Pre-medical school students are not looking into different career paths despite impending changes that may make the Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT, more difficult in 2015, a recent Kaplan Test Prep study suggests.
Russell Schaffer, senior communications manager for Kaplan, said 265 University students applied to medical school last year, which puts the University at No. 39 nationwide of the most medical school applicants.
Some schools that beat the University include larger institutions like the University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin and University of California, Berkeley, said Owen Farcy, Kaplan’s director of pre-health programs.
The MCAT hasn’t been changed since the early 1990s, so the test is considered outdated by many medical school professors. The Association of American Medical Colleges, which is updating the test, is hoping the changes will better prepare pre-medical students for medical school, Farcy said.
“Over the years, there’s been a lot of changes in the ways medicine has been practiced,” Farcy said.
Farcy said the biggest change to the test will be the introduction of a behavioral sciences section, which means that pre-medical students should take different courses to prepare for the MCAT.
He said freshmen will be the students affected most since they will take the MCAT in 2015, when all the changes will have been implemented.
Despite this more intensive test, Farcy said about 4 percent more students are applying to medical school every year. Almost all students said the changes will not affect whether or not they apply to medical school, Farcy said.
“It’s been a lifelong dream,” he said. “I think a lot of students feel medicine is a rewarding field.”
Farcy said about 43 percent of applicants nationwide were accepted into medical school, though many students who fail apply again the next year.
Test-takers score between a 3 to 45, and 31 is the average score for those accepted into medical school, Farcy said.
“Schools are overwhelmingly in favor of the changes. They really feel students will be better prepared for medical school once these changes take effect,” Farcy said. “The students will learn the humanistic side of medicine.”
Farcy said freshmen should speak with their advisers as soon as possible in order to take the necessary courses to prepare them for the new MCAT.
