Stupid question that had to be asked....

[JHUT]

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I think I already know the answer, but......

Are there any medical schools in the USA which no not absolutely require the MCAT for admission? Are there any exceptions?

I'm a non-traditional student with the prereq's, and a decent GPA, I've been out of undergrad so long that I just cannot bear the thought of diving back into O-chem, etc.


Thanks in advance.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I've been out of undergrad so long that I just cannot bear the thought of diving back into O-chem, etc.

I hate to point out the obvious, but can you bear the thought of diving back into studying, period? MCAT is nothing compared to, say second year, or boards.

To answer your question, the only cases I know of that don't require the MCAT are the accepted-from-high-school programs where you are already in as long as you maintain a minimum college GPA. I would consult the MSAR for sure, though. It is extremely unlikely that you will be admitted without the MCAT.

The MCAT isn't just about assessing your science ability, but about seeing who handles the pressure of a standardized test and who is motivated enough to stick with the preparation. Also, medical schools don't know the caliber of your undergraduate preparation, so the MCAT is a way to standardize it.

Good luck.

 

[jonb12997]

O-chem (and other pre-reqs) are pretty easy when you start thinking about anatomy... work hard now and use it to get back into the swing of things before you get into the med school! Best of luck

 

[mikegoal]

as of a couple of years ago i believe that hopkins did not require the MCAT not sure if that is still true

 

[efex101]

mcat is now required at hopkins...check msar.

 

[Lebesgue]

I wouldn't want to go to a school that didn't require the MCAT. There have to be some baseline standards. I was non-trad, applied to school at 31, took a prep course for the MCAT and did fine (highly recommended for their practice exams). I'm now in my second year of med school.

I would agree with the previous poster that if you can't hack getting back into O-chem, med school is not for you...

Just accept it as the price of doing business and get it over with.

Good luck.

 

[MeowMix]

I agree with the others, the MCAT is a great test of your willingness to persevere in order to be a doctor. It is really minimal compared to what you will experience even in the first few months of med school.

If you can't bear to go back to organic, you will be miserable when you are sitting in class with a dreadful lecturer learning obscure details of the secretory pathway, while worrying about the myriad obscure details of histology and anatomy that you don't know yet for tomorrow's test.

I would rather take 10 MCATs than first-semester biochem.

 

[johnhobbes]

I'll start off by agreeing with everyone here that the MCAT's are basically unavoidable. However, I totally disagree with most of the opinions expressed thus far that the MCAT's were by far better or easier than med school.

I HATED the MCAT's & all the prep that went into taking it!!! I would never in a million years want to go through it again. So much went into taking that one dumb ass test. That's true of pretty much every standardized test I ever took though...& I hated all of them. But the MCAT was the worst & came with the most pressure. Any situation where I've felt like my future was riding on just one thing...instead of the whole of my actions & accomplishments...is terrifying to me. And that's largely the way the MCAT is portrayed.

Now, I have felt a lot of pressures thus far into med school, but I cannot honestly say any of it has compared to the day of my MCAT. I'm fine with people disagreeing with that. I have a lot of friends who just find standardized exams low pressure...even fun (gasp!). However, I have to laugh to hear that some people out there actually found O. chem, that's ORGANIC CHEMISTRY of all things!!!, less tedious than anatomy or histology. Nothing in my life was more horrendous than organic chemistry & the 4 hour lab that came with it (spit, cough, gag). Of course I "appreciated" it on a number of levels, but I truly hated studying it. At least the minutiae of anatomy & histology are less abstract than that of O. chem. I'll take anatomy & histology 10 times out of 10 over O.chem.

Same goes for biochem. Yes, it's fast paced in med school, but it definitely beat my undergrad experience of it. At least the med school exam was MCQ; in undergrad it was ALL ESSAYS! Plus, we've all had it before by the time we're in med school (or should have).

Obviously, some of this depends on where one went for undergrad, but unless somebody was an English major or something prior to med school, I can't see how med school can be seen as SO MUCH WORSE than undergrad. It's all relative. Looking back, undergrad courses seem like cake, but at the time they provided plenty of challenge (at least when combined with all the other classes & extracurriculars undergrads have competing for their attention). Sure, I have to study a lot more now than I did in undergrad, but at least now I'm not constantly switching gears between classes like I had to in undergrad.

Bottom line, the MCAT is a nasty but necessary hoop to jump through. But don't be intimidated by people telling you that if you think the MCAT is a bitch, med school will swallow you whole. Count me as at least one person who found the MCAT (& O.Chem for that matter) far more stressful & tedious than med school itself.

good luck

 

[Gene Queen]

I agree with the last poster; the MCAT sucked and was torture to study for (especially when you are 2 years out of undergrad, like I was)... med school topics are WAY more interesting and therefore not nearly as onerous.

To the original poster: looks like you have to write the MCAT if you want to go to med school... it's gonna suck, but if you want to be a doctor, it will be worth it.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

as of a couple of years ago i believe that hopkins did not require the MCAT not sure if that is still true

It's not true as of a couple of years ago, but I can't vouch beyond that.

johnhobbes, I don't know that anyone is saying that med school is worse than undergrad, just that it's a lot more work. I love med school because the material is so fascinating, but I'm studying a lot more now than I did for the MCAT. We're just pointing out that the MCAT is the tip of the iceburg in terms of studying, and the OP should be aware of this.

 

[AlexRusso]

But the MCAT was the worst & came with the most pressure. Any situation where I've felt like my future was riding on just one thing...instead of the whole of my actions & accomplishments...is terrifying to me. And that's largely the way the MCAT is portrayed.

