<p>I ask this because although I have a pretty competitive GPA for D.O school and most M.D schools, I'm terrible at standardize testing. It even shacks me more to find out that you can't even use a calculator on the MCAT and there are 2 sections that require a lot of math, chemistry and physics. I was aloud to use A Calc for both classes so now I'm worried. However, I was told that those parts were more conceptual and less mathematical. Is that true?</p>
<p>Any math you need to do, you will be able to do with paper/pencil. It would be wise to be comfortable using scientific notation</p>
<p>MCAT scores are critical. Your MCAT score plus GPA/sGPA is the first round of screening that med schools use on applicants. (And that screening is done by a computer program so it’s strictly formulaic.)</p>
<p>Calculator use is prohibited for the MCAT. You will be allowed scratch paper and pencil, though. (Distributed by the testing center and collected afterwards.) Plenty of mental math but none of it involves high level computation.</p>
<p>It’s done by a computer? So what the computer has a minimum GPA/MCAT score programed into it and it throws you out if you are below it?</p>
<p>^ I dont’ know if its done by computer, but some schools definitely have cutoffs for GPA and MCAT and if you don’t meet one or both of those cutoffs, they won’t even look at your application.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s really ethical to just put your grades and MCAT scores into a machine and let it pick the students. There are a lot of things to consider like the school the student went to, the major, the academic schedule etc.</p>
<p>Ethical? If you’re below a certain GPA/MCAT, you’re almost certain not to succeed. It has nothing to do with ethics, where you studied, or what your major was. The cutoff isn’t going to be so high that it cuts off viable candidates, but rather at a point where it saves the adcoms time when it’s clear the students being removed from consideration will not be able to succeed in the program. Then, they go through and pick out the students based on the intangibles that you mentioned.</p>
<p>Being “bad” at standardized tests won’t just hurt you applying to med schools. If you get in you’ll have to take several more throughout the years to continue schooling and to match into residencies.</p>
<p>The computer program is only the first round of screening used by med schools. There are simply too many applicants for any group of human beings to put eyes on every single application.</p>
<p>(And yes, computer screening is pretty much the norm. I know a guy [family friend] who writes/maintains the screening program for a med school. There’s a whole profssional society and annual national conference for individuals who do this.)</p>
<p>Each school will have its parameters and tweeks it includes in the first round screener and usually the minimum GPA/MCAT is pretty low bar.</p>
<p>The short answer to the question is that the mcat is approx. 50% of what is needed to score an interview. So, mighty important.</p>
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<p>Well when you consider that schools get thousands upon thousands of applications and have to whittle down that number to an entering class of anywhere from 40-300, they have to start somewhere. For many schools the best way to do that is to exclude all applications below certain stats. On the other hand, some schools do a “holistic” review of all applications. </p>
<p>And yeah, you’ll be taking standardized tests for the rest of your life in this profession. USMLE Steps 1-3, NBME shelf exams, in-service exams during residency, board certification exams, and then recertification exams every 10 years for the rest of your career. Its just the name of the game - but even people who are “bad at standardized exams” can usually at least pass all of these with enough preparation, so don’t worry too much about it.</p>
<p>It’s surprising to me that you would want adcoms to personally screen each applicant. Perhaps you’ve never screened tons of applications before. The largest volume I’ve personally been part of scanning was on the order of about 500. As a screener, I would much much MUCH rather save my energy for applications whose applicants are better than the bare minimum required for my program. Otherwise, it’s just a waste to go through an application only to find the kid doesn’t meet the academic requirements. From the applicant side, I certainly hope the people reading my application have the ability to give it a thorough review (provided I meet the minimum criteria) rather than just a passing glance.</p>
<p>Does anyone know or can guess what these cutoffs may be for GPA and mcat or what range they probably fall in?</p>
<p>Typically, it’s listed somewhere on the school’s website. They’ll usually list the minimum stats, and then the (usually higher) average stats of successful applicants. It’s different for each school, but pretty similar overall.</p>
<p>Actually, I don’t know of any school that publicizes their cutoffs.
But you’ll be able to tell if you’re below the cutoff because you’ll immediately receive a rejection or, if the school is particularly money-grubbing, right after sending in your secondary (and check for around $100). ;)</p>
<p>Well I guess I’m really asking, are the cutoffs generally set to deny the kids who really have no chance of succeeding academically at the school but higher stats can still make a difference after getting passed that first round or are they high enough such that stats wont matter much after that first round and then only the PS, recs, interview, etc will decide your fate?</p>
<p>@Icarus: Oops, I did make a bit of an assumption there. It’s usually best to stay above that minimum, though, as accepted applicants’ average scores are almost always significantly higher, if they’re listed. And @cortana431, the first pass is just to eliminate those with little chance of succeeding in the program, but higher stats will always give you a bit of a boost in the application process. No point in doing anything less than your best, after all!</p>
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<p>No - they’re set arbitrarily because the school needs to narrow its applicant pool and knows it can fill its class either way. Your stats (assuming they aren’t ridiculously low) don’t have much correlation with your ability to complete the medical school curriculum.</p>
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<p>USNews reports the inter-quartiles of those attending the med school. AMCAS reports the inter-quartiles of those accepted. If you are in the lowest quartile of the latter, you had better bring a big hook.</p>
<p>Using the MCAT and/or GPA as a filter is just what they have to do in order to reduce the size of the stack. As Icarus said, some school using a more numbers based filter, probably setting their minimums higher than other schools.</p>
<p>All you can do it prepare, do your best and then research your options once you see your score & GPA. Hopefully you have a state school option.</p>
<p>I can tell you that my DD had neither the recommended MCAT (29) nor an amazing GPA (I think it was 3.59 or 3.6+ so, fine, but not enough to offset the MCAT as one would with a 3.9) and still got around 10 interview invites. Work diligently to keep your GPA high and, if you are not a strong test taker, do all the right things to get your score as high as possible, but know that you will get in based on the rest of the application, you just need to get the interviews by selecting your schools intelligently.</p>