MCAT News
TEST DATES
The MCAT 2014 testing season opened on October 16, 2013 for the January through May 2014 exam dates.
The MCAT Program office introduced a new registration deadline and fee structure for 2014. This is in an effort to encourage examinees to make the decision about a preferred date sooner – and to cancel earlier, if needed – so that seats may be released back into the system for other MCAT examinees who may be interested in scheduling, rescheduling, or retesting. For more information, please visit the MCAT Essentials guide.
Registration volume has increased as the 2014 and January 2015 dates will be the last administrations of the current exam. Two administration dates in 2014 and one additional administration date in January 2015 have been added. In total, there will be 33 administrations of the exam on 31 testing days between January 2014 and January 2015.
Registration for the June 2014 – January 2015 dates will open in February 2014.
FREE ONLINE TEST PREP RESOURCES
The AAMC, Khan Academy, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation collaborated on a project to create free educational tutorials to help students prepare for the revised Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) that will be administered in 2015. The first collection of these videos are now available. The tutorials are available through Khan’s online learning library, as well as thePre-health Collection of the AAMC’s MedEdPORTAL® iCollaborative. Currently the growing collection has 24 tutorials (each tutorial includes 4-8 videos and questions) to help undergraduate and pre-med students prepare for health care professions. The content creators and reviewers will expand the collection throughout the year, which is expected to include approximately 500 videos and an estimated 1,000 questions by the fall of 2014.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to mcat2015@aamc.org.
Events & Opportunities
GEORGETOWN EVENTS
- Medical school student panel (hosted by the Pre-Medical Society) on Wednesday, November 6th from 7-8 in WGR 211. This panel will consist of first and second year medical students who will talk about what they wished they knew when applying to medical school and what their experience with medical school has been. This will be a great opportunity to ask any questions you have about medical school and the application process. The panel members have pursued a variety of different tracks. For example, some applied normally while some EAP, and some are solely pursuing an MD while others are working to receive an MD/MBA. As a result, this panel will be a great way to ask about the details and the student perspective of a variety of different programs.
- Georgetown Post-Bac Alumni Panel, Thursday November 7, 2013, Car Barn – Room 203, 11am – 12:50 pm. This is a unique opportunity for current post-bacs to interact with program alumni who are pursuing various health-related professions. Panelists will provide valuable information about specific career paths as well as strategies for how to use your status of “non-traditional student” to your advantage as an applicant. Panelists include recent Georgetown Post-Bac alumni who are pursuing the following medical fields: MD (current applicant and first year Georgetown Med student), Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physician Assistant. We will have information for post-bacs interested in DO and physical therapy school. Brief presentations by each panelist will be followed by a Q&A session. Please email Lauren Antognoli with any questions about the event: lea44@georgetown.edu
- On Nov 7 in ICC 104 from 5 pm to 6 pm, the College Dean’s Office will be hosting an event in which a representative from the Medical School for International Health will be coming to talk about the school and the unique opportunities it offers. This will be a great way to learn more about how to pursue a career in international health. The Medical School for International Health is an innovative, four-year, North American-style medical school that incorporates global health coursework into all four years of the medical school curriculum. The MSIH prepares physicians to address the impact of cultural, economic, political and environmental factors on the health of individuals and populations worldwide.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS
- Georgetown University San Diego Medical and BioTech Alliance Summer Shadowing Program – Interested in shadowing doctors over the summer? Live in or near San Diego? The Georgetown University San Diego Medical and BioTech Alliance, a new organization developed by GSP and the Alumni Association, is offering a shadowing program this summer that will pair GU premedical students with practicing GU alumni in the San Diego area. Through this program, students will be able to shadow doctors for 2, 4, or 6 weeks during the summer and will be able to choose from a variety of different fields, including primary care, hospital medicine, oncology, cardiology, orthopedics, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology, pathology and radiology. In addition to designating areas of interest, students will also be able to determine the amount of time they would like to spend observing each specialty. If you will be in or near San Diego this summer and are interested in shadowing doctors through this program, please contact Alex Kyrillos at amk256@georgetown.edu for more information.
- TuftScope: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Health, Ethics, & Policy, a student journal at Tufts University founded in 2001 to provide an academic forum for discussion of the pertinent healthcare and biosocial debates in today’s world. It addresses different aspects of healthcare, bioethics, public health, and active citizenship. The journal, as well as the online edition at http://www.tuftscopejournal.org, is edited and operated by students at Tufts University and is advised by an Editorial Board composed of undergraduates and faculty. The principle objective of TuftScope is to bring together a variety of viewpoints on the health sciences to transform thoughts and ideas into active citizenship and working policies.
