<p>[FlexMed</a> - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai](<a href=“http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/medical-education/programs/flexmed]FlexMed”>FlexMed Early Admission | Icahn School of Medicine)</p>
<p>Idk how well most people can handle med school at 19-20 yrs old</p>
<p>I think we’d have even fewer URMs qualifying if we did med school right after high school. Doing undergrad first gives them a chance to get some real education after an often dismal K-12 experience.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or we could just fix any broken schools independent of any other concerns. My high school was majority African American, and my education was as “real” as anywhere in the world. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Really? :p</p>
<p>btw, I would love to attend Mount Sinai (a top choice) and will be applying in a few months.</p>
<p>*Or we could just fix any broken schools independent of any other concerns. *</p>
<p>Yes, we can dream. lol. Many K-12 schools are rather pathetic and those in underprivileged areas are frequently no better than babysitting institutions. </p>
<p>You and your classmates were lucky.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As a student I suppose I was lucky in the sense that I had no control where I lived. But the reason my state has the best public schools in the nation is no accident and has nothing to do with luck. It is so because the voters of my state wanted it to be so. Only when people in other parts of the country value education as much as those in Massachusetts and Maryland will public schools be empowered to succeed and to continue a long tradition that has set this country apart from the rest of the world.</p>
<p>It is so because the voters of my state wanted it to be so</p>
<p>If only it were that simple. Unfortunately there are powerful groups that get in the way of what the voters want in many states. Budgets can increase, but that won’t necessarily result in a better teaching system. Sadly.</p>
<p>^ I agree that it is not that simple. As it is said, it takes the whole village to educate a person. It is not all about the school, although it is a major part of it. Idk many URMs were suffering academically even in their preschool/elementary/middle school years. After they get to the high school, it is too late for most of them to catch up. Those who “beat the odds” really deserve their seats.</p>
<p>In DS’s application year (or a year before him?), a 4.0/32 from UT El Paso beats another 4.0/40 kid from our flagship state school in their applications to many med schools both of them applied to. The background of the student matters, a lot. It is quite possible that it the harder for the former to get to where he is than the latter gets to where he is. Many years ago, there was an applicant who likely shared the same growing-up background as the former had been fighting for her MCAT for more than 6 years before she received a med school worthy MCAT score. (I think she started from a lowly 22 in her first attempt.) It is really that hard when a person who came from a family in which nobody except her speaks decent English and she likely had attended low-performing schools all her life because of her family’s income. I think she attended an MD school in AZ in the end, even though she likely also got into a DO school in our state. She likely applied to much more schools than most applicants had to.)</p>
<p>What are you all talking about? Unless I grossly misunderstood, the program accepts students early but they still take 4 years of undergrad before med school. No 19-20 year olds in the class.</p>
<p>I think the requirements make more sense. In my 2.5 years of MD/PhD training I haven’t used a shred of orgo, no physics or chem beyond the high school level (not even AP level), and no math other than algebra and stats.</p>
<p>My only concern would be that if we keep moving in that direction, will we crowd out kids who don’t decide to become doctors until college. I for one didn’t decide on doing an MD at all until the summer after my sophomore year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Really? I hope they let at least one into their MSTP!</p>
<p>Kristin,</p>
<p>If that’s the purpose of orgo, then why orgo? Why not computer science or engineering or theoretical mathematics? There are plenty of challenging courses out there. There is also the fact that not all orgos are created equal. The orgo on the MCAT compared to the intro orgo class at Brown is like comparing multiplications tables with three dimensional calculus. I don’t even think the level of orgo tested on the MCAT would have passed my intro to orgo class. I really don’t see the current pre-med system as the best model out there. Is this new proposal the best model? No idea, but I do think it offers things that are better. My gut would say removing the MCAT is the only real problem but as I also said, Sinai has already done that for 25% of their class and the program has been running for ~25 years so I assume it would have been discontinued if it were a problem.</p>
<p>I dove a little deeper and went to the sinai webpage instead of just the link OP gave and here are the program requirements:</p>
<p>Program Requirements
Prior to applying, students will have to complete either one year of Chemistry or one year of Biology. Once accepted, requirements prior to matriculation will include the following:</p>
<p>One year of Biology
One year of Chemistry
One semester of Physics, or AP Physics in high school with a score of 4 or higher on the AP exam
Two semesters of lab in any science
One semester of Statistics
One semester of Ethics
One semester of Health Policy, Public Health, or Global Health</p>
<p>An in-depth experience in which the student gains experience in human illness</p>
<p>A senior thesis or its equivalent in an area of academic concentration</p>
<p>Students will be strongly encouraged to gain proficiency in either Spanish or Mandarin.</p>
<p>In the six weeks prior to matriculation, FlexMed students who have not had advanced science courses will be required to participate in a Summer Enrichment Program that will provide them basic competency in Cell Biology, Biochemistry, and Genetics.</p>
<p>Admitted students will be required to achieve a ‘B’ in all required courses, will be expected to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.5, and will not be permitted to take the MCAT.</p>
<p>Literally all that is missing from the standard path is one semester of physics, one semester of math, one year of orgo and the MCAT. In it’s place is a senior thesis, ethics, and health policy classes. The more I look at it, the less revolutionary this honestly is. I would argue the brown PLME program and several other BS/MD programs are a greater departure from traditional pre-med than this program.</p>
<p>Also, the cumulative GPA requirement of 3.5 requires students to do similar kinds of “GPA management” that other pre-meds have to do.</p>
<p>Ready thru their FAQ page, it’s actually quite differently from traditional pre-med path.
You can defer med school enrollment 1 or 2 yr after acceptance with approve education plan, sounds like you can also enroll right way. And you need HIGH SCHOOL credentials (SAT, grades, recom) to apply, have to apply for one of three tracks. This is indeed a new approach.</p>
<p>Other countries graduate doctors far younger than the 26 that is standard for a 4+4 student in the US. 5-6 years to get an MD works everywhere else, why assume US students are less mature? I really think med schools should accept applicants with only two years of UG, that’s enough time to get prereqs, MCAT, and ECs for the best students, and others can use 3/4 years if they want.</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll bite: why do we need to reform medical education?</p>
<p>sounds like they really mean “it’s time to reform the pre-med requirements” a statement I definitely agree with.</p>
<p>Medical education has already undergone lots of reform (pass/fail, less lectures, videotaped lectures, simulators, standardized patients, patient contact in the first two years, etc.)</p>