Just for clarity:
1) I never claimed that those who didnt do well on the MCAT wont or cant do well in med school or on the boards. What the studies seem to indicate is that those who did WELL on the MCAT also tended to do well on the boards. There are people in my class who have a higher GPA than I do and I significantly outscored them on the MCAT.
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2)
As for the paper you posted I used it as an example to show that .69 R values is not a good indicator I really dont understand how you can post a link to that paper and in the same sentence say the MCAT is a good indicator.
I was only quoting what those particular studies said. I didnt find a single study where the researchers claimed that the MCAT was
NOT a good indicator, as you claim. Maybe there is a difference in what is a good correlation for your PSA example (and similar scientific experiments) as opposed to standardized test correlations. Just guessing though. Here is what I was quoting from my first set of links (the underlining is mine):
The results confirm previous findings that
increased risk of academic difficulty is associated with low MCAT scores, low science GPA
(Huff KL; Fang D Section for the Medical College Admission Test, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, D.C., USA.)
RESULTS: The
MCAT score was a strong predictor of medical school performances (Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Acad Med 1997 Sep;72(9):781-6)
And the absolute most important of them all:
Although undergraduate GPAs and MCAT scores are good indicators of NBME I performance, they are
not useful in predicting clinical performance. (Silver B; Hodgson CS University of California, School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90095-1722, USA. Acad Med 1997 May;72(5):394-6)
I think we should all focus on that one
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As for the correlation and causation, you are right; that was a bad example and really didnt apply here. What I was trying to say was that, for example, I could show a correlation between those who eat meat and lung cancer, but that wouldnt necessarily mean that eating meat causes lung cancer.
I too wasnt trying to start an argument. It's hard to communicate with text sometimes because you don't get the facial expressions and voice inflections you would face to face so it's easy to read something in a way that wasn't intended. I just get tired of putting these little smiley faces all the time to show that I'm not mad
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I think its pretty safe to say that getting into medical school was the hardest thing about medical school. The schools will try very, very hard to make sure you dont flunk out. I dont think osteopathic schools look as closely at the MCAT as the allopathic schools anyway, which is really the whole point of this thread. I agree that as long as a person shows reasonable intelligence so they can pass the classes, the single most important trait for prospective doctors is compassion and personality. I dont know how else a school admissions board would gage reasonable intelligence other than the standardized test though.
