To med school WITHOUT bachelor's?

[Anastasia755]

Good morning! I was wondering if any of you were able to get accepted to a medical school without completing bachelor's degree? Or may be heard of someone?

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[Instatewaiter]

You're not gonna get in without a bachelors. The competition is too fierce

 

[Anastasia755]

Even thought most school say it is not required?

 

[DrYoda]

Technically speaking there are some schools that only require 90 credit hours. But I've never heard of it actually happening. Plan on getting a bachelors.

 

[7starmantis]

Technically speaking there are some schools that only require 90 credit hours. But I've never heard of it actually happening. Plan on getting a bachelors.

This. Get your bachelors.

 

[mordounhas]

Outside of a few programs that allow you to enter med school early and receive your degree sometime in medical school (programs you apply to in senior year of high school), I haven't heard of anyone who got in without a bachelor's. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but it probably doesn't happen enough to consider it as a realistic possibility for entry into medical school. I'd plan on getting the degree if you want to get in.

 

[BiochemGuy]

It is possible, but as others have said, not likely. I know a guy who got in this cycle after 3 years of undergrad and will not be graduating.

 

[silverhorse84]

I believe if you look in the MSAR it says how many matriculates for each school had at least a BS/BA - and for most its around 99%.
The only thing I've heard of personally is a friend who started before his diploma was granted, so technically he didn't have his degree when he first matriculated, but it was granted a few months after he started. I believe that would technically put him in that 1%, but it's not accurate that he didn't get a BS.

 

[reedsposer22]

You need to have that bachelor's, unless you are the Pretender. Remember that TV show?!!

 

[thesauce]

I know someone who did it, but it's uncommon.

 

[grotto]

I know a few people who pulled this off for Dental school, even fairly recently, but I would imagine that if you had the choice you want that degree.

 

[Hifey]

Technically speaking, I won't be receiving my diploma until a few months into med school but I would have completed all requirements for my B.S. Get a bachelor's. Unless you are so unbelievably special in some way, you'll need it.

 

[Mezz]

this makes me sad, Im gonnna be in school forever

 

[Nymphicus]

Technically possible at some US medical schools, but highly unlikely.

 

[Ismet]

this makes me sad, Im gonnna be in school forever

nice necro-bump dude...

Not sure why you're so upset over the amount of schooling it takes to be a doctor (since you're the one behind the "practicing medicine without doing residency" thread as well). Every doctor, except the very few that get to go through accelerated programs, has to go through the same amount of schooling to get to their specialty end goal. You will make decisions about people's lives, and that requires a lot of knowledge, skill, and observed practice, things that cannot be rushed.

Either come to terms with the amount of school and training that is required or find a different career path.

 

[IslandStyle808]

this makes me sad, Im gonnna be in school forever

In this recession academia is a pretty safe place to be.

 

[shipseki]

In theory, it's definitely possible. When you think about it, all you need is your prereqs, LOR, and MCAT to get in. There's nothing that says that you must complete a bachelor's degree.

There's also 6-7 yr programs that let you complete your prereqs for the 1st 2-3 years before heading into medical school curriculum. I think Northwestern and USC has those 7-year programs.

In actuality though, it's very unlikely that you can get in w/o a BA/BS. Too competitive, and with the average age of matriculation being 25, all of the successful matriculants would have completed a 4-year degree.

 

[HughMyron]

In this recession academia is a pretty safe place to be.

This is the reason behind the law school crisis btw.

 

[nabilesmail]

So I will have one more class to take over summer to get my bachelors (spanish 3)- if I get accepted this cycle any chance I could matriculate without taking the summer class? (so I have a break before med school)

lol or maybe can I take it online while in med school?

 

[Medstart108]

Good morning! I was wondering if any of you were able to get accepted to a medical school without completing bachelor's degree? Or may be heard of someone?

In the UK medicine is done straight from high school. The bachelor's is often included in the program along with the medical degree.

In Canada, the brightest kids often get into medical school after only 3 years, occasionally (this is for the ridiculously bright) after 2. Keep in mind the average medical school matriculant has applied to med school 3 times in Canada. only 20% of applicants get a spot in any medical school at all.

 

[Leforte]

In the UK medicine is done straight from high school. The bachelor's is often included in the program along with the medical degree.

What you say is true - however, I would point out that the bachelors degree IS the medical degree. There is no "inclusion" in the degree - the degree is Bachelors of Medicine, Bachelors of Surgery. This degree is considered equivalent to the NA degree of MD. Although in the US it is, in most circumstances (but not all) a post-graduate degree - at the end of the day it is a professional degree and is considered equivalent. The UK MD degree has a research component, is given after the MBBS degree, and does not have a NA equivalent.

