More than 3,200 applicants vie for fewer than 150 openings
Friday afternoon, 74 students at USC School of Medicine received their assignments for the next four years of their residency. The match day event was a culmination of four years of devoted study of the sciences for the physicians-to-be. However, for about 90 students who have been accepted into the class of 2016, the process has only just begun. A major overhaul of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), the five-hour examination that makes or breaks every pre-med student’s future career, set to take effect in 2015, may demand even more from pre-med undergraduates.
The Association of American Medical College announced last month plans to revise the MCAT after conducting surveys to determine the future direction of the medical profession. The new test will be divided into four sections, with the addition of two sections devoted to social and behavioral sciences and critical reasoning. The revisions will make the exam two hours longer and take out the test’s essay portion.
Fourth-year biomedical engineering student Alex Wagner, who received his letter of acceptance to USC School of Medicine in March, feels that the new test format will directly affect the course choices of undergraduate pre-med students. He admits he chose his major based on its emphasis of science and medicine-related courses.
“I think it’ll make things a lot more interesting and a lot harder,” Wagner said. “With adding that new section, you have to commit yourself more in every class, not just your sciences. I’m graduating this year and just now getting in a history elective. I took very few liberal arts classes, but that probably would have changed drastically had I needed that for the MCAT.”
The new changes speak to an increasingly diverse and competitive applicant pool, according to School of Medicine Assistant Dean Dr. Joshua Thornhill. Applications to USC’s School of Medicine have increased each year, breaking 3,200 for the class of 2016. So far, 90 students have been accepted, and Thornhill expects to send 60 more acceptance letters to wait-listed students in March.
While the majority of accepted students still come from biology and chemistry backgrounds, Thornhill sees impressive applicants in majors from German to dance.
In addition to an increase in undergraduate applicants, Thornhill is seeing a new outpouring of older, nontraditional students — professionals in the medical field who decide to go into medicine as a second career. The experience and maturity of these new applicants add yet another dimension to an already competitive process.
“I think one of the things about older students is that, having been out in the work force, they know what it is to put time and effort into something,” Thornhill said. “Undergraduates are all are very bright individuals, and some may not have had to study before, so when they get to medical school it can be a culture shock.”
Real-world experience is becoming difficult for students to come by, Thornhill said, especially as they balance a vigorous pre-med curriculum while prepping for entrance exams.
Fourth-year biology student Courtney Marsh, who was also accepted to USC School of Medicine, applied to more than seven schools and said she was wait-listed at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, her hometown, despite her 4.0 GPA and hours of medical volunteer work. She feels that economic factors, such as an attempt to gain medical students from rural areas, where physicians are most needed, also affect admissions’ decisions. Regardless, with higher expectations set for medical students as well as an influx of job-seeking talent, getting into medical school is going to be that much more difficult for all applicants.
“You can’t just be the student with the best grades possible,” Marsh said. “It’s scary to understand that being a ‘perfect’ student isn’t good enough.”