Bachelors Degree not required, let alone MCAT for some Carribbeans schools.

[misplacedshadow]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Thought some might find this funny.

Found from St. James Official Website

Eligibility

Applicants from the United States and Canada:

Our MD program admission requirements for applicants from the USA and Canada are a Baccalaureate/Bachelor's degree or a total of 90 credit hours, which is approximately three years of undergraduate education, at an accredited college or university is required.
Preference will be given to applicants who have completed a Bachelor's degree or higher. If you have a low GPA score, you should have strong letters of recommendation and be able convince the admissions department that you hold a strong motivation to study medicine.

What is the world coming to.

 

[mulberry]

Yet they have many competent, practicing physicians in the United States. Doing well on the MCAT does not measure how well of a physician you will be.

 

[captainuzair]

Yet they have many competent, practicing physicians in the United States. Doing well on the MCAT does not measure how well of a physician you will be.

I agree. 👍 👍 👍

 

[AlabamaPop]

Yet they have many competent, practicing physicians in the United States. Doing well on the MCAT does not measure how well of a physician you will be.

Well said. 👍👍👍👍

 

[advair250]

Most places in the world don't require undergraduate degrees for medical admissions. It's only a northamerican thing where you have to spend all that money on a degree that is 90% irrelevant.

 

[UniBoy4]

I have to agree with OP on this one. It seems pretty sketchy that they don't require an MCAT or a full Bachelor's degree to matriculate. Do you really believe someone with a low GPA and no MCAT deserves to get into medical school? These days getting into medical school seems much easier than getting into a Masters program, which shouldn't be the case.

 

[advair250]

When did SDN get so many trolls?

 

[danny89]

Most places in the world don't require undergraduate degrees for medical admissions. It's only a northamerican thing where you have to spend all that money on a degree that is 90% irrelevant.

Very much true.

 

[UniBoy4]

Wow, are you guys serious?!

 

[AlabamaPop]

I have to agree with OP on this one. It seems pretty sketchy that they don't require an MCAT or a full Bachelor's degree to matriculate. Do you really believe someone with a low GPA and no MCAT deserves to get into medical school? These days getting into medical school seems much easier than getting into a Masters program, which shouldn't be the case.

Please understand you only think this is way because you were raised in North America. In other parts of the world, you go into medical school straight from the equivalent of a high school.

There are other programs that also only require 2 years worth of the equivalent of college prior to matriculating into their country's medical school.

Lastly, its a shame that North America has many crazy requirements for school, yet are still globally low on the education ranks. Sometimes "more" is not always a good thing. It's about have an education system that is both Learning-effective and Time-effective.

All these 120 credit requirements I did here were for nothing. I don't remember 90% of the stuff I learned outside of my premedical classes.

So to put it into perspective....I have about 41 premedical credits + whatever credits of stuff I still have retained in my brain, give or take..maybe like 30 credits? So I'm like an applicant only worth about 70-80 credits in my brain. Doesn't make me any less competent.

MCAT is overrated. It is just another way of filtering out thousands and thousands of competent applicants. The exam is only good for reinforcing stuff you have already learned during your premedical courses--and most of the content you don't really use in medical school anyways.

DO schools have proved this time and time again.

 

[misplacedshadow]

Please understand you only think this is way because you were raised in North America. In other parts of the world, you go into medical school straight from the equivalent of a high school.

There are other programs that also only require 2 years worth of the equivalent of college prior to matriculating into their country's medical school.

Lastly, its a shame that North America has many crazy requirements for school, yet are still globally low on the education ranks. Sometimes "more" is not always a good thing. It's about have an education system that is both Learning-effective and Time-effective.

All these 120 credit requirements I did here were for nothing. I don't remember 90% of the stuff I learned outside of my premedical classes.

So to put it into perspective....I have about 41 premedical credits + whatever credits of stuff I still have retained in my brain, give or take..maybe like 30 credits? So I'm like an applicant only worth about 70-80 credits in my brain. Doesn't make me any less competent.

MCAT is overrated. It is just another way of filtering out thousands and thousands of competent applicants. The exam is only good for reinforcing stuff you have already learned during your premedical courses--and most of the content you don't really use in medical school anyways.

