Happy New Year!
We hope the holiday season and weather was kind to you, and that you enjoyed some time away before the Spring term begins.
2014 marks the beginning of the end for the current MCAT and really an end of an era in medical school admissions and medical education. This is it for our much loved MCAT, and a brave new world rests in the wings! Even though the AAMC has forecasted an increase in the number of tests to be administered this year and in January of 2015, we have already heard reports of test dates and test sites being full, as premeds rush to register for the final administrations of the MCAT. As advisors, in addition to the usual advising that happens this time of year, you are probably experiencing (or will experience) a surge in the question of “which MCAT should I take?”
Of course, the wise advice, which I have heard from many of you, is that students should take the test that they will be best prepared for, and not to rush into taking the old exam just to get it out of the way even if they are not ready. But that doesn’t always sit well as an answer with students. A good exercise which one of your colleagues shared with me is to walk students through the competencies on the current and future MCAT to really assess their readiness for the MCAT. Our test change website, mcat2015.com, lays out the topics that will be testing on the new MCAT in a student friendly way, so please feel free to direct students there as well. And, as a reminder, our MCAT 2015 guide can be downloaded from there as well.
Now some students who want to take the current version of the MCAT might incorrectly sacrifice other opportunities in order to get ready for the current MCAT, but we all know how important clinical and research experience is in the medical school admissions process, and as such, our upcoming episode of the Pulse on January 22nd, is going to focus on the importance of clinical and research experience, and our expert panel will discuss its role not just in admissions but in the future of medicine. I encourage you and your students to attend!
The new year brings renewal, and on behalf of all of us at Kaplan, we look forward to continuing working with you to help your students achieve their dreams one success story at a time!
