Anyone taking longer than 4 years to finish?

[KnowBody]

I expect I'll be a great grandmother by the time I finish med school. Is anyone else taking longer than four years to finish, and what's your story?

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[jonb12997]

stupid musculoskeletal system one test for your grade set-up.... GRRRRRRRRRR however, it's completely worked out for the better! I'd almost rather do it this way if I had to do it all over again.

 

[doctorp82]

Don't know the guy or his story, but apparently a guy who started in 2000 graduated this year from our school.

To put it in perspective, I graduated high school in 2001, started medical school 2005. But hey, he's an M.D.

 

[DrLizzie]

I expect I'll be a great grandmother by the time I finish med school. Is anyone else taking longer than four years to finish, and what's your story?

Why is it taking you longer than 4 years to graduate?

 

[jdh71]

I expect I'll be a great grandmother by the time I finish med school. Is anyone else taking longer than four years to finish, and what's your story?

Happens all the time, and not always because of failures in class - some get too sick (with seirous stuff, CA, anything necssitating a good amount of time in an ICU) to continue the year or catch up - I know of a guy who was attacked going to his car to get books late at night, post-traumatic stress killed his concentration - also, many girls who get pregnant like to extend - or some folks meet and marry someone a class behind and decide to extend 3/4 year. This is nothing new and nothing to feel bad about. It will come up during interviews, and a simple explanation will suffice, and if it was because you failed biochem, or something like that, you merely point out what you did to overcome and that you had no problems after.

 

[MartianOddity]

I study abroad and here (in Poland) I'll have 6 years of pure and lovely med school. That's because premed school isn't required for application.
In Sweden med school is 5.5 years because of the absence of pre med before med school.


But that's not in the US, of course.

 

[Discobolus]

I had some personal problems which led to academic problems my first year and took a leave of absence. I did well when I came back and scored above average on Step 1 and 2. It was never asked about in my interviews and I got my first choice. I actually like my classmates better in this class than my previous one. The only problem has been a little bit more paperwork to explain things when applying for a resident medical license. Also an extra year of student loans to further up the already enormous total.

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

6 years here...but it's straight out of high school, and in the UK..

 

[deleted77919]

There are a few MD/PhD's here who took 8 years to get their combined degrees. In fact one of them has been living in the same dorm room the entire time.

 

[KnowBody]

Is the published time for an MD/PhD five years, or am I remembering that incorrectly?

 

[KnowBody]

Don't know the guy or his story, but apparently a guy who started in 2000 graduated this year from our school.

Yes, I have a friend who started in 2000 and is graduating this month. His problems revolved around depression and addiction recovery. I know three people who are taking quite a bit longer than that to finish; one will be graduating 12 years after his start date if he has no additional delays.

Does anyone have problems with fragmentation of education (remembering all the important stuff) because of delays in finishing?

 

[SupergreenMnM]

All the ones I know average more around 6/7 years for md/phd.

 

[KnowBody]

Why is it taking you longer than 4 years to graduate?

Two major physically disabling accidents. But despite that these accidents caused significant changes in my life, I'm determined to finish medical school.

Has anyone returned to med school after taking time off, and how do you get back into the swing of it all without starting over?

 

[njbmd]

Some schools like (GW for example) have a five-year program. The first year is done over two years as opposed to one. Some people take a leave of absence or take a year and complete a MPH. There are a number of reasons for taking five or six years that do not involve failure.

 

[LadyWolverine]

All the ones I know average more around 6/7 years for md/phd.

This is generally the exception, not the rule. Most MD/PhD programs advertise something ridiculous like 6 years, but usually take substantially longer amounts of time to complete. It's not unusual to take as many as 10 years.

 

[GuzzyRon]

Isn't it federal law that a 'regular' MD program cannot exceed 5 years? Or am I missing something?

 

[KnowBody]

Isn't it federal law that a 'regular' MD program cannot exceed 5 years? Or am I missing something?

Wow GuzzyRon, I've never heard that, but would sure like to know if that's the case. Do you have any specific information? I know someone who'll be taking 12 years for a simple M.D. if he has no further problems, but I don't know the details why he's taking so long. It seems that wouldn't be allowed if there was a law limiting med school to five years.

One of my problems is that I've been out for a while and prefer to review on my own and try to pick up where I left off. Has anyone else taken significant time off and then come back to finish?