<p>Not sure if this is going into the right forum, but this was my best guess.</p>
<p>I am starting to look at some of the BA/MD or BS/MD programs that are available. If you don't know what I'm talking about, they combine a bachelors degree and med school into one (usually, you're guaranteed admission to their med school)</p>
<p>My question is: What is your opinion on these programs? Is it a good choice if you know you want to go into medicine? What if you're not positive?</p>
<p>Thanks! Hopefully this will spark some interesting discussion.</p>
<p>I think this answer would be different for every person. If you are nearly positive that you will pursue med, then that would be the first indication of whether one of these programs was worth attention. Next, you better love the school because you are going to be there for a LONG time for undergrad and med. You lose most of your options by taking this route (if it binds you to it), so I would be sure that the school is where you want to be and has a reputable med school. I don’t know if these programs are a binding agreemet or not, but I sure would be mad at myself if I were to: 1. make great MCAT scores and 2. keep a high GPA but nevertheless not be able to apply to better med schools. If this agreement is not binding, then it sounds like a pretty good deal considering you wont have to worry about the med school admissions process.</p>
<p>This is just my two cents. Anyone feel free to enlighten me on this topic. I’m by no means an expert on it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>not all of them give you a 4 year BS and 4 years for an MD, for example, the penn state/jefferson med is a 6 year program, 2 at penn state 4 at Jefferson. you get the B.S. after the second two years at jefferson.</p></li>
<li><p>this is a big deal because if you drop out because you realize you dont like medicine, you dont walk out with a degree. in particular, your undergraduate training is the minimum needed for medical school. you wont be able to get chemistry jobs if the best class work is sophomore organic chem, bio jobs if its just basic cell bio/bio chem, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>you may or may not be bound. the prior poster got most of the issues i would have.</p></li>
<li><p>im worried that 17 year old kids applying for these programs because they “want to be doctors so desperately!!!” dont really know anything. i mean, seriously, how often would you trust a 17 year old to be super sure of what they want to do with their life. </p></li>
<li><p>you may pigeon-hole yourself into thinking that a doctor is the goal and not explore a lot of what college is. a lot of people who are good at science naturally think they want to be doctors. but ive seen many realize that being a doctor doesnt entail a whole lot of science on a day to day basis… at least nothing “challenging”. a lot of graduate students ive met started as pre med (including myself, not a grad student though) but became very disinterested. they found research so interesting. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>although im sure a lot of kids go into these programs, loving being doctors, and do well. again though, i’m jsut hesitant about trusting 17 year old kids to such decisions… particularly the binding programs.</p>