<p>What are the differences between BS/MD and BA/MD that make them distinct from each other?</p>
<p>I'm not familiar with combined medical degrees, but in general, B.S. degrees will have a particular technical requirement in addition to the B.A. curriculum. What that would be in the medical field, I don't know.</p>
<p>Read the description of the courses that each program offers for the joint degrees. Depending on the universities involved, you may find that the series is exactly the same, just named differently. In other cases you will find that the BS has one or two science/math courses and one or two fewer humanities type courses than the BA. In the end, the only degree that your patients will care about is that you have completed the MD.</p>
<p>So is one necessarily harder than the other? Or is it just whatever the students likes?</p>
<p>It is just whatever the student likes.</p>
<p>Think of it this way, if you were going to go to college and then apply to Med School, you could major in anything you pleased: Music, History, Classical Archaeology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Nuclear Engineering, etc. You would just have to be certain to take the pre-med coursework that usually includes bio, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, calculus, and the like. You would have to be certain that you had good grades in the pre-med sequence to show that you can handle all those science classes, and you would need decent grades in your major field to show that you are reasonably smart and hardworking.</p>
<p>Not to mention that plenty of folks finish college, work for a while, and then decide they want to study medicine. Often they return to college for a year or two to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-med program that includes all of the sciences that they have missed earlier. I have a friend who is doing just that right now.</p>
<p>Many paths lead to happiness. Choose your own.</p>
<p>Very helpful, happymom. Thanks! I was told that getting accepted into a BS/MD or BA/MD program is much harder than just going for traditional premed, and taking the MCAT and applying to med school. Neither premed nor the joint programs are easy, but is this true?</p>
<p>If you are definitely set on the medical profession, go ahead and apply to the joint programs.</p>
<p>If you think that you might like medicine, but also that you want to explore a bit more, apply to college and complete the traditional pre-med program.</p>
<p>As to whether one pathway or another is more difficult, I have no idea. You may want to take this question to the med school forum. Click on "Discussion Home" at the top of this page, and then scroll down until you find it.</p>
<p>All the best.</p>