Understanding Medical School Admissions Statistics
As you are researching medical schools, you should consult each school’s medical school admissions statistics. You need to understand where it will be worth your time to apply and where it will be a waste of your time and money. Good medical schools for you are medical schools that have average MCAT and GPA around your own. Remember, however, that medical school statistics are only part of what will help you know how to get into medical school.
Click here to understand what it takes to be accepted to medical school
As we start going through some of the medical school admission statistics, you will see that a lot of the numbers look
the same for the best medical schools in America. You
can take a look at the top ten medical schools to the top 100 medical schools here. You will notice that the average MCAT and GPA are pretty similar most of the way down the line. Choosing a top medical school in the US for you will include a careful consideration of these factors, but there are many more factors in choosing your best medical school. Click here to understand what to look for to choose your personal best medical school.
Who is Getting Accepted to Medical School?
One factor to consider among the many medical school admissions statistics is what type of people are getting into your best medical school. Along with MCAT and GPA, you should think about whether people are getting into your school as residents of that state or as non-residents of that state. Although basically completely unimportant, you can also look at male/female matriculants and matriculants by race. Matriculant means
someone that got accepted to the medical school and went to that medical school. The AAMC is the source to turn to for your medical school admissions statistics.
Average MCAT and GPA
As stated previously, one of the few medical school admissions statistics that you should spend time figuring out is each school’s average MCAT and GPA. If you are far below the school’s average, it’s probably going to be a waste of time and money to apply to that school. How low is too low? As a rule of thumb, if your MCAT is more than 4 points under the average and your GPA more than .4 less than the average, it’s probably time to look somewhere else. You will probably not make it out of the computer screening that takes out applicants.
There is, however, an acception to this rule. If you mark yourself as a disadvantaged student, your application will be reviewed by someone on the medical school admissions committee. Be careful, though. If you are not really disadvantaged but mark yourself as such, you have basically told the admissions committee that you are not honest and that you are not someone the school would like to have as one of their students.
For the average MCAT and GPA for the 100 best medical schools in America, click here.
For general MCAT and GPA data for applicants and matriculants, click here.
If you go to this particular chart about medical school admissions statistics, you will notice that the average MCAT for applicants in 28.2, while the average for matriculants is 31.1. You will also notice that matriculants had an average GPA of 3.67 and science GPA of 3.61 while applicants had 3.53 and 3.43 respectively. These medical school admissions statistics should point out that while a good MCAT and GPA will help you get into
medical school, there is much more to it than that. The applicants to these good medical schools were really only a few points behind those who matriculated. The difference was probably in the personal statement, application and interviews. Click here to understand the full process of medical school admissions.
Race and Ethnicity
This particular medical school admission statistic is almost useless. The only exception to this would be schools that really take an interest in particular groups, like traditionally African American schools. Other than that, schools are actually not allowed to base their admissions decisions on race or ethnicity. So, as you study this medical school admission statistic, just remember that it’s mainly just for your interest. Any good medical school will be looking for “diversity” in their class, but there will always be plenty of applicants from many different races/cultures/ethnicities so that the school will not preferentially choose someone based on their race.
The Questions You Should be Asking
While studying medical school statistics is interesting, you’ll be better served spending your time making your application stronger. The main questions you want to ask in studying these medical school admissions statistics are:
-
Am I a competitive applicant based on my MCAT and GPA?
-
Is this program in my state? (For more discussion on this and why being an in-state resident usually helps, click here)
-
Do graduates from this school do the thing I want to do? (If you want to do surgery, does the school have a good number of graduates who go into surgery?)
For a more complete list of factors to consider in making a list of good medical schools and choosing your best medical school, click here.
Getting Professional Help
Choosing the right medical schools for you based on medical school admissions statistics can be difficult. You might be asking: How many schools should I apply to? Which medical schools should I apply to? How do I know which schools are good medical schools? For these questions and more,
The company I recommend is MedSchoolCoach.
This is a team of former medical school admissions committee members who are dedicated to helping you succeed as ana pllicant. They understand what medical schools are looking for and how to make you the best applicant possible. They offer many services, but I would recommend one of their complete packages. The MedSchoolCoach Gold Package has an amazing success rate, placing 100% of students in an MD or DO school and 85% of their students in an MD school. It doesn’t get better than that! Use the coupon code “Mike” for a 15% discount on any product. Some of these packages are expensive, but if you think of it as an investment, it’s definitley worth it. If for
whatever you put in you get 30+ years of $150,000 to $500,000 of income, this is an investment with a huge return!
Click
here to Return from Medical School Admissions Statistics to Best Medical Schools