Med School/Undergrad

Pre-Med & Medical School
1

<p>I was curious as to whether it made sense to look for a college to do undergrad in that had a good medical program. Is it better to go to med school at the same college you did undergrad at? What does it mean when a college has an 8 year med program? Should I be applying to colleges with an 8 year med program if I want to eventually go to medical school?</p>

2

<p>As a Cardiologist who graduated from college (1989) when dinosaurs roamed the earth, here are my thoughts:

  1. No college has a “medical program”. In general premed curriculum is only a set of prerequisite classes for medical schools. Few schools have a Pre med major.
  2. In general, it doesn’t make much difference where you did your UG education at, as the key factors that med schools look at are GPA and MCAT scores. Now if you have your heart set on cutting edge bench research and never plan in seeing a patient, then perhaps you might get an advantage to getting into an elite medical school that focuses on research by attending an UG school that focuses on research (and this advantage would probably be based on you being involved in research as a student). But if you have your heart set on primary care and attending a medical school that focuses more on this, then the UG school won’t hurt you).
  3. There is nothing that makes it better or worse to attend/not attend the same medical school where your UG education is. It is a personal preference. Some out there may advise students to move around and see how different institutions work.
  4. A 7-8 year program is one where admission to medical school is either guaranteed from high school or may improve your chances at the institution’s med school. Several schools have a combined BS/MD program. Personally, I am not in favor of these programs because:
    a. You may not like the institution you are at.
    b. You may decide not to go into medicine, and then you are stuck at an UG that you only went to because of the BS/MD program.</p>

<p>In the end, though, where you apply and what you do can not be dictated by those who do not know you. You need to ask yourself what is it you want and not what others recommend without any knowledge of what makes you tick. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the answer! This is probably an obvious question, but what is a BS/MD program?</p>

4

<p>A BS/MD program is one where you automatically get admitted to medical school through the acceptance to an undergraduate program- thereby getting a bachelor’s degree and MD without the hassle of applying to medical school while in college.</p>

5

<p>"Should I be applying to colleges with an 8 year med program if I want to eventually go to medical school? "
-These are very rare and extremely hard to get into</p>