Do you wish Medical School were direct admit from HS?

[Anonymous]

Northeast Ohio has a 6-year BS-MD admit program. It works for kids who are absolutely committed to a career as a doctor. That’s rare for a 16-17 year old to have that degree of certainty especially if they’ve gone through the American system which encourages exploration. I can see why direct admit programs can be attractive, but they’re not for most kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Better to be admitted at 22 or 23 years of age than at 17 or 18 years of age. Some are ready at 17 or 18, have resources to help them (e.g. a parent who is already in the field, money) and the drive it needs to succeed. Others should take the few years of undergrad to figure it out. Had heard one parent say they encouraged their kid to do the 3+4 program (apply as a high school senior) so kid was more likely to stick with that plan and actually go through with med school and not be bogged down thinking about applying as an undergrad. Have also heard of others who got into the 3+4 program but end up not doing med school in the end (kid went to business school instead, the horror!

One of my relatives got into a 3+4 program, did the 2 years of undergrad coursework decided to do a different STEM field instead. It’s good they figured out it wasn’t for them before enrolling in med school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but I do with they didn’t need hundreds upon hundreds of hours in clinical, research, and volunteering to prove worthiness requiring a new norm of gap years. Mine doesn’t need one, but as the age increases worries it’s a negative not to even if ready. It’s a long path, don’t want it to be longer.

Agree with this. At the UG level, I want my kid to have a well-rounded liberal arts education.

[Anonymous]

There’s the argument that if your life is on the line, you don’t care if your doctor had a well-rounded liberal arts education. However, I would want my pre-med kid to have a well-rounded education. I guess that’s easy for me to say since my kid isn’t pre-med.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, but I do with they didn’t need hundreds upon hundreds of hours in clinical, research, and volunteering to prove worthiness requiring a new norm of gap years. Mine doesn’t need one, but as the age increases worries it’s a negative not to even if ready. It’s a long path, don’t want it to be longer.

Agree with this. At the UG level, I want my kid to have a well-rounded liberal arts education.

What stops them?

[Anonymous]

I would worry that my pre-med kid would approach college with “tunnel vision” and lose the opportunity to broaden their horizons a little. Nothing wrong with being committed to a career in medicine/ it’s commendable! But there’s also a big world of people out there and I would want my pre-med kid to respect that and respect people who have different aspirations .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do your reseaerch as some US colleges do this. Brown University has PLME (8 year automatic admission to its medical school). I think Penn State and Thomas Jefferson Medical School still has this too (7 years for undergrad/MD degrees).

There are others...of course you have to keep up the minimum GPA etc.

George Washington.Univ has a 7 year BS + MD. Not for the weak.

On paper, this method ^^ saves 1 year. Does this program include summers? How many summers?

[Anonymous]

Kids enter college wanting to become doctors. Many either change their mind or can’t get thru O Chem etc. I wonder if there are statistics for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it all. In some European countries, Med School is direct admit.

Students still take PChem and Bio and what not, but so long ad student is passing they progress to the Medicine-specific courses without further ado. And the resulting medical knowledge is the same. They still have national licensing exams before one can practice.

Absolutely not and I actually went to one. At 17, I too young to make a life long commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Title says it all. In some European countries, Med School is direct admit.

Students still take PChem and Bio and what not, but so long ad student is passing they progress to the Medicine-specific courses without further ado. And the resulting medical knowledge is the same. They still have national licensing exams before one can practice.

Absolutely not and I actually went to one. At 17, I too young to make a life long commitment.

Quite a few American students do direct admit to medical school programs, and appreciate having the security of having a medical school locked in. 18 is old enough to fight in a war, it's old enough to choose a career.

[Anonymous]

They have these programs all over. RPI definitely offers it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but I do with they didn’t need hundreds upon hundreds of hours in clinical, research, and volunteering to prove worthiness requiring a new norm of gap years. Mine doesn’t need one, but as the age increases worries it’s a negative not to even if ready. It’s a long path, don’t want it to be longer.

You only take a gap year to work on your grades as they weren't strong enough. You don't need hundreds of hours of vlinical hours, research and volunteering - that is something you decided yoru child needs, not others.

[Anonymous]

The BS/MD programs are incredibly small, many weighted for in-state students, and most are not desirable schools if student were to leave the program. It’s really kind of irrelevant to the question, it’s a minuscule percentage of students that pursue this route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it all. In some European countries, Med School is direct admit.

Students still take PChem and Bio and what not, but so long ad student is passing they progress to the Medicine-specific courses without further ado. And the resulting medical knowledge is the same. They still have national licensing exams before one can practice.

These are typically all 6 yr programs. Sorry, but I don’t think that’s enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do your reseaerch as some US colleges do this. Brown University has PLME (8 year automatic admission to its medical school). I think Penn State and Thomas Jefferson Medical School still has this too (7 years for undergrad/MD degrees).

There are others...of course you have to keep up the minimum GPA etc.

I knew several kids in the Brown program. Half were deeply unhappy in med school/as doctors. Others thrived. When you ask kids to make huge career defining decisions as teens, a substantial number will have regrets.