JMU prepared for changes to MCAT
Beginning in 2015, the MCAT will test medical school candidates' knowledge of the behavioral sciences as well as critical thinking skills.
With its strong general education program, its many undergraduate
research opportunities and its extensive programming in health and human
services outreach, James Madison University is well positioned to prepare its
premedical students for the coming changes to the Medical College Admissions
Test.
Beginning in 2015, the MCAT will assess not only candidates’
knowledge of the natural sciences essential to the practice of medicine, but
also the social and psychological foundations of human behavior that affect
health. Aspiring physicians will also be tested on their critical analysis and
reasoning skills.
The changes, the first to the MCAT since 1991, were
developed by an advisory committee that spent three years studying health care
trends in the United States and analyzing 2,700 survey responses from college
and medical-school faculty members, medical residents, students and advisors.
The Association of American Medical Colleges approved the panel’s recommendations
in February.
JMU currently has 1,015 declared premedical students, and
their numbers are growing at a rate faster than the student population at
Madison as a whole. The new exam should help encourage students from diverse academic
tracks to pursue careers in medicine, said Dr. Sharon Babcock, coordinator of
preprofessional health programs. “There have always been psychology majors,
anthropology majors and economics majors who have gone on to medical school,”
she said, “but what this new test will do is really underscore students’
experiences in the behavioral and social sciences in looking at human beings,
both as individuals and in groups, and some of the decisions they make
regarding their health.”
The 2015 launch is designed to give current premedical
students time to broaden their course loads. In addition to the core
requirements for medical school such as cellular and molecular biology, general
and organic chemistry, and physics, pre-med students are now strongly
encouraged to take courses in critical thinking — a section of the new MCAT — psychology
and sociology. Upper-level coursework in biochemistry, genetics, microbiology
and physiology as well as in the behavioral and social sciences is also
recommended.
Babcock, along with Dr. Herb Amato, associate dean of university
studies, have worked with deans and department heads for the past eight months to
ensure that premedical students at JMU, and incoming freshmen in particular,
have timely access to the courses that will best prepare them for the new MCAT.
The most immediate challenge, Amato said, involved opening up more seats in CHEM
131 (General Chemistry I) — the first in a rigorous five-semester sequence of
chemistry courses for pre-med students — in the fall semester and adding
sections of GPHIL 120 (Critical Thinking).
In an email to JMU’s 343 freshmen who have declared
pre-medicine, Babcock stresses the importance of establishing a pattern of
excellence in the classroom as well as in service and leadership. JMU’s
Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services serves as a valuable
resource for pre-med students by connecting them with volunteer and
service-learning opportunities in the surrounding community. Additionally, pre-med
students can benefit from a wealth of collaborative undergraduate research
projects available at JMU.
Admission and progression standards are in place to catch
those second-year pre-med students who either have good grades but need to be
reminded of the value of interning or volunteering in a clinical setting and
developing quality relationships with faculty members, or those students who
are falling behind academically and may need a change in career focus.
Because the medical-school application process generally
requires 12 to 15 months, good academic planning and quality advising are
imperative. Those freshmen who plan to go directly to medical school after
graduation should plan to take the MCAT in the summer following their junior
year. However, Babcock said most candidates — almost 60 percent nationally —
choose to take the test in their senior year or later. “Academic success is
crucial,” she said. “Timing can be flexible.”
JMU’s commitment to undergraduate education is well suited
to the changing needs of the medical profession. “It’s my dream that these
students go off and carry that perspective with them because that’s the basis
for some slow, steady, advancements in medical education,” Babcock said.
For more information on the new MCAT, visit https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/
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By James Heffernan (’96), JMU Public Affairs
