MCAT Decision Tree – Click to Enlarge
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Texas Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (TAAHP) in Houston, TX. While many other regional advisor groups hold their meetings on a biennial schedule (with a national meeting taking place in alternate years, including 2014), the TAAHP group takes advantage of their meeting each year to discuss the latest developments that are specific to the needs of the Texas system, including the unique TMDSAS meeting.
A major part of our participation in the meeting was the review of data related to our partnership with the state-sponsored Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP); however, I also look forward to this meeting (and others like it) each year as an opportunity to connect directly with advisors and learn more about the issues that they are facing with their students. This year, not surprisingly, the conversations centered around a handful of different topics, all of which were closely related to helping students prepare for the changeover to the 2015 MCAT. I’m confident that these issues aren’t limited to the Lone Star State, so I wanted to be sure and share some of the discussion here.
- Taking the Current vs. the New MCAT: By a large margin, the most common question we’ve seen from students in the last 6 months has been “Which version of the MCAT should I take?” In each case our response has been the same – you should discuss it with your pre-medical advisor, who knows the details of your situation. However, in speaking directly with advisors we’ve noticed some interesting variations on the factors that influence their recommendation; while the most obvious determinant is whether or not students have completed the foundational science courses for the MCAT, students should also consider the timing of their applications and the opportunity cost of postponing extracurricular activities such as clinical experiences in favor of accelerating MCAT preparation.
- Requirements vs. Recommendations: With the addition of biochemistry, psychology, and sociology to the MCAT next year, many advisors wanted to know whether or not medical schools would begin to require that students complete these courses as undergraduate students. The answer from the medical schools in attendance was mixed; some schools affirmed that they would be adding biochemistry to the list of Required classes, while others stated simply that they would be looking to the new MCAT as evidence that students had mastered the material without requiring specific coursework. It is clear, however, that medical schools across the board will increasingly expect students to have a background in these subject areas.
- Scoring on the New Exam: Students across the country are eager to learn about the scoring scale for the 2015 MCAT so that they have a sense of the target they’re shooting for. Unfortunately, little information has been released by the AAMC regarding the new scoring scale, although they’ve repeatedly suggested that they’ll be moving away from the current scale of 1-15 points in each section of the test. It is known that the AAMC is actively collecting information on student performance through the optional Trial Section on the current MCAT, and it’s expected that more information on this data – including the ultimate scoring scale for the new exam – will be announced between April and June of 2014.
