Many Capital students will graduate in four years and be able to get a job right away with just their degree, but many more will have to pass a professional licensing exam in order to start their career.
Students who wish to go to law school have to take the Law School Admission Test. This exam, often called the LSAT, is meant to assess a student’s reading comprehension of complex texts and their analytical and logical reasoning, according to the Law School Admissions Council’s website. The test is scored on a scale of 120-180 in one-point increments and takes about three hours to complete.
Because this is an admission test like the ACT or SAT, there is no score that will guarantee entry into the law school of a student’s choice. Top law schools such as Harvard have mean scores around the 170 mark, while Capital’s own law school has a median score of 148. In 2012, the average score in the United States was around 150, and the average of that year for Ohio was about the same.
Those students going into medical school will take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), which examines students’ problem solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of science concepts covered in their undergraduate programs.
The MCAT was recently changed to meet the needs of the ever-changing medical field and is now split into four parts, where each portion is scored from 118-132 points. These scores are then combined to give an overall score in a range of 472-528 points.
In 2015, the average score for all test takers was about 500. Because 2015 was the first year students took the new style of test, there isn’t much data as to what kind of scores students need to get into certain medical schools.
Education licenses can vary drastically by state, but in Ohio, those wishing to become educators have to take tests related to the subject areas they will be teaching. Each of the tests has separate scoring technique and has an individual passing score. Some teaching licenses, such as those specializing in school psychology or those teaching a foreign language, require extra testing to be licensed. Teachers are required to renew these licenses by taking college classes every few years to keep their information up to date.
Nursing students must take the National Council Licensure Exam, or NCLEX-RN, to become a registered nurse. This is a five hour long, multiple choice exam that measures a nursing candidate for knowledge of all aspects of the nursing profession. The number of questions varies for each person and is therefore scored differently for everyone.
This test is a pass or fail exam, unlike the law and medicine exams, and in 2015, 81% of first-time test takers received nursing licenses.
Several other professions, such as physical therapy and business, also require these types of licenses. So, for a majority of those graduating from Capital, getting a degree is only the first step toward having the careers of their dreams.
