I have been surprised by the number of people in DO school interviews who claim that they have been asked about their MCAT. But, however, I don't doubt it happened. I put it in LECOM because a few years ago I was also asked about my MCAT.
We all know how we feel about the MCAT. Here is a bit of humor about a fictitous pre-med who just snapped after being asked about the MCAT score in one too many interviews:
Interviewer: What was your MCAT score?
Applicant: Uh, Uh, you didn't even ask my name yet?
Interviewer: Okay, what is your name and your MCAT score but tell me your MCAT score first?
Applicant: My MCAT score was a 20. But, you didn't want to know my name did you? So what now? Is the interview over?
Interviewer: No, of course not, now tell us about yourself starting with your name.
Applicant: My name is Ed and I cannot do the MCAT. I have taken the MCAT seven times. I don't know WHY I can't do the MCAT. I've done everything right. I took AP Chemistry and Physics. I graduated from Harvard with a degree in molecular biology. I have done research
at Johns Hopkins for seven years while I applied to medical school and re-took the MCAT.
Interviewer: Well, it seems to me that you should have done better on the MCAT than that. Your score is just too low for acceptance at most schools. What do you plan to do to improve your application?
Applicant: I am working on winning the nobel prize.
Interviewer: No, I meant what are you going to do to improve your MCAT score.
Applicant: Don't you want to know how I am going to win the nobel prize?
Interviewer: I would like to ask you about that some other time but the nobel prize is not in our ad-coms formula for admission to medical school. So I have to stick to the format. Let's go back to the MCAT.
Applicant: Well, I don't have anything else to say about the MCAT. I can't do the MCAT.
Interviewer: Okay, Do you have any questions for us?
Applicant: Yes, this is a DO school. I thought that my application was supposed to be considered on a wholistic basis just like your philosophy of medicine that a person is not just a bunch of parts. A person is a whole human being. Isn't this why I am interviewing here instead of Johns Hopkins besides the fact that I can't do the MCAT?
Interviewer: I think that I should stop you for a minute. Of course, the DO patient is treated as a whole human being. We are happy that you have read about osteopathic medicine so let's get back to the MCAT.
Applicant: Why can't you tell me whether I am going to be treated like a whole human being? Why do we have to talk about the MCAT?
Interviewer: I can see that your problem is that you just don't recognize the importance of the MCAT. If you did, you would have done something about it. So I would not be surprised, if we couldn't accept you.
Applicant: Of course, I know the importance of the MCAT. Everybody does. Ever since I became a pre-med, I am asked about the MCAT. I went to the post office to mail a letter. The clerk asked me my MCAT and when I said that it was a 20, she wouldn't let me buy a stamp.
Interviewer: Well obviously, even strangers have tried to help you understand how important the MCAT is.
Applicant: I can't take any more. Doesn't anybody know that the MCAT is the leading cause of depression and suicide among pre-med students?
Interviewer: We haven't heard of any suicides among pre-meds.
Applicant: Of course not, you never knew they were pre-meds. They couldn't cry out for help because they couldn't admit that they were pre-meds who couldn't do the MCAT.
Interviewer: Well Ed, I would recommend that you enter yourself into counseling so that you can learn to accept that you are just not cut out to be a doctor as proven by your MCAT score. That should help you avoid depression.
Applicant: But what about my twelve published research papers proving that nitric oxide, chemical formula NO, is the key to the fountain of youth?
Interviewer: How did you know that?
Applicant: Because viagara is a nitric oxide uptake inhibitor. It takes something old and withered and rejuvenates it.
Interviewer: So Ed, you proved that nitric oxide can rejuvenate ANYTHING??? old and withered? Uh, how does that work? Uh, no, let's get back to the MCAT.
Ed, who had never ever been violent or aggressive, snapped. He grabbed the fire hose from the wall mount and flooded the building. Nobody was hurt but all interviews were cancelled for the two weeks that it took everything to dry out.