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Who Shall Study Medicine in the 1980s?: Title and subTitle BreakOne Solution to the Admissions Predicament FREE

Alan Blum, MD
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JAMA. 1980;244(8):779-780. doi:10.1001/jama.1980.03310080013014
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MORE than two thirds of the students who enter college aspiring to a career in medicine decide otherwise by senior year.1 But can we be certain that those who survive the premedical science initiation rites make more capable and understanding physicians than those who do not? Could not the extreme competitiveness that makes acceptance to medical school an end to itself be excluding a more selfless and compassionate type of doctor?

Such questions are worthy of discussion, for the premedical curriculum and medical admissions committee selection procedures appear to be under harsher attack than at any time since Flexner. Indeed, Chapman,2 describing the premedical sciences as "redundant and stupefying" and "more punitive than enlightening," points out that they have gone unchanged for half a century. And Lewis Thomas goes so far as to suggest that the admissions requirements of medical schools have harmed all of liberal arts education.

REFERENCES

Gellhorn A:  Premedical curriculum . J Med Educ 51:616-617, 1976;.
Chapman CB:  Should there be a commission on medical education? Science 205:559-562, 1979;.
Thomas L:  How to fix the premedical curriculum . N Engl J Med 298:1180-1181, 1978;.
Niemi RG, Phillips JE:  On nonscience premedical education: Surprising evidence and a call for clarification . J Med Educ 55:194-200, 1980;.
Dickman RL, Sarnacki RE, Schimpfhauser FT, et al:  Medical students from natural science and nonscience undergraduate backgrounds: Similar academic performance and residency selection . JAMA 243:2506-2509, 1980;.
Wolf SG:  'I can't afford a "B." ' N Engl J Med 299:949-950, 1978;.
Cook RH:  The narrow gauge . N Engl J Med 301:500-501, 1979;.
Pellegrino ED:  Pruning an old root: Premedical science and medical school . JAMA 243:2518-2519, 1980;.
Detmer DE:  The physician and the civic self . JAMA 243:1463-1464, 1980;.
Mullan F:  Community practice—the cake-bake syndrome and other trials . JAMA 243:1832-1835, 1980;.

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Gellhorn A:  Premedical curriculum . J Med Educ 51:616-617, 1976;.
Chapman CB:  Should there be a commission on medical education? Science 205:559-562, 1979;.
Thomas L:  How to fix the premedical curriculum . N Engl J Med 298:1180-1181, 1978;.
Niemi RG, Phillips JE:  On nonscience premedical education: Surprising evidence and a call for clarification . J Med Educ 55:194-200, 1980;.
Dickman RL, Sarnacki RE, Schimpfhauser FT, et al:  Medical students from natural science and nonscience undergraduate backgrounds: Similar academic performance and residency selection . JAMA 243:2506-2509, 1980;.
Wolf SG:  'I can't afford a "B." ' N Engl J Med 299:949-950, 1978;.
Cook RH:  The narrow gauge . N Engl J Med 301:500-501, 1979;.
Pellegrino ED:  Pruning an old root: Premedical science and medical school . JAMA 243:2518-2519, 1980;.
Detmer DE:  The physician and the civic self . JAMA 243:1463-1464, 1980;.
Mullan F:  Community practice—the cake-bake syndrome and other trials . JAMA 243:1832-1835, 1980;.
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