In early March I wrote a brief piece on the many benefits of attending the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) Regional Meetings this spring. Two months and four meetings later, I’d now like to share two of the most prevalent highlights from the meetings for those who were unable to attend.
Pre-Medical Competencies and the Admissions Initiative
One of the most attended sessions at each of the four regional meetings was the Association of American Medical Colleges’ presentation on updates in the world of medical school admissions. While there has been talk of holistic review and competency-based admissions for many years now, the AAMC took a big step forward this year with the publication of a list of defined competencies developed by the Committee on Admissions, as well as guidelines for letter-writers that explain the competencies and how they can be expressed in Letters of Evaluation. Additional details on the Admissions Initiative can be found on the AAMC’s website at www.aamc.org/ai.
MCAT 2015 Curriculum Discussions
While the Admissions Initiative sparked no shortage of discussion amongst advisors, the topic on everyone’s mind was naturally the changes coming to the MCAT in 2015. At each Regional Meeting advisors presented on the approach and analysis that their institutions have completed in regards to pre-requisite coursework, and the results appear to be quite varied so far. In the North East, where the conversation centered on the Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry sequence, questions were raised about the spread of content across multiple semesters and the feasibility of condensed, competency-based sequences designed specifically for pre-medical students; in other conversations in the Central region the Behavioral Sciences were the topic of discussion, with several advisors raising the concern that topics tagged as Sociology in the MCAT 2015 blueprint were better addressed in Medical Ethics or Anthropology courses at their institutions
While there’s certainly no shortage of debate about the new exam, there was one clear takeaway from each of the discussions on the 2015 MCAT: each school will need to independently come to a decision about the best coursework for students to complete. To help achieve this end, the AAMC has created an expansive spreadsheet to act as a Course Mapping Tool, which many advisors have found helpful in evaluating their curriculum.
While there is plenty more that I could discuss from the meetings, unfortunately this is all I have room for. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledging the work of the Program Chairs for each of the Regional Meetings: Celeste Crowe (SAAHP), Jan Reichard-Brown and Debi Swarner (NEAAHP), Heidi Lang (CAAHP), and Craig Vaske (WAAHP) all spent countless hours putting together the quality programming that made the 2013 conferences so popular. The MCAT team and I are already looking forward to many more discussions at the 21st NAAHP National Meeting in San Francisco next summer – we hope to see you there!
