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One thing that I never understood about the US medical education is the requirement of the bachelor's degree (pre-med) before applying for most med schools. In

One thing that I never understood about the US medical education is the requirement of the bachelor's degree (pre-med) before applying for most med schools. In my home country and many others, you can directly apply to med school. Now that the college costs are quite considerably expensive, four-additional year of college studies simply adds to the cost of becoming a doctor and therefore, the newly minted doctors expect to make a lot of money. This pre-med education requirement adds unnecessary, in my opinion, burden not only to wannabe-doctors, but also to the medical system (create scarcity of doctors to say the least).

andrewpi 11y ago
I actually prefer the US system in that it potentially provides doctors with a more well-rounded education.
- XorNot 11y ago
  Ah yes, the moral duty American colleges feel for ensuring a rounded education at the low low price of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    My CS degree focused on a rounded education, which would have been okay if it had also taught me how to, say, write a useful program. I didn't realize 'til I'd graduated that I would have to teach myself if I wanted a career.
    - krisdol 11y ago
      To be fair it was never called a degree in programming.
      - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
        When I signed up for classes, I said I wanted to be a programmer, and the advisor said "oh, you want Computer Science, then." That was just as much a lie as if they'd called it Programming outright.
  - rz2k 11y ago
    Running a democratic country is expensive, but better than any of the alternatives!
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  I'm torn, because on the one hand it is good for people to have a decently broad base of knowledge. On the other hand, most US colleges' idea of a "well-rounded education" is a straight-up holdover from educational programs whose only purpose was to prepare rich men's sons to make interesting conversation at parties and handle Daddy's business. When modern students actually want career prep, universities tell them they're getting career prep, and instead feed them dinner party prep at umpty-thousand dollars a year.
- zanny 11y ago
  Once upon a time in a fantasy land called... the 1970s? most people thought a high school diploma was a well rounded education. If you are going to bring up costs of college, you also need to bring up why college is expected to replace high school.
pragone 11y ago
It's a bit pedantic, but most medical schools don't actually require a bachelor's degree. They do, however, require something in the order of 80+ credits worth of classes, at which point you might as well finish the degree. Personally, I think it's a good requirement. It forces people to spend a bit more time maturing before they finish school, and it also providers an opportunity to pursue a different field before entering medical school, or provides a different background when practicing clinically. I also can certainly agree that not having it can be beneficial in points you mentioned as well

andrewpi 11y ago

I actually prefer the US system in that it potentially provides doctors with a more well-rounded education.

XorNot 11y ago
Ah yes, the moral duty American colleges feel for ensuring a rounded education at the low low price of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  My CS degree focused on a rounded education, which would have been okay if it had also taught me how to, say, write a useful program. I didn't realize 'til I'd graduated that I would have to teach myself if I wanted a career.
  - krisdol 11y ago
    To be fair it was never called a degree in programming.
    - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
      When I signed up for classes, I said I wanted to be a programmer, and the advisor said "oh, you want Computer Science, then." That was just as much a lie as if they'd called it Programming outright.
- rz2k 11y ago
  Running a democratic country is expensive, but better than any of the alternatives!
PhasmaFelis 11y ago
I'm torn, because on the one hand it is good for people to have a decently broad base of knowledge. On the other hand, most US colleges' idea of a "well-rounded education" is a straight-up holdover from educational programs whose only purpose was to prepare rich men's sons to make interesting conversation at parties and handle Daddy's business. When modern students actually want career prep, universities tell them they're getting career prep, and instead feed them dinner party prep at umpty-thousand dollars a year.
zanny 11y ago
Once upon a time in a fantasy land called... the 1970s? most people thought a high school diploma was a well rounded education. If you are going to bring up costs of college, you also need to bring up why college is expected to replace high school.

pragone 11y ago

It's a bit pedantic, but most medical schools don't actually require a bachelor's degree. They do, however, require something in the order of 80+ credits worth of classes, at which point you might as well finish the degree. Personally, I think it's a good requirement. It forces people to spend a bit more time maturing before they finish school, and it also providers an opportunity to pursue a different field before entering medical school, or provides a different background when practicing clinically. I also can certainly agree that not having it can be beneficial in points you mentioned as well