Med School Without the MCAT
In a major policy shift, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Wednesday announced that it will fill half of its entering class going forward by admitting college sophomores - three years before they would enroll in medical school - and will do so without requiring traditional pre-med course requirements and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
David Muller, Mount Sinai’s dean of medical education, said, “What I hope will happen is that this program will prove very successful and prove decisively that it’s a viable alternative.” Explaining the rationale behind the decision to take a small program and apply it to half of the class, Dr. Muller said that pre-med science requirements tend to be "science that is not the most applicable to current clinical or translational research; it’s not unimportant science, but it’s kind of outdated." The announcement comes at a time that the MCAT itself is changing in ways that reflect some of the concerns raised by Mount Sinai; last year saw the first major amendments made to the exam since 1991, with a plan to add sections on critical thinking and social sciences. Learn more.