three year MD programs

dreamsicle said:

... rather than the traditional 8 month curriculum for four years...

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I hope you don't think you'll get 4 months of vacation time each year for the traditional 4-year track. It's no walk in the park, and condensing it down to 3 years is plain psychotic. What planet did you say you were from... ?

dreamsicle said:

I have heard that there are accredited three year MD programs which involve an 11 month curriculum for three years rather than the traditional 8 month curriculum for four years. What schools offer this accelerated program? Any in the United States or is it just in Canada? Thanks very much!

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I don't think any US med schools do. Actually, I don't think many med schools have 8 months a year curriculums. Mine is 11 months, I know a few schools give around 2 months off for summer but certainly not 4 months off. And when you start rotations (3rd & 4th years) those months are gone and school is year round.

crazy_cavalier said:

I hope you don't think you'll get 4 months of vacation time each year for the traditional 4-year track. It's no walk in the park, and condensing it down to 3 years is plain psychotic. What planet did you say you were from... ?

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Agreed. You probably get an average of about 10 weeks off the summer after first year, a little less the second year but you will be studying for and taking the boards - so no ability to condense this down any. Nothing to condense away after 3rd year...

Duke condenses the basic sciences down to 1 year. Penn condenses them down to 1.5 years. Nevertheless, at Duke you will still have a trailing year of mandatory research (as stated above), and at Penn you have the option of doing extra rotations or research.

At any rate, at either Penn or Duke, you're still going to be 'in med school' for 4 years.

The only time I ever heard of this was from an old-school surgeon I work with. He's gotta be in his 60's or so. Likely that most (if not all?) of these programs are now extinct.

dreamsicle said:

I have heard that there are accredited three year MD programs which involve an 11 month curriculum for three years rather than the traditional 8 month curriculum for four years. What schools offer this accelerated program? Any in the United States or is it just in Canada? Thanks very much!

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McMaster University in Canada actually does do a 3 year curriculum. I'm pretty sure that they are the only school to do this in the US/Canada, however, and good luck getting in if you aren't Canadian (and with the competitiveness of Ontario med schools right now, good luck getting in even if you are Canadian!)

The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities has a 3.5 - 6 year program depending on the students desires according to the MSAR, don't know anything about it though

During the 1970s UAB experimented with a three-year program in order to train doctors more quickly. My husband's parents both completed it, and it sounds like it was total hell. They had NO breaks off, and barely saw each other for years except in class.

They lost so many students to substance abuse, accidents and suicides that they called it off within a few graduating classes.

Several Canadian schools are three years. If you have a PhD, you can finish Duke in three years by skipping the research year. It's also theoretically possible to do Ohio State's Independent Study Pathway in three years, but I don't think anyone has done that for a long time, if ever.

Anyway, a year's not so long. Plenty of people decide they want to extend med school to do research and such. Best not to stress about it.

dreamsicle said:

I have heard that there are accredited three year MD programs which involve an 11 month curriculum for three years rather than the traditional 8 month curriculum for four years. What schools offer this accelerated program? Any in the United States or is it just in Canada? Thanks very much!

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University of Minnesetoa has a flexible MD program in which you can complete in 3.5 to 6 yrs. Check MSAR pg. 222.

I don't know about American schools, but as for Canadian I do know. McMaster and the University of Calgary are the ONLY schools to offer a 3-year curriculum in Canada; they are both 11-month curriculums.

pseudoknot said:

Several Canadian schools are three years. If you have a PhD, you can finish Duke in three years by skipping the research year.

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Per Duke Admissions (I just called them) this is not possible, maybe they have made exceptions in the past but generally you still have to do viable medical research.

dreamsicle said:

I have heard that there are accredited three year MD programs which involve an 11 month curriculum for three years rather than the traditional 8 month curriculum for four years. What schools offer this accelerated program? Any in the United States or is it just in Canada? Thanks very much!

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I don't think any U.S. M.D. program offer short cut other than BS/MD.

mshheaddoc said:

Per Duke Admissions (I just called them) this is not possible, maybe they have made exceptions in the past but generally you still have to do viable medical research.

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It's in the student handbook. It's a PDF available on the web somewhere, but I don't have time to look for it.