Report: 86% of future physicians find pre-med culture 'too competitive'

Roughly 86 percent of recent pre-med students who took the MCAT believe U.S. pre-med culture is too competitive, according to a survey issued by Kaplan Test Prep.

One in five respondents said they experienced bullying due to the competitive environment.

For the survey, respondents were asked to share examples of hypercompetitive behavior. The anecdotes ranged from academic sabotage to verbal harassment from a professor, academic advisor or fellow student.

Here are four selected responses from the survey.

  1. "One student in my class had the top grade. Another student was competing with her for the top grade and somehow emailed her from the professor's email address telling her that the exam had been moved and that class was canceled. This sounds like something out of a movie, but it really happened."
  2. "I remember during my sophomore year, pre-med students would try to sabotage other pre-med students by offering them incorrect study guides or learning objectives in hopes of other students getting lower test scores and raising the grading curve."
  3. "There was a student in my cohort who had to temporarily take a leave of absence from the program due to a medical illness. While she was gone, and even when she came back, some students began spreading rumors that she was not really sick and that she was just saying that she was in order to hide the fact that she simply wanted to take time off to get a break from school."
  4. "Healthy competition among pre-meds is to be expected, as the medical school admissions process remains fierce, with less than half of all applicants gaining admission. But it's clear from our survey that some of what goes on can be downright abusive," said Eric Chiu, executive director of pre-medical programs at Kaplan Test Prep.

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