Med School Rat Race

The pre-medical student has long been the but of many a cliche-ridden joke. He is red-eyed and unshaven from study, they say, and he wreaks havoc with the curves in courses like Biology I and medical schools which forces him to spend long hours in grinding study.

Officials of the Association of American Medical Colleges, however, said last week that this is not the kind of man they want. They approved a report favoring a liberal undergraduate education for pre-medical students. Colleges and medical schools, say the Association, turn out too many physicians with no interest in the cultural aspects of their profession and even less interest in the cultural history of mankind.

This piously enlightened attitude seems a bit hypocritical in view of actual medical school admission practices. Statistics gathered by University professors show admissions committees perennially admit a higher proportion of the science concentrators than those who, majoring in liberal arts, fulfill only minimum science requirements. The pre-med knows he stands less of a chance of gaining admission to medical school if he concentrates in history instead of, say, biochemistry. No matter what medical school catalogues say about taking only a minimum amount of science, present admissions policies make the undergraduate feel safer with each additional science course he takes.

The only way admissions offices can show they want a higher proportion of non-science concentrators is by admitting more to their next first year class. They should specifically discourage undergraduates from taking so-called insurance courses such as biochemistry, histology, physiology, embryology, and quantative analysis, for they must be repeated in medical school. Undergraduate years could be far more profitably spent in investigating other areas of knowledge. Good grades are, of course, still a primary consideration, but more weight should be given the grades in basic courses that all premeds take, and not advanced courses.

Until the medical schools take their own advice seriously and act to stop over-specialization among pre-meds, they will continue to receive applications predominantly from science concentrators. Nor can they blame the pre-med, who narrow his sights and therefore his life-long interests, to win first prize in the rat race.