NYTimes Well Blog: In Search of a Better MCAT

[shades_children]

<p>There’s [an</a> interesting article](<a href=“http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/a-better-medical-school-admissions-test/]an”>Doctor and Patient: In Search of a Better MCAT - The New York Times) up on the NYTimes website. I personally found it more interesting for some of the peripheral details rather than the main point. I’ve excepted what I found most interesting and made some comments. I’m curious to see what you all think of it.</p>

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Over the years, the MCAT has gone through four major revisions and has only strengthened its ability to predict success in medical school, particularly when evaluated in combination with grades. Each year more than 70,000 students take the exam, vying for a little more than 19,500 medical school slots. These days, fewer than 4 percent of those finally accepted drop out.

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<p>I was under the impression that there were about 25k medical school slots. There are fewer than I thought there were.</p>

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“But we and other medical schools have so many great applications from the standpoint of just numbers that we usually also need to go through other parts of the application as well,” said Dr. Clara A. Callahan, dean of student affairs and admissions at Jefferson and the lead author of one of the largest longitudinal studies on the predictive validity of the MCAT. “You want to make sure someone isn’t just saying that he or she wants to help people.”

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<p>This is what we on this discussion board have been telling prospective medical school applicants for years - it is not enough to want to “help people” as your motivation for becoming a doctor. Maybe now that the message is coming from a dean of admissions, applicants will listen.</p>

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“The reality is that we doctors are taking standardized tests – in-service exams, board exams, recertification exams – all our life,” Dr. Callahan said. “It’s something people have to master in medical school and beyond, so it’s nice to be able to accurately predict at the outset how someone will do with them in medical school and beyond.”

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<p>For better or for worse, those interested in being a physician here in the US simply must be good at taking standardized tests. There’s no use in complaining about unfairness or bias or how standardized tests aren’t a full measure of an applicant. Filling in bubbles with a No. 2 pencil on a regular basis is simply a reality of the profession.</p>