Primary care & 3 year MD

[AustinTX]

Is anyone else considering a 3 year MD program for primary care, such as the program at Texas Tech?

As a 27 year old non-traditional student with a strong commitment to primary care, these programs are very appealing. Is there any downside?

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[FutureDrB]

Is anyone else considering a 3 year MD program for primary care, such as the program at Texas Tech?

As a 27 year old non-traditional student with a strong commitment to primary care, these programs are very appealing. Is there any downside?

I can't offer much advise on the MD side of things, but I was looking at going the 3-year primary care route for DO. After some discussion here on SDN, the overwhelming majority were against it. The main reason was a limitation on residency options, however this could neither be confirmed or denied. Even though at the moment I'm dedicated to primary care, there's no guarantee this will remain the case once I'm in med school and start doing rotations. I've decided to stick to the 4-year route, just so that I'm not limited if I should decide to specialize in something else later on.

By the way, I am a Tech graduate and spent a lot of time volunteering in the hospitals in Lubbock (UMC and Covenant). Give me a shout if you have any questions about the area if you're considering TTU.

 

[hawkbit]

I will (soon will be) strongly consider it as an older non-trad with kids. I work in health care and have seen many different physicians in many roles (specialist, hospitalist, outpatient, surgery, ect.). I can tell you I will NOT be doing more than 4 years for a residency, for my family's sake. I'm cool with being a family practice doc, there are a lot of possible practice opportunities in many locations. The salary will easily be 2.5-3x what I make now. Plus the savings of the Tech program (2 years paid for, so only 1 year of loans) is very attractive for someone who's going drop his family into poverty during medschool.

 

[AustinTX]

Thanks hawkbit & FutureDrB. They seem like they're becoming more acceptable. FutureDrB, I may contact you about TTU in the future - thanks for the offer.