MCAT 2020 Dates + New AAMC MCAT Products

The AAMC has announced MCAT test dates for 2020! Exam registration will begin in October. Follow @AAMC_MCAT on Twitter for updates. 

Also, launching in October 2019, the AAMC will provide some new and enhanced official prep products. See below for details. 

New AAMC MCAT Official Prep Low-Cost Products

• AAMC MCAT Official Prep Practice Exam 4: Practice Exam 4 will be the fifth full-length practice exam made available by the AAMC and fourth full-length practice exam to include estimated scaled scoring to help students prepare for and simulate the MCAT testing conditions. This practice exam will also include explanations for all answer choices.

• AAMC MCAT Official Prep Online Flashcards: An online version of the current print AAMC MCAT Official Flashcards and contains the same 150-individual practice questions. Students will be able to access these questions via their computer or mobile devices and track their progress in the MCAT Official Prep Hub's online score reports.

Enhanced AAMC MCAT Official Prep Free Resources

• How to Create an MCAT Study Plan Online Guide:  Study plans are an important way to help students stay organized and on track. The guide includes six steps to creating a personalized MCAT exam preparation strategy. It also provides information on how to use AAMC MCAT Official Prep resources and products. The guide includes worksheets to help examinees track their progress. Students can download the Study Plan Guide or access it as an online tool by visiting the AAMC MCAT Official Prep Hub at www.aamc.org/mcatprep.
• Updated Practice with Exam Features Tool: This free tool has been updated with 12 MCAT questions, three from each section, and allows students to become familiar with the various features of the MCAT exam, such as highlight and strikethrough. All questions include the correct answer and solution explanation.

The new MCAT Official Prep products, Practice Exam 4 and the online flashcards, will be added to the AAMC Fee Assistance Program starting in October 2019. AAMC Fee Assistance Program awardees who have opted to receive their MCAT Official Prep products benefit in 2019 will also be granted access to these products, in addition to the current online AAMC MCAT Official Prep products.

Research Assistant Position at Columbia Neuroscience Lab

Dr. Christine Ann Denny’s laboratory is looking for motivated research assistants to join us! We study rodent models of learning and memory in the context of Alzheimer’s disease, PTSD, MDD, TBI, and other psychiatric and cognitive illnesses. We also investigate mechanisms of resilience against stress-induced psychiatric disease. Projects range from calcium imaging and optogenetics to behavioral assays and immunohistochemstry. Several Barnard pre-medical and Neuroscience students have graduated from positions in the Denny laboratory to medical school, graduate school, and other excellent paths.

We are looking for undergraduate students who can commit to at least 10 hours per week and who are looking for a long term (> 1 year) lab experience. You will be paired with a graduate student or post-doctoral mentor during your time in the lab.

To learn more about what we do: https://cadennylab.com/

If you are interested, please contact: lrl2131@barnard.edu

Interviewing for the Health Professions Workshop

Interview season for health professions programs has begun! Whether you are preparing for an interview (or several!) this fall, or you are planning ahead for a future cycle, you're welcome to attend our upcoming workshop on interview preparation.

Interviewing for the Health Professions

Monday, September 16 | 6:00 - 7:00 PM

Beyond Barnard (49 Claremont Ave, 2nd floor)

RSVP here!

Women in Medicine Month

September is Women in Medicine Month! In celebration, check out some of the articles below and follow #WiMmonth on social media. Look out for tweets from @AAMCtoday all month long! 

• Medicine changing as women make up more of physician workforce
• Achieving Gender Equity in Physician Compensation and Career Advancement: A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians
• Gender-Based Differences in Burnout: Issues Faced by Women Physicians
• Advancing women in academic medicine: Progress, challenges, and hope for the future
• “Yes, I’m the Doctor” - One Department’s Approach to Assessing and Addressing Gender-Based Discrimination in the Modern Medical Training Era

Rollins School of Public Health Info Session

On Tuesday, September 10, 2019, join Director of Admissions and Recruitment, Brittney Romanson, to learn about the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

Rollins ranks among the nation's top 5 schools of public health, with nearly 90% of graduates finding jobs or pursuing further education within 11 months of graduation.

Faculty involve students in research areas such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, water and sanitation, the environment, reproductive health, emergency preparedness, health reform, and mental Health.

Rollins offers over 1.9 million dollars in institutional merit and need-based financial aid.

Emory University is in close proximity to health organizations like the CDC, CARE, The Carter Center, the American Cancer Society, The Task Force for Global Health, and others. A dedicated Office of Career Development offers on-campus job recruitment, paid work opportunities, internships, and global field experiences.

The event will take place from 12:00 - 1:00 PM in LL104 Diana. To register, click here.

If you're unable to attend but would like to learn more about Rollins, please email sphadmissions@emory.edu.