If you thought your whole future was riding on the MCAT you jsut wait till Step 1.

1) At least with the MCAT if you don't do so well you can take it again and again. If you don't do so well on the Step 1 but manage to pass you're stuck with that score.
2) The amount of material on the MCAT pales in comparisson to what is expected on Step 1.
3) Failing the Step 1 puts you at a major disadvantage with regards to residency, not even mentioning the fact that you now have to take time off of your clinical years to study and retake the exam. No such thing as failing the MCAT. You do poorly you just take it again.
4) You can cancel your score if you really think you screwed up the MCAT and nobody will ever know you even took it. Not so for the Step 1.

There are plenty of other reasons...

Step 1 was waaaaay more stresful than then MCATS. You future really IS riding on those 8 hours.

 

[JHUT]

Thank you all for the response. Alllow me to explain a little more...

I have already taken graduate level biochem, anatomy, histology. I guess I just viewed the MCAT as a backwards step which was discouraging. Also, I'm not sure if after a decade, I could remember anything from undergrad chemistry.

What does it take to prepare for the MCAT? I just spoke with someone who graduated undergrad in 1996 and read a review book for 4 weeks and did well- this seems unbelievable to me!

Thanks again.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Thank you all for the response. Alllow me to explain a little more...

I have already taken graduate level biochem, anatomy, histology. I guess I just viewed the MCAT as a backwards step which was discouraging. Also, I'm not sure if after a decade, I could remember anything from undergrad chemistry.

What does it take to prepare for the MCAT? I just spoke with someone who graduated undergrad in 1996 and read a review book for 4 weeks and did well- this seems unbelievable to me!

Thanks again.

You will probably need little prep for the bio portion, but you need to show your ability to reason verbally and in the physical sciences, so I don't think any med school would let you skip the MCAT based on the graduate work you have.

4 weeks seems reasonable if it's full-time. I spread my studying out over many months b/c I was working full time and planning my wedding.

 

[patzan]

Vanderbilt undergrads can apply as sophomores. Those accepted don't have to take the MCAT. There are usually about 5 acceptances through this program per year.

 

[HiddenTruth]

i am not totally sure, but i think darthmouth does not REQUIRE the MCAT, however, i am pretty sure you will be at a significant disadvnatage when competing against others.

Plus, usually people apply to many medical schools to increase their acceptance chance, and 99% (if not more) do require them. Sorry dude.

HT

 

[VienneseWaltz]

You may want to consider taking an MCAT course or an organic chem review course. Because you have already taken o-chem, you may find that all you need is a review of organic chem. Kaplan has the organic chem review course as well as the MCAT prep course. There are other prep courses out there for the MCAT.

These courses are expensive. But, many people have found it to be helpful. The expense seems to be worth the piece of mind. I know it was for me.

If you're a self-starter, you might want to buy the Kaplan books. Same info, much cheaper. You can also buy practice exams (extremely high-yield study method) from the AAMC.

 

[johnhobbes]

VienneseWaltz, thanks for the clarification & you make a good point. There is a lot more studying to be done in medical school than undergrad & one has to be prepared to dive in and do it...pretty much for the rest of their lives in this field. JHUt also makes good point. It's not so much the studying as the having to go back & revisit old territory again that's bothering him. That would be frustrating, especially considering a good deal of that material won't be all that important in the day to day life of a med student. Sure, I'm probably taking a lot of it for granted now that I've learned it, but it's really just the major science concepts that are needed to understand what is taught in med school - not all the little details that are likely to come up in the MCAT.

The good news is, if you can get past studying for the MCAT, I think you'll enjoy studying in med school a lot better. But again, as somebody already pointed out, the boards are still out there to kick your butt some more. At least you won't have to feel like you're taking a step backward when they come, however, & the steady studying of your first 2 years should prepare you for them.

Studying for any exam that covers all the ground that the MCAT or USMLE do is just going to flat out suck, end of story. The idea behind them is just that you've learned what you should have from your previous courses & years of study. With that in mind, one would think they shouldn't have to study for them. If you passed all your classes & your curriculum was decent, you should be able to pass a little standardized test just to satisfy the admissions committee or licensing suits that you actually learned what you were supposed to right?! Nevertheless, we all cram...some just to pass & some to get into the most competitive programs. I hate that fact, because it just seems to me that if a standardized exam was assessing what it claims to assess, you wouldn't have to cram for it. In fact, a good school should be able to say to all of its students that they won't need to study to pass the USMLE when the time comes. The previous years of study will speak for themselves. Strangely, this is almost never the case. We all panic and cram our butts off. What's the point of that?? Sad thing is, it's what works if you want to score well. Even more sad, pimp an attending clinician who is at least a handful of years out from their boards on board-style questions. They won't do so hot...especially on questions outside their specialty. I'll admit I'm cynical, but I think the only thing that makes the title of licensed MD so prestigious is all the hoops one must jump through to attain it. That and the whole saving lives thing!

 

[thackl]

Also, just learning the material is not enough. That will get you a 25 or so. The MCAT is a major reading test. Just having a good strategy and learning how to take the test goes a long way. Take practice tests (full length). Plus, the level and type of info you needed for your your coursework and that needed for the MCAT are completely different. MCAT science not equall to real science.

It may be a step in the 'wrong' direction with regard to you current coursework and the specific material certainly will be off little help to you in med school........ it's just something we all have to go thru for now. If it makes you feel any better, I was 10yrs out of phyics/g-chem when I took it.