WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON COLLEGE
PRE-HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Issue 38
http://www.washjeff.edu/health-professions
October 2014
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH PROFESSIONS:
Dr. Mark Harris, Chair
Dr. Patricia Brletic, Secretary
Dr. Anupama Shanmuganathan,
Vice-Chair
Dr. Ronald Bayline
Dr. Danielle Ficco
Dr. Alice Lee
Website. The Committee on Health Professions maintains an
informational website at http://www.washjeff.edu/healthprofessions. The website includes the Pre-Health Handbook,
recent copies of this newsletter, descriptions of pre-professional
programs, links to internship and volunteer opportunities, and
information about our various affiliations with health professional
schools. Please take a look at this resource.
Contact Information. To contact the Committee on Health
Professions, please feel free to send an email to
prehealth@washjeff.edu or call 724-503-1001 x 3355. You may
also directly contact the Committee Chair, Dr. Mark Harris, at
724-223-6134 or at mharris@washjeff.edu.
Dieter-Porter Medical Lecture. The annual Dieter-Porter
Medical Lecture on Homecoming Weekend will be presented in
2014 on Saturday, October 25th. Dr. Ed Frohlich ’52 will present
“Effects of Sodium on Heart Health,” and Dr. Linda Bogar ’89
will present “The Current Era of Heart Transplantation and
Cardiac Circulatory Assist Devices: The Rise of the Machines.”
The lecture will be held in the Dieter-Porter Lecture Hall at 8:30
am. Current students, faculty, and alumni are encouraged to attend
the presentation and to stay around after the presentation to catch
up with fellow alumni, W&J faculty, and current students.
New Affiliation Agreements with Lake Erie College of
Osteopathic Medicine. Early this fall W&J and LECOM signed
affiliation agreements in which W&J students may be accepted
into the LECOM Early Assurance Program (EAP). The
agreements provide guaranteed seats for W&J students into
LECOM programs in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and
dentistry – up to five seats per program per year. Students who
meet the academic requirements of the program must be accepted
before completion of the sophomore year at W&J, and even high
school seniors who are accepted to W&J are eligible to apply.
Students may apply to enroll in the EAP by following the link
Affiliated Undergraduate College Inquiry found on the LECOM
website at: My LECOM Portal (http://portal.lecom.edu).
Last Offerings of the Current MCAT Exam. The last offerings
of the current version of the MCAT will be in January 2015.
Additional test dates have been added to meet the anticipated
demand by students who wish to take the current version of the
test.
Dr. Steven Malinak
Dr. Kathleen McEvoy
Dr. Stan Myers
Dr. Michael Wolf
Dr. Roman Wong
Changes to the MCAT Exam starting in 2015. Major changes to
the MCAT exam will start in April 2015 with a new exam to be
called MCAT2015. The new exam will have 4 sections:
1) Biological & Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems,
2) Chemical & Physical Foundations of Biological Systems,
3) Psychological, Social & Biological Foundations of Behavior,
and 4) Critical Analysis & Reasoning Skills.
All sections of the test will be based upon the following principles:
1) Knowledge of Scientific Concepts and Principles,
2) Scientific Reasoning and Evidence-based Problem Solving,
3) Reasoning about the Design and Execution of Research,
and 4) Data-based and Statistical Reasoning.
The exam will expand from 144 test items and a writing sample to
255 test items and no writing sample to allow medical schools to
have more accurate information about performance on each
section of the exam. The length of the exam will expand from 4
hours, 20 minutes to 6 hours, 15 minutes and will require the
addition of a lunch break halfway through the exam, making for a
test day of at least 7 hours in length (plus travel time).
Students taking the traditional pre-medical curriculum at W&J
will be well-prepared for the Biological & Biochemical, Chemical
& Physical, and Critical Analysis sections of the exam with no
change in our current pre-medical coursework. With a stronger
emphasis on principles of biochemistry on the exam, however,
students will be highly encouraged to complete the Biochemistry
course on campus before taking the MCAT exam.
The new Psychological, Social, & Biological Foundations section
of the exam that asks students to understand the behavioral and
socio-cultural determinants of health and health outcomes will
require additional coursework for W&J students. The PSY 101
and 102 courses at W&J are a close match to the AAMC learning
objectives for this section. We will also recommend that students
take SOC 101 and also consider additional SOC coursework and
review to prepare for the sociological section of the exam.
Current junior pre-medical students at W&J will, in almost every
case, be the first group of W&J students eligible to take the
MCAT2015exam in Spring 2015. Current senior students who elect
to take the MCAT exam during or after the spring of their senior
year would also take the MCAT 2015exam.
You can read more about the rationale for the changes to the
MCAT exam, as well as download a very detailed preview guide
for the MCAT2015 exam, at the AAMC website:
http://www.aamc.org/mcat2015.
SUMMARY OF ACCEPTANCES FOR STUDENTS MATRICULATING 2014
1.
4.
Allopathic Schools
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Foreign Medical
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Ross ............................................................................ 1
TOTAL ...................................................................... 1
Commonwealth ........................................................... 1
Drexel ...........................................................................4
Jefferson ...................................................................... 1
NYU ............................................................................ 1
Penn State .................................................................. 1
Rutgers ......................................................................... 1
Temple ......................................................................... 1
Texas Tech ................................................................... 1
Toledo .......................................................................... 1
U of Pittsburgh............................................................. 1
West Virginia ............................................................. 2
TOTAL ......................................................................15
Total Number Individual Students
Accepted ..................................................................... 1
5.
Physician Assistant Schools
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Chatham ..................................................................... 1
TOTAL ...................................................................... 1
Total # Individual Students
Accepted ..................................................................... 9
Total Number Individual Students
Accepted ....................................................................... 1
2.
Osteopathic Schools
6.
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Podiatry Schools
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Lake Erie (LECOM) .................................................. 4
Liberty ......................................................................... 2
Nova Southeastern ....................................................... 1
Philadelphia (PCOM) ................................................. 3
PCOM- Georgia ........................................................... 1
West Virginia (WVSOM) .............................................5
TOTAL .................................................................... 16
Kent State .................................................................... 1
Western U .................................................................. 1
TOTAL ...................................................................... 2
Total Number Individual Students
Accepted ..................................................................... 1
Total Number Individual Students
Accepted ................................................................... 11
7.
3.
Veterinary Medicine Schools
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Dental Schools
Number
Accepted
Name of School
Kansas State ...............................................................
Missouri .......................................................................
Ross .............................................................................
Tufts ............................................................................
U Penn .......................................................................
TOTAL ......................................................................
West Virginia ............................................................. 1
TOTAL ...................................................................... 1
Total Number Individual Students
Accepted ..................................................................... 1
1
1
1
2
2
7
Total # Individual Students
Accepted ..................................................................... 3
TWELVE-YEAR SUMMARY OF ACCEPTANCES
CLASS
# of Students Recommended
to Health Professions Schools
# of Students Accepted
Acceptance Rate (%)
‘03
'04
‘05
‘06
‘07
‘08
‘09
‘10
‘11
‘12
‘13
‘14
15
17
23
23
23
37
31
36
27
36
33
32
14
14
20
22
17
32
24
32
23
30
24
26
93
82
87
96
74
87
77
89
85
83
73
81