With the new MCAT including a psychology/sociology section, is it required that one take psychology and sociology introduction courses before applying (by the end of junior year basically)? By required I mean - even if it doesn’t strictly say it’s a requirement on a particular medical school’s admissions page, you have to have these courses on your transcript if you want to have a decent chance of getting admitted.
Thanks! Really confused about what these changes mean.
Depends on whether you are just starting out or finished second year. MCAT 2015 requires you to know the subjects but AAMCAS has not mandated the courses yet for applying to med schools. It is only a matter of time.
@texaspg I’m about to start sophomore year! I’m concerned I won’t be able to fit psych and sociology into my schedule along with a computer science major. But you’re saying they will soon make psychology and sociology prerequisites so I should just take them to be safe?
Yes and no. There has been never a requirement for a student to take a specific class in order to take the MCAT test. One could prepare for the test without completing all the credits mandated to enter medical school based on their own knowledge and preparation for the test itself. On the other hand, you will most likely be expected to have taken those classes by graduation time at least by some schools by the time you graduate in 3 years.
I strongly suggest that you take a look at the admission requirements for the specific schools you’re interested in applying to. Some med schools have already added sociology and/or psychology to their admission requirements. (For example, Indiana and Duke now require psych and soc. So do Harvard and JHU, though the latter don’t specify the exact courses–just “social sciences”.)
I expect the answer is it depends on med school, but assuming a med school does not currently require sociology and psychology, do you think med schools would tend to give some advanced notification of adding these courses as reqs (eg a couple of years)?
IMHO if MCAT requires these subjects, it would be prudent to take those subject classes to broaden your knowledge so you can get higher score in the test.
Since MCAT has changed, there is a good possibility that AMCAS will make one class in psychology and one class in sociology mandatory for next application cycle (2016-17). Biochem will most likely be added to that list. I expect the requirement to be fully in place by the time OP applies two years from now at the end of junior year.
There are many ways to prepare for the MCAT. If you don’t have time to take a formal class, you can always self study using books, internet or some combination. Psy, and Soc are not that difficult, so you have more flexibility. If you need structure, you might consider auditing a class.
There is no way to know for sure what the class requirements will be at the schools you wish to apply to when you are ready to apply. You will want to keep an eye on the MSAR:
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/msar/
The latest edition of the MSAR will have current course requirements at each medical school.
Best of luck.