When high school seniors pick up their #2 pencils and fill in that last bubble on the answer sheet for the SATs, they often breathe a sigh of relief, thinking they are done with standardized testing. For some, however, this is not the case as more standardized tests loom in their future.
Many University students, for instance, breathed their sigh of relief earlier this month, upon completing the Medical College Admissions Test. As the name implies, medical schools consider this standardized test in the admissions process.
Third-year College student Akshay Bhatnagar said he considers the MCAT to be "incredibly important" because of the emphasis placed on them by medical schools.
Bhatnagar said he thinks MCAT scores are as important, if not more important, than a student's GPA.
"Grades-wise, activities-wise, everyone's doing the same thing," he said. "This is the one thing with the potential to separate people."
Fourth-year College student Ben Chidester also referred to the MCAT as "one of the main components medical schools look at," but added that they are not the only thing that matters.
"From a strictly numbers game, it's a pretty big thing," Chidester said. "It's important, but just because you ace it doesn't mean you'll get in, and just become you get a medium or low score doesn't mean you won't get into any school."
Biomedical Engineering Prof. William Guilford placed even more emphasis on the MCAT, referring to them as "singularly" important.
He said if you really press some medical school admissions deans, there are often no absolute requirements for any particular class.
"They judge whether or not you have the basic information you need to do well in med school upon your MCAT scores," Guilford said.
He also recommended that students take the MCAT as soon as possible upon completing prerequisite classes.
"The information is still fresh in your mind, and it also gives you time to retake it, if needed," Guildford said.
Students, however, sometimes worry about the time they will have to study. As a result of the emphasis placed on the MCAT, students spend significant time in preparation. In fact, Bhatnagar, who was originally scheduled to take the test April 7, pushed back the date to June 15.
"I realized that with classes, it was pretty much impossible to study for them," Bhatnagar said.
Chidester, who has already taken the MCAT, said he took a Kaplan course in preparation.
"I scored much better because of it," Chidester said. "It also made studying pretty regimented -
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