<p>Hillary, let’s look at your claim in the context of Duke and the national average again.
National average GPA: 3.73
National average science GPA: 3.68
National average MCAT: 30.7
National accepted: 44.8%</p>
<p>Duke average GPA: 3.55
Duke average science GPA: 3.38
Duke average MCAT: 33.7
Duke accepted: 70.8%</p>
<p>I noted that Duke’s GPAs are lower, and you claimed that the higher average MCAT score balanced this out.</p>
<ol>
<li>Really? Despite Duke applicants having lower GPAs, a 3 point higher MCAT explains an admit rate 26% higher?</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, you could claim that the lower end of Duke’s MCAT score range is higher than that of the national average, but that raises an obvious question: is this due to student intelligence, the preparation provided by the school, or some mixture of both?</p>
<ol>
<li>Less than half of the national average are admitted to medical school. In other words, an applicant with the average 3.73 GPA and 30.7 MCAT would most likely be rejected.</li>
</ol>
<p>At Duke, on the other hand, virtually all of the applicants with the average 3.55 GPA and 33.7 MCAT would be admitted – as well as 40% of the applicants below this average.</p>