Pre-Med Overspecialization

In the past few years, the attitude of the nation's medical schools toward potential applicants has shown a pronounced shift in emphasis. Admissions committees now enthusiastically urge pre-medical students to acquire a "liberal education" in their undergraduate years, in addition to meeting the regular pre-medical science requirements. After studying the problem of pre-medical education, the Severinghaus Committee officially summed up the trend two years ago when it concluded that "every student...should think of himself as a liberal arts student in search of a well-rounded education and should be treated as such." Medical schools, however, still continue practices which contribute directly to pre-Med overspecialization. A number of schools, for instance, issue lists of "highly recommended" courses beyond the minimum pre-medical science requirements. The result is often an unbalanced study program--many a pre-medical student regretfully decides that he must pass up a popular course in literature or another area of the humanities in favor of another course in physical chemistry. Fortunately, the Harvard Medical School is not guilty of such equivocation in stating its admission requirements. But Johns Hopkins, for example, states that the "student is advised but not required" to take "courses which will acquaint him with embryology, genetics, and experimental biology."

It would be unfair to lay all the blame for the over-specialization of pre-medical students on the medical schools, for the students themselves are usually partly at faulty. There is no reason, however, for the schools to add to the confusion. Instead of implying that there is no limit to the number of science courses that pre-medical students should take, the schools should set up a fixed minimum standard of admissions requirements and maintain it.