Do you need a degree?

[honsano]

Okay, so I have been looking through the MSAR and noticed a lot of schools say you need, aside from certain courses required for entrance into that school, at least three years from an accredited institution to be accepted. With that said, if you are accepted into a certain medical school which has these standards, do you really need to graduate from college to attend medical school or could you just go to medical school. The immediate advantage I can think of is that there is a lot of money to be saved especially by us who attend private schools. So what do yall think?

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[kito]

Duh. What do you think?

 

[Trekkie963]

You DO NOT have to have an undergraduate degree to be accepted by a medical school. Schools that say they will consider anyone with 90 hours or more may take students who have not/will not complete the requirements for a bachelor's degree.

That said, the practice of admitting someone after just three years of college with no degree is very, very uncommon. You'd have to be a pretty extraordinary applicant.

 

[honsano]

Still not sure, seriously. I mean if they say you only need three years from a school then I would say no. But, when speaking to my pre-med advisor he emphatically said yes you do. So, what do YOU think?

 

[Trekkie963]

I think that, realistically, you had better get a bachelor's degree.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Still not sure, seriously. I mean if they say you only need three years from a school then I would say no. But, when speaking to my pre-med advisor he emphatically said yes you do. So, what do YOU think?

If you take the standard pathway, apply as a third year, get in a school in the fall of your fourth year or spring of your fourth year, and when yhou send your final transcript (yes you have to) and you have failed to graduate, I'd say with near certainty that your acceptance will be rescinded. Does that help?

JH

 

[honsano]

Yeah, I think so too trekkie. I was just posing the question because there are some people in programs which offer them automatic acceptance into schools. Suppose such a person were to take the april MCAT as a junior and score like a 27 or something. For this person, being accepted into another school would be slim. So why don't they forgoe their last year of college, save money (from tuition and applying to other schools), and just take the plunge and attend the medical school they have an automatic acceptance with? I guess with my previous posts I was just beating around the bush a little.

 

[Trekkie963]

Yeah, I think so too trekkie. I was just posing the question because there are some people in programs which offer them automatic acceptance into schools. Suppose such a person were to take the april MCAT as a junior and score like a 27 or something. For this person, being accepted into another school would be slim. So why don't they forgoe their last year of college, save money (from tuition and applying to other schools), and just take the plunge and attend the medical school they have an automatic acceptance with? I guess with my previous posts I was just beating around the bush a little.

Non-accelerated combined programs generally do require you to complete the undergrad portion of your education. The only way to shorten those would be to actually graduate with a degree in three years and then enter medical school.

 

[ms. a]

My brother-in-law is a successful anasthesiologist from a top 10 med school. He has no bachelor's degree.

 

[jlee9531]

My brother-in-law is a successful anasthesiologist from a top 10 med school. He has no bachelor's degree.

these examples are few and far between. but congrats on his part. he must have been an extraordinary applicant.

 

[gschl1234]

Okay, so I have been looking through the MSAR and noticed a lot of schools say you need, aside from certain courses required for entrance into that school, at least three years from an accredited institution to be accepted. With that said, if you are accepted into a certain medical school which has these standards, do you really need to graduate from college to attend medical school or could you just go to medical school. The immediate advantage I can think of is that there is a lot of money to be saved especially by us who attend private schools. So what do yall think?

Some schools specifically state in their conditional contract to you that you need a degree prior to matriculation.

 

[gschl1234]

My brother-in-law is a successful anasthesiologist from a top 10 med school. He has no bachelor's degree.

Did the school realize that he didn't have a bachelor's degree? Does he have some other degree beyond his high school diploma?

 

[MG Md 2B]

I am an undergrad junior education major. At my school, the education program is a 5 year program in which you graduate with both your bachelor's degree and your masters on the same day. I have decided to apply to med school this june. If accepted, I will not have a degree, yet will have still completed 4 years of undergrad without getting off track.
This aside, I truly don't understand what relevance a bachelor's degree has to one's ability to be a good doctor. Most people will not use their bachelor's degree any once they enter med school. I know Pharmacy can be entered into after only 2 years of undergrad. Why is medicine so different? Any thoughts?

 

[Sweet Tea]

The way the accelerated program at ECU works is that you do your bachelor's work in 3 years and get funneled over to the med school. You have to finish your degree, but you don't have to take the MCAT (lucky, lucky people).

I think that this is something that varies from school to school. Most of the acceptance letters my friends got during our junior year said something along the lines of "this acceptence is contingent upon completing your degree before matriculation to med school." There probably are some schools or some accelerated programs where you don't need a bachelor's degree, but my guess is that these are few and far between and most places will require you to get a bachelor's degree before you can enroll.