STRAUSSIAN asked:
I met a neurosurgeon originally from Hungary recently. He is mainly working at the Hôpital Foch near Paris, but since he speaks English, he gives presentations at conferences throughout the world.
He said that he actually began his medical education at age 16, after his test scores were reviewed by the national ministry of education or something. He was accepted into a medical training program, and by the time he was 20, he was already doing specialty work in neuroscience and neurosurgery.
Basically, by the time he was 22, he was conducting operations alongside an older mentor. At age 22, the average American medical student is barely starting year one of medical school.
Why are there so few combined “medical-undergraduate” courses in the US? Why make people wait until they take their MCATs at age 21 or so to find out where they will even BEGIN medical school?
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Dunno. Other countries don’t rely on MCAT (or for law school, LSAT).
In the United States, medicine is seen as an academic discipline, not a trade.
We don’t want 16 year olds starting medical training. We want college-educated adults who have learned to think critically.
Be aware that not all medical training is equal. Some countries teach far below the american standards. They do this because it is acceptable (and common) in their own country. That means if the personcomes to America to practice he would have to take testing to prove he is as knowledgable and experienced as an American trained doctor. They may even still use older surgery techniques and medicines that don’t give the same results as the standards here. They also may not practice the same code of ethics. Many countries also do not have the standard of diagnostic testing we have here. We have the most modern labs for hemotology, tissue pathology, and let’s not for get imaging. Very helpful to know what’s happening before you agree to surgery. Lots of differences.