Island Med Student

The pre-med curriculum has been at the forefront of academic medicine discussions for years now, and many people have written about proposed changes to the current system. An article that recently appeared in the journal, Academic Medicine, discussed how the primary purpose of pre-medical education is to provide students with a broad-based education that prepares them for medical school and for becoming a physician. The author purports, however, that we’ve not really succeeded in this endeavor. Instead, the pre-med curriculum prepares students for the med school admissions test, and doesn’t always succeed in creating a well-rounded student, armed with everything that is needed to become a competent, caring physician.

In addition to the pre-med curriculum, many people have been discussing the other experiences necessary for preparing for med school, such as shadowing physicians and doing volunteer work. A few days ago, I received an email from a pre-med student asking about ways to “fluff” their resume with additional activities that might make them a better candidate for acceptance into med school. This really got me thinking about how the current pre-med experience is set up.

The “traditional” route into med school in the U.S. involves graduating from high school at around 18, spending about 4 years in undergrad to obtain a bachelors degree, and then applying to med school after graduation. During undergrad, students are supposed to take all of their required pre-med courses, and also gain experience in medicine.

I’ve recently been wondering if this “traditional” path might be flawed in one important way. If a student continues straight through school, with no breaks, they will eventually graduate from medical school, finish their residency, and make it to the “real world” where they can practice medicine and make a reasonable living. So, by the time they enter the work force, they’ve had little or no actual work experience. It’s possible that they had a part-time job, or even a few full-time jobs, but the majority of “traditional” students have never lived without student loans or parental financial support. Many of them may have never lived away (or far) from home.

There are plenty of “non-traditional” students, myself included. But the current system isn’t set up to encourage this path. I’ve thought a lot about the path I took to enter medicine. Do I think I made the right decision? Absolutely. I can’t emphasize enough how having experiences outside of school, and outside of medicine, have made me better prepared for handling med school, and I think eventually for becoming a competent, caring physician. I also know many other “non-traditional” students who feel exactly as I do. They believe that their path to becoming a doctor has better prepared them, and that they have an advantage over “traditional” students who never left school long enough to experience the world.

So, the question arises, “why do we encourage the current route to becoming a doctor?” What are the “traditional” students losing along the way, and can they ever make up for that lost time? What do you think it means to have a life before med school?

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