DO schools have proved this time and time again.

Wow, I never thought of it that way. Thank you for this post and giving me another perspective. I guess my arrogance has prevented me from realizing what it takes to become a true physician. 🙁

 

[misplacedshadow]

Yet they have many competent, practicing physicians in the United States. Doing well on the MCAT does not measure how well of a physician you will be.

Thank you for reminding me about this. I will keep this in mind. 🙂

 

[Temperature101]

I have to agree with OP on this one. It seems pretty sketchy that they don't require an MCAT or a full Bachelor's degree to matriculate. Do you really believe someone with a low GPA and no MCAT deserves to get into medical school? These days getting into medical school seems much easier than getting into a Masters program, which shouldn't be the case.

What? Seriously!

 

[Like]

Please understand you only think this is way because you were raised in North America. In other parts of the world, you go into medical school straight from the equivalent of a high school.

There are other programs that also only require 2 years worth of the equivalent of college prior to matriculating into their country's medical school.

Lastly, its a shame that North America has many crazy requirements for school, yet are still globally low on the education ranks. Sometimes "more" is not always a good thing. It's about have an education system that is both Learning-effective and Time-effective.

All these 120 credit requirements I did here were for nothing. I don't remember 90% of the stuff I learned outside of my premedical classes.

So to put it into perspective....I have about 41 premedical credits + whatever credits of stuff I still have retained in my brain, give or take..maybe like 30 credits? So I'm like an applicant only worth about 70-80 credits in my brain. Doesn't make me any less competent.

MCAT is overrated. It is just another way of filtering out thousands and thousands of competent applicants. The exam is only good for reinforcing stuff you have already learned during your premedical courses--and most of the content you don't really use in medical school anyways.

DO schools have proved this time and time again.

Wow, I never thought of it that way. Thank you for this post and giving me another perspective. I guess my arrogance has prevented me from realizing what it takes to become a true physician. 🙁

🙄 OncoMD hit the nail on the head. Should probably take the name OncoDO just in case though.

 

[UniBoy4]

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

And doing an undergraduate degree is oftentimes necessary to give students a broad education so that they don't just learn science but have an overall understanding of the world, which is necessary to be a good doctor.

 

[circulus vitios]

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

And doing an undergraduate degree is oftentimes necessary to give students a broad education so that they don't just learn science but have an overall understanding of the world, which is necessary to be a good doctor.

No it doesn't.

 

[jitterbug778]

There are schools in the US that do not require more than 90 credit hours to apply. So few people actually apply without at least a bachelor's, so ppl probably don't realize that. I have a friend that was a class or two shy of a bachelor's degree and got in. You just need an excellent back story, I'm guessing.

 

[AlabamaPop]

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

And doing an undergraduate degree is oftentimes necessary to give students a broad education so that they don't just learn science but have an overall understanding of the world, which is necessary to be a good doctor.

Oh god, here's another one. Thats the B.S. they feed you. The MCAT is just a filtering method. The exam simply gives you OBSCURE experiments with OBSCURE answer choices. Figuring out the physics behind how a laser reads Blu-ray discs and how it relates to the density of blue-ringed octopuses (which are very poisonous by the way!) in under 8.5 minutes does not indicate whether you are "cut out" for medicine. Medical school is more straight-forward.

Second of all, my friend is an MS4, and he's doing just fine and he received an 18 on his first MCAT and a 22 in his second.

If you say it takes a quick learner to be a good doctor, then by those standards, you need to start learning quick that this is not a black and white scenario.

Lastly, if you want to have broad knowledge and an understanding of the world, get out of your dorm room, go out and travel the world, meet people and different cultures, have a social circle, date around. That's how you get the social skills and broad world knowledge that is necessary to be a good doctor.

 

[mcgst9]

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

And doing an undergraduate degree is oftentimes necessary to give students a broad education so that they don't just learn science but have an overall understanding of the world, which is necessary to be a good doctor.

The MCAT is truly just a filter. It's a huge steaming pile arranged in the form of a hoop that you have to jump through.

You will never, NEVER use ANY of the information you learn for the MCAT. You will also never use any of the information taught in undergrad.

