@NervousDad01,
I will say this, and I’ve discussed this with former classmates, but the 6 year program isn’t the type of Bachelor/MD program that allows you to backtrack very easily, in terms of veering towards other professions, or even towards going the traditional route, without having to make up credit hours or lost time. It’s not really a program to “try out” in terms of figuring things out. One reason is that you’re very restricted in terms of the undergraduate classes you’re allowed to take. Another reason is that a lot of the traditional “premed” science requirements are taken out of the combined program, and you are credit hour limited (since the MED classes you take in the first 2 years count towards that limit, even though they are Pass/Fail classes). It’s quite different from other combined programs (where you are truly an undergraduate student for all 3-4 years), and even other 6 year programs, which still have you complete those undergraduate requirements, although in 2 years - so even if you were to leave that program, you still have the hours completed in hand which you can transfer to any undergraduate institution.
That can be trouble when as a high schooler, you know you want to do a healthcare profession, but you’re not 150% sure if going thru the journey of becoming a physician is the right one (and it really is a journey in many ways, not trying to be cliché at all here). I think a good argument can be made that most high schoolers, even the most high-achieving and accomplished, don’t really have a realistic view of what becoming a physician and what the life of a physician NOW truly entails, based on their shadowing experiences, or whatever experiences they did have were very skewed. I do also think there is some personal guilt involved - students don’t want to admit, after experiencing it, that they don’t really like or are very uncomfortable being around and working with very sick or unhealthy people who aren’t at their best or those who are very close to dying (since all of us will be in both positions at sometime in our lives).
So back when I was in the program, it was the 6 year program only. There was no official 7 year track available that could be started in your first year. The only way was if you voluntarily extended - and you still had to pay School of Medicine rate tuition during that year, so it was not even worth it, financially. It was pretty much your responsibility to fit all the undergraduate requirements for your particular Bachelor’s degree (it still is) in the program in the semesters allowed, which we all did either thru AP/IB/CLEP credit or thru transfer credit.
It looks like recently, they have created what is called the Guaranteed Admissions Program: http://med.umkc.edu/bamd/opportunities/. I don’t know how long this specific variant has been in place. According to the website, they limit it to 10 people, and it looks like only in-state students are allowed to choose this track, which I honestly don’t understand why, as I’m sure it would be just as beneficial for regional/out-of-state students. I would ask the admissions office if it’s possible to not be in-state and still take advantage of this program. In that year, you can acclimate well to college life, study well for undergraduate courses with good undergraduate advising, and if necessary, figure out whether the UMKC med school is truly right for you, while still retaining your acceptance in the program. UMKC has a pre-med society on the Volker campus in which you can meet other premeds, quite a few of whom will be seniors, as well as experienced undergraduate faculty advisors on the main Volker campus who are very honest about their opinions of the UMKC medical school and the combined program. I imagine you could also talk with UMKC senior medical students during that time as well. At the end of that year, you would have completed quite a few credit hours which are directly applicable to the combined program if you decided to continue, the traditional route (all those classes would be transferrable if you went to another university), or another career path, with no time lost.
If you’re not allowed to do the Guaranteed Admissions Program, I would say you have about 1 year w/in the 6 year program (so end of Spring), after which if you leave, you’d probably have to make up credit hours/semesters, in come way.
