How AMCAS medical school applications are evaluated

The AMCAS system is used by a majority of medical admissions committees to streamline the admissions process for both the applicant and the school. AMCAS is the system that forwards your verified GPA and MCAT information to each potential medical school. This means that instead of having to send an individual application, transcript, MCAT score to each school, AMCAS does it all for you.

There are three essential criteria that are presented to committees via AMCAS: overall GPA, science GPA, and MCAT score. In this article, I will discuss the importance of a high GPA and the strategies that will ensure your position as an ideal candidate for medical school.

Overall GPA vs. Science GPA

A high science GPA is a critical factor in medical school admissions.

The course requirements for most medical schools involves a year of the following: general biology+lab, general chemistry+lab, general physics+lab, organic chemistry+lab. Variable requirements include statistics and/or calculus. All these classes get factored into the science GPA, a “number” that indicates to the admissions committee of your personal ability to grasp material taught in medical school. Even though it may seem unfair, it is the most effective way that admissions office can handle the high volume of applicants in an orderly and timely manner.

The overall GPA plays a role, albeit a minor one, in the medical admissions game. If your overall GPA varies from the science GPA significantly, it indicates to committees of your lack of interest in certain subjects and this may be a red flag for some. This is because medicine is an interdisciplinary field and even though most of it is science, being a successful physician may require effective public speaking and English skills. If you have anything less than a B in these courses in college, it may have some bearing on your chances at getting admission. However, maintaining a high science GPA should be a bigger priority. So if you have to chose between acing your Microbiology exam or writing a winning Poetics paper one late night, I would say go for the Microbiology.

Choosing a School and Major the Maximizes Your Science GPA

As long as you have the above required coursework completed, there is no need to pursue upper division coursework (unless you are a science major). If I had known this earlier, I would have majored in economics or political science and truly enjoyed my lab-free undergraduate days. Instead, I chose to major in biology and spend my evenings writing lab reports and memorizing esoteric concepts.

Do NOT feel obligated to pursue a science major if your future plans include medical school. Instead, pursue a major that you genuinely are interested in- may it be art, dance, quantum physics. This will not only guarantee that you will maintain a high overall GPA in college, but also that you will enjoy your college experience. Also, this is refreshing to a medical school since non-science majors provide diversity and interesting insight to the community. As long as you find a way to incorporate a way to take all the required science classes, you will be okay.

Do NOT major in science unless you know 100% that you will get at least a B+ on all upper division coursework. Every science class you take gets factored into the science GPA, not just the prerequisite classes. So if you decided to take an advanced organic chemistry course out of sheer interest and end up getting a D, this will be factored into your science GPA and will look very poor, even though it was an esoteric course. As a science major, you will have to take more science courses in upper division that can be graded more harshly. There is no need to jeopardize your undergraduate science GPA unless you know you will do extremely well in these classes. I’m not here to discourage you if you really want to major in biochemistry or physics, but I do want to warn you of the possible consequences in the growing stiff competition in the world of medical school admissions.

How the College You Attend Gets Factored In

The college you ultimately end up choosing to attend weighs heavily, but indirectly, on medical school applications. For the most part, your capabilities as a medical school student are represented by the three magic numbers: overall GPA, science GPA, and MCAT.

I chose to attend Reed College because of its research-based curriculum and thesis year. Reed College had the facilities that taught me how to think critically and to do self-directed laboratory research that I thought would be a rigorous introduction to medical research and medical school. In fact Reed College churns out the most undergraduates that end up getting a PhD in biology in the nation.

What ends up hurting me in the end is a triple threat: Reed’s anti-grade inflation policy, being a biology major, and being a biology major at Reed. There have only been a handful of 4.0 graduates during Reed’s existence. I don’t think any of them were in any of the science departments (I’d have to double check on this). Imagine how this has affected my overall GPA and science GPA. Considering how hard I work here, I think that I would’ve maintained something close to a 4.0 GPA that I had if I had attended transferred to a university. This is especially because Reed’s upper division courses also have a graded lab portion, unlike other schools. But this is not just the case at Reed.

Most liberal arts colleges have a tougher grading system than other universities. The combination of smaller class sizes and emphasis on academics rather than grades is what drives the GPA down in liberal arts schools. In smaller classes, professors are more careful in evaluating their students and can have more tougher exams because they don’t need to grade a huge volume of exams in a short period of time. I attempted to take organic chemistry at Reed for a semester and dropped it after a couple weeks. The tests were very intensive, involving writing complete mechanisms of reactions and predicting entire chemical structures from scratch. The lab portion was independent. We were asked to try to make a certain chemical with a limited amount of reagents on our own.

I spent my following summer at University of California, Riverside taking the organic chemistry course again. The exams at certain points were multiple choice (!) and the lab portion involved following a simple protocol every meeting rather than using critical thinking to adapt what was learned in lecture into lab. And since the class was well over 200 students, the entire course was streamlined this way so that grades could be put up on time and TAs could minimize the amount of time it took to grade.

Conclusion?

Most liberal arts school have a very strong philosophy on learning rather than being taught. The curriculum is almost always tougher and the average GPA of a graduate almost always significantly lower. Not to put down larger universities, but Reed students could blow UCR students out of the water in organic chemistry. But who is more likely going to get into medical school: the B- student that learned how to synthesize a ester alcohol on his own or the A student that mastered the art of multiple choice and rote memorization? I would say the A student because that is what AMCAS sees and the system is blind to any fine detail.

