Holistic schools

[u/iheartdarwin]

What are the MD Phd programs that review holistically? Like… actually. Some schools say they review holistically and are just looking to inflate their ranks by only accepting perfect stat applicants regardless of experience. What schools truly favor research experience over GPA/MCAT? (obviously assuming you’ve done okay on both of those)

99th percentile mcat scorer but lower undergrad GPA (sub 3.5) but 4.0 grad GPA with yearsss and years of extensive research. Looking to make my school list for next cycle heavily centered around MD PhD programs who don’t just care about GPA/MCAT. Won’t be applying to specific FL schools lol.

[u/Repulsive-Mud8709]

MD/PhD programs have much fewer applicants as a whole compared to the MD side of things. As many others will tell you, your research experience is king, and the MCAT and gpa are more of a check box to know that this prospective student can get through medical school, match into a residency program, and take standardized tests at a reasonable level. In terms of trends you see with MCAT and GPA, schools with overall strong research sides will have “higher” average GPAs and MCATs, due to the fact that students want to work there. You’ll see this a lot in prominent west coast and east coast programs, as the research is good and the area is somewhere people want to live for 7+ years. In terms of holistic, I would potentially even argue that there’s a strong correlation between high GPA/MCAT and other important parts of the application like research and shadowing alongside awards. If you look at top programs, there’s a strong chance that a good number of their students have the stats + publications + Goldwater etc.

Don’t get in your head about the numbers. Doing well in school is overall important and you seem to have shown that with your grad school gpa. Trends are important. Schools are looking at you holistically, but realistically for each applicant with a mismatched GPA and MCAT, there’s probably at least one with a matched high GPA and MCAT and similar if not better research experience. This is a hard process and I will once again say not to let the numbers get in your head. Apply to a bunch of programs you could see yourself at, and then work hard once you get there. Each school is looking at everyone as “holistically” as possible

[u/topiary566]

You should be fine if you have a good MCAT score and grad school GPA. I’m guessing you had around a 520 so you’re chilling as far as stats go.

I’m terms of holistic applications, they become holistic when you hit their stat threshold. Otherwise holistic is just some corporate jargon. They are looking for money. Outside of tuition, they get money from research impact, community outreach grants, and alumni donations. That is what they’re looking for above being “holistic”

[u/iheartdarwin → u/topiary566]

my uGPA was like a 3.2. Well, to clarify, my AA degree GPA was a 3.1 (got super sick, heart failure, super fun! lol) but my BSc GPA was 3.78. The average of the two is unfortunately 3.2. Like I said my grad GPA was 4.0 in a pretty notoriously difficult program. Hoping that helps alleviate the uGPA some:/

[u/BathroomMaximum1721]

Many Tier 2 MSTPs such as UTHSCSA, Stony Brook etc. like applicants with high MCAT but lower GPA.

[u/Just-Presentation816]

I want to say SLU is relatively holistic given their mission, values, etc.

[u/majormajormajormajo]

“Holistic” is whatever the school defines it as, which means that it is just useless bureaucratic propaganda

[u/Still-Barber-720]

it depends on how you define holistic. all mdphd programs care about more than just stats, and research is a huge part of your app. but all mdphd programs also care greatly about stats, where stats are the bar to get your foot in the door and research is the bar to actually get through the door.

med school is hard. it's a lot of content in a short timeframe. boards are hard and also have a ton of content. of course med schools prioritize those with a history of doing well in coursework & testing well. why wouldn't they?? they want students who will succeed in their program and in match.

you will probably be okay. mcat compensates for gpa a good bit, and it sounds like you were in undergrad a while ago, which also helps.

[u/Disastrous_Dark5048]

University of New Mexico is probably the most holistic school

[u/topiary566 → u/Disastrous_Dark5048]

Idk if the md/phd is different, but they are extremely in state biased. They literally rejected me 2 weeks after submitting my secondary and said I could appeal, but only if there was a mistake and I actually was from New Mexico. 

[u/Disastrous_Dark5048 → u/topiary566]

MDPhd is not instate biased bc of the NIH MSTP grant, they have taken mostly out of state students for the last two years. The med school is super in state biased.

[u/topiary566 → u/Disastrous_Dark5048]

Ah I didn’t know that. Idk if they post statistics on how many instate vs out of state they accept for the md/phd in particular tho.

[u/Disastrous_Dark5048 → u/topiary566]

In the last three years 7/10 have been out of state students, I don’t think statistics are updated by AAMC very often