Changes to the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) are already impacting students at USI who want to get into medical school after graduation.

Jessica Bartley, a senior biology major, said the new requirements, which go into effect this spring, are delaying her graduation. Instead of getting her diploma in May, she now has to wait until next fall, setting her back a full year for the medical school admission cycle.

“In my case, it pushes me back a semester,” Bartley said. “I like the idea of creating more well-rounded physicians, but for me, it’s still kind of a bummer.”

After the changes became official, Bartley was left with few options.

Only two classes at USI satisfy the new biochemistry requirement and they’re both time-consuming, 400-level courses she couldn’t just “tack onto her schedule,” Bartley said.

The MCAT, a requirement for pre-med students nationwide, is reforming what students are required to know when they enter their first year at medical school. The test is now longer and mandates a new biochemistry prerequisite in addition to the other required pre-med science courses.

The MCAT is also branching out by making sociology and psychology requisites part of the new test, which forces students who want to go to med school to complete an even wider variety of classes during their already demanding course load.

Some members of the medical community say there’s a good reason why the MCAT is being changed.

Kenneth Walsh, an associate professor of chemistry, said it’s beneficial to have more physicians who are knowledgeable and have a greater understanding of circumstances that cause patients to be admitted in the first place.

“The chronic medical conditions people suffer from often have socioeconomic or psychological components,” Walsh said. “Patients may have serious psychological issues affecting their general physical health.”

Walsh and R. Brent Summers, an associate professor of biology, have formed an ad hoc committee aimed at communicating with the sociology and psychology instructors.

Walsh and Summers said they think it’s important to discuss things with the sociology and psychology faculty so that they know how to help pre-med students schedule their classes and better prepare for the exam.

Walsh admits the current pre-med students will serve as guinea pigs for the changes, but he remained positive about the new test.

“The new requirements have actually aligned pretty well,” Walsh said. “For incoming freshmen, they’ll usually be able to take these additional courses as part of the pre-existing core.”

Walsh said the added biochemistry component is more of a burden to pre-med students than the psychology and sociology courses. The drawback is any class capable of meeting the MCAT’s biochemistry requisite has to be an upper level and more specialized course.

The new Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills component will replace the old Verbal Reasoning section, which is viewed as more practical by some in the medical field.

Elizabeth Daake, a senior biology major, took the MCAT earlier this year.

She said while the new requirements may set some students back, the questions seem less convulsed and more relevant.

“If anything,” Daake said. “It’s the old MCAT I have a more negative opinion on.”