First, the new 2015 MCAT test (https://www.wsj.com/articles/medical-college-entrance-exam-gets-an-overhaul-1429092002), the first major revision in 25 years, is longer (by 3 hours), broader (covering four more subjects), and more interdisciplinary than past versions.
Old >>> New
Total time (including breaks) 4 hr. 10 min. >>> 7 hr. 33 min.
Number of questions 144 >>> 230
Number of sections 3 >>> 4
Suggested prerequisite courses 8 >>> 11
scores range 3-45 >>> 472-528
It seems that Neurosciences is the way to go after 2015 new MCAT. Notice that even Yale created a new neuroscience major (https://news.yale.edu/2017/04/11/yale-college-creates-new-neuroscience-major). I would expect more applicants from Yale in four years considering its expansion of its science programs. The majority of JHU applicants are Neurosciences major also. I don’t think PLME is considered applicants in AAMC data. Including them, Brown has a petty healthy pre-med population. But they are not going to compete with us, so it is the best arrangement.
Ivy League school ___ number of applicants ,% of applicants from class of 2017
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY ---- 424 13.3%
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA ---- 296 12.2%
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA ---- 291 17.5%
Brown University, Providence, RI ---- 232 15%
Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY ---- 205 14.7%
Yale University, New Haven, CT ---- 199 14.7%
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ ---- 157 12.2%
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH ---- 157 14%
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD ---- 401
Duke University, Durham, NC ---- 346
Emory University, Atlanta, GA ---- 380
Stanford University, Stanford, CA ---- 213
Northwestern University-Evanston, Evanston, IL ---- 245
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL ---- 183
University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA ---- 926
University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA ---- 741
Brown has many students at top medical schools – https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/medical-admission-data-snapshot We calculate that someone on the top 30 list of the class can get in a top 20 medial school, not just “a” medical school.