Early acceptance for med school

[migirl]

I was just reading an article in the paper about colleges implementing joint programs between their undergraduate programs and medical schools. Basically (for those who don't know) a handful of qualified students get guaranteed acceptance to med school when they enroll in undergrad and just have to maintain a certain GPA and don't even have to take the MCATs. When they finish with their undergrad degrees, they just go straight into med school. I'm wondering if anyone here knows anyone who did this track or what you all think about making this type of decision at such a young age? 17 years old 8O seems awfully young to me to be making such a big decision, especially given the recent discussion about "what I wish I would have known"... Of course I realize that there are some people for whom this is a 'calling' and just 'know' even at a young age that they want to follow this path. I'm just wondering if you can really prepare a teenager for the rigors of a medical life?

[SueC]

We've got a program in our city that is like that--they enter as freshmen and in 6 years they have a medical degree. Some of them have done residencies with my husband and as far as I know they have been adequate, but I can't imagine making a decision like that as a freshman in college! I'd be interested to hear whether anyone else has any experience with those types of programs.

[migirl]

...they enter as freshmen and in 6 years they have a medical degree.

Really?? 8O

I knew there was a lot of 'filler' in undergrad and med school, I didn't realize that there was so much as to completely cut out 2 whole years of the education process? Wow!

[Phoebe]

A friend of mine who works with DH went through a six year program like that. It is probably the one Sue mentioned because it was in Kansas City. She did her residency there too. I will ask her about it.

Jennifer

Several of my bf's friends are doing that (it's 7 years at Northwestern) and they seem happy with it. My bf would have done the same thing probably if he had been accepted to a CA undergrad program that he liked since he had always wanted to be a doc. I think it works out ok because from what I've heard, the people who decide late to go into med school don't always know what they're getting into and sometimes are the most disappointed.

But I don't know... I picked a career 3 months before graduation!

[Rapunzel]

One of the radiology residents in my husband's program (his year, in fact) graduated from one of those "fast-track" programs.

Jennifer

[Michele]

I applied but wasn't accepted into the vet school one here at UF....however I ended up being accepted to vet school "early" anyway.

UF med has a program that you apply for as a sophomore and it lets you skip the MCATs.....the only people I've known that have been in it were the hardcore gunners.....straight A's, would-have-aced-the-MCATs-anyways types....

It's been a while since I last posted. My husband went through a 7 year program. He was accepted into the biomed program when he applied to college at 17. I think a total of 250 freshman were accepted into the program. Each year, about 1/2 of the people in his class were cut from the program based on their grades and test scores. 8O At the end of his 3rd year of college, he had to apply to the medical school that his college was affiliated with, UCLA, and went through the interview process with them. Of the original 250 students, only 25 were accepted into UCLA. Those 25, including my husband, skipped their 4th year of college and went straight to med school. The rest of the students had to complete their 4th year of college and then apply to med school. My dh went through the regular 4 years of med school and earned his MD when he was 24. If I remember correctly, my husband took all of the normal tests including the MCAT.

My husband really enjoyed the program. His 3 years of college were pretty intense because he knew that only the top 10% of his class would make it through the program...and he had to work 2 and sometimes 3 part time jobs to pay for college. I think the program was beneficial because most of his undergrad work was geared towards science. He still had to take some of the general ed classes, but mostly was able to focus on the courses that would have the most benefit to his career. Also, even though he only went to college for 3 years, he had to take a few extra classes each year, so he probably did the equivalent of 3 1/2 years of undergrad courses. Dh also volunteered quite a bit in emergency rooms during his undergrad years as well as completed a 3 month externship.

I'm sure this program isn't for everyone, but it was certainly beneficial for my husband. He was able to get into his 1st choice for residency and he is currently the top resident in his program...and he's one of the youngest residents. He will be done with residency in 2 months and was offered an attending position at his 1st choice hospital. The group that he joined seemed to be impressed that he went through the accelerated program, but I'm sure other factors played a part in their decision to hire him as well.

I'm sure this response is longer than you had hoped for. This was a great program for my husband because he has known since he was 4 that he wanted to be a doctor. For those who are not sure that they want to be a doctor, this might not be the right program for them because they may need a little more time during the college years to figure out what they want to do.

It can be a good opportunity. . .

if you are uncompromisingly convinced that you want to be a Dr. My sister, a 2nd year med student at Tufts, started in BU's accelerated 7 year program. She knew that she wanted to be a Dr from a very young age. However, after spending a year of being surrounded by extremely competitive classmates, her enthusiasm waned, and she ended up transfering to Cornell, and out of the accelerated program. In time, her drive to become a Dr reasserted itself and she applied to med school.

The main point - The accelerated program is great for the most driven and most convinced. However, I think 17 is very young for 99% of us to make those types of decisions.

But - I'm speaking about this through my own lens. I tried being a buyer for a major retail chain and an accountant before going back to law school two years ago.

[PrincessFiona]

When I was finishing my MS at UF we had a student working in the lab who was finishing up that accelerated program. He was accepted out of highschool and then only had to complete (if memory serves) two years of ugrad. Correct me if I'm wrong, Michelle. He was a very interesting guy....a gunner for sure...but also very immature. (I know that that is not true of all of these early accpetance people though)...I was really hard-pressed to be able to imagine him at that maturity level working with patients, though I'm sure that he probably did fine. Who am I to talk...I'm 33 and probably don't have the maturity level

In any case, I remember him getting depressed as the time came closer to starting med school...he felt like he was just sitting around waiting for med school to start. A few times he did express the thinking that he might have wanted to study philosophy or music...his two passions. Both of his parents were physicians though and so he told me that he'd never really seriously considered any other path. He quickly got over his doubts by telling me that it would all be worth it because he was going to meet some 'hot babes' in medical school that would 'be all over him' because he was going to be a doctor and he would get his BMW as soon as he finished med school...red....cabrio...

I did meet a girl who was in the program though and she was very mature, level-headed and impressive.....so I guess I've gotten off on a tangent here...but it was a fun reminiscence for me. I wonder how he is doing...He must be almost done with med school now.

kris