Will this look bad?

[BigBlueBear]

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I have a friend (currently a senior in high school) that is going to go the pre-med route. He's a sciency person and sucks at the new fluffy stuff that will be on the 2015 MCAT. As a result, he plans on taking the MCAT the summer after his freshman year so he can still get in the 2014 test.

However, when he applies, will adcoms see this as an obvious attempt to get out of the new MCAT?

 

[ShenanigansMD]

After two semesters of undergrad how would he expect to do well on the MCAT? That's a lot of pre-reqs in a short amount of time.

 

[def1]

seems like a really dumb idea

 

[lobo.solo]

seems like a really dumb idea

Yeah!!

 

[BigBlueBear]

Well he'll have 2 Gen Chems, 2 OChems, 2 Physics, and 2 Biologies done by then. I don't think he really needs anymore prereqs.

Can you guys elaborate on why you think it's dumb please? Any specific reasons?

 

[Lys Ile Glu Leu]

Medicine is more than science. That "fluffy stuff" is a significant part of medicine as well. Perhaps medical practice isn't the best career goal for him. Think of it this way: the MCAT is being remodeled to reflect the current values in medicine, e.g., the biopsychosocial model of human health. Rushing the MCAT is generally not a great plan, and if he intends to do that, then he needs an explanation prepared as to why he did so that excludes his avoiding becoming adept at the non "sciency" topics that are now considered important to medical practice. I hope I don't sound too much like a douche. If so, apologies.

Sent from my SGH-T769

 

[Microglia]

Well he'll have 2 Gen Chems, 2 OChems, 2 Physics, and 2 Biologies done by then. I don't think he really needs anymore prereqs.

Can you guys elaborate on why you think it's dumb please? Any specific reasons?

If they have all the prereq's, I think they could get away with it. During interviews they could simply say that they wanted to take it while the prereq's were still fresh, and that they didn't want to risk being the guinea pig for the new test (which is the truth haha).

I have no idea how adcoms will deal with having two different MCAT's to take into consideration, however, and whether they will favor one over another. Maybe LizzyM could comment?

 

[pineapplepancakes]

One thing to think about...if he takes it after freshman year and wants to take a gap year and/or needs to reapply, he could get close to the expiration date for some schools (I think it's around three years). If worse came to worse, he would have to retake (and it would be the new test anyway ). I haven't read up enough on the new MCAT yet (though I personally will be taking it in 2015), but I can't imagine it will be so different/life-altering that it will affect your friend *that* much in the long run.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Like mentioned above, if I were him I'd be more worried about the expiration than the "fluffy stuff" on the new MCAT. If he takes it the summer after freshman year, he isn't going to give himself any breathing room. There are so many things that can delay graduation or applying to medical school such as an illness, death in the family, financial crises, car accident, study abroad, etc.

He's going to have to deal with the "fluffy stuff" on boards down the road anyway, he might as well learn to adapt to it now. There will be resources to guide his study and as others have mentioned, medicine isn't as "sciencey" as we'd all like it to be sometimes. There are so many other factors that come into play when dealing with people, which is the whole reason for the new test format (whether it will actually work how the test makers want it to or not is another issue).