<p>I have heard from multiple sources that the MCAT will be changing in the year 2015. I have heard that the new MCAT is designed so that the test will be hard to pass if you are not a science major. My question is if anyone else has heard about the change or knows what the new MCAT will cover.</p>
<p>From what I understand, the updates to the MCAT are supposed to have less direct science and focus more on scientific reasoning. Its also supposed to have sections devoted to ethics, sociology, and other such humanitarian aspects of medicine. So if anything, it will become more friendly to us philosophy majors :)</p>
<p>It would be pretty foolish to make a test designed for science majors - thats just not going to happen.</p>
<p>If there is going to be a section devoted to ethics, then how are they going to grade it. It is a little contradictory to have a test based more on scientific reasoning when ethics cannot be measured or tested with scientific reasoning.</p>
<p>I always thought the MCAT was to see if you had the logos for medical school, and the interviews were more for the ethos needed in medical school.</p>
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<p>Easy - they’ll use multiple choice questions just like the rest of the test. The USMLE has questions on ethics-type situations.</p>
<p>Although, I just found the actual press release, and the actual language they use is " test of the behavioral and social sciences concepts that lay the foundation for medical students’ learning about the human and social issues of medicine" and " test the way examinees reason through passages in ethics and philosophy, cross-cultural studies, population health, and other subjects".</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/2011/182652/110331.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/2011/182652/110331.html</a></p>
<p>I think that the new MCAT might encourage/force students to take a couple of gap years by adding extra topics in science and humanity. Current freshmen may not have the flexibility of fooling around if it indeed pans out.</p>
<p>I meant more along the lines on how ethics are graded considering their is more then one right answer depending on a person’s particular ethical beliefs. Of course the MCAT makers may want answers that fit their views.</p>
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<p>No offense, but you obviously don’t know much about ethics, medical or otherwise. Suffice it to say, there are well established principles of medical ethics, and the AAMC is obviously confident that they can test these principles in a way appropriate to a pre-medical audience.</p>
<p>“You’re visiting your elderly grandmother in the ICU. She’s on a morphine drip to manage pain. She asks you to administer a fatal dose of morphine because she just can’t take it any more. You’re not her doctor. What do you do?”</p>
<p>“You’re the only attending working the night shift at a rural ER. You have a resident, an intern, and an M3 working with you tonight. A woman comes in having suffered many injuries from a motor vehicle accident. You smell alcohol on her breath. You know her from the community and know she has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, something you don’t approve of and have counseled her against for years. You can send her to the next town away–but that’s an ambulance ride of over an hour. What do you do?”</p>
<p>“Your neighbor, who is not one of your patients but is the patient of a colleague, asks you to look up the results from his recent PSA. He doesn’t want to have to wait another week for his return to clinic appointment. As a physician, you have access to the hospital’s EMR system. What do you do?”</p>
<p>“A child you’re seeing in your psychiatric clinic admits to a history of abuse from a teacher at his school. The teacher is still employed by the district. You believe this information to be truthful. He asks you not to tell anyone. What do you do?”</p>
<p>Seem like feasible questions with a definite and measurable answer to me.</p>
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I just wanted to share that I learned about this at work (camp councilor) and the answer is that if you are being paid you are therefore a mandated reporter and must report this, since this is an actual law and HIPPAA is not. Now I feel smarter :)</p>
<p>p.s. really good questions</p>
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<p>How is HIPAA not a law? It was a bill passed by congress and signed by the president and is enforceable with civil and criminal penalties.</p>
<p>And I’m not sure who told you about the other thing, but being paid generally has nothing to do with it. A doctor volunteering at a free clinic (or a volunteer reserve police officer, or any number of other professionals who can volunteer their time) is still a mandated reporter.</p>
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<p>Not likely, for the vast majority of science majors. The ones truly impacted will be engineering types who have little room in their schedules for anything but Eng. Plus, it is possible that there will only be one net science course added. Biochem could replace the second semester of Orgo, for example. Note, some/many med schools already require hume/lit courses for admission. Johns Hopkins & USC for example, require additional social science/lit courses today. </p>
<p>Of course, additional coursework may limit premeds in double majors and/or minors, however. But then med schools don’t care about doubles/minors.</p>
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<p>At the price of a year of college, that is a GOOD thing. :D</p>