Here is a New York Times piece on a program that allows students who haven’t taken the typical pre-med curriculum with lots of science and math, and haven’t taken the MCAT, to enter medical school.
I’m not automatically inclined to criticize this. I’ve heard the case made that good doctoring rarely involves knowledge of hard science and advanced math. Smart students who haven’t gone the pre-med track can no doubt learn what they need to in those areas as they proceed with medical studies. I suspect that somewhat more of the non-pre-med students will decide that med school isn’t for them, but if so, that’s the school’s problem.
It’s possible for someone to become a good lawyer without taking a single course in the typical pre-law curriculum. (It’s also possible to become a good lawyer without going to law school at all.) Maybe it’s equally possible to become a good doctor without pre-med undergraduate studies.
To be fair, the students are required to take basic chemistry, basic biology, and take a crash course in organic chemistry to catch up.
Still, I'm not sure this would work on a larger scale. How would you feel if your doctor told you, "Oh, I didn't study much science before medical school. I majored in European Literature."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA family friend -- an MD/MPH in the public health service -- once told me that pre-meds actually make the worst med students because they come into med programs feeling like they don't need to learn anything. He said those students who did best were the ones who had majored in an unrelated, but difficult and rigorous field, and that one of the students in his class who stood out best had finished undergrad with a degree in music theory.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs a physician who majored in German literature and minored in economics as an undergraduate, let me assure you, this is a hare-brained scheme. The most fundamental requirement of being a good doctor is knowing what you're doing, and this is not possible without a solid foundation in chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology and calculus. While you might get away with being an English professor without having read Shakespeare, that is only because the stakes are so low. The purpose of the MCAT by the way is the same as the SAT: to provide admissions committees a standardized measurement of the applicant's intelligence. This is the reason standardized testing best predicts a student's success in the course of study.
This is just another example of Codevilla's ruling class trying to get out of doing its job.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSir: look at bottom of story. SATs in 1400 range required. That's Ivy level. Those students could do, about anything they want.
Art majors need not apply.
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