In a move to increase the number of minority physicians, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester, is teaming up with four other campuses in the UMass system to offer admission to both college and medical school at once, according to today’s Boston Globe. Under the unusual program, set to begin accepting students in the fall of 2011, would-be doctors from underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic groups would receive their bachelor’s degrees from the UMass campuses in Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, or Lowell, then get their M.D.’s at the medical school in Worcester.
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8 Responses to To Bolster Diversity, UMass to Offer Admission to College and Medical School
greenhills73 - January 25, 2010 at 3:52 pm
There is one other similar program in the country, and that is the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. UMKC’s medical school was established in 1971, offering a unique BA/MD program that accepts students right out of high school into a combined 6-year program. Students are medical students from day one, with patient contact right from the beginning, and go year-round with just one month off in the summer. With USMLE Step 1 first-time pass rates and residency match rates exceeding the national average, this program proves that this model can work. A lot of schools around the country (including Harvard) have visited UMKC as they sought new ideas. Congrats to UMass for going outside the box.
22261984 - January 25, 2010 at 4:08 pm
The use of race and ethnicity seems very mechanical here, and at odds with the Supreme Court’s decision in Gratz v. Bollinger (and with its decision in Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, insofar at UMass’s president cites a role-model justification for the discrimination). See my posting this afternoon on Phi Beta Cons, here: http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDU3ODllZTM3NmI5NDc4ODlmYTc4ZWUzMGJmZGQ2ZDI=
glassdarkly - January 25, 2010 at 4:15 pm
University of New Mexico and LSU both offer 6-year programs. LSU’s has been around since at least the very early 80′s.
11124999 - January 25, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Nothing new under the sun! Brown U’s Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), established in 1984-85, admits students to the Alpert Medical School as freshmen. Along the way to their Brown M.D., they earn bachelor’s degrees in any discipline among Brown’s concentrations, not necessarily in a science. I wasn’t aware of the UMKC program; interesting to know. (Brown only began awarding the MD in 1975.)
greenhills73 - January 25, 2010 at 5:23 pm
My son looked at Brown; isn’t that an 8-yr. program? Students still have to take the MCAT? At UMKC, they’ve eliminated the MCAT as a requirement because students are taking med school classes right along with their baccalaureate coursework, although not as many med school classes in the first two years. I thought Brown’s model also looked like a great program. I wasn’t aware that UNM’s or LSU’s were combined bachelor’s and MDs. It’s nice to know that students who know early that medicine is the right field for them and are looking for accelerated programs can find a few.
11121709 - January 25, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Boston University also has a 7 year program. Their combined program has been around since the late 70s at least. And I am sure there are many others. Good for UMASS, but this is not new at all.
studygirl - January 26, 2010 at 8:53 am
Hats off, UMASS! Question is – would current pre-med freshmen be able to transfer to that program?
lslerner - January 26, 2010 at 3:54 pm
I’m not sure how this works. Admission to med school is usually strongly dependent on performance on the MCAT, which a student does not take until s/he is well advanced in college. So how do they do the joint admission, not knowing how the entering freshmen will perform in premed work?