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Leaving the Nest
by Lauren Stabile, Editor
After eating their fill of turkey and stuffing during Thanksgiving,
many prospective collegiate scholars may be thinking about ways to
give back to the community to show their gratefulness for their
opportunities in life. Medicine may be a field of interest for any
budding philanthropist or anyone who wants a stable job and an
exciting career. However, eight years, the average time it takes to
earn a bachelor's degree and then apply and complete medical school,
seems like a long time after high school graduation. Not to
mention, paying for an undergraduate degree and medical school will
absorbed much of any future income. However, there is an
alternative to the typical route of a future medical professional.
Some universities are now offering accelerated medical study
programs. Basically, an undergraduate completes the bachelor's
degree in two or three years and is automatically enrolled in the
university's medical school for the regular four year program. This
cuts a year off the wait a normal medical student has to endure
before entering the workforce. The downfall to these programs is
that if the school does not quite fit the student, they are stuck at
the school for seven years instead of four.
Boston University offers an accelerated study by
enrolling selected students in summer school for their undergraduate
years. Students complete their pre-med work in the first two years
of study, but are required to minor in a subject from the College of
Arts and Sciences. Many of the courses offered in the third year of
the program are similar to first year med school classes. For more
information, download the information packet at
http://www.bu.edu/cas/forms/accelerated.pdf
Similarly, Pennsylvania State offers an accelerated
program to be completed in six or seven years. This program is a
cooperative agreement between Penn State and the College of Medicine
at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. The first two years
are spent on the Penn State campus and then students are whisked to
Thomas Jefferson University to immediately begin their medical
education. The requirements for this program are intensive;
students must obtain at least a 1450 on the SATs on the 1600 scale
and must maintain a 3.5 GPA throughout their undergraduate years, or
risk expulsion from the program.
Accelerated programs are physically and emotionally
demanding. Only those truly intent on a medical profession should
apply for an accelerated program. Also, students in these programs
lose three or four summers from their college experiences and are
immediately rushed into medical school without a pause. While there
are accelerated medical school programs at Drexel University and
many others, the more renowned medical schools such as Johns Hopkins
or Harvard do not offer accelerated programs. While determined
undergraduates could always take extra classes to finish college
early on their own accord, accelerated study programs offer the
extra guidance, support, and peace of mind regarding admission to
medical school.
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