I wanted to dispel a myth about the MCAT and upper level courses. While I am absolutely certain more coursework is helpful on the MCAT, especially for the Biology portion of the Biological Sciences section, I really didn't find much of an impediment in taking the test with only Bio 1+2, Phys 1+2, Chem 1+2, and Orgo 1+2. I am a non-traditional applicant and don't have the time or money to take the upper levels (although I am going through Netter's anatomy and a biochem book in preparation for med school).
To be fair, I did NOT learn the MCAT material as in-depth as I needed in my pre-reqs yet merely reviewing my MCAT materials closely was more than enough preparation to do well on those sections (e.g. double digits). The only science-related MCAT quagmire was a convoluted passage that threw a vast majority of SDN folks. I think the scale ultimately took that hellacious passage into account. Having taken or even received a PhD in biochem or A&P would have not have been helpful in that instance. Finally, although I wish I had the time/money to afford to take more classes, the pre-med pre-reqs are already at least 32 credits and closer to 40 credits at a place like Hunter College. If you start taking Biochem, Anatomy, etc, you're talking about 50-60 credits. That's 2 years of courses and unless you are a science major you'll have trouble finding time to complete all of those courses in addition to your other major, depth, and breadth requirements. It seems like in 2015 with the additional requirements the MCAT test-makers will be putting a further squeeze on humanities and social science majors. This is even more unfortunate because half of all applicants get in nowhere rendering that pre-med major (which is NOT a major, just a group of courses) an utter waste.
