Vandy median GPAs - really 3.88 and 3.87?

[mrmatt]

The most recent MSAR shows Vandy's entering class having a 3.87 median science GPA and 3.88 median overall. Vandy's own website says the c/o 2010 entered with a 3.80 average overall GPA. Am I missing something here? I know that median isn't exactly the mean, but I wondered if the MSAR was off?

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[NZT48]

The most recent MSAR shows Vandy's entering class having a 3.87 median science GPA and 3.88 median overall. Vandy's own website says the c/o 2010 entered with a 3.80 average overall GPA. Am I missing something here? I know that median isn't exactly the mean, but I wondered if the MSAR was off?

vandy is a great, top 15 school. why would this suprise you?

 

[anfleisch]

mean of 3.8 and median of 3.88 makes sense. The highest you can have is a 4.0, but you can have matriculants with gpas likely as low as 3.3ish. Half the applicants have above a 3.88, but can only be higher by a max of 0.12. But the half that are below the median can be as much as 0.5 or 0.6 lower. So there should be a slight left skew, which would account for the mean being lower than the median. Actually, I am surprised the mean wouldn't be more skewed than that.

 

[mdeast]

MSAR reports the median of "accepted" students. Not enrolled.

 

[DoctwoB]

MSAR reports the median of "accepted" students. Not enrolled.

ditto with MCAT. With the exception of a few schools with ridiculous yields (Harvard, Hopkins, UCSF), Accepted stats will be significantly higher than matriculating.

 

[mrmatt]

vandy is a great, top 15 school. why would this suprise you?

The difference between the mean and median just seemed quite extreme to me, but I guess it really isn't. It's just bad news since I'm 3.81 overall. Not a dealbreaker but definitely disheartening.

 

[mdeast]

I had a 3.7 in college and go to a "Top 5" school. Once you reach a threshold, medical schools in the upper tiers tend to judge more on your accomplishments than your grades.

 

[mdtothepowerof2]

I had a 3.7 in college and go to a "Top 5" school. Once you reach a threshold, medical schools in the upper tiers tend to judge more on your accomplishments than your grades.

So I still have a chance...

 

[mastermix]

This is unlikely to be well-received, but my impression is that, within top 20 schools, there are some who look for people who have high GPAs and high MCATs who send their applications early and follow rules, whereas there are others that want students who demonstrate individuality, excel in research, show musical or other artistic interests. Any school needs a mix of both, but my impression is that some schools just seem to prefer a balance shifted more toward one of these archetypes. I would put Vandy in the first category along with Michigan, Wash U, and Pitt; and places like Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Cornell in the second. I am leaving some places out, but maybe that just means they are more toward the center of the balance. This is obviously a simplification, but this is my impression from having gone through this cycle the past year.

 

[ButImLETired]

This is unlikely to be well-received, but my impression is that, within top 20 schools, there are some who look for people who have high GPAs and high MCATs who send their applications early and follow rules, whereas there are others that want students who demonstrate individuality, excel in research, show musical or other artistic interests. Any school needs a mix of both, but my impression is that some schools just seem to prefer a balance shifted more toward one of these archetypes. I would put Vandy in the first category along with Michigan, Wash U, and Pitt; and places like Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Cornell in the second. I am leaving some places out, but maybe that just means they are more toward the center of the balance. This is obviously a simplification, but this is my impression from having gone through this cycle the past year.

Funny, not my experience at all with a lot of the school you mentioned. I think everyone has an impression of what schools "look for", and most are wrong.

To add another factor: many schools have some students on their admissions committees- they sit through meetings, argue for students, etc. And at many schools, the "feel" of a class changes every year- one class might be really mellow but a little rowdy, another might be really neurotic, another might be really on top of things, etc. We spend a lot of time together, so a class' "personality" can really affect everyone in it. If you put these two things together, you'll realize that every year, the students on admissions committees are very different kinds of people used to a specific kind of class, and most likely to pick people just like themselves. So you might get kind of an alternating pattern- one year, the more studious and intense class picks more studious and intense people. The next year, the mellow class picks mellow people. The year after that, you're back to intense- etc. So even when you think you know what the school was looking for your year, there's no reason to think they'll be looking for that the year after.

 

[mrmatt]

I had a 3.7 in college and go to a "Top 5" school. Once you reach a threshold, medical schools in the upper tiers tend to judge more on your accomplishments than your grades.

That's refreshing - my extra-curriculars are great and I have good shadowing and clinical volunteer experience!

 

[ruiner]

The difference between the mean and median just seemed quite extreme to me, but I guess it really isn't. It's just bad news since I'm 3.81 overall. Not a dealbreaker but definitely disheartening.

omg