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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Why wouldn't someone who has a 4.0 GPA in pre-med and 41Q in the MCAT be accepted to med school?

I'm still a freshman in college and I'm taking med prereq classes and doing good, but what really scared me is that I was talking to someone who has just graduated from college and applied to several med schools but got rejected from them all, he sais that he had a 4.0 GPA and 42Q in the MCATs, why do you think he didn't get accepted?
Answer:
Most medical schools are looking for a well-rounded applicant. If you spend all your time in your dorm room studying, your bedside manner will likely suffer. An interview will help determine this, but it isn't everything. In an interview, you are more or less prepared for what is going to happen, and the interviewer is controlling the situation. In a hospital, things are a little different: the situation is often unexpected and you are trying to control it. Success in things like research (critical thinking), student leadership (confidence, willingness to accept responsibility), volunteerism (compassion), even social organizations (comfort around others) play a role in the evaluation of candidates.GPA and MCAT scores are usually used to set a cutoff for reading your file. All of the other stuff then plays in to whether you get interviewed. The interview is the final cut. I have seen some great "paper" candidates who went to the bottom of the list after an interview, either because they were very poor communicators or were too arrogant about their own qualifications.Bottom line, if you spend the next couple years making yourself a well-rounded applicant and practice your interview skills you will likely have your choice of Medical Schools.As a side note: some schools weight your GPA based on your school. Candidates from large, competitive public universities with very difficult "weeder" courses that are designed to fail as many people as possible will sometimes get a boos to their GPA, those from some of the prestigious private schools that will never give anything less than a C get deflated. Not everyone does this, but it happens.
He might have blew the interview, or he may have applied to schools that were out of his league.
wrong skin color
Did your friend join pre-med AMSA, have any experience with research, get published, volunteer in a hospital, have a good application essay and personal statement... the list goes on and on. Getting good grades and testing well is easier than putting yourself out during college and getting as much experience as you can. That defines a stand-out candidate. Don't worry. Most of my friends who have applied and been accepted to med school did not have 4.0 GPAs. They were published in peer reviewed journals (get in touch with a professor needing research assistants... that is an AWESOME way to get involved), in the Greek system, officers of science and pre-med organizations, and tireless volunteers. Your experience and the way you interview is more important that you'd think.
There are other reasons such a personality and outside activities. I was lucky to get in with a much lowerer GPA.
I didn't have a 4.0GPA when i was accepted. Maybe it was his interview or perhaps, all the other applicants that had interviews, were better. Or maybe, he lied to you about his GPA and MCAT score.I honestly believe that the only reason why I got in was because of my determination and ambition. If you don't have both, and MORE, then you are in the wrong field. If you don't know why he was accepted to school, and he is your friend, then maybe you ought to take a good look at what you are getting into, before you go in too deep.
There are a great many more applicants to med school than there is room for them, so admissions committees look beyond mere grade point averages and the MCAT. They look at things like community service, involvement in school activities - even records of deportment ( did your buddy ever get busted for spitting on the sidewalk?)
The trick is to apply not just to the schools of your choice, but those located off shore, such as the one on the Island of Grenada...those are often easier to get into, cheaper - and they provide JUST as good a medical education as a place like Cornell Med, Columbia, Harvard or Yale. In fact, if I were to consider going back to complete my medical degree, those off shore universities are the ONLY ones I'd consider - and yes, classes are in English!

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