Invited Commentary

Commentary on “How Postbaccalaureate Career Changer and Traditional Medical Students Differ Academically”

Authors: Lewis L. Hsu, MD, PhD

Abstract

The article by Baill and colleagues in this issue of the Southern Medical Journal1 addresses a moderately important point in medical education, will so-called career changers (CCs) do poorly in medical school? For example, should a medical school seriously consider giving a spot to an applicant who studied liberal arts in college, went on to be a professional musician, and then tackled all of the upper-level science classes in a postbaccalaureate (PB) program?

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References

1. Baill IC, Khallouq BB, Joledo O, et al. How postbaccalaureate career changer and traditional medical students differ academically. South Med J 2019;112:610-616.
2. Smith SR. A two-year experience with premedical postbaccalaureate students admitted to medical school. Acad Med 1991;66:52-53.
3. Andriole DA, McDougle L, Bardo HR, et al. Postbaccalaureate premedical programs to promote physician-workforce diversity. J Best Pract Health Prof Divers 2015;8:1036-1048.
4. Association of American Medical Colleges. Postbaccalaureate premedical programs. https://apps.aamc.org/postbac/#/index. Accessed September 9, 2019.
5. Garcia AN, Kuo T, Arangua L, et al. Factors associated with medical school graduates' intention to work with underserved populations: policy implications for advancing workforce diversity. Acad Med 