The program was established in 2016 to support underrepresented individuals interested in attending medical school, but found the MCAT was a barrier to that success, said Charles N. Collier Jr., Quinnipiac’s Assistant Dean for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity.

“The ultimate goal of the program is that those participating would increase their test scoring at a level which would make them more competitive for entry into medical school, including the Netter School of Medicine,” Collier said.

On average, participants prepared for the MCAT through this program have reported a 47 percent acceptance rate to medical schools.

The most recent iteration of the program concluded on July 20 and supported a full roster of 20 participants during a six-week summer session on the North Haven campus. Participant Corey Barron, who holds a master’s in biotechnology, traveled to Quinnipiac from his home state of Georgia to attend.

“This was a program I was really looking for,” said Barron. “The MCAT is such a daunting test. I just wanted to increase my confidence as I go into the exam and the best way to really do that was with the preparation the Quinnipiac professors provided and more importantly, with those important strategies I learned from them that can help improve my score.”

Participants work directly with experienced and knowledgeable Quinnipiac faculty to strengthen their scientific exam knowledge.

“This program helped me to understand everything a lot better. It taught me to focus on the passages, understanding the full concepts and applying it to other areas of medicine or other organ systems in your body,” said Barron. “The professors would go over content review and we’d have practice problems and they’d walk us through to approach the questions best. It helped me feel a lot more relaxed about going into the exam and how to approach things better.”

The program also offers opportunities to polish skills that will assist participants in other areas of the MCAT. This year, an online Princeton Review reading skills instructional component was added to the Saturday curriculum. In addition, Collier’s office offers to review and discuss drafts of participant’s personal statements, a part of the central application for applying to medical school.

“They talked about your personal statement and shed more light on why it is important for you to describe some of your experiences,” said Barron. “It helped me get a better perspective on why there’s such an arduous process in applying to medical school.”

Another interesting collaboration offered during the immersion program is the chance for participants to be among Netter’s newest group of accepted medical students, who are on campus during the summer to receive a first-year preview.

“We intentionally have the first-year students come in during the MCAT immersion program so that there is a natural mentoring that goes on,” says Collier. “The immersion program students certainly can benefit from students who are close in the goal of entering medical school and are able to learn from them given that close proximity of their career interests.”

“Something else I took away the from the program was the inspiration,” Barron said. “It was rewarding. It really showed me the importance of why I want to become a physician. It solidified some of those reasons.”

For its ability to zero in on MCAT preparation through an intensive, in-person, six-week session geared to support exam success among underrepresented students, Quinnipiac’s MCAT Immersion Program is unique, Collier said. Each session draws many more applicants than the program’s 20 available seats.

“In essence, I think the Netter School of Medicine and Quinnipiac as a whole, supports any and all students with regard to their success in all of our academic programs,” said Collier. “For those unique populations that attend Quinnipiac, we want to make sure that we remain a very diverse community; and this is one of the ways that we hope to ensure that level of diversity.”