First, students who have learning disabilities need to work on developing self knowledge while in high school. They need to understand what learning style works best for them. They need to have an arsenal of learning strategies in hand that they know will allow them to achieve success in school. Such strategies might include asking for extra time to take tests, listening to books read out loud instead of reading them, or making up acronyms to help them remember important material.

Next, the learning disabled student needs to understand the legal rights that he or she is entitled to. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which was passed in 1990, protects the confidentiality of records, so colleges do not have access to any disability records. Because of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, colleges cannot discriminate in accepting students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities have to be allowed reasonable modifications in order to complete their education, such as extra time for tests, alternate test forms and other things. One difference at college over high school is the student must take the initiative to request help when at college. In high school, the law demands that the school identify and help LD students, but not so in college.

Students with learning disabilities need to make special preparation for the transition into collage life. Students need to be aware of the options they have for college. Some colleges have open admission policies, which allow anyone with a high school diploma to enter the college. Others have selective criteria and may only accept students with a certain GPA or test score. There are also two types of colleges based on the length of the education. Two-year colleges usually have open admissions policies and allow the student to earn an Associates Degree. These are sometimes referred to as Community Colleges. Four-year colleges or universities are often more selective in their admissions acceptance and offer more specialized degrees. Some colleges have programs designed for students with learning disabilities. Those with severe learning disabilities should seek one of these institutions.

Just because a student has a learning disability does not mean that he or she cannot and should not pursue higher education. The law demands reasonable accommodation for those with LD at colleges and universities. LD students who are planning to go to college need to have a good understanding of their own learning strategies and what helps them learn best. By doing some research and planning well for the transition, even students with learning disabilities can succeed and even thrive in the college setting.

There are loads of websites ready with content and information on having a learning disability. And many of them give symptoms of the “problem,” including difficulty understanding simple instructions, difficulty concentrating when reading or writing, being unable to tell important information from unimportant information, and difficulty organizing and completing writing projects. While these are explicit hindrances in a person’s ability to learn, there are often other ways to inform these systems, especially once you conceive the symptoms of a highly sensitive person.

The term highly sensitive person was coined by Elaine Aron. She explained that being highly sensitive means that your nervous system is more sensitive to the subtleties of your environment, and that the brain processes information very deeply, resulting in becoming over stimulated or overwhelmed easily by a lot of information According to Aron, 15 to 20% of the population is highly sensitive, but most don’t know it, which means there is a large number of people who could simply be sensitive to their surroundings and thus inhibited in an academic setting without being learning disabled.

I am considered to be a highly sensitive person and have spent much of my life thinking I was learning disabled. The reason for this was because I displayed some of the symptoms of a learning disability. I had a difficult time understanding simple instructions because I was overwhelmed by the amount of words directed at me. Whenever I was able to calm down, I could understand any instructions easily. Also, I often couldn’t concentrate, which resulted in me doing poorly on tests. For example, during my ACT testing there was a siren blaring outside the window for almost 45 minutes and that’s all I could think about; there was just too much information between the siren and the test to process.

As a child, I had a very difficult functioning around others because I was very shy and overwhelmed by large groups of people. I also had a difficult time working under the pressure of a watchful eye. However, if I was left alone, I could work at twice the speed of others, often finishing my tests in 30 minutes when it took others an hour or more. I could work non-stop for long periods of time as long as I could go out and bath in the sunlight alone. And I often needed extended periods to myself to be intensely introverted, often being able to go days without communicating with others.

My teachers sometimes threw hints at me to look into being tested for a learning disability; and at times I considered it, unable to explain why I sometimes could not take in information – especially if there were no diagrams and pictures involved. After spending years not understanding myself and my often low grades, I began to do research to see if I really had a “disability.”

In doing my research, I ran across information on the highly sensitive person and became intrigued. Once I read over the information, I realized that I was not somewhat highly sensitive; I was VERY highly sensitive. On the “self test” administered on the Highly Sensitive Person website hsperson.com, I scored 25 out of 27 in favor of being highly sensitive. That let me know that many of my academic issues could easily be explained by my highly sensitive nature.

In learning more about the highly sensitive person, I found that most highly sensitive people are unable to watch a lot of violent or negative television without being adversely affected, many are unable to take in caffeine or sugar without “feeling” the difference, some have a very difficult time working stressful 9-5 jobs, often having to quit due to physical ailments brought on by the pressure, and both short-term and long-term abrupt changes can severely disorient them. I also learned that many highly sensitive people find that it is easier to work from a standpoint of purpose. They must fulfill what is considered to be their “calling” or they can never be happy – their super-sensitive nervous system won’t let them rest until they are living an enlightened life. As a result, I’ve done the same, enrolling in an institution that will educate me on teaching others to accept themselves for exactly who they are – and I feel great doing it!

Learning the background of the highly sensitive person has helped me to come to terms with who I am as a person and member of society. Early in life I felt like an outcast due to my extremely shy and introverted nature; and course being viewed as a slow learner didn’t help my self-esteem. But after learning that there are more people out there like me – a large number of people at that – I can feel comfortable that there is a place for someone like me; a person who is smart and talented, but had to learn the best ways to thrive in a high energy society. Now I want to encourage others who may know a highly sensitive person to view them differently. Instead of believing they are lacking or even learning disabled, consider that they are just different than you, like every other unique person in the world – and that is okay.

The following story was related to me by a friend and I felt that this subject needed to talked about, it is very important to deal with these various learning disabilities.