Mcat Cutoffs

[helicase]

Agreed. But at least we have evidence that just as recently as the last application cycle students were accepted with lower than 2/4 with 128+, so I'm not sure where this cutoff comes from. The committee wouldn't reveal this information as we know so could someone clarify how this number was created? I think historically with the old MCAT successful applicants needed a balanced score of 30+ with pretty much all sections 10+, but this doesn't seem to hold anymore as people have been interviewed and accepted with a low section here and there. To me if I was speculating all I would say is that it seems that there might be a better chance for current applicants with a section such as 125/126 (even lower) than past applicants with a 9 in a section, but just speculating.

 

By the way, the Associate Dean of Medicine at Queen's runs a blog (http://meds.queensu.ca/blog/undergraduate/). I remember reading an article he posted last year talking about wanting even more diversity in their school, which I heard is something he really believes in from a current medical student. This might mean that Queen's has softened their internal academic cutoffs more recently to look at applicants all the more holistically. This could be a factor in explaining lower MCAT requirements.  

 

True, there seems to be a lot more leniency for the new MCAT. If you look at threads pre-2015 there are a lot less invites/acceptances with subsection scores sub-10. Whether this leniency is because it's a new MCAT or in an effort to be more holistic, we can only guess.  

[1994]

This might mean that Queen's has softened their internal academic cutoffs more recently to look at applicants all the more holistically. This could be a factor in explaining lower MCAT requirements.  

I don't think that is necessarily the case because the old MCAT cutoff (10/10/10 31/32+) seemed to hold last year. I think the leniency with respect to the new MCAT probably has to do with them trying to figure out how they want to use the scores much like Western has chosen to disregard Psych/Soc for the time being. Seeing as their GPA cutoff is already quite forgiving, I can't see them maintaining low cutoffs for the new MCAT otherwise they would have too large an applicant pool for full file review (relative to what they had in the past). Wouldn't be surprised if they at least raise the new MCAT composite cutoff to the equivalent of 32 on the old one.

[Rabu]

I don't think that is necessarily the case because the old MCAT cutoff (10/10/10 31/32+) seemed to hold last year.

 

Based on last year's thread, at least one person received an interview with 10/9/10. There might be more like this, but like helicase said we're only looking at a small proportion of invites from last year.

[1994]

Based on last year's thread, at least one person received an interview with 10/9/10. There might be more like this, but like helicase said we're only looking at a small proportion of invites from last year.

Judging by that person's previous posts they applied under the aboriginal stream which likely has different cutoffs or they are a troll (see their Western invites/rejects post).

[Rabu]

Judging by that person's previous posts they applied under the aboriginal stream which likely has different cutoffs or they are a troll (see their Western invites/rejects post).

 

Yeah, very possible they were trolling. I think there were some 9's in the 2014 thread though.

[ema2iur]

Maybe this is possibly true, especially as the old MCAT slowly expires and the applicant pool is sequentially composed of more and more new MCAT applicants (don't believe Queen's has stated that they'll abruptly stop considering the old MCAT going forward, so this will be a gradual process). However, I do think that with 4 sections on the new MCAT now rather than 3, if Queen's looks at all 4, which they haven't stated otherwise, then maybe they're willing to lower a cutoff below the old 10 = new 126/127 for ONE section. This is possibly why there were applicants in the accepted/rejected thread who interviewed last year with new MCAT scores in a section below 127, and others who even had lower scores than this who were mentioned in this thread anecdotally. If lower new MCAT cutoffs come down to the fact that Queen's was figuring out what to do with the new MCAT last year (maybe they didn't have AAMC score percentiles for the new MCAT at the time yet), then they're going to have to figure it out again this year with more information. If these cutoffs do rise to a roughly old 32 that is balanced (which could happen as the old MCAT slowly expires), then I guess it would have been lucky to apply last year with a lower new MCAT score and have gotten in possibly.

 

In regards to Western though, I think they might not currently consider the Psych/Soc section as they probably want to maintain their high verbal/CARS cutoff, so maybe they're willing to ignore Psych/Soc (or possibly have a lower cutoff in the future) to maintain the eligibility of applicants who have high CARS scores (but possibly lower Psych/Soc scores). Queen's has always had a lower verbal/CARS standard and are clearly more holistic in their file reviews, so they likely consider all 4 sections internally, which could support a trend where they want a balanced MCAT score but are willing to accept one section below 10 as there are now 4 rather than 3 sections. But again, going back to the 2/4 128+ I don't think there is any basis for that for now (at least not based on the evidence). I guess we'll see if there are any applicants below 127 in a section this coming May.    

 

 

I don't think that is necessarily the case because the old MCAT cutoff (10/10/10 31/32+) seemed to hold last year. I think the leniency with respect to the new MCAT probably has to do with them trying to figure out how they want to use the scores much like Western has chosen to disregard Psych/Soc for the time being. Seeing as their GPA cutoff is already quite forgiving, I can't see them maintaining low cutoffs for the new MCAT otherwise they would have too large an applicant pool for full file review (relative to what they had in the past). Wouldn't be surprised if they at least raise the new MCAT composite cutoff to the equivalent of 32 on the old one.

[m_jacob_45]

Maybe this is possibly true, especially as the old MCAT slowly expires and the applicant pool is sequentially composed of more and more new MCAT applicants (don't believe Queen's has stated that they'll abruptly stop considering the old MCAT going forward, so this will be a gradual process). However, I do think that with 4 sections on the new MCAT now rather than 3, if Queen's looks at all 4, which they haven't stated otherwise, then maybe they're willing to lower a cutoff below the old 10 = new 126/127 for ONE section. This is possibly why there were applicants in the accepted/rejected thread who interviewed last year with new MCAT scores in a section below 127, and others who even had lower scores than this who were mentioned in this thread anecdotally. If lower new MCAT cutoffs come down to the fact that Queen's was figuring out what to do with the new MCAT last year (maybe they didn't have AAMC score percentiles for the new MCAT at the time yet), then they're going to have to figure it out again this year with more information. If these cutoffs do rise to a roughly old 32 that is balanced (which could happen as the old MCAT slowly expires), then I guess it would have been lucky to apply last year with a lower new MCAT score and have gotten in possibly.

 

In regards to Western though, I think they might not currently consider the Psych/Soc section as they probably want to maintain their high verbal/CARS cutoff, so maybe they're willing to ignore Psych/Soc (or possibly have a lower cutoff in the future) to maintain the eligibility of applicants who have high CARS scores (but possibly lower Psych/Soc scores). Queen's has always had a lower verbal/CARS standard and are clearly more holistic in their file reviews, so they likely consider all 4 sections internally, which could support a trend where they want a balanced MCAT score but are willing to accept one section below 10 as there are now 4 rather than 3 sections. But again, going back to the 2/4 128+ I don't think there is any basis for that for now (at least not based on the evidence). I guess we'll see if there are any applicants below 127 in a section this coming May.    

 

Just to comment on what you wrote about Western, I can confirm that they are not considering psych/soc at all until the old mcat is completely phased out. Their reasoning is that its not fair to use that section when there is no comparable one on the old mcat. This was explained in an email they sent applicants last year.