a strong in-state preference. OOS applicants need to be substantially above median of in-state applicants to get any consideration. Ditto for Wisconsin.

Wake has a very strong regional preference in admissions. Want demonstration of affiliation to the SE US.

BU, GW, Jefferson and Georgetown are all “low yield” schools with over 15000 application for ~150-175 seats each year. Their admit rates are under 5%.

Brown admits half its incoming class thru its BA/MD program so there are only about 40-45 seats for all other applicants available. Low yield.

Loyola, St Louis are both Catholic and hold a high expectation for demonstrated community service in applicants. IIRC, Loyola used to have a published minimum number of required community service hours–like around 400?


Medical school is a buyer's market. There are over 66,000 applicants for 19,000 seat each year.

ECs are critical. Med school are selecting those who they think will make excellent future physicians. Good MCAT and GPA **only** prevents one for getting auto-rejected. Without having sufficient clinical exposure, physician shadowing and community service--any applicant will get auto-rejected. 

Here's what medical schools are looking for in applicants: (posted by an admission officer)

[quote]
We look for a person who is personable and at ease and perhaps even friendly, upbeat and who has some enthusiasm/passion for something they're asked about. We look for someone who can interpret social cues and respond accordingly.
We look for applicants who can communicate clearly in English and who have the ability to describe complex ideas and systems in a way that could be easily understood by a lay person.
We look for applicants who can demonstrate a familiarity with health care settings and the role of the physician and who are realistic about the practice of medicine in the 21st century. 
We look for applicants who are curious and who have demonstrated this interest in learning more about the world through research and who can describe this research in ways that demonstrate their passion for investigation. (very research oriented school)
We look for applicants who care about people in need and who have demonstrated this by their community service and who can talk about it in a way that demonstrates that they care about people and not just as a box-check.
We look for applicants who are resilient and who can demonstrate an ability to bounce back from disappointment or failure.
We look for applicants who are self-reflective and who are able to identify their own areas of improvement.
We look for applicants who are team players and who work well with others and are respectful of others.


[/quote]

@WayOutWestMom - Thank you, great info. I will chat with him to see if he knows all of this. I do not know what his EC resume looks like.

The closest thing to a “safety” medical school is in the Caribbean.

@jpc763

Additionally, the applicant needs to be a “match” for the mission of the school.

Some medical schools want to train future academic leaders/academic physicians-teachers; some want to develop scientist-research physicians; still others have a mission to provide physicians to meet the need of a specific population (particular state or region, particular ethnic group or demographic).

The applicant needs to demonstrate through his ECs that he fits the mission criteria for the schools he has applied to.

A research heavy CV will make the applicant a poor fit at a service-oriented med school; an applicant with little or no research will be a poor fit at WashU or Johns Hopkins.

From what I saw, nothing in his list of schools are “low ranked” safety for him, even with 4.0 GPA. For the next cycle, he should include schools like Oakland, U of Wis, Drexel, Temple, Albany and Toledo etc. And for the bottom of the barrel, PCOM and AZCOM. He should get out and do more clinical related activities and stop all those research oriented projects unless he is going to concentrated to apply for MD/Phd programs.

Which is obviously not a good strategy as their admissions are more competitive than MD only.

Probably need to apply to some DOs as the real safety choices.

and for the record, of people with a gpa of 3.8+ and MCAT 506-509 (which is a better representation of you than the 510-513 group) more than 1/3 (35%) didn’t get into a single medical school they applied to. Even if I bump you up to the 510-513 group, 1/4 didn’t get in anywhere. (https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf)

Is his 4.0 cum for all classes? Or just bio/premed?

When did he submit his AMCAS application? What date?

Was he considered a Calif resident? Or is he still a Texas resident? He was naive to give up his Tx residency if that’s what he did.

Calif med schools are very hard to get in. They’re all essentially reaches.

He had a bad app list. OOS publics, high reaches, etc. Few mid-low-level midwest privates.

The link for accepted stats is helpful, but it doesn’t take into account those who apply late, have a crazy app list, are Calif residents, etc.

A person can help their chances by applying early, having a sensible app list, and being from a “lucky state”.