Why? Because the medical schools are going to teach you THEIR way. They want you to learn their way. Sure, you may refer back to things in your own mind, but it will never have been necessary because you are relearning it anyway.

I was talking to my physics teacher whom was at a conference a while ago. There was a student who was going on about how dumb the MCAT is. He was mainly talking to a doctor mind you. Then he asks the doctor what's the point. The doctor replies "To make sure people like YOU don't become a doctor."

Yes, it filters people. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it doesn't mean that all US doctors are good doctors.

The only thing that makes it worthwhile is the paycheck.


EDIT: By the way, that verbal reasoning that everyone has trouble with? It's pointless. No doctor will ever learn or use information in such a way. Lives are at stake, rushing leads to mistakes.

EDIT#2: You will also have an incredibly difficult time working at a US hospital if you get a degree in the Caribbean. Not saying it's impossible, just not easy.

 

[Qester]

I just look at the MCAT as a way to determine if you are willing to put in the required work.

Neither studying for the MCAT nor studying in Medical school is easy or fun and both takes an extreme amount of dedication, and perseverance.

I am sure that there are many adequate students who are competent enough and would make great doctors, and the MCAT is a way to screen those who are unwilling to put in the time required.

 

[misplacedshadow]

Oh god, here's another one. Thats the B.S. they feed you. The MCAT is just a filtering method. The exam simply gives you OBSCURE experiments with OBSCURE answer choices. Figuring out the physics behind how a laser reads Blu-ray discs and how it relates to the density of blue-ringed octopuses (which are very poisonous by the way!) in under 8.5 minutes does not indicate whether you are "cut out" for medicine. Medical school is more straight-forward.

Second of all, my friend is an MS4, and he's doing just fine and he received an 18 on his first MCAT and a 22 in his second.

If you say it takes a quick learner to be a good doctor, then by those standards, you need to start learning quick that this is not a black and white scenario.

Lastly, if you want to have broad knowledge and an understanding of the world, get out of your dorm room, go out and travel the world, meet people and different cultures, have a social circle, date around. That's how you get the social skills and broad world knowledge that is necessary to be a good doctor.

😍... OncoMD... Will you marry me?

 

[UniBoy4]

Whatever you guys say, the MCAT strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions. If an individual is not able to use logic and reasoning enough to score a 26 on the MCAT, then I'm skeptical about how they'll turn out as a diagnostician and whether they will be able to make the right decisions for their patients.

 

[trs88]

Whatever you guys say, the MCAT strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions. If an individual is not able to use logic and reasoning enough to score a 26 on the MCAT, then I'm skeptical about how they'll turn out as a diagnostician and whether they will be able to make the right decisions for their patients.

I disagree completely. I would rather have the doctor who can answer if my finger is broken instead of the one who can answer "Two trains leave a station in opposite directions; if one train is going 25 mph and the other is going 35 mph. What is the capital of Kentucky?"

 

[AlabamaPop]

Whatever you guys say, the MCAT strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions. If an individual is not able to use logic and reasoning enough to score a 26 on the MCAT, then I'm skeptical about how they'll turn out as a diagnostician and whether they will be able to make the right decisions for their patients.

MCAT strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions about Rotational Motion, Electromagnetic Fields, Thermodynamics, Dihybrid Crosses, Gas Chromatography.

Medical exams and Step exams strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions about Physiological diseases, Pharmacological effects of medicine, Biochemical pathways, Anatomical parts (the latter is more route memorization anyways).

Be skeptical about physicians who scored a 189 on USMLE Step 1, not about someone who scored a 24 on the MCAT.

Should we also look at SAT scores while we're at it? It's an exam that also tests logic and reasoning. Let me know.

 

[circulus vitios]

Whatever you guys say, the MCAT strongly tests your ability to use logic and reasoning to answer questions. If an individual is not able to use logic and reasoning enough to score a 26 on the MCAT, then I'm skeptical about how they'll turn out as a diagnostician and whether they will be able to make the right decisions for their patients.

Have you even taken the MCAT?

 

[Mornhavon]

.

