98th percentile

Some people may think that I am a little crazy for thinking that a 170 is not enough. It's not that I'm a perfectionist. If my GPA was >3.2, I would be chillin like a villian. Unfortunately, 98th percentile is not enough if you have a 2.91 like I do.

Of applicants who were 2.7-3.0 and scored a 170 or 171,

- the best results (maybe 10%) maxed out at Northwestern.
- the decent results (maybe next 25%) maxed out Notre Dame, Emory, and the like.
- the rest maxed out Wash U in St. Louis, U Minnesota, and the like.

Of applicants who were 2.7-3.0 and scored a 172-173

- the best results (5-10%) maxed out at U of Virginia, Michigan, and Penn
- the next best results (10-33%) maxed out at Northwestern or George Washington U
- the rest maxed out at Notre Dame, Emory, and below.

These are comparisons of cohorts. Obviously depending on the applicant, different results will happen, but it remains that those in the second group are seen as different applicants than those in the first. For those of us with sub 3.0 GPAs from college, a 98th percentile score is just not good enough.

September 30, 2006

172+ or WUSTL