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The Dartmouth
July 11, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Daily Debriefing

The Medical College Admission Test will add new sections to more holistically evaluate medical school applicants, Inside Higher Ed reported. The addition of sections covering the social sciences and critical thinking represent the first major change to the exam since 1991 and is one of the largest changes since the MCAT's creation in 1928, according to Inside Higher Ed. The board of the Association of American Medical Colleges has considered the changes for the past three years, aiming to attract students with broader undergraduate training instead of only those in the natural science fields of chemistry or biology, Inside Higher Ed reported. AAMC president Darrell Kirch said that social and behavioral sciences are as important as genetics and anatomy for doctors, according to Inside Higher Ed. The exam will be lengthened from five and a half to six and a half hours, but will help medical schools embrace "an admissions process less bound to test scores," Kirch told Inside Higher Ed.

A study published in Science found that the number of female science and engineering professors may not be equal to male professors for nearly a century, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute mechanical engineering professor Deborah Kaminski and Simon Fraser University Dean of Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology Cheryl Geisler investigated the progress of 2,996 assistant professors hired since 1990 and found that 27 percent of new hires in science and engineering over the last four years were women, an increase from 25 percent during the previous decade, according to The Chronicle. Another journal, American Scientist, stated that the low number of women in science should not be attributed to a gender bias in hiring or a lack of scientific aptitude among women, but rather an inclination for many women to pursue motherhood rather than an academic career in math-intensive fields.

The University of North Dakota is facing a costly dilemma over its controversial athletic mascot, the Fighting Sioux, The New York Times reported. To comply with NCAA sanctions against using Native American imagery, UND retired its mascot two years ago and has since spent over $750,000 removing references to the Sioux in its nickname and logo, according to The Times. Last November, the North Dakota legislature repealed a law that required the university to keep the nickname, giving the team three years to come up with an alternative, The Times reported. On Feb. 7, a group in defense of the mascot compiled enough signatures on a petition to force a statewide referendum on the subject, according to The Times.