 

[CDI]

If you go to the Caribbean, chances are you'll never make it into a US residency. I'll let you guys search for the threads, but with all the allopathic and osteopathic schools in the US opening up and not many new residency positions being created, there is going to be a bottleneck in the future. FMG (Foreign medical grads--> Caribbean med students) and IMG (Internation medical grads) are going to get squeezed out before US MD's and DO's will. Be careful

Eh, all bogus, we've been hearing it every year/decade. The sky is falling.

Its the US - we print money if we need funding. And while we have a massive 'doctor shortage' our solution is we're now allowing DNPs and PAs to 'own' the healthcare system instead. There's nothing set in stone here, which is why theres always a way in the end. The ones who will be in trouble are the weaker US MDs/DOs who are ousted by high scoring IMGs. IMGs can even practice in their own countries. Where would these low performing US grads go with $300k in debt?

 

[Mornhavon]

.

 

[CDI]

I'm not saying the situation couldn't change, but who wants to risk 100's of thousands and their future on it?

I mean I agree to extent.

There's probably no degree worth less than a Caribbean M.D. with no US residency to follow it. It pretty much screams, "I didn't make it..." However, if they did make it, that's solid, and no one cares after that.

 

[Shams al Deen]

People who are still studying for the MCAT or didn't score well on it will obviously say that it's a terrible and irrelevant exam. I agree that it's definitely not perfect and it is largely used as an easy way to weed out students. But you cannot discount its effectiveness in helping med schools get passed the gpa inflation or deflation in certain schools. They need a way to make a decision on whether to interview the 3.9 kid from a lower tier school or the 3.6 from Berkeley and the mcat is the best way to do it. Using the mcat with gpa is probably the best way to see if a student has the ability to handle those first 2 years of med school. And the argument that the mcat tests science that we won't need as a physician is really annoying. You think a cardiologist uses all the stuff they taught him in med school on a day-to-day basis? So why don't all specialists just skip med school and only learn their specific field.

And I actually do agree that getting a bachelors degree is largely a waste of time and money. We should be able to do premed in the last two years of high school and then just to straight to medschool.

 

[docksan]

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

And doing an undergraduate degree is oftentimes necessary to give students a broad education so that they don't just learn science but have an overall understanding of the world, which is necessary to be a good doctor.

The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those who have time and money and those who don't. It does NOT measure the passion, determination, and will of an individual applicant. There are many doctors out there whom I have spoken to that are excellent doctors that didn't score 30+ on the MCAT. There are also many horrible doctors out there that did.

The second half of your post is correct except for the necessity of being a good doctor. Often what is really needed of a good doctor is patience, understanding, empathy, and the ability to critically think.

I would venture to say that the MCAT is a good gauge of critical thinking ability only in the reasoning-style questions. There will likely never be a time where you're sitting in a room with a patient and they will suddenly fall on the floor, causing you to go "Okay, this one is overweight. They are falling at a speed of 1 m/s with a rotational vector of 20 rads/s. What angle do I need to catch them at to ensure their momentum doesn't overcome the shear modulus and coefficient of friction and cause me to slip and fall on the floor? QUICK! THINK! YOU ONLY HAVE 5 seconds to solve!"

The MCAT's true purpose, in my opinion, is to dissuade potentially amazing candidates from going any further to limit the applicant pool.

While I don't put a lot of stock into Caribbean schools (I received that e-mail as well) my first MCAT score was 23 and I recently retook it. The first time, I was incredibly nervous and shaken up. The second time, I was calm and confident.

If you discount people before they have the chance to prove their worth you're doing nothing for the world of medicine.

So, yes - there are plenty of amazing doctors overseas (many of which are DOs) that didn't go through undergrad and learned a lot about medicine from life and living. My aunt in-law is a pulmonologist in Russia and is a fantastic doctor.

