Having a Bachelor's degree an advantage?

[ivan928]

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What are the pro's and con's of having a bachelors degree - meaing a candy striper-traditional med school applicant vs. taking the minimum subject requirements (1 yr of English, 2 yrs of Chem, etc..), a MCAT test result and clinical experience, when applying for medical school?

 

[DrMidlife]

According to the MSAR, something like 99% of the students at each school have bachelors degrees. I can only speculate on the 1% who don't.

Shall I speculate? That 1% has alternatively demonstrated the maturity and discipline to complete lots of very difficult academic coursework and to jump through administratively-specified hoops. They've done plenty to establish themselves as compelling candidates without finishing a degree. Or, they're compelling international candidates whose degrees don't translate here.

I also speculate that if you don't complete a bachelors, you'll get asked why, forever. When you interview for residency, when you interview for fellowship, when you interview for faculty, etc. If you want an MPH, JD, MBA or other addition to your MD, those programs are going to want a bachelors, I imagine.

If you don't want to do finish a degree, have a better reason than "didn't see the point." You can always apply without it and see what happens.

Best of luck to you.

 

[st0w]

Does that 99% include matriculants into the medical school? Or students who were accepted? Could some of those students have been accepted into a combined BA/MD program?

Either way, it's pretty much a necessity to have a bachelor's degree. Some schools say it is strongly recommended, and some outright require it.

 

[Deepa100]

Look around you, there are post docs applying to get into med school. Why is this even a question? In my opinion, people that don't want to get an undergrad should look into nursing and PA diplomas.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

My understanding was that the Bachelor's degree was a requirement unless a student was accepted to a combined BS/MD program, in which case they'd pick up the degree along the way.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this?

 

[Deepa100]

I remember seeing this info in MSAR a year ago. The combined B.S/M.D programs do accept people w/o undergrad but they have to get it along the way. However, there are not that many schools that offer these and they are pretty hard to get into. If I were a non-trad applying late in my life, I would try to maximize my chances of getting in, not minimize.

 

[notdeadyet]

What are the pro's and con's of having a bachelors degree - meaing a candy striper-traditional med school applicant vs. taking the minimum subject requirements (1 yr of English, 2 yrs of Chem, etc..), a MCAT test result and clinical experience, when applying for medical school?

While some schools may not require a BA, most schools require a certain amount of college credit. Most I applied to stipulated that you needed at least the equivalent of three year's full time college credit.

I would say with a pretty fair degree of confidence that no one whose college experience consisted only of prereqs (about 1-1/2 years of college) was accepted straight into a regular MD program.

 

[spicedmanna]

My understanding was that the Bachelor's degree was a requirement unless a student was accepted to a combined BS/MD program, in which case they'd pick up the degree along the way.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this?

I don't think having an undergraduate degree is a univeral requirement for matriculation to medical schools, although some may require it. If I'm not mistaken, the official requirement for many, if not most, medical schools is 90 or more semester credits, or something along those lines. However, it is probably accurate to say that medical schools expect you to have at least an undergraduate degree, unless you are going though a combined program. If you do not have one, you are the exception to the vast majority of matriculants, as mentioned in a previous post. Thus, I think it's almost essential that one attain an undergraduate degree. Of course there are always notable exceptions, but I wouldn't exactly count on being in that 1-2% of medical school matriculants without one at a given institution. Having a Bachelor's degree doesn't provide an advantage in medical school application, per se, it is essentially expected.