Medical School Admission Requirements: Is Change On The Horizon?

A report released by the Association of American Medical Colleges and The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recommends significant change in the premedical curriculum. Rather than requiring students to take specific courses, the report suggests that students be proficient in a specific set of competencies. While these changes will not happen for a while, the MCAT will also also have to be modified. The AAMC has formed an MCAT review committee and that reevaluation is underway. This MCAT review will be complete in 2012 and the goal is to recommend changes that will make the exam more useful for medical school admissions.

Evaluating The Premedical Curriculum

An article today in the New England Journal of Medicine by Jules N. Dienstag, MD, evaluates the current premedical requirements. These requirements have not changed for decades and the necessity of these courses is being questioned. Do the physics, chemistry, biology and organic chemistry courses that premedical students take help them care for real life patients? The author suggests a more "focused" premedical curriculum with an emphasis on biologically relevant material and more rigorous cross-disciplinary science courses. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute are jointly assessing the premedical curriculum. If these requirements change, the MCAT will also need revision. Click Here to read the article.

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