<p>I understand becoming a doctor can take anywhere between 8-17 years to achieve. That seems like a lot of schooling for this career and in result a lot of money. I've hear of Med Students graduating with hundreds of thousands of debt because of the amount of schooling it takes to receive training. Is there a short course from Undergrad to Residency, like a specialized Med Program?</p>
<p>Maybe you could try something like PA or NP. ( physician assistant or nurse practitioner.)</p>
<p>If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.</p>
<p>If it’s the debt, you may want to consider going to a lower tier uni that is willing to fund some part of your education. When you reach med school, you will not have the opportunity of receiving scholarship money just due to the percentage the institutes accept and also the low ratio of merit/need-based aid.
Plus, going into medicine is a huge commitment, but if you go into it straightfaced and realistic, maybe the journey might not be so rough on you. Otherwise, you could pick and choose to being a pharmacist or dentist if you don’t like the options shrinkrap included. Just adding onto that list 
There are simply just so many choices, so I hope you take the time to look around. We premeds have an awful tendency of looking at negatives sometimes.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Debt is my major concern. I am aiming to become a Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgeon so I know I’ll need quite a few years of college, I was just wondering if any schools out there had a program that combined UG with Graduate so that med students could finish schooling faster. I thought I heard somewhere that a student could finish schooling to become a doctor in six years with a special UG/Med program, but maybe I’m confused.</p>
<p>That’s a long road; I wonder if two years will make that much difference. My training took 10 after college. I started out in a 6 year BS/MD program, didn’t get into med school after sophomore year, and I am glad I had a chance to stop and smell the roses. </p>
<p>That was a long time ago, but those programs still exist.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/</a></p>
<p>If debt is really your issue, you could choose a field other than Congenital Cardiac Surgery…which is one of a couple fields that require the longest amount of training of any specialty. Seriously, it’s 5-7 years for general surgery (5 years clinical, possibly 2 years research), 2-3 years for thoracic surgery (2 clinical, 1 possible research year) and then 1 year of congenital cardiac surgery. Even if you really love the anatomy and the physiology of congenital heart disease and that’s the one thing you have to have to be happy as a physician, you could do pediatric cardiology. That’d be 3 years of peds, 3 years of peds cardiology and possibly 1 extra year of either peds cardiac critical care (which you could also do after 3 years of peds critical care - which is the fellowship I’m starting July 1st), or a year of peds interventional cardiology or peds diagnostic cardiology. That’d be 7 years MAX vs a minimum of 8 and more likely as much as 11.</p>
<p>The 6/7 year BA/MD programs do not accept transfers since the undergrad portion of the program is compressed and any transfer would come into the program behind academically.</p>
<p>Since you’ve already finished high school and will be starting at Bates in a couple of months, it’s too late for you to apply these programs now. Your only option would be to withdraw from Bates, take a gap year and apply to BA/MDs next year.</p>
<p>This would be risky move for you since 1) there is no guarantee you’d get accepted into a BA/MD program; 2) you may not get sufficient FA to attend the BA/MD if you’re accepted; 3) you’d lose the very generous FA package you’ve received at Bates.</p>
<p>If your intent is to work in the medical profession, there are numerous ways that allow one to participate in the care of patients without needing an MD and several years of residency. Spend some time in a hospital and you’ll notice this. Engineers, technicians, nurses, nursing and medical assistants, and volunteers are instrumental in making sure everything runs as smooth as possible. Heck, I’ve even met a Ph.D who was a professor at the university and ran a machine (EEG I think) during surgeries.</p>
<p>6 year combined bs/md will cut 2 years from your UG, but it is not for everybody.</p>
<p>There are 4 MD schools in my state: my state school (which I attend), a private school, a combined program, and an elite school. It is well known around here (the town where I go to school as well as the city where I’m from) that the graduates of the combined program often do not score as well on the USMLE Step 1 as graduates from other schools and they often have a tough time obtaining one of their top 3 residency choices (perhaps also a function of their young age). I have friends who attend each school, and it’s interesting to me to notice that the kids from the combined program tend to be the most stressed out and burnt out, and the kids from the elite program tend to be the least outgoing (socially) and the most academic. </p>
<p>In the end, the environment of my school fit me perfectly; I would encourage you to look for schools that fit you as a person (in addition to fitting you as a learner), because it seems like your school plays a sizeable role in determining the type of physician you will be, and I imagine finding a school with a mission that is congruent to your personality will be the most enjoyable for you. </p>
<p>You have the rest of your life to work. College is FUN and exciting–I imagine if given the choice between two years of full-time work vs two years of undergrad, most people would choose two years of undergrad. Might as well take some time to stop and smell the roses during undergrad (many of these combined programs rush through/abbreviate undergrad to get to med school sooner), figure out if this is truly the right path for you, and then have the opportunity to apply to schools that fit your personality rather than schools that have a combined program.</p>
<p>There are over 30 combined bs/md programs. They are very different. We have 4 in our state that I am aware of. 2 out of 4 in the same school in my hometown. All are different, even 2 in the same school are very different. We have met many families during my D. application process. Some of them specifically wanted accelerated bs/md, some with older kid who went to Med. School regular route. All families and kids are different. As an example, my D. was accepted to 3 combined bs/md, she did not want accelerated one, so she attended the one that actually did not allow graduate earlier (4 + 4) and she has applied out and had additional choices of Med. Schools. But if she wanted pediatrics, Med. School in her program is the one of the very top in pediatrics in the USA. D. is at different Med. School currently, her Med. School also has bs/md and she has kids in her Med. School class who are in this program. Once you are at Med. School, everybody is on the same footing, if you work hard, you will do fine, no matter where you came from, the bs/md at the same school, other bs/md, just regular state public, Ivy, any other elite. If you are accepted at specific Med. School, adcom has decided that you can do the work there. I might be a bit more relaxed about it, as I do not think that #1 choice is always a must. I believe that my D. has the same attitude. Do your best and see what happen.
I do not know any other way to cut years. There are few geniuses who graduate from HS at 14 or so, but I do not think that we are talking about this very rare abnormality. Actually, combined bs/md are also very hard to get in and there are very few who would be able to cut years going there as not all of bs/md programs accelerated. But the most important advantage of bs/md is having a guaranteed spot, which by itself might be cutting a year or so as there are some who do not get into Med. School on their first try.</p>
<p>Instead of doing 5 years of general surgery residency followed by 3 years of a cardiothoracic fellowship, there are a handful of combined 6-year cardiothoracic surgery residency programs. Of course, to do congenital you’d have to do another year of a super-fellowship. That said, these 6-year combined programs are so competitive that most people end up taking a year off during medical school to do research to bolster their credentials come application time, so in the end you don’t really save much time.</p>
<p>Take home message? There are (few) shortcuts in medicine. You’re either in it for a long haul or you’re not really in it at all.</p>
<p>Before starting medical school after four years of college I also questioned why I need another four years of medical school before residency. However, once you get to medical school and begin to realize how much you have to learn to earn your MD you soon begin despair that four years of medical school will not be nearly enough time to learn all the things you will have to know.</p>