Nobody on any admissions committee views applicants with such hostility and flippancy. People who interview and participate on the admissions committee are volunteers and aren't implicitly looking for their jobs to be made easier.
What would be your proposed solution or offer to aggrieved applicants? Would it be understanding and empathetic to cancel an entire admissions year and have no class of interns nationwide 4 years from now? The cost of canceling an admissions cycle is far too great and far outweighs the impact (waiting one year at worst) proceeding as usual would have on any individual applicant, or indeed on the applicant pool in toto.
This is an act-of-god type situation. Almost every decision is a lose-lose proposition. Applicants can't expect mammoth institutions, and by extension the entire UME and GME system, to pull the emergency brake because they haven't yet taken the MCAT or had enough volunteer hours restocking gloves in the emergency room. Maybe this post will age like milk in 2 months when the whole admissions cycle is called off, but it doesn't make sense to me at this point.
Agreed! So far, only
@gonnif has speculated that there might not be a class of 2025, and nobody wants that to happen, since it would benefit no one. Others have wished that the MCAT requirement would be waived, but nobody in a position to know has given any indication that this would even be considered, so that seems highly unlikely as well. I also don't think anyone seriously thinks losing a few hours restocking gloves is going to be fatal to an otherwise decent application.
This leaves two less than ideal options. The first is for lost MCAT dates to not be rescheduled in time for an applicant to apply next cycle, possibly reducing the applicant pool by maybe 30%, which might or might not cause schools to accept applicants they never would have considered in prior cycles, depending on what the remaining pool looks like, and then causing the 2021-22 cycle to be absolutely brutal due to the inevitably swelled ranks of that pool. This would also continue for a few years thereafter, as the increased number of unsuccessful applicants subsequently become reapplicants.
The second would be for the back end of the cycle to be extended to accommodate late test takers who take the test on dates to be added once it is safe to do so. This would cause great inconvenience to the schools, as they would be interviewing later in the cycle, causing decisions to be delayed and then bumping up against next year's decision deadlines. Another possibility might be to extend IIs with MCAT scores to follow, at the risk that schools will spend time interviewing people they will later not want based on sub par MCAT scores.
None of the alternatives are ideal, although all of them really are not lose-lose. Any alternative that allows someone who was planning to apply next cycle to do so is a win for the applicants, which in turn becomes a win for the schools.
@emergencydancing is not wrong insofar as the schools will choose the option that is best for them, rather than what is best for applicants. I am optimistic, however, that the schools' self interest will dictate that they make the accommodation to increase the pool, to increase the quality of their class, rather than select from a significantly reduced pool because it is easier, which will not only cause maybe 15,000 people to lose a year (although some would lose it anyway), but then be subjected to abnormally tough competition for years to come (which I guess the schools wouldn't mind so much!).
We'll see soon enough how this is going to play out!!!
🙂
Edit: The following is posted on the AAMC website as of today. It certianly looks like appropriate accommodation will be made to allow people to apply next cycle as planned:
The AAMC and Pearson VUE will provide additional testing opportunities, and we will keep you updated on the availability of new exam dates. Check back here for more information.
Medical schools are aware of changes to the MCAT administration dates, and the AAMC is working with the schools as they begin to prepare for later test score availability for the upcoming application cycle. Please go to
MSAR for school specific policies and deadlines.
