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<p>Perhaps harder to game, but still quite game-able. Arguably the easiest way to ‘game’ the system is to simply avoid going to certain schools that are known for being quite difficult, i.e. MIT or Caltech in favor of other schools that are quite infamous for grade inflation, i.e. Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. {Note, while it’s still difficult to get an A at those schools, it’s practically impossible to get a truly terrible grade as long as you put in a bare minimum of effort, whereas at schools like MIT or Caltech, you can work extremely hard and still get a terrible grade.} </p>
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<p>But then that’s just a reason to support my idea, which is to de-emphasize grades in favor of the MCAT. After all, if you’re going to use the MCAT as a reliability check because you know that grades are a distorted signal, then why even bother looking at grades at all? </p>
<p>Let me put it to you another way. Consider a guy who took extremely difficult courses at an extremely difficult school, i.e. EECS at MIT. His GPA is rather poor because of the sheer difficulty of his coursework. But he knows a lot and consequently does well on the MCAT. That guy is going to encounter problems in the admissions process because his GPA will be clearly lower than the other applicants who completed easier majors at easier schools (yet gotten the same MCAT score). Maybe he’ll get in anyway purely on the strength of his MCAT, but clearly his road is much more difficult. </p>
<p>But why should it be that way? Why should he have a harder road? After all, if the other applicants had taken his coursework, they probably would have ended up with mediocre grades too. But they didn’t, so they can present higher grades to the adcoms. </p>
<p>2 possibilities then exist. #1, like I said, the guy encounters more difficulty in getting into med-school because of his “subpar” GPA. But that speaks to the problem I stated before about the unfairness and distortion of grades. Or, #2, the adcoms, via his equivalent MCAT score, realize that this guy is just as qualified as the other applicants. But if that is the case, then why even bother using grades at all? Why not just rely on the MCAT? Either way, the system is suboptimal. </p>
<p>The point is, to rely on grades is equivalent to rewarding cowardice. People get punished for going to difficult schools. Or by taking the ‘difficult’ BCPM track rather than the ‘easier’ BCPM track. For example, at my school, there were several sections of basic calculus, one of them being taught by an extremely difficult prof, and the ‘savvy’ premeds avoided that prof like the plague. Heck, I remember some premeds who decided not to take calculus during a particular semester at all, instead waiting for the following semester, all in an effort to avoid the difficult prof. </p>
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<p>Which is why I don’t think that LOR’s should be relied upon strongly either. </p>
<p>Yet the greatest source of unfairness is clearly the different grading schemes used by different schools (and even different profs within the same schools). The MCAT may not be perfect, but at least it’s fair, and hence provides no incentives for searching for easy courses.</p>