Abstract
Post-baccalaureate pre-medicine programs (PBPMP) provide prerequisite coursework for non-life science majors who aspire to become physicians. Students entering these programs generally do not have previous college-level exposure to the natural sciences. This pilot study was conducted to determine characteristics of scientifically naive, career changer, pre-medical students that may be used by PBPMP admissions committees. Statistical analyses were performed between Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and student gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, undergraduate field of study, and undergraduate Grade Point Average (GPA). While relationships between certain subscores on the SAT and MCAT were found, data suggest that other non-quantitative metrics be considered as predictors of performance among PBPMP students.
Highlights
More non-traditional students are applying to medical school, including those who did not consider themselves to be “pre-med” as undergraduates
The objective of this study was to compare the relationship between Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, undergraduate field of study, undergraduate Grade Point Average (GPA), and gender with student performance on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) among a diverse group of pre-medical students enrolled in a career changer-type Postbaccalaureate pre-medicine programs (PBPMP)
Since the only correlations this study identified were between standardized test scores (SAT and MCAT), the findings suggest that other factors must be considered when reviewing applications for careerchanger PBPMP
Summary
More non-traditional students are applying to medical school (allopathic and osteopathic programs), including those who did not consider themselves to be “pre-med” as undergraduates. Postbaccalaureate pre-medicine programs (PBPMP) offer unique opportunities to build a strong science foundation for career changing students who desire to become physicians. These programs are designed to train individuals who were non-life science majors as undergraduate students and have not completed the life science courses required to apply to medical school, including general and organic chemistry, biology, physics and biochemistry. There are “record enhancer-type” of PBPMP that are typically offered at the graduate level, including certificate and master's degree programs, which allow students to augment their undergraduate GPA with graduate-level science coursework to make their application to medical schools more competitive (Andriole and Jeffe, 2011). After successful completion of the PBPMP, graduates are prepared to take the standardized Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and apply to medical schools
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