med student wrote:
I have known guys with a 39-40 mcat, and a 3.2 gpa and didnt get in to any schools the first year around.
They either:
a) applied to only top schools
or
b) are complete tools who never did anything outside a classroom and can't hold a conversation.
Another Med Student wrote:
med student wrote:I have known guys with a 39-40 mcat, and a 3.2 gpa and didnt get in to any schools the first year around.
They either:
a) applied to only top schools
or
b) are complete tools who never did anything outside a classroom and can't hold a conversation.
or c) applied rather late in the application cycle.
TROLL
If you actually got a 40 on the MCAT it would take a humongous effort on your part to have a GPA lower than 3.0.
Fractured logic wrote:
or c) applied rather late in the application cycle.
Must've been REALLY late in the cycle...most apps are due by Dec 1 or Jan 1. Most schools interview through March, and are still accepting people into April.
Classes won't be entirely filled until somewhere around mid-June.
except alot of schools are on rolling admissions. many school fill their interview slots by january so getting your app in late is detrimental.
and in case the guy stating option a and b didnt read what i wrote, i said there is ALOT that matters in an applicant. so basically i was showing that a 40 with even an alright gpa may not get in because of other issues. med school is alot more than a numbers game. you need the numbers, but like i said, it only gets you in the door. everything else matters after that.
med student wrote:
except alot of schools are on rolling admissions. many school fill their interview slots by january so getting your app in late is detrimental.
Exactly. If there is one piece of advice to give to aspiring medical school applicants, it is to APPLY EARLY. This is absolutely key. Even more important now that the MCAT is apparently offered a bazillion times a month.
and there is a reason they make the application process so difficult compared to other professional schools like law etc. they want to make sure who they accept can actually make it through without dropping/failing out. it does happen, but very rarely compared to other professional schools. you hear people say that getting in is the hardest part. while i dont necessarily agree with that statement, what it is referring to is that once you are in, you just have to pass. regardless of whether you were the "dumbest" med student in your class, you will have a job and get paid well. on the other end of the spectrum, you have law school, which is very easy to get into (not all schools, but if you want to go to law school, you can find one that will gladly take your money). But you need to finish near the top of your class if you want to be successful. Law school ends up beings a dogfight, with everyone selfishly trying to better their classmates. personally, that isn't an environment I want to be in. As physcians, you will spend the rest of your career collaborating with colleagues. I think med schools do a good job promoting and teaching that style of environment.
end of rant.
med student wrote:
except alot of schools are on rolling admissions. many school fill their interview slots by january so getting your app in late is detrimental.
and in case the guy stating option a and b didnt read what i wrote, i said there is ALOT that matters in an applicant. so basically i was showing that a 40 with even an alright gpa may not get in because of other issues. med school is alot more than a numbers game. you need the numbers, but like i said, it only gets you in the door. everything else matters after that.
the only reason that schools might "fill" their interview slots by january - application deadline for most places - is that they because they start interviewing in november. obviously, by january, you've missed out on 2+ months of interview slots.
but even if that's the case and they apply late, anyone with a 40 on their MCATs and over a 3.0 GPA is going to get interviews at nearly every school they applied to. A 40 is putting you in the top 0.5% of students taking the exam!!! Out of the nearly 70,000 students taking the exam, only 350 will score that high. No way that person is NOT going to get an interview unless:
a) they have a criminal record involving rape or murder
b) applied only to harvard, johns hopkins, and mayo (and even then i'd bet they interview at one of the places)
and if they get interviews and don't get accepted, then they probably can't hold a conversation.
The only reason for them
You oughta think about dental school instead. I dont mean that as derogatory towards the dental profession--seriously you will relieve as much or more sufferring as a physician does and dentistry is a much more lifestyle oriented profession.
when I say they filled their interview slots by january, i mean that they have already sent out invites for the rest of the cycle, usually through mid march. and most schools start regular interviews by the end of september. a january interview is considered late, and a febuary interview is really late. alot of time you are just interviewing for a waitlist spot at that point, or very few open slots. obviously there is quite a bit of movement on some waitlists so it may not mean much, but it means you have to wait until june or even july to see if you get in. moral of the story, and the one bit of advice i tell every applicat, is to get your amcas app in by the start of july. and don't blow off your personal statement.
and as i previously mentioned, i do know guys who only got a few interiews and no acceptances with a 40 and above 3.0. they also applied 'late' in the cycle.
med student wrote:
alot of time you are just interviewing for a waitlist spot at that point, or very few open slots. obviously there is quite a bit of movement on some waitlists so it may not mean much, but it means you have to wait until june or even july to see if you get in. moral of the story, and the one bit of advice i tell every applicat, is to get your amcas app in by the start of july.
Have you ever worked with an admissions office?
There are only a handful of schools in the country that have all their acceptance offers out before mid-April. Most take until May 1st. Waitlist acceptances usually begin around mid-May into June.
Yeah, applying early is good, but I'm calling BS on a guy with a 40/3.0+ - who only got a few interviews (unless they have some red flags) no matter how late they apply...unless they only applied to schools that are out of his league.
Either he's lying about his story or you are.
Another Med Student wrote:
the only reason that schools might "fill" their interview slots by january - application deadline for most places - is that they because they start interviewing in november.
Most schools start interviewing in September. Some even in August.