Originally posted by Gbemi24
So it is not possible that students are getting better. 
They are either cheating their way to 3.6 GPAs or beating the system and getting high MCATs. Riiiiiight. Board scores have also significantly increased in the past 20 years and that is why they discontinued showing percentiles in 1999. I guess Med students have found a way to beat the system. I have never understood why past generations find it so hard to give the current generation credit for advancement. Everyone swears that during their time things were tougher. It simply does not stand to reason.
Calm down buddy. You need to read the whole post rather than just the bits you think you can jump on.
I didn't say that it wasn't possible that med students are smarter than 20 years ago, nor did I say that every med student got there by cheating. As a side-note though, med school is not completely immune from cheating (students get kicked out for it every year -- if they're caught). Neither is the process to get to med school. And cheating doesn't have to be having access to test materials before hand. It can be as simple as withholding review materials from your classmates.
By the way, you failed to address the other two possibilities. Grade inflation is rampant at most schools, to the point that an A really isn't worth that much more than a B at many places. This is a trend that has unquestionably increased over the years -- just ask the people teaching the courses!
And "working the system" can be anything from greater access to MCAT prep to crying to professor to give you a higher grade. There are many people who will complain if they get a grade below what they expect. And I think professors are more likely to heed those complaints now than, say, 20 years ago precisely because of the current pressures of grade inflation.
Do more people have access to MCAT prep? Probably. Look at my undergrad school. They found that for many pre-meds, the MCAT was either keeping them from getting into their first choice, or, in some cases, keeping them out of med school altogether. The school soon had an agreement in place with a local test prep center -- they gave our students a big discount on the course, the school made some money available for "financial aid", gave them teaching space, and pretty much guaranteed a full roster of students. Are our applicants doing better on the MCAT -- you bet.
MCAT prep alone probably doens't account for higher MCATs, but students now tend to be better standardized test-takers. Where test-prep was once a luxury of the elite, even middle class parents today wouldn't dream of letting little Johnny apply for college without taking an SAT prep course. Quite simply, the testing agencies aren't really doing much to stay ahead of the prep companies.
So, to wind up my counter-rant, "better" applicants may or may not actually be better applicants than previous generations. You have to be able to look at arguments for both sides. I'm still undecided about whether we are better than previous generations, but I'm not about to pat my fellow pre-meds on the back without looking to see if they actually deserve it.
..I can't believe this thread is still here.
