Work on your test scores. There are a gazillion students hoping to bypass the traditional med school app process/MCAT stress, so the competition for admission into these BS/MD programs is intense.
These programs typically are accepting students whose stats and ECs are so strong that the med school is convinced that these students would likely be admitted if they applied during the traditional routes.
Personally, I don’t like the 6 year or 7 year programs. Too intense. You miss all of the “fun” that should be part of college life. You have your whole life to be in your career.
I’d try to replace the orthodontist with a doctor who has an ACGME recognized specialty (put your mouse over the “specialties” tab on the right side http://www.acgme.org/#). Orthodontia is a dental specialty and you’re not applying to dental school.
There are only three 6 year combined Bachelor/MD programs that are left in the United States – UMKC, NEOMED (and I’ve heard on this forum that the 6 year option for NEOMED will be disappearing pretty soon if it hasn’t already), and Howard. So many of the other combined programs that initially started out as being 6 year programs (Boston University, Miami, Jefferson, Northwestern: http://www.wardrounds.northwestern.edu/summer-2011/alumni-news/news/medical-education-honors-program-celebrates-50-years/) and still exist now, have gone to at least 7 years in length.
I would not use the time interval as a major driver in your decision, as there is a reason that medical education in the United States has not fully embraced the 6 year model, as is the norm in other countries in the world.
“there is a reason that medical education in the United States has not fully embraced the 6 year model, as is the norm in other countries in the world.”
@suzyQ7, well part of the reason is that the healthcare system in the United States is MUCH more complicated in the United States both in terms of the actual delivery of it, as well as actual available treatments, compared to other countries. If anything, the amount of knowledge needed now has increased tremendously, vs. in the 1960s/1970s when 6 year programs first started (at a time in the country, when the best, academically, were NOT becoming physicians).
I’m not saying there aren’t inefficiencies in the medical education system to “create” a physician to practice in the US. There definitely are, often pretty ridiculous. The question is where to cut. Medicine is a lot more than just hopping from course to course and checking them off, if that makes sense.
But the main reason that the 6 year model hasn’t been embraced by the AAMC fully is because it hasn’t really been shown to get us better applicants, compared to the more traditional 4+4 model that we have now currently. The 4+4 model gets medical schools very good, if not stellar, applicants, who have done their HW on the profession (both seeing the positives, real negatives, and pitfalls and being ok with those) and thus are much more determined to finish what they start (so less attrition). They’ve investigated and ruled out other great professions and alternative healthcare careers. They’ve developed basic coping skills, probably pretty good study skills by this point, etc. They have the academics but more importantly, the maturity and personal growth that just comes with four years of undergraduate education and being older, which is critical later on during clinical rotations, and also during residency training (i.e. good coping skills, being able to take constructive criticism, not throwing a temper tantrum, being able to be functional in the work force), when you’re not just evaluated based on how well you take exams. You have people who have much broader life experiences, which in turn allows them to relate better to patients, and thus be better doctors. Someone who comes right after from graduating high school and goes 6 years straight, generally does not have these type of experiences.
Hardly a ringing endorsement for the 6 year model.
In a few articles/studies, they’ve shown that those in these more accelerated type of programs, tended to have lower average USMLE board scores compared to their traditional counterparts in the same med school. So at best, a med school ends up even, with the same caliber of applicants that they’re already getting, thru the traditional track. At worst, you’re getting weaker applicants which then affects the school’s average board scores, their match lists, etc.
