Student Admitted to Medical School Without Ever Taking MCAT

An extreme case of nepotism or a gross oversight? A student was admitted to the University of Florida School of Medicine by its Dean, Dr. Bruce Kone, "over the objections of the college's selection committee." Apparently not only did he not take the MCAT, but he "did not apply through AMCAS by the usual deadline - instead, he applied by special permission, given by Dr. Kone, in February." It is not clear what prompted the dean to make this kind of concession for one student, but the article suggests that it may have been political influence by Governor Charlie Grist that expedited the students admission. Governor Grist, who is a friend of the students father, wrote a letter of recommendation for the student when he originally applied to the UF's accelerated program in 2007 in addition to a letter of recommendation from Sen. Ken Pruitt.

Before I go any further you should just read the rest of the article for yourself here. It makes for a quite an interesting read. I wish I had those kind of recommendation letters. It's amazing to me that we go through all this work to get into medical school when there are others out there that are being accepted without the requisite credentials. We should all email the dean at bkone@ufl.edu and let him know that this kind of behavior is unfair.
Aaron Daye/The Gainesville Sun