Winthrop-LIDA Birth Doula Project November Training

The Winthrop-LIDA Birth Doula Project is a coalition of women’s health practitioners at Winthrop University Hospital and Long Island Doula Association, Inc. (LIDA)-trained birth doulas seeking to improve birthing outcomes for mothers in our community. We are hoping to recruit and train individuals interested in offering continuous, evidence-based birth support to women in labor and their partners. Specifically, we are seeking individuals who have not graduated from a nursing program. The Winthrop-LIDA Project is a unique clinical opportunity for any student interested in:

●        Gaining hands-on, meaningful, clinical exposure

●        Empowering women to become agents of their bodies and health

●        Promoting mother and baby-friendly childbirth initiatives

●        Exploring birth doula work, midwifery, or obstetrics as possible professional trajectories

Birth doulas provide emotional, physical and informational support to women in labor. The benefits of birthing with birth doulas are numerous, including:

●        Personalization and respect of individual birthing choices

●        Promotion of breastfeeding and maternal-infant bonding

●        Increased rates of vaginal delivery

●        Acknowledgement of birth as a natural process

●        Increased maternal satisfaction

Volunteers will not only gain holistic exposure to the field of women’s health, but will also be fulfilled by their abilities to affect positive change in the diverse patient population they will serve.  

But please note: This doula project training does not certify participants to become a doula in private practice. For more information on how to become a private pay doula after this training workshop please visit: How to become a certified birth doula after completing the NYU Winthrop-LIDA doula project

Our next training is November 9^th and 10th. If you are interested in registering for the next training and learning about pre-training requirements, please reach out to winthroplida@gmail.com.

National Osteopathic Night Out - September 26

On Thursday September 26^th, students from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNE COM) will be hosting National Osteopathic Night Out at several locations in the Northeast.  National Osteopathic Night Out is an event put on through Pre-SOMA, SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association) and osteopathic medical schools to connect pre-medical students with current osteopathic medical students..

You can join UNE COM students for coffee and Q&A in the following cities:

Auburn, ME

Augusta, ME

Bangor, ME

Biddeford, ME

Waterville, ME

Pittsfield, MA

Laconia, NH

South Windsor, CT

Syracuse, NY

Hudson, NY

Southampton, NY

Providence, RI

Registration is now open for this event.  Please click on the link below to register for this FREE event.  

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/national-osteopathic-night-out-fall-2019-tickets-70724132785?fbclid=IwAR0j8Gq-jtH-1t2wEUj48xFRbt7bO1lBpN2pV_dap4stjnezKZ3-mQzXwb0

UC Berkeley Fall Optometry Events

UC Berkeley School of Optometry invites prospective applicants to participate in in-person and virtual events to learn more about the profession this fall!

Friday Visits - If you're thinking about optometry as a career and Berkeley as a program, we encourage you to visit us! The program includes a tour, advising appointment, and pre-clinic shadowing opportunity. 

Fridays, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Available dates are listed on the website HERE 

Optometry Virtual Fair - If you do not have a chance to visit us in person, talk with us online! We, along with several of our current students, will be present at the Optometry Virtual Fair to help answer your questions about our program and the optometry career. 

Date: October 17, 2019
Register Here

Fall Conference - This FREE event is open to all interested in the field of Optometry and the Berkeley Optometry Program. We'll have several rotation options including admissions tips and tricks, pre-clinic demonstrations, and much more. 

Date: Saturday, October 26 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Register Here

Graduate School Fair & Kaplan Scholarship Certificate Raffle

Meet with Graduate Schools and Enter Our Kaplan Scholarship Certificate Raffle at the Opportunities Fair!

When checking in to the grad fair, enter our Kaplan Scholarship Certificate Raffle. The full course scholarship certificate is good for any of Kaplan's Live Online, In Person, or Self-Paced comprehensive preparation programs for the MCAT, DAT, OAT, PCAT, LSAT, GMAT, or GRE (excluding PLUS, tutoring, and Intensives).  The certificate is valued up to $2499.

The Graduate School fair will be held in the Ina R. and Howard Drew Conference Room in the Milstein Center from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Friday, September 6, 2019.

The Graduate School Fair will represent thirty graduate schools, including:

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University School of Nursing
Columbia University Teachers College (Counseling & Clinical Psychology)
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
New York University College of Dentistry
New York University Long Island School of Medicine
Pace University Physician Assistant Program
Rockefeller University (Biomedical Sciences)
Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine Physician Assistant Program

Click here to learn more about the Opportunities Fair and register.

Explore SUNY Optometry

SUNY Optometry will host a number of in-person and online events for prospective applicants this fall. For those who are interested in pursuing a career in optometry, or simply want to learn more, please check out these great offerings!

• Tour Tuesdays - Excellent opportunity to tour our state of the art facilities, interact with current students, meet with an admissions representative, and enjoy an afternoon in the highly acclaimed Bryant Park. 
  • Upcoming dates: Tuesdays - October 15th, November 19th, and December 17th, 2019; 12:00-1:00 PM
  • Register Here
    
• Optometry Virtual Fair - meet with Admissions and Financial Aid staff for the opportunity to ask individual questions on the application process.
  • Date: Thursday, October 17th, 2019; 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
  • Register here

• 'Explore SUNY' webinar - Learn more about our Doctor of  Optometry program, dual OD/MS and OD/PhD programs, MBA certificate program, and an overview of the admissions process. 
  • Dates: we are flexible for hosting an individual webinar with your institution's pre-health/pre-optometry club per request
  • Register here
    
• Health Professions Week (HPW) - HPW2019 is a series of events, woven together to give students meaningful insight to a path to a healthcare profession – and parents and educators are invited to learn more, too.  There any many events during HPW – so participants can choose what content matters to them.
• Dates: November 16-21, 2019
• Register Here