A report on graduates of the Boston University six-year combined liberal-arts--medical program

Graduates of a six-year combined Liberal-Arts-Medicine Program and their medical school classmates (traditional "eight-year" students) are compared as to their medical school performance and their professional postgraduate activities. On standardized examinations (Medical College Admission Test and examinations of the National Board of Medical Examiners) the six-year group was somewhat better than the eight-year group. In other aspects, such as class ranking, honors at graduation, and medicine clerkship grades, the six- and eight-year groups were similar. The two groups were remarkably similar in their postgraduate professional career choices and in achieving board certification. The data for the first three classes indicate that qualified high school students can succeed academically in an accelerated collegiate-degree program, do well in medical school, achieve postgraduate certification, and begin the practice of medicine at a younger age.