Currently accepting submissions for our Fall 2013 issue from undergraduates, graduate students, and all other individuals who wish to submit work. TuftScope accepts original articles on bioethics, healthcare policy, public/community health, medical education, biomedicine, and research in these fields. PLEASE NOTE THAT ORIGINAL RESEARCH WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. Detailed submissions guidelines and descriptions of the submission types may be found at http://www.tuftscopejournal.org under the “Guidelines” section. We welcome early submissions. All submissions should be uploaded to the submissions system on the website.
Basic Guidelines for Fall 2013 Submissions (Complete guidelines, additional information, and the Consent of Publication forms are all available at: www.tuftscopejournal.org)
Email: Tuftscope@gmail.com
- UAID 2014 HEALTH INEQUITIES SYMPOSIUM
When: January 17th – 19th, 2014
Where: College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Featured events – UAID Innovative Social Change Competition – In small groups, participants will actively engage in the ideas of the conference by competing to design ideas for implementing social change in health inequities and infectious diseases. The top design will be awarded a grand prize and help with implementing their idea!
Epidemic Simulation – Remember the cholera outbreak in Haiti that began in 2010? There were many social, political, and cultural entities involved in the relief efforts. We will be holding a mock session to simulate the interactions between these stakeholders, in order to learn about epidemics in a real-life scenario. (Please refrain from actually bringing cholera to the symposium. Thank you.)
Student Panels – We want to hear about your experiences with health disparities. If you have conducted research or volunteered in a relevant setting, please consider participating in a panel!
Topic Debates – Participants will be invited to engage in formal debates about popular issues in health. This year’s topics will be (a) needle exchange programs and (b) the effect of the democratic process on health. We are currently looking for students who wish to represent a side in one of these debates!
Case Study Discussions – Students will be invited to participate in discussions of case studies related to health disparities. See www.uaidintl.org/symposium/ for a complete list of topics. We are currently looking for students who wish to facilitate the discussions on a case study!
Speakers – A number of distinguished speakers who are experts in their fields will be discussing current issues in health.
Transportation: You are responsible for your own transportation to and from the symposium. We recommend traveling via bus or Amtrak or carpooling.
Housing: Symposium participants will stay together at a hotel near College of William & Mary. UAID will subsidize the cost so that participants will pay only $45 for both nights. Free housing with College of William & Mary students or at a local church will be available for a few participants on a first come, first serve basis! Please see registration for more details.
Cost: $35 (early-bird) or $45 (regular) or $55 (late) + optional $45 for hotel (both nights total)
Deadlines to register: Early bird special: November 15th, 2013 Regular deadline: December 1st, 2013 Late deadline: December 15th, 2013
- The Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) application is open! The National Program Office (NPO) looks forward to processing applications from eager freshman and sophomore college students who want to become physicians or dentists. Students who meet the following eligibility requirements may be accepted at one of our 12 medical and dental institutions:
Be currently enrolled as a freshman or sophomore in college;
Have a minimum overall GPA of 2.5;
Be a U.S. citizen or hold a permanent resident visa; and
Not have previously participated in SMDEP.
SMDEP is implemented at 12 program sites (80 students per site) across the nation. Each program site provides scholars with academic enrichment in the basic sciences and math, clinical experiences, career development activities, learning and study skills seminars, and a financial planning workshop.
This free six-week residential program is hosted by the following participating institutions:
Case Western Reserve University of Medicine and Dental Medicine
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and College of Dental Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Howard University Colleges of Art and Sciences, Dentistry, and Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA School of Dentistry
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Rutgers School of Dental Medicine
The University of Texas School of Dentistry and Medical School at Houston
University of Louisville Schools of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Virginia School of Medicine
University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Dentistry
Yale University School of Medicine
Please visit our website for application guidelines and for online registration information at www.smdep.org or contact the National Program Office at 1-866-587-6337 or smdep@aamc.org.
- Call to Participate in National ShaDO Week –Want to know what it is like to be a medical student?
SIGN UP TO SHADOW AN OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL STUDENT
Who: Any student interested in exploring osteopathic medicine!
Where: A campus near you!*
When: November 18-22, 2013 (specific dates chosen by medical school)
*Some colleges are pressed for space or have alternate programs that get you in touch with medical students. Sign up anyway- we will get you to the right people!
It’s easy:
1) Sign up through this link by November 8, 2013
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18NDCgfiMJo8g_FGXBUJ5nM-gdEYjmwIsBeiY08XivWM/viewform
2) We will notify you if we have found a seat for you at your local medical school
Osteopathic Medical Schools Currently Participating:
Schools that have other ShaDO opportunities:
Pre-Health Studies at Georgetown University 