Anyone know anyone who has gotten into medical school (either MD or DO) with a 499?

[Zobo135]

Anyone know anyone who has gotten into medical school (either MD or DO) with a 499? If so, what was their ECs, GPA, which medical school was it, ... etc? Thank you!

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[subdermallight]

I know a 498 that got into DO. She managed a free clinic for a few years. Don’t know her GPA.

 

[yns123]

Look through the PreMed Forum, such as what are my chances. There are even threads dedicated to people with low LizzyM scores have posted their acceptances. MSAR also gives you a percentile range of where most matriculating students are in terms of GPA and MCAT

 

[dsailer]

this should be moved to the premed forum @Matthew9Thirtyfive

 

[SpinDrift]

I got a 497 and was accepted to my MD state school and three other medical schools. SDN tends to weigh the importance of the mcat and GPA a little too heavy, its been my experience that these are just small parts of the greater whole. That being said, everything else on my app was pretty stellar.....the mcat was by far my weakest point.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

this should be moved to the premed forum @Matthew9Thirtyfive

Indeed.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I got a 497 and was accepted to my MD state school and three other medical schools. SDN tends to weigh the importance of the mcat and GPA a little too heavy, its been my experience that these are just small parts of the greater whole. That being said, everything else on my app was pretty stellar.....the mcat was by far my weakest point.

What were your ECs? I’ve seen people get into multiple schools with sub-500 mcats, but their ECs were all incredible.

 

[SpinDrift]

What were your ECs? I’ve seen people get into multiple schools with sub-500 mcats, but their ECs were all incredible.

I was in the army and was a federal agent for a bit.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I was in the army and was a federal agent for a bit.

What did you do in the Army? My colleagues who have gotten in with lower scores had clinical jobs in the Navy or another branch. I know a few people with sub-500 scores with years of military experience with zero acceptances right now.

Congrats on your success, btw.

 

[SpinDrift]

What did you do in the Army? My colleagues who have gotten in with lower scores had clinical jobs in the Navy or another branch. I know a few people with sub-500 scores with years of military experience with zero acceptances right now.

Congrats on your success, btw.

Infantry, sniper, purple heart, security for nukes, all around knuckle dragger. I'm pretty good at shooting, moving(well maybe not the moving part) and communicating.

Congrats to you as well.

 

[SpinDrift]

of the nearly 8,000 MD applicants with MCAT 497 or lower, 174 got accepted for an overall 2.2% rate
for the 11,552 with MCAT between 498 and 501 inclusive, 2377 or 20.6% got accepted

DO numbers are below in table

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

View attachment 256900

https://www.aacom.org/docs/default-...profile-summary-report.pdf?sfvrsn=4f072597_12
Left columns are applicants; Right side are matriculants
View attachment 256901

so you're saying I'm in the minority

 

[Goro]

Anyone know anyone who has gotten into medical school (either MD or DO) with a 499? If so, what was their ECs, GPA, which medical school was it, ... etc? Thank you!

The 10th %ile at a few MD schools is in the 499 range.

Don't hold your breath though for MD and most DO schools.

 

[deleted804295]

Instead of focusing on the few rare unicorns who got in with sub 500 we should focus on getting higher than 500 so we don't need magical applications.

 

[Isoval]

One of my close friends got into my school (upper DO) with a 499/3.7.

He was waitlisted and accepted about one week before orientation.

Had over a thousand research hours and into the hundreds for shadowing and volunteering. Was also a tutor for his undergrad school, among other things.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Infantry, sniper, purple heart, security for nukes, all around knuckle dragger. I'm pretty good at shooting, moving(well maybe not the moving part) and communicating.

Congrats to you as well.

Ah, yep. There you go. Not exactly your average 499 getting in lol.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Instead of focusing on the few rare unicorns who got in with sub 500 we should focus on getting higher than 500 so we don't need magical applications.

That was exactly my point with my question, and that was exactly what the answer was. If you want to get into medical school, make your application give you the best chance for success, which includes a good MCAT.

 

[SpinDrift]

Ah, yep. There you go. Not exactly your average 499 getting in lol.

With everything else being equal between two apps of course admissions would pick the higher mcat. What I'm saying is make up for the low mcat by doing something amazing. There are no rules to the game of life there is only winning and losing....think outside the box. I also run my own company and started a non-profit all while going to school married and with 4 kids

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

With everything else being equal between two apps of course admissions would pick the higher mcat. What I'm saying is make up for the low mcat by doing something amazing. There are no rules to the game of life there is only winning and losing....think outside the box. I also run my own company and started a non-profit all while going to school married and with 4 kids

Right, but you're missing the point. The vast majority of applicants are not going to be able to just "do something amazing" like join the Army as a sniper and get a purple heart. It is much more realistic to tell applicants to make sure they prepare all parts of their application well, which includes doing well on the MCAT. It is much easier to do well on the MCAT than to "do something amazing." As someone said upthread, applicants should focus on doing well, not being the unicorn applicant. It's a common system 1 error to assume that you'll be able to be one of those unicorn applicants despite the fact that very few people are.

And this is from someone who finished school as a husband and father to two while deploying, volunteering, publishing a dozen fiction pieces, and running a charity organization. But I also got a 519 on the MCAT, so I'm not sure which helped more.

 

[Ad2b]

of the nearly 8,000 MD applicants with MCAT 497 or lower, 174 got accepted for an overall 2.2% rate

https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf

View attachment 256900

834 were accepted with scores between 494 - 497; with GPAs ranging from 2.2 to > 3.79

The stat you quoted was for the range 490 - 493

 

[SpinDrift]

Mr. Fox I believe you're missing the point. A great mcat is awesome and we should all shoot for that (that's a flipping incredible score by the way) but the fact is that no matter what some us do we'll never be able to have a score like that. Instead of giving up on the goal of becoming a doctor based on one metric, a person should beef their app up in other doable ways. I for one do not think its easier to get a good score on the mcat rather than to do something amazing and that I find interesting.

