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COVID-19 information and its impact on OU Admissions

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A message for applicants regarding the COVID 19 Pandemic and its impact on OU College of Medicine Admissions:

We are currently considering implications from the COVID 19 pandemic and how this situation might impact admissions requirements and processes for the 2020-2021 application cycle and beyond. This includes but is not limited to, MCAT, prerequisite course enrollment, pass/fail courses and more. The OU College of Medicine Admissions Board and Leadership will be reviewing guidance from the AAMC and working with our university partners to make informed decisions that will best serve applicants and the OUCOM jointly.

Updates below

Update from the AAMC regarding MCAT Test Dates

The AAMC made the decision to cancel the April 24 and 25 MCAT administrations globally due to the evolving health and safety threats of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

We know how disruptive the circumstances are to students’ lives, and we are committed to preserving the 2021 application cycle by ensuring everyone who wants to test in 2020 can. To immediately help affected examinees, we are offering flexible rescheduling options and have waived all rescheduling fees for all 2020 MCAT exam dates until further notice.

Our goal is to safely test students and support your medical schools’ admissions processes. This work considers the rapidly changing situation and emphasizes fairness to examinees. We will be adding new test dates, and our first priority is to schedule them as early in the testing calendar as operationally possible. We will update you as soon as these dates are available to examinees. We are also exploring how and when to expedite score reporting, which will help those students who have to reschedule their exams later in the testing calendar due to cancellations.

The MCAT Program is in lockstep with AMCAS and other AAMC colleagues in this work, and we will be sharing information with you regularly. Please email us at AAMCAdmissions@aamc.org or visit our MCAT Coronavirus Page for more information

Pass/Fail

Pass/Fail Grades – The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine will accept Pass/Fail grades for courses (including prerequisites) taken Spring semester 2020.  

For Clarification: We will accept a Passing (P) grade Spring 2020 where typically, for all other semesters, Pass/Fail grading, advanced placement and CLEP courses are accepted only if a subsequent higher course is taken for a grade.

Guidance on Grading and Transcript Notations in the AMCAS Application

Medical Experiences during COVID-19

Insight from an Admissions Board Member 

We are aware of the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on your process of applying to medical school, including the loss of shadowing experiences. However, the pandemic can also offer opportunity to applicants as they seek to demonstrate their understanding of medical practice.

We recommend you read books and articles comparing the US healthcare system to systems in other countries, listen to podcasts on health policy and consider issues as they relate to health effects on patients and society. Come to your interview prepared to reflect on what the pandemic revealed about the strengths and weaknesses of the US healthcare system, its political systems, its inherent social disparities and other issues that affect patients and society.

Consider the following examples:

  • Why is medical debt the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US, and not in other countries? How did the response to COVID-19 reveal this?
  • What factors may make the COVID-19 crisis so much worse for men and for people of color? What impact do health behaviors, low socioeconomic status, structural racism or other issues have  on life expectancy and survival in the US?
  • Why were some countries able to flatten the curve so much better than others? What is the balance between personal responsibility and personal freedom in a public health crisis?
  • Why were some countries able to test millions of individuals, and the US suffered delays and shortages of testing supplies?