Short-Order Doctors

In one way, a war is always a hopeful augury for the pre-medical men. The Army's urgent need of M.D.'s in World War I compressed the medical curriculum in many cases into three years, and may do so again. But in spite of its obvious disadvantages, such a compression is never completely unwelcome in a ten year grind.

The medical schools have not yet received pressure from the Army but most of them expect it. An intensive three year program strengthened by summer study (plus a mere three years of undergraduate work) seems at present the most likely arrangement. Thus the medical student who cannot afford to marry until the age of thirty may be able to knock two years off a long engagement. Nevertheless, valuable training is bound to be lost in the rush.

The Army will probably be safer if the medical schools reject the three-year idea next fall for a six year combination of two years of premedical with four years of medical work. By deleting some of the purely academic undergraduate material, the total schooling time can be sufficiently shortened to meet the needs of the Army and the convenience of the student without sacrificing the actual professional training.