Is there such a thing as a three year program in medical schools? I’ve done a bit of light searching at aamc.org and here on oldpremeds but haven’t found anything. Yet, I seem to remember hearing of people entering in January and taking courses in the summer. It’s probably wicked intense but gets you out in the real world sooner.
I recently heard about this option to instead of taking your summer off, you just go straight through and end up graduating in the Spring. This was for someone’s last year in medical school…I’m not sure if the option is available only for 4th or year or others as well. I’ll try to find out the school and more information for you.
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I recently heard about this option to instead of taking your summer off, you just go straight through and end up graduating in the Spring. This was for someone’s last year in medical school…I’m not sure if the option is available only for 4th or year or others as well. I’ll try to find out the school and more information for you.
Well that can’t be right because the only summer where you get a block of time off is between first and second year. At the conclusion of second year you get some time to study for and take Step 1, then third year begins usually in early July and goes straight through to the following June… and fourth year starts right up with just a week here and there of vacation time. So you can’t compress med school into three years by eliminating summer breaks.
Okay I do recall hearing of one program: I knew someone at the University of South Alabama who went into their medicine residency program a year early, and did her intern year in lieu of fourth year of medical school. This absolutely did give her a year advantage. I don’t know if the program was something only available to students at their School of Medicine; I sorta got that impression. But yes, she definitely did shave off a year of medical school as a result.
Mary
Maybe I misunderstood, but I know I heard about somehow going to school during some breaks and that would shave off some amount of time…I’ll find out with some more certainty.
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Well that can’t be right because the only summer where you get a block of time off is between first and second year. At the conclusion of second year you get some time to study for and take Step 1, then third year begins usually in early July and goes straight through to the following June… and fourth year starts right up with just a week here and there of vacation time. So you can’t compress med school into three years by eliminating summer breaks.
Oh… well, it sounded like a good idea, anyway. So 2nd year summer is for studying for Step 1? I’ve just finished reassuring my wife that you get summers off in medical school. I guess the first summer is the only real break, then?
Yep. And in most places you really only get ~ a month between the end of second year and beginning of third, which means that if you take your boards a bit after school finishes, your break time is pretty negligible. This varies by school, of course, but generally, yeah, you only get one real summer vacation.
That said, if you want to hang with the kids, you could remake your schedule to put flex time in the summer and maybe finish in five years instead of four, which is actually a better idea than finishing three years.
It’s hard to believe, but medical school is the “real world.” It’s just that you’re paying for it.
cheers
joe
Hey Joe, do you know the names of some of those programs?