See this source (wikipedia, I know);
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Medicine,_Bachelor_of_Surgery

England and Northern Ireland
Various abbreviations are used for these degrees in these areas:
MB ChB are used at the universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Keele, Manchester, Sheffield, and Warwick.
MB BCh is used by the Welsh universities - Swansea University and Cardiff University.
MB, BCh, BAO are used at the Queen's University, Belfast.
MB BS are used at all medical schools currently or previously part of the University of London (Imperial College School of Medicine, UCL Medical School, King's College London School of Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and St George's, University of London), University of East Anglia, Hull York Medical School, and Newcastle University.
BM BCh is awarded by the University of Oxford.
BM BS are used at the University of Nottingham, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (Exeter Medical School and Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry), and Brighton and Sussex Medical School
BM is awarded at the University of Southampton. Although no degree in surgery is formally awarded by Southampton, this degree is equivalent to the MB ChB, and students may go on to a career in surgery the same as any other graduates in medicine and surgery.
MB BChir are awarded by the University of Cambridge.
At the University of St Andrews, pre-clinical study leads to the award of a BSc (Hons) degree. Students then progress to other institutions to complete their MBChB. At the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the preclinical course leads to an additional Bachelor of Arts (BA), degree (upgradable after three or four years to Master of Arts), after which most students used to go elsewhere (but usually to one of the London teaching hospitals) to complete clinical training. They could then take the degrees of their new university: they used to have the options of returning to their old university to take the clinical examinations, or taking one of the old non-university qualifying examinations. Most students at Oxford and Cambridge now remain in place to take their clinical training.
The Conjoint diplomas: LRCP, MRCS, and the alternative diploma LMSSA were non-university qualifying examinations in medicine and surgery awarded jointly by the Royal College of Physicians of London, Royal College of Surgeons of England and Society of Apothecaries through the United Examining Board from 1994 until 1999, when the General Medical Council withdrew permission. Prior to 1994, the English Conjoint diploma of LRCP, MRCS was awarded for 110 years, and the LMSSA was a distinct and sometimes less-esteemed qualification. These diplomas slowly became less popular among British medical students, but as recently as 1938 only a half of them qualified with university degrees.[3] The diplomas came to be taken mostly by those who had already qualified in medicine overseas.

 

[BABSstudent]

So I will have one more class to take over summer to get my bachelors (spanish 3)- if I get accepted this cycle any chance I could matriculate without taking the summer class? (so I have a break before med school)

lol or maybe can I take it online while in med school?

Well, what did you put on the AMCAS for your anticipated graduation date? If you said you would graduate, you said you would finish your degree if accepted.

 

[chiquita2468]

if you're trying to do it in fewer years, graduating in three years is more realistic. I know several people in my state medical school who completed their undergrad in three years so they could start medical sooner. Of course, the school accepts AP scores, which helps out a lot.

 

[Pattycake25]

So I will have one more class to take over summer to get my bachelors (spanish 3)- if I get accepted this cycle any chance I could matriculate without taking the summer class? (so I have a break before med school)

lol or maybe can I take it online while in med school?

Going to assume you cannot take Spanish 3 by the end of your final spring UG semester, if keeping that summer open is so important to you. In that case, I actually think you have a relatively safe way to attempt this. Indicate your plan to take Spanish 3 in that summer and thus complete your degree when you apply. Then, if/when you are accepted, politely ask if you can be exempted from completing the class/program. It seems outrageous, but it's not actually uncommon for people to get such exemption from completing SMPs (for example, a former member of the current Med Master class at EVMS was granted permission by her top-choice school to skip spring semester, and so she has), so I think it's doable. Obviously you don't get the bachelor's, but that's largely a moot point (assuming you finish med school!). Worst that happens is the med school says no, you must take the class, and so you do.

The stigma against non-bachelor's takes effect during the application process - no one, from med school to McDonald's - is going to see one applicant sans bachelors as anything other than terrifically disadvantaged against one with a degree, so it's really the reality of competing with such a liability. If you ask after you're accepted, though, the race is already run!

And don't offer to take it in med school. The school will do you a favor by rejecting the request. =P

 

[thesauce]

Well, what did you put on the AMCAS for your anticipated graduation date? If you said you would graduate, you said you would finish your degree if accepted.

The operative word here is "anticipated." He/she did not make a guarantee.

 

[HopefulSlav]

I know AT Still has a program called "Still's Scholars". 3.5 gpa and higher required. It depends on if you want to go DO.

 

[HopefulSlav]

Correction: Still Scholars

http://www.atsu.edu/kcom/admissions/preparing_DO_admission/still_scholars/PhaseOne.htm

 

[nabilesmail]

Well, what did you put on the AMCAS for your anticipated graduation date? If you said you would graduate, you said you would finish your degree if accepted.

I never mentioned anything about spanish 3. Though I don't know if I mentioned I would graduate.

 

[nabilesmail]

Going to assume you cannot take Spanish 3 by the end of your final spring UG semester, if keeping that summer open is so important to you. In that case, I actually think you have a relatively safe way to attempt this. Indicate your plan to take Spanish 3 in that summer and thus complete your degree when you apply. Then, if/when you are accepted, politely ask if you can be exempted from completing the class/program. It seems outrageous, but it's not actually uncommon for people to get such exemption from completing SMPs (for example, a former member of the current Med Master class at EVMS was granted permission by her top-choice school to skip spring semester, and so she has), so I think it's doable. Obviously you don't get the bachelor's, but that's largely a moot point (assuming you finish med school!). Worst that happens is the med school says no, you must take the class, and so you do.

The stigma against non-bachelor's takes effect during the application process - no one, from med school to McDonald's - is going to see one applicant sans bachelors as anything other than terrifically disadvantaged against one with a degree, so it's really the reality of competing with such a liability. If you ask after you're accepted, though, the race is already run!

And don't offer to take it in med school. The school will do you a favor by rejecting the request. =P

Sounds like a plan, it would feel so weird if I didn't get the bachelors though lol