There is already talk of eliminating the LSAT for law schools. Kid (rising college junior) is getting ready to start MCAT self- prep, a huge undertaking that will most definitely interfere with everything else needed to compile the record required to be accepted to med school. They hope to take the test in late January, in order to file applications in May/June. It suddenly occurred to me - if (when) the anticipated supreme court ruling comes down as expected in late summer/early fall, will med schools go test-optional or even test-blind, as CA did? I’d hate for kid to do all that prep for nothing.
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@WayOutWestMom might have an opinion.
My educated guess is that IF this were to happen, it would not be immediate.
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My daughter did a lot of prep for her gre’s for dpt programs, took it several times and did well. She ended up choosing the one school that didn’t require them.
Med schools are not going to stop requiring the MCAT. They’ve been preparing for an adverse Supreme Court ruling for more than two years now. They are already de-emphasizing MCAT scores as part of the holistic admission process. (And many of the “top” med school have already stopped reporting their average MCAT scores to USNews and other outlets. In the future, MCAT scores will likely be removed from the MSAR too.)
Another proposal under study is eliminating the MCAT altogether in favor of a type of “open enrollment” for the pre-clinical years. Anyone can attend the online classes, with selection for advancement to clinical training happening after the first 18 months and the Step 1 exam. Step 1 will again be scored (not P/F as it is currently) and that score along with with grades in the pre-clinical classes, plus ECs that demonstrate the student has met all the expected Core Competencies will be used to determine who will advance to the clinical training portion of medical school.
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What is to become of the ones that don’t advance? Devoting 18 months to do this program involves a huge opportunity cost with no guarantee of advancement. What low income person would ever choose this?
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Is kid a decent standardized test taker? Maybe take a practice test under timed conditions. If the score is ok, then don’t study.
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