Emory vs Vanderbilt for Pre-Med

bluedevilmike
Sun, 06 May 2007 01:33:20 +0000

The following is not based on any data whatsoever and the numbers stated are completely arbitrary. With that said, here’s how I feel.

A top-flight school – complete with advising, extracurriculars, research opportunities – should be able to protect any student with straight 9’s on the MCAT and no grades lower than a B. (In fact, that’s already being pretty strict on the GPA side of things. I certainly had a rather important C.)

That includes, you’ll notice, 3.0 27’s. It’s my opinion off the top of my head that schools should be able to get students like that into SOME allopathic program. The floors should drop even lower for osteopathic programs.

(To make clear once more, I am NOT saying that every 27, 3.0 should be able to get into medical school. For example, if you got a 27 with a 15-1-11, that’s a historically atrocious MCAT score. Or a 3.0 that’s composed of half A’s and half C’s is, again, atrocious. But a 3.0 that’s straight B’s, or a 27 that’s straight 9’s – premeds with the right resources should be able to get in SOMEWHERE if only they apply correctly.)

This is unrelated to the topic at hand – since no comparison data is provided, I am not picking on Emory – and for that I apologize. It might turn out that my standards are ridiculous and unrealistic and that, for all I know, not even Duke and Penn can achieve what I think they should. I must emphasize again that I am just making things up off the top of my head.

But that is nonetheless the way that I feel. If you made at least straight 9’s and at least straight B’s, I think it should be your school’s responsibility to see that you’re admitted someplace.

PS: Yes, Weasel, I was rerferring to the MCATs.