 

[ExtremeTruth]

As a non US student i think i can offer an objective point of view, either way I'm gonna get bashed lol. If there was no MCAT then how would you know if a student has the ability to withstand the pressure of med skl? I know there are some stories of ppl with low MCAT scores getting into med skl but that doesn't mean it's always the case. Universities are investing in the student too, how would it look like if many students were accepted only for half of them to turn out incompetent and drop skl? In my country, you can start med skl right after school (there is no "high" school, just school from kindergarden till 12th grade) but it's usually a french system, and requires you to do complete a rigorous test in order to be admitted, or you can do one year of studying every science course,in French or English, (Bio, phy, chem...) then apply to the same uni by doing a really REALLY hard admissions test. In both cases, a max of maybe 70 ppl are admitted per uni and spend a total of SEVEN-EIGHT years in uni. But we also have a system much like the american system where you do 3-4 years of undergrad, the MCAT and apply. But unlike US students we don't need any volunteering, research, clinical experience and shadowing blabla. Just good grades really good grades. But we take al ot of mandatory courses you ppl take as electives such as physiology, analytical chem, biochem..... My point is med skl should NOT be easy to get into, even if they change your system into going into med skl right after skl, u will still be facing a really tough test that you may not pass and would have wasted a year or more of your life. Whereas in the american system, you still get a diploma smtg u can use for actually work, don't underestimate its importance.
The End lol.

 

[UniBoy4]

Have you even taken the MCAT?

Yes, I have, and I got a 29 (9 PS, 10 VR, 10 BS), but I didn't have much time to study for this one. I'm taking it again on July 26th and I'm doing much better than my previous scores on practice exams (maybe 33+ this time?).

 

[UniBoy4]

The MCAT's true purpose, in my opinion, is to dissuade potentially amazing candidates from going any further to limit the applicant pool.

If those candidates are so amazing they should be able to pull off a reasonable score on the MCAT. The MCAT is not an overly challenging exam and a future physician should have the capacity (ie. after they've studied their hardest) to get at least 26 or higher. If I knew my doctor got less than a 26 on the MCAT I would find a new doctor.

I don't care if the MCAT tests the physical sciences and verbal reasoning in a way that you will likely never see later on in your medical career. The idea is to determine if you have the ability to think in a certain manner that has been proven to have a correlation to future success as a physician.

 

[CDI]

The idea is to determine if you have the ability to think in a certain manner that has been proven to have a correlation to future success as a physician.

Wrong.

That would be the USMLEs.

 

[gettheleadout]

Endless cynicism and negativity in this thread.

 

[mspeedwagon]

Thanks for the good laugh.

One of the most famous cancer doctors (now an attending physician at Stanford) scored a 19 on the MCAT (she talks about it a lot). She founded a new treatment for pediatric sarcomas and is world renowned in the world of pediatric oncology.

Do you want to phone her up and tell her that since she got a 19 on the MCAT (and ended up getting an MD in North America) that she is not cut out to be a doctor. There would be a lot of kids dying from a sarcoma sub-type right now if every one had that attitude.

The MCAT is only a tool to filter out applicants. If you don't believe me, go up to current physicians and ask them to solve some MCAT physics and o-chem questions. You will never see most of the MCAT material again once you get into med school.

There are some wonderful doctors out there with sub-26 MCAT scores and I'm glad I have had an opportunity to work with some of them during my time working at the Harvard and Stanford affiliated hospitals.

This is ridiculous. The MCAT is a standardized test that is meant to filter out those that aren't cut out to be doctors. It tests if you are able to learn quick enough to get through the rigors of medical school. If you can't even pull a 26 on the MCAT (which could get you into a top 4 Caribbean medical school) then you're not cut out or not ready to be a doctor.

 

[docksan]

If those candidates are so amazing they should be able to pull off a reasonable score on the MCAT. The MCAT is not an overly challenging exam and a future physician should have the capacity (ie. after they've studied their hardest) to get at least 26 or higher. If I knew my doctor got less than a 26 on the MCAT I would find a new doctor.

I don't care if the MCAT tests the physical sciences and verbal reasoning in a way that you will likely never see later on in your medical career. The idea is to determine if you have the ability to think in a certain manner that has been proven to have a correlation to future success as a physician.

And it had nothing to do with MCAT and everything to do with the person.

Quit acting like such an elitist.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[UniBoy4]

Thanks for the good laugh.

One of the most famous cancer doctors (now an attending physician at Stanford) scored a 19 on the MCAT (she talks about it a lot). She founded a new treatment for pediatric sarcomas and is world renowned in the world of pediatric oncology.

