Reply to CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 NEW MEGA THREAD

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are not enough doctors in the country. The AMA has done everything it can to keep the profession small and exclusive. And Congress hasn’t helped by keeping residency slots capped since 1997. And now, they have doubled the undergraduate prerequisites that must be taken and they have doubled the material on the MCAT. It should be rigorous, challenging and competitive, but this is ridiculous. Over half of qualified applicants can’t get in, despite the huge shortage.[/quote]

I had no idea about this.  I consider myself well-informed, but honestly never really knew this. [/quote]
Yep. Google MCAT 2015. The test is now over 7 hours long. It used to be half that. I understand that board exams in medical school are this long, but that is for students who have at least 2 years of medical school under their belts. The MCAT is for undergrads, usually college juniors. So now, by your junior year, in addition to your other college requirements, you must have taken two semesters of biology, two semesters of chemistry, two semesters of organic chemistry, two semesters of physics (those were the pre-2015 requirements) and now you must also take statistics, a semester of biochemistry, a semester of psychology and a semester of sociology in order to be prepared for the MCAT. Many schools have also started to require writing courses and many will also take AP credits for a few of the courses. Oh, and while you are doing all of this, you also need to be doing research, clinical work, volunteering and shadowing. As I said, it should be challenging and the bar should be high, but there comes a point where the bar becomes a burden on undergrads because many will have to stay in undergrad longer and incur more debt. This is not a way to address a shortage nor is it a way to train better physicians. The old requirements worked fine for decades. [/quote]

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