The traditional path to medicine begins in a competitive pre-med program, taking the MCATs the end of junior year, submitting many applications to medical schools (playing the odds as admissions are around 2-3%) and possibly getting a few interviews.
However, there are alternative paths such as the BS-MD programs. These allow high school seniors to apply to a combined bachelor’s medical degree with the hope of seamlessly flowing into medical school without the delays and anxieties of MCATs or further applications.
In California at one time there were BS MD programs at USC-Keck School of Medicine and UCSD, no longer. The sole program is at California Northstate University, located in Rancho Cordova—suburban Sacramento. It allows students to finish in 4+2, 4+3, or the traditional 8 years of undergraduate and medical school. Now the bad news. The jump to its medical school requires taking the MCAT (score a 510 or higher), maintaining a 3.5 GPA, and even applying through the AMCAS and interviewing. All elements of the Northstate BS-MD program are provisional; it doesn’t save you from the inconveniences of many things most want to avoid, such as the MCAT.
While the Washington University (St. Louis) and Northwestern Medical Honors BS-MD programs no longer exist, there are programs such as the 8-year Brown PLME that does not require the MCAT, interviewing or reapplying for Brown’s Albert School of Medicine. The admissions rate in 2019 was 3.5%--highly competitive but few things in the world of medicine are not. Another sizeable program (with around 20 potential seats) is the University of Pittsburgh, which also is an 8-year program. If you want to read more about these programs and get a current list, go to Complete List: BA/MD and BS/MD Programs in the US (prepscholar.com)
Then there is the early assurance program. To be in consideration you need to be a student in the school. Boston University, Tufts, Drexel, Tulane, and UC Riverside have these programs. UCR’s is the Thomas Haider EAP program, which requires applicants complete 6 quarters at UCR before applying and have at least a 3.4 GPA.
Tufts Medical School has a hybrid type of the assurance program model called the Maine program. This type of program involves attending an undergraduate school that has an association with a medical school and entering the program as a sophomore or junior. If you are an undergraduate at Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Tufts, or the University of Maine, you would be eligible. The problem with early assurance programs, using Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine as an example, is they only bring in a handful of students each year. Dartmouth brings in 5.
If the BS MD or early assurance programs don’t work, there is also the prospect of going into osteopathic medicine, the BS-DO program. While 75% of the students studying medicine are in MD programs, the DO takes a different approach to treatment. DO is treating the patient holistically and deals a lot more with the musculoskeletal system than the allopathic (symptom-solution approach) of MDs. Both can perform surgeries, prescribe medicine, do the things you’d expect a physician to do. In California, Pitzer has a BS DO program with Western University of Health Sciences, one of the top DO schools in the country. It’s a 7-year program and no MCAT is required.
A comprehensive list of such BS-DO programs (most are 8 years) can be found at Dr. Rubin’s Mini Medical School list: Direct Osteopathi Programs: BA/DO and BS/DO (minimedicalschool.com)
Lastly, if you find yourself finishing up a degree in communications, but you still hear the calling of the stethoscope, then you can do the post baccalaureate medical programs and take the required medical school classes while studying for your MCATs. Details can be found at Post Baccalaureate Medical Options — Ivy College Prep, LLC.
It’s almost never too late to discover your own path to medicine.