Do you want to phone her up and tell her that since she got a 19 on the MCAT (and ended up getting an MD in North America) that she is not cut out to be a doctor. There would be a lot of kids dying from a sarcoma sub-type right now if every one had that attitude.

What school accepted her?

Also, you will always find the rare exception of a person that could not perform well on the MCAT and ends up doing well as a physician. Just as you would find that rare exception to a lot of things. The question is, how would adcoms know if that applicant with a 19 on their MCAT would be suitable to practice medicine, let alone become one of the most famous cancer doctors? What if that 19 MCAT applicant is accepted and harms patients because they lack basic aptitude?

 

[gettheleadout]

About the MCAT, let's not over-complicate the issue here. It's reasonable to assume that the students with the greatest net sum of intelligence/talent/whatever and work ethic will perform the highest on the exam, is it not?

I'm much more comfortable picking from among applicants with a relatively high net sum of those factors to go into an intellectually demanding career (both in study and practice), than not factoring it in at all. The MCAT doesn't have to be a perfect, or even good measure of that to function usefully.

 

[mspeedwagon]

She went to a UC (Davis)... remember she's in her late 40s/early 50s now. What I'm telling you is it's not rare. I know a lot of sub-26 cancer doctors that are at Dana-Farber and Stanford... also know several at MSK, MD Anderson and several other top cancer hospitals... obviously, I'm only aware of those that shared what they got on the MCAT... some how they all seem to remember, especially those with lower MCAT scores and the low MCAT folks are happy to talk about how they score low on the MCAT and made a come back to score high on Step 1... one even scoring in the 270s after a sub-25 MCAT (I have only worked with cancer doctors... I'm not implying cancer docs have lower MCAT scores... just for the record).

The MCAT has NO correlation AT ALL with how good a physician you will become. The only correlation is to how well you'll do on Step 1 (and surprise, surprise, step 1 doesn't correlate much with clinical medicine... it tests your knowledge of basic sciences). Also, the correlation between MCAT and Step 1 is far from perfect. The MCAT absolutely and definitively ONLY tests ONE thing AND that is HOW WELL YOU CAN DO ON THE MCAT.

It's like looking at an LSAT score and trying to correlate it with whether you'll be a good doctor (again no correlation between the LSAT and whether you'll be a good doctor or lawyer for that matter (its supposed intent)). The likelihood of someone with a 19 and a 39 hurting their patients is the same (incompetent people will be incompetent no matter how well they do on the MCAT). Whether or not they can recall that an SN2 reaction takes place in aprotic solvents probably won't make them an amazing physician all of a sudden.

The exam that would prove whether or not you are competent as a physician is the board exam. If you are board certified then you are more likely to be a good doctor in that specialty. That's why if you ever look at various hospital websites, they will always say to ensure that your physician is board certified in that specialty and not to ensure your doctor scored above 30 on the MCAT.

Thanks to good old Moss, we are all stuck with the MCAT. Take the Moss Test (what the MCAT was called originally) for fun if you locate it (I can't seem to). Back in the day the topics tested included visual memory, memory for content, scientific vocabulary, scientific definitions, understanding of printed material, premedical information, and logical reasoning and surprise, surprise it was criticized at the time for testing only memorization ability and thus only readiness for the first two years of medical school and showed no correlation to whether or not you'd become a competent doctor. Continuation of a 1920s argument here.

Finally look for the signature of Berkeley Review Teacher (someone who did well on the MCAT) and see what type of people he/she thinks become good doctors.

What school accepted her?

Also, you will always find the rare exception of a person that could not perform well on the MCAT and ends up doing well as a physician. Just as you would find that rare exception to a lot of things. The question is, how would adcoms know if that applicant with a 19 on their MCAT would be suitable to practice medicine, let alone become one of the most famous cancer doctors? What if that 19 MCAT applicant is accepted and harms patients because they lack basic aptitude?

 

[mcgst9]

What school accepted her?

Also, you will always find the rare exception of a person that could not perform well on the MCAT and ends up doing well as a physician. Just as you would find that rare exception to a lot of things. The question is, how would adcoms know if that applicant with a 19 on their MCAT would be suitable to practice medicine, let alone become one of the most famous cancer doctors? What if that 19 MCAT applicant is accepted and harms patients because they lack basic aptitude?

