https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/07/mcat-medical-schools-diversity/
The authors propose de-emphasizing the role of the MCAT in med school admissions to help remove barriers to low SES students.
It’s paywalled.
If the point is that the people who are getting into medical school are not the people the author wants, I would argue to make the changes more directly as opposed to something that might be correlated to what they want.
This deemphasizes the MCAT. If that’s what you want to do, do that. Don’t deempasize it by throwing out most of its information. “It’s imperfect, so let’s make it even worse so nobody will be tempted to use it” is, IMO, a bad idea.
5 Likes
Gift link for the article. Free for anyone who wants to read it.
Authors’ main point is that wealthier applicants are able to access expensive prep materials/tutoring/ prep classes and are able to take months off to study full time for the exam–which gives them a strong advantage over (and higher test scores than) those who cannot afford the same things. This creates an artificial barrier to entry for lower SES applicants.
1 Like
The biggest barrier to medical school for lower income students, in my opinion, is the cost to actually attend medical school. Sure, they can take grad plus loans up to the cost of attendance. But honestly…costs are a barrier to some students who just can’t see past that kind of debt (which would easily be $400,000).
Oh…and it isn’t exactly a bargain to apply to medical school either. Costs for applications and secondaries (which in my opinion are a cash cow for some schools as everyone who applies gets to pay to complete one). And then all the tests that follow.
Are they suggesting making Step 1, 2 and 3 free…or will they just do away with those too? And board exams.
It never ends. And yes, by the time someone becomes an attending physician, the costs aren’t onerous, but there are tons of costs along the way. Tons.
It’s not just the MCAT that makes lower income students think twice about the costs.
3 Likes
There is a growing trend towards abolishing standardized tests. Step 1 of the USMLE is now pass fail. They thought this would relax things and make it easier for students during the match.
But instead the opposite happened. Now program directors rely on Step 2 scores along with med school grades.
Whats stopping the same from happening?
I’m a former barrio kid.
I don’t like that standards are being discussed for “lowered” levels to accommodate me because of who I am and what few things my parents were able to “not provide”.
I struggled a lot to finance and meet my grad school entry requirements, but I worked my A$$ off to get to the same level as all of my colleagues.
I wanted to exceed the requirements and did not want a free pass. Why would I want someone to lower the expectations for my skill level? Doesn’t make ANY sense!
What people don’t understand is that there is always help for us SES kids, if you actually seek it. I had a number of professors who offered help, books, tapes, reviews, etc. Other students offered study sessions. We may not get perfect scores, every time, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t get them. (I did!)
I am speaking for myself, but I don’t think that I am very different from other people of color, who want to, not to just be proficient, but who also want to excel and be the best candidates.
It makes no sense not to set the bar high. I don’t want my physician to be “half competent”.
We (POCs) can, and have done the work.
(Every single colleague of mine, along with physicians, nurses, counselors that I have ever worked with has always mentioned the strength of my skills.)
Edited to add: I think it’s ironic that my daughter, who did get into the med program at UCSF, volunteered in several clinics for low SES patients, and she had to ask me how her patients were able to survive on their monthly incomes.
6 Likes
The push to eliminate standardized tests has been going on for decades. “It’s not fair to the underprivileged!” they say. Underprivileged? You can take out $100,000 in undergraduate student loans but you’re suddenly too poor to pay $315 for the MCAT? Work a week at Subway! They pay $15 an hour.
The point of this push is to take away all objective measurements, leaving performance entirely subjective. Talk about lowering the bar! The best example of that is college football…lol! Uh…yeah, Alabama is totally the national champion! They were picked by a committee, and had to beat 2 teams…also selected by a committee. Is there a problem? Yeah…like the rest of the league!
1 Like