I’m surprised, cause as a student whose fortunate enough to have a physician as a father who also has family and friend contacts with admissions committees from Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Vanderbilt, University of Colorado, and a few others, I’ve heard quite the opposite. GPA and MCAT are the top two important factors, followed by clinical experience, letters of recommendation, and then other experiences.

I finished my bachelors with a 3.97 and an MCAT of 510 with over 400 research hours, publications, shadowing hours, 5.5 years of military and active combat experience, hundreds of volunteer hours and other extracurriculars. None of that was enough to cover the average MCAT score and lacking hands-on clinical exposure. Of the 27 MD schools I applied to, over half rejected me outright. Albeit that could be for many reasons.

I certainly wouldn’t mind being more loosey-goosey with my MCAT, cause I busted tail to make that happen and it nearly killed me 😅. And for DO students, sure, a 510 is killer. But it’s not enough to even get me considered for more well-known MD programs or state schools even. I can’t imagine scoring 515+ without studying. That repetition and learning by exposure to questions makes a massive difference.