You don't seem to understand how medical school works.

You take boards that allow you to apply for a residency of your choosing. If you are stupid, you will NOT be accepted into a residency. This is nothing more than a filtering method of deterring people from becoming doctors. You don't need any of your undergrad to be a doctor. None of it. If you learned something in undergrad that DOES pertain to the medical field, you will be learning it again in medical school.

It's a time sink. Nothing more.

If you read ANY MCAT prep book, they will tell you that the verbal reasoning is the complete opposite of what you will be doing in medical school. You do not skim potentially important information, nor do you leave things up to the way someone talks about something.

 

[mspeedwagon]

👍

Also, for many years it was the verbal section that correlated the most to how well you'd do in med school (the section with no science at all). Then they re-designed the biological sciences section to make it more verbal reasoning like (and now the BS section correlates best).

I wish I could find samples of the Moss test (I'd love to take it). If any one knows where I can find sample questions... seems like a fun post MCAT exercise.

Btw, here is the signature of BerkeleyReviewTeach that I referenced in my post above:
"Some of the most amazing doctors I know, the ones who've started clinics for the underserved and reached out from their hearts to help others, didn't do all that well on the MCAT. Maybe because they had to work so hard to become a doctor, they work that much harder as a doctor."

You don't seem to understand how medical school works.

You take boards that allow you to apply for a residency of your choosing. If you are stupid, you will NOT be accepted into a residency. This is nothing more than a filtering method of deterring people from becoming doctors. You don't need any of your undergrad to be a doctor. None of it. If you learned something in undergrad that DOES pertain to the medical field, you will be learning it again in medical school.

It's a time sink. Nothing more.

If you read ANY MCAT prep book, they will tell you that the verbal reasoning is the complete opposite of what you will be doing in medical school. You do not skim potentially important information, nor do you leave things up to the way someone talks about something.

 

[starfar]

I disagree completely. I would rather have the doctor who can answer if my finger is broken instead of the one who can answer "Two trains leave a station in opposite directions; if one train is going 25 mph and the other is going 35 mph. What is the capital of Kentucky?"

funniest thing I've read on SDN today! Perfect MCAT logic!!

OncoMD, I want to marry you too😍
Who knew such wisdom existed on SDN!

 

[AlabamaPop]

😍... OncoMD... Will you marry me?

OncoMD, I want to marry you too😍
Who knew such wisdom existed on SDN!

Sorry guys, I wanna kill most of the premeds I meet, so I rather marry someone from a different field who won't drive me to throw myself off a bridge.

 

[Mornhavon]

.

 

[valkener]

The bottom line is, don't go off-shore!

 

[Columbia09]

I have to agree with OP on this one. It seems pretty sketchy that they don't require an MCAT or a full Bachelor's degree to matriculate. Do you really believe someone with a low GPA and no MCAT deserves to get into medical school? These days getting into medical school seems much easier than getting into a Masters program, which shouldn't be the case.

It depends. I would think getting into a Harvard masters or P.h.D program is harder than getting into a D.O school.

 

[DrBumblebee]

It depends. I would think getting into a Harvard masters or P.h.D program is harder than getting into a D.O school.

DO schools ask you to take MCAT exam whereas MS/PhD programs ask GRE/GMAT (and TOEFL if you're an international student.) They're totally different exams.

It's really interesting that you compare apples with oranges, and tell that one of them is harder to eat than the other.

P.S.: And unfortunately, it's always been harder (and will be much harder as time passes) to get an acceptance from a US medical school, whether MD or DO.

 

[Columbia09]

DO schools ask you to take MCAT exam whereas MS/PhD programs ask GRE/GMAT (and TOEFL if you're an international student.) They're totally different exams.

It's really interesting that you compare apples with oranges, and tell that one of them is harder to eat than the other.

P.S.: And unfortunately, it's always been harder (and will be much harder as time passes) to get an acceptance from a US medical school, whether MD or DO.

No kidding they're different. But the newer D.O schools average in the 23 - 24 range on the MCAT. I don't know how the GRE is scored but one would probably need to get a near perfect score for Harvard which might be harder than a 23 on the MCAT.