Bliss Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 Hey guys, I had a few questions about some things that I've heard from other applicants + current students. I just wanted to confirm: Is it true that they drop your lowest and highest station? I can't find this information anywhere officially... How much does 15% GPA +15% CARS post-interview score matter? Is there a huge deviation? (E.g. I have a 3.97 GPA with 125 CARS... is this similar to 3.7GPA with 130 CARS?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
011235813 Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 I've heard the highest and lowest station idea as well. I doubt we'll find it out officially unless we get accepted and join the adcom. I don't think this knowledge will really make a difference for us now, so I wouldn't worry about it. About the GPA/CARS combination, a friend of mine got accepted last cycle with almost identical stats to yours (3.98/125), so it's clearly possible. Keep your chin up, and try not to stress over the six week wait! (I know this is a hard thing to do, personally!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_easy Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 1. I've heard they do, but also cannot confirm. That being said though I don't think it really matters. Most people's highest and lowest scores would average to about their mean score, so it probably won't affect admissions too much. 2. Apparently (again, no official source) Mac uses z-scores for the GPA and VR/CARS calculation. So it all depends on the mean and the standard deviation of the scores for those variables. My guess is that if you have a z-score of 0 (i.e. your score falls at the mean), you'd get a score of 7.5/15. Anything higher or lower will be scaled accordingly. So basically the calculation depends on where you fall on the distribution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiousaboutapps1 Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 I vaguely remember them telling us that last year? Or my memory is mixed up and it's actually something I heard on PM101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyKD Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 1. I've heard they do, but also cannot confirm. That being said though I don't think it really matters. Most people's highest and lowest scores would average to about their mean score, so it probably won't affect admissions too much. 2. Apparently (again, no official source) Mac uses z-scores for the GPA and VR/CARS calculation. So it all depends on the mean and the standard deviation of the scores for those variables. My guess is that if you have a z-score of 0 (i.e. your score falls at the mean), you'd get a score of 7.5/15. Anything higher or lower will be scaled accordingly. So basically the calculation depends on where you fall on the distribution. Where did you guys hear that? I'm curious to know because I really bombed one station, so that would be great if they dropped the lowest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_easy Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 Where did you guys hear that? I'm curious to know because I really bombed one station, so that would be great if they dropped the lowest. Probably floating around PM101 somewhere? Not the most reliable source haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organomegaly Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacMed2018 Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 The scores are definitely not just "left as is". They are adjusted. Hint*. Mac knows that not all interviewers grade the same. Some are going to be much more generous and vice versa. They do take things like this into account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organomegaly Posted March 29, 2017 Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bliss Posted March 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 1. I've heard they do, but also cannot confirm. That being said though I don't think it really matters. Most people's highest and lowest scores would average to about their mean score, so it probably won't affect admissions too much. 2. Apparently (again, no official source) Mac uses z-scores for the GPA and VR/CARS calculation. So it all depends on the mean and the standard deviation of the scores for those variables. My guess is that if you have a z-score of 0 (i.e. your score falls at the mean), you'd get a score of 7.5/15. Anything higher or lower will be scaled accordingly. So basically the calculation depends on where you fall on the distribution. Since 125 CARS is considered the bottom of the cars scores, would I have like 0/15% for the cars portion LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_easy Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Since 125 CARS is considered the bottom of the cars scores, would I have like 0/15% for the cars portion LOL My guess is that it would be somewhere around there, but I can't say for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bliss Posted March 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Lol why did they invite me for interview then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardDegrasseSagan Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Lol why did they invite me for interview then Cause you met the pre-interview cutoffs. Don't worry yourself, my 3.61 cGPA falls in the same Z-score range as your CARS. And there have been people that have gotten in with worse GPAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyKD Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Cause you met the pre-interview cutoffs. Don't worry yourself, my 3.61 cGPA falls in the same Z-score range as your CARS. And there have been people that have gotten in with worse GPAs. Just curious if there's a way to calculate or know the z score? Or is this an estimation based on the admission stats from prior years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardDegrasseSagan Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Just curious if there's a way to calculate or know the z score? Or is this an estimation based on the admission stats from prior years?It's going to be entirely dependent on the current applicant pool. You would need to create a normal curve from all the scores. And since they don't release rejection statistics, it's impossible to calculate how much the average and standard deviation are. But yeah, my prediction was purely an estimation based on previous years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g_easy Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Just curious if there's a way to calculate or know the z score? Or is this an estimation based on the admission stats from prior years? It's all estimated from previous years admissions stats. No way to know for sure the stats of the current cohort, but that being said I would expect the GPA and CARS distribution to stay pretty stable from year to year, possibly with a slight upward trend. Also though I wouldn't stress if you're below the mean for CARS or GPA. If anything this might bode well for you - to get to the interview stage you must have compensated by killing CASPER, which is supposedly a pretty good predictor of MMI performance. Now that GPA and CARS are worth relatively less in the formula, you have even more of a chance to benefit from the strong parts of your application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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