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Predictors of Success on the MCAT for Post‐Baccalaureate Pre‐Medicine Students
Author(s) -
Dobrydneva Yuliya,
Schwartz Lisa
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.751.2
Subject(s) - coursework , medical education , medical school , curriculum , cohort , medicine , health science , psychology , pedagogy
Students who aspire to enter medical school have to take the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). In 2015, the MCAT was redesigned, covering a new set of foundational concepts. In 2015, a 12‐month post‐baccalaureate pre‐medicine certificate program at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences was launched to address the changes to the new MCAT. Furthermore, the program prepares students for medical school coursework, like biochemistry, histology, physiology and pharmacology. We designed an integrated curriculum as a sequence of three 10‐week courses (Organic Chemistry I and Organic Chemistry II ‐ both with laboratory ‐ and Biochemistry I) to teach the material required for pre‐medical students. The objectives of these courses are closely aligned with MCAT objectives. The GW post‐bac pre‐med program is intended for career changers who typically majored in the social sciences or humanities, and thus have little or no science background (“scientifically naive”). Therefore, in our admissions process, we need to identify predictors of future success in heavily scientific courses for students who have minimal prior exposure to sciences. We've analyzed data of the first cohort of ten students to determine what predictors appeared to be positively or negatively associated with MCAT performance. Conclusions of this pilot study will be expanded to the second cohort of students (27) who are currently enrolled in the GW post‐bac pre‐med program and will take the MCAT exam in summer 2017.