Stony Brook University's Scholars for Medicine 8-Year B.S.-M.D. Program: a Thirteen Year Overview of the Program's Effectiveness

The number of medical students taking time off before medical school has greatly increased recently, prolonging the time needed to enter the physician workforce. Stony Brook's Scholars for Medicine B.S.-M.D. program provides a transition from college to medical school, eliminating the need for gap years and enabling direct entry into the medical profession. Given these potential advantages and the increasing duration of medical education, evaluation of the program's effectiveness is warranted.

A longitudinal study, including 66 Stony Brook B.S.-M.D. students who entered medical school from 2009-2021, was conducted over the past 13 years and examined time from undergraduate enrollment to medical school graduation.

The mean time to become a physician from the beginning of college to medical school graduation for Stony Brook's B.S.-M.D. students was 8.1 years. 18 students matched into NRMP-determined competitive specialties, including dermatology, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, general surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, anesthesiology, and obstetrics and gynecology.

Stony Brook's B.S.-M.D. program allows students to enter medical school directly from college, shortening the overall time needed to become a physician, which is increasingly interrupted by gap years in the traditional application process. Although the program spans 8 years, it is still more time-efficient than taking gap years. To streamline physician training, more schools should consider adopting or expanding B.S./B.A.-M.D. programs, as they shorten the timeline to residency and permit students to match into all specialties, including competitive ones.