Fun thoughts: Mass Effect characters and their MCAT scores
Here's what I came up with:
Origins
While I was handwriting a draft of my first blog post (which spoiler, will probably relate to the video game series Mass Effect), a thought came to my head about Sara Ryder (Mass Effect Andromeda protagonist) and her MCAT score.
Why ?
Those are two totally unrelated things.
It's because her dialogue explaining the eyeball to Jaal has bothered me for the past three weeks ever since I saw it because when Jaal asked her, "How does an eyeball work ?", I didn't know the answer, even though I should have since that was on the MCAT. It may not have been on the actual exam, but it's literally part of the AAMC outline that you're expected to know the concept for, in both the chemistry/physics section AND the psychology/sociology section.
I just felt like a fraud being accepted to medical school and not being able to free recall the answer to that question. I told my brother about this dialogue and he asked me if Ryder's explanation was correct, and it was. It's sad, and a concern I have in regards to starting medical school: you could recognise a correct multiple choice answer, but can you really cold recall it ? Since the cold recall shows that you truly know it by heart. I hope this is improved when I actually start medical school.
Please don't mind the poor quality. I had to take it from the Steam Deck.
So back to Ryder and her MCAT score - she was both a soldier and scientist prior to joining the Andromeda Initiative. Throughout the game, she does say some pretty science-y things and even quotes Shakespeare at one point. Thus, I'm kind of convinced she would have scored pretty well on the science sections and the CARS section of the MCAT, netting a 520 or higher.
Ever since I entertained the idea of Ryder scoring high on the MCAT, I wondered what the other Mass Effect characters would score on the MCAT. I decided to make a tierlist of the squadmembers you recruit throughout the universe, as well as the ship's doctors and pilots. I didn't include other supporting characters since it'd make the list lengthier, but maybe someone else could and pick up where I left off.
MCAT briefly explained
This is just a quick and dirty explanation of the MCAT scoring system:
The score range possible is 472 - 528, with 528 being the highest score and very rarely ever achieved. The average is 500. It literally has this weird arbitrary scale because the test makers, the AAMC, wanted 500 to be the number for the 50th percentile.
Most people score a 500. Average MD acceptance is a 512, average DO acceptance is 504. If you could score over 500 and make a smart school list, assuming you have done all the expected extracurriculars and wrote good essays, you have a chance of getting accepted somewhere.
I broke the tierlist into 472-491 because I believe most Caribbean schools do have a cutoff of 492 and won't accept you if you score lower. Also, the thing with scoring in the 472-491 range is that it's easy to get say, a 489, without any studying at all. 492-499 is an uphill battle to be accepted into a medical school, but if you do go on the r/osteopathic subreddit, a lot of people end up getting accepted to a DO school with a score within that range. More common for those on the higher end of 496-499 though.
I do believe there is a difference between a 500 vs a 508, which is why I split up the 500's into a lower and upper range of 500-505 and 506-509, respectively. Make the same argument for the high vs low 510 range. I initially just made 520-528 be its own section since honestly, 520+ is really good and you're 97th percentile at 520, and could probably apply to any school you wanted. However, there were too many characters, so I had to split it into 520-524 then 525-528.
Rankings
Alright. Character placements within the score ranges. This part is really subjective and will probably vary for every fan you will speak to.
I placed Mordin as the highest scorer since he struck me as an MD-PhD. When you do the quest to retrieve him on Omega, he's running his own clinic. When he comes abroad your ship, you learn he created the genophage (and tested it on tissue, no living specimen). He's constantly researching, but he's also a healer. That's why I think he'd have an MD-PhD, even though none of the games ever made that explicit.
As for EDI, it's kind of cheating. She's an AI, and she's helped Shepard and crew get out of unknown situations. I'm sure she'd get a perfect score or near perfect score.
Dr Chakwas and Dr T'Perro are the Normandy's and Tempest's doctors. Chakwas comes from a long line of medical professionals, so she'd probably have some resources to study for the MCAT. Liara did say Chakwas had good bedside manners when treating her injuries in the first game, and Chakwas did some research on prolonging Thane's life, so she's definitely someone who is commited to her work and is constantly seeking to improve. T'Perro's parents had to save up credits from their rough jobs at the Afterlife (unless there's another nightclub on Omega we don't know about) to support her journey to medicine. It's a sweet little underdog tale and she clearly worked hard for it. I'm sure she would have crushed the MCAT. I mean, why else would she send Ryder a 600 page dissertation about krogan anatomy ???
Both Liara and Suvi have doctoral degrees in some science-related field. Purely anecdotal but from what I've seen, those with a STEM PhD who take the MCAT usually score pretty high and generally have favourable applications because they'll have a lot of research hours and publications, so they end up getting into top schools. I gave Liara and Suvi a lot of points because of their doctoral degrees, but Liara is ranked higher since she's also the shadow broker and would probably be able to organise and synthesise information better.
Kallo is an engineer who also happens to be a good pilot. I think he'd do well on the MCAT. After him, of course, is, Sara Ryder.
Tali is considered a mechanical genius. She is also really passionate about her research. If you are to believe this summary of an old study based on the pre-2015 MCAT (that didn't use the 528 scale), engineers tend to do the best on the MCAT. That's why I placed her at the top - I think the concepts tested on the MCAT will come easy to her. Likewise, I put Legion right next to her. Maybe the geth consensus will disagree on some answers and tank his score.
Traynor was a scientist/researcher in an Alliance lab before going abroad the Normandy SR-3. She's also the one who pinpoints Cerberus activities for you based on data and scans. She's clearly competent, and I have no doubt she'd score well on the MCAT.
Kasumi would probably also do well since she is a tech expert and is creative. I feel like she'd surprise half the Normandy by doing well, but the other half would have expected her to do well.
Alright. Nyreen. She has a heart of gold on a rotten planet. However, she is very smart and is able to become a well-respected leader of the Talons. I'm sure she could figure out the MCAT.
Shepard. I was actually going to put Shepard lower, but I thought about it and how they're able to unite the whole galaxy against the Reapers and have the willpower to interpret Prothean ciphers. If Shepard were to spend more time studying, they'd probably score higher, but their baseline score on the MCAT would be more than fine as well.
As for Miranda, she is very competent as a Cerberus officer and is intelligent. But sometimes she gives you the wrong advice, such as being the one to hold the biotic barrier at the Collectors' base. Still, whatever score she gets, it'll be above average.
Alright. This post is getting long and I honestly don't want to elaborate on every single placement. Liam is last because he does things that jeopardises the Pathfinder and honestly, whenever he talks, I could barely decipher what he's talking about.
Feel free to steal the tierlist above and post it wherever. Or make your own. Once again, the rankings are subjective and I'm not the most reliable lore expert. Just a casual fan.