Here’s an interesting article I stumbled across titled Changes could be coming for Pre-Meds and the MCAT. It’s worth reading, especially if you’re early in the pre med process.

Here’s an excerpt:

Say 10 years from now, your recommendations have been implemented. How is a typical pre-med’s life different from today?

It’s going to open up the ability to colleges to be more innovative and — this is the key word — interdisciplinary in teaching. We could envision courses where you learn physics and chemistry and biology in the same course and see how they interrelate to each other, whereas right now a pre-med takes, say, a year of physics, a year of chemistry, a year of organic chemistry.

The hope is that these science courses will be much more interesting. Pre-med students and biology undergraduates will be drawn in by how fascinating science is, rather than seeing it as this awful thing to get through in order to get to medical school.

Interesting ideas. I’m curious who they would get to teach such classes that would combine physics, chemistry and biology. It sounds great, and I would love to know more about how those disciplines interact, but making that actually happen may take some time.

The article seems to suggest that changes in the MCAT may take even more time. And they were short on specifics.

Do you have any suggestions for how the pre med process could be improved?

Each medical school has it’s own set of requirements that each applicant to their school must meet. Every school requires an MCAT score and minimum course requirements that are outlined below. Volunteer experience, physician shadowing, relevant work experience etc will all depend on the school you are applying to.

Most medical schools require a basic course load that is very similar. Here are the main undergraduate courses that nearly every medical school will need in order to accept your application.

Biology
-1 year of general Biology with labs
-Anatomy and Physiology
-Other upper division Biology courses such as Genetics and Biochemistry

Chemistry
-1 year of general Chemistry with labs
-1 year of Organic Chemistry with labs

Physics
-1 year of Physics with labs

Math
-At least 1 term of Calculus or Statistics

English
-Usually 1 year of English courses

Obviously the requirements vary quite a bit. Some school may require a whole year of English, while others may not require any at all. Math is another highly variable subject, some would like a whole year of Statistics or Calculus. Some schools may also like courses such as Cell Biology or Molecular Biology. If you have a school that you would really like to go to, be sure to check their pre reqs early on in your pre med journey. You don’t want to start applying to that school and realize that they had one obscure class that they want all their applicants to take. Do your research!

Do you have any questions about what is necessary to apply to medical school?