What did you do in the Navy?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Mr. Fox I believe you're missing the point. A great mcat is awesome and we should all shoot for that (that's a flipping incredible score by the way) but the fact is that no matter what some us do we'll never be able to have a score like that. Instead of giving up on the goal of becoming a doctor based on one metric, a person should beef their app up in other doable ways. I for one do not think its easier to get a good score on the mcat rather than to do something amazing and that I find interesting.

What did you do in the Navy?

I actually don’t think that’s true. I did not take biochem or ochem2 before the MCAT and had an extremely short ochem1 course before I took it. I also never had any psych or soc courses. I just looked at the documents the aamc provided and what I could find online on what is high yield, and I made sure to study those topics as much as possible and do tons of questions to get a grasp of the testing style so that I could utilize test taking strategy to up my score.

I’m not some genius, and I really think anyone with the intelligence to get a B in prereqs can get at least a 505 on the MCAT if they prepare the right way. And that’s part of making your app the best it can be.

I do agree that if you have a deficiency that you should try your best to make up for it in another way, and that having a unique narrative or something “special” about you is a plus.

But a 499 is a lethal score for almost all MD schools, and telling people that some folks just can’t do better than that so they had better do something incredible like get a Purple Heart is counterproductive.

I was a gunner crosstrained into medical.

 

[SpinDrift]

I actually don’t think that’s true. I did not take biochem or ochem2 before the MCAT and had an extremely short ochem1 course before I took it. I also never had any psych or soc courses. I just looked at the documents the aamc provided and what I could find online on what is high yield, and I made sure to study those topics as much as possible and do tons of questions to get a grasp of the testing style so that I could utilize test taking strategy to up my score.

I’m not some genius, and I really think anyone with the intelligence to get a B in prereqs can get at least a 505 on the MCAT if they prepare the right way. And that’s part of making your app the best it can be.

I do agree that if you have a deficiency that you should try your best to make up for it in another way, and that having a unique narrative or something “special” about you is a plus.

But a 499 is a lethal score for almost all MD schools, and telling people that some folks just can’t do better than that so they had better do something incredible like get a Purple Heart is counterproductive.

I was a gunner crosstrained into medical.

Getting the purple heart was not incredible....it was actually pretty crappy. Just busting your ballz, I understand what you meant. We're both agreeing on the topic in a roundabout way.

In summary, do good on the mcat and have kickass EC's.

 

[deleted804295]

Mr. Fox I believe you're missing the point. A great mcat is awesome and we should all shoot for that (that's a flipping incredible score by the way) but the fact is that no matter what some us do we'll never be able to have a score like that. Instead of giving up on the goal of becoming a doctor based on one metric, a person should beef their app up in other doable ways. I for one do not think its easier to get a good score on the mcat rather than to do something amazing and that I find interesting.

What did you do in the Navy?

A >500 score is not hard to get. Idc how much of a slow thinker you are. If you're making it through med school pre-reqs a 510 score is not unattainable.

 

[SpinDrift]

A >500 score is not hard to get. Idc how much of a slow thinker you are. If you're making it through med school pre-reqs a 510 score is not unattainable.

I think 50% of the people who took the mcat would disagree with you Plus its a matter of resources-time and money being two of the major factors. I actually got a 506 on the last practice exam I took before my 2nd mcat attempt. I took the mcat twice and got a 497 both times. That was discouraging.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I think 50% of the people who took the mcat would disagree with you Plus its a matter of resources-time and money being two of the major factors. I actually got a 506 on the last practice exam I took before my 2nd mcat attempt. I took the mcat twice and got a 497 both times. That was discouraging.

I’m guessing you had test day issues then. That’s too much of a difference to be test variability.

 

[SpinDrift]

I’m guessing you had test day issues then. That’s too much of a difference to be test variability.

Yeah, I burned myself out the second time studying for the mcat and wasn't in the right mindset on test day. I was hardcore thinking about podiatry when I got my score back. (No offense to podiatry it seems like an great field)

 

[Weirdy]

Yeah, I burned myself out the second time studying for the mcat and wasn't in the right mindset on test day. I was hardcore thinking about podiatry when I got my score back. (No offense to podiatry it seems like an great field)

You'd be a shoe in for podiatry.
That being said, shoot for what you want.

You should have no problem getting MD/DO acceptance with a higher MCAT.

You can do it. This is a cake walk compared to what you've been through. We believe in you.

 

[SpinDrift]

You'd be a shoe in for podiatry.
That being said, shoot for what you want.

You should have no problem getting MD/DO acceptance with a higher MCAT.

You can do it. This is a cake walk compared to what you've been through. We believe in you.

Thanks! I actually was accepted to my state medical school. But I believe podiatry to be a great route as well.

 

[ak-aka-dak]

I calculated for EVERYONE 497 and below. I then noted the 498-501 range that is a standard range for AMCAS MCAT reporting

There were 1053 accepted students out of 19,098 applicants for all applicants scoring 497 and below. I think you originally looked at the wrong column.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

You'd be a shoe in for podiatry.

 

[jmu29]

I got a 497 and was accepted to my MD state school and three other medical schools. SDN tends to weigh the importance of the mcat and GPA a little too heavy, its been my experience that these are just small parts of the greater whole. That being said, everything else on my app was pretty stellar.....the mcat was by far my weakest point.

What schools if you dont mind me asking