We know that you have a lot on your plate, and that your inbox is more than likely already overflowing with questions from students, faculty, and administrators. That’s one of the main reasons we created this blog – to give you a quick, simple digest of the things that are relevant to your role as an advisor. That being said, we don’t want to add even just one extra email to your pile each month – we want it to be your choice! If you look to the right of this post, you’ll see that you can enter your email address, name and school name to receive email alerts each time a new update is posted to this blog. If you have colleagues whom you think would benefit from these updates, please feel free to share the link below.
MCAT News from the 2011 AAMC Meeting: The Association of American Medical Colleges held their annual meeting earlier this month in Denver, and we hope that those of you who were able to attend enjoyed the conference as much as we did. While most of the sessions an events were designed for medical school students, faculty, and administrators, there were a number of opportunities for pre-med advisors to engage in the conversation – as well as some new announcements that will undoubtedly affect you and your students.
The biggest pre-med news of the meeting was, of course, the announcement of the official recommendations of the MR5 committee for drastic changes to the MCAT exam. The revision project, now named MCAT2015, is scheduled to roll out gradually over the next three years and encompasses a number of sweeping changes to the exam. Here are a few of the more significant changes:
As early as January 2013, the Writing Sample will be completely removed from the MCAT. Also in 2013, the exam will feature an optional “experimental” section that will be used to test new passage and question types and new content. An official guide to the new exam will be released in 2014, along with a practice test to demonstrate the changes. The expanded MCAT will launch in 2015, with additional content coming primarily from the disciplines of biochemistry, sociology, and psychology.
Join us December 7th for a live discussion of the MCAT2015 changes: Because the changes to the MCAT are so drastic, we know that many of you have questions and concerns that you’d like to voice. On Wednesday, December 7th at 4:00pm ET / 1:00pm PT, we will be pleased to host a 60 minute, advisors-only discussion of the latest information on 2015 MCAT revision. In this session we will cover not just the proposed changes themselves (including the decision to remove the Writing Sample from the MCAT as early as 2013), but also the ramifications for current pre-medical students and what we’re already doing to prepare for these changes.
Please join us to learn more about the MCAT2015 project and the resources that are available to you and your students. Space is limited, so we encourage you to reserve your seat early. Visit www.kaptest.com/prehealthadvisors for more information and to register.
Recordings of the 2011 AMSA ARC/UCD Pre-Medical Conference: Early October saw this year’s presentation of the 2011 AMSA ARC/UCD Pre-Medical and Pre- Public Health Conference in Davis, California. We were thrilled to be on hand as a partner in the presentation of this popular event, and for the second year in a row we were able to broadcast many of the conferences key sessions live via our website, enabling students from across the country and around the world to participate.
In addition to broadcasting the event live, we’re happy to make available recordings of the weekend’s keynote speeches, panels, and presentations. The final editing of those videos was recently completed and they are now available for you and your students to view online at www.kaptest.com/arcucd. Enjoy!
Special holiday savings available for pre-health students: Lastly, we’d like to share with you information about some of our upcoming promotions that can help your students save on the cost of their MCAT prep. November and December will see two key holiday sales that many of your students may be interested in:
Last call for the January MCATs: While we don’t want students rushing their prep, we recognize that many students who are planning to take the exam in January may be looking for additional instruction and resources to help them reach their target scores. That’s why, starting November 21st, all of our remaining live classes that are preparing for the January 2012 MCAT exams will be discounted by $400! Please visit www.kaptest.com/timetoprep for class schedules and details.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday Holiday sale: In the spirit of the holiday season, we’re also offering a special discount on all comprehensive MCAT courses over Thanksgiving weekend. Between November 25th and November 28th, all students who enroll in one of our MCAT Advantage or MCAT Advanced courses will automatically get $200 off the cost of their course. Interested students can visit www.kaptest.com/savings for details.
We hope you enjoyed this update and have found the information worthwhile. As always, we appreciate any suggestions or feedback you might have – feel free to contact us by emailing owen.farcy@kaplan.com.
As a sneak peak, next month we’ll be sharing some exciting information about upcoming changes to our courses, as well as the findings from our annual Medical School Admissions Officer Survey.
