INTRODUCTION:
Deciding to follow the pre-med track is a dedication to a four-year journey. However, new changes to the MCAT —the entrance exam for medical school in the US—may turn the journey for future students into a more difficult trek. These changes, though in good will, are meant to engage aspiring physicians in the rapidly changing medical profession and to test the well-roundedness and preparedness of potential doctors. These changes, along with already existing pre-med requirements and high expectations, may place students under greater academic stress than before.
BACKGROUND:
Students who wish to attend medical school—under the standard pre-medical track—must take the MCAT and required pre-med courses to be eligible to apply. Students may choose to major in any field of study (e.g. dancing, culinary arts, mathematics, etc.) so long as they graduate with a bachelor’s degree and fulfill the aforementioned requirements. The standard pre-medical course requirements include:
• One year of college-level mathematics
• One year of English
• One year of general biology
• One year of general chemistry
• One year of general physics
• One semester to one year of organic chemistry (depending on the school)
Each of these classes is accompanied by a lab course (except English and some mathematics).
Though upper-level biology and chemistry courses such as biochemistry, molecular biology, and physiology, etc. are not required, many medical schools highly recommended these courses to be taken. For some medical schools, these courses are expected.
The MCAT is currently a 4-½ hour-long exam divided into three sections: Physical Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, and Biological Sciences. Topics covered in these three sections are typically taught under the required pre-medical courses. The planned changes by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the writers of the exam, include greater knowledge in the biochemical sciences and an understanding of the social sciences (psychology and sociology)—topics that were not previously tested on the exam.
The AAMC says that greater performance in these newly included topics corresponds to greater prediction of success in medical school. The AAMC hopes that by testing these topics, students would have a greater scope of knowledge and thus become better, more well-rounded doctors of tomorrow in the increasingly demanding medical profession.
DISCUSSION:
Many frustrated pre-meds, however, do not agree and see these changes as additional challenges in the pursuit of their studies. The existing pre-med requirements already require major time commitment. Students who wish to major in non-biochemistry-related majors carry the burden of meeting the requirements of their own major along with the requirements of the pre-med track. And despite upper-level biology and chemistry courses such as biochemistry, molecular biology, and physiology, etc. being non-required courses, anxiety-struck pre-meds not wanting to fail at meeting expectations take these upper-level courses anyway, because these are courses highly recommended by many medical schools. Furthermore, the inclusion of new topics to the MCAT would equate to more time commitment in studying and less time in pursuit of their own interests and extracurricular interests. For those who wish to perform well on the new MCAT, there is a silent but telling nudge-nudge for the pre-meds to take courses such as psychology and sociology; otherwise inclusion of these topics on the MCAT would be self-defeating.
With all these expectations, the burden of the changing MCAT falls heaviest upon the shoulders of pre-meds who wish to pursue studies in non-biochemical science majors, such as economics, history, and computer-science. The expectations to take upper-level courses along with studying for the new changes in the MCAT, and possibly taking social science courses, comes at the cost of extracurricular activities and, ultimately, academic major diversity. Future students who are affected by these changes would be more inclined to declare a biology, chemistry, or biochemistry major, thus reducing stress and course load while meeting all the medical school requirements and expectations. This trend is predicted under the fundamental Le Chatelier’s principle (or the invisible hand for economics majors), which is the law of equilibrium; if there is stress applied to a certain situation, it is a natural tendency to follow a path to minimize stress.
To many students who are already under great academic pressure, more changes translates to more studying translates to more stress and less time to pursue other academic interests and extracurricular activities.
CONCLUSION:
Though many medical schools ask pre-meds to go into majors of their interest, the responsibilities and desire to fulfill medical school and MCAT expectations makes it difficult to do so. Students who originally wished to take on non-biochem majors are more inclined to major in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry in order to amply prepare and meet the demands of the exam. Students who wish to pursue a different field of study for undergraduate before attending medical school are under great pressure to perform well in their major of interest AND perform well on the basic science courses. It is not an illogical decision for students to feel inclined to give up their interests and major in the biochemical sciences if medical school is their final desired destination. So…to be, or not to be [a bio-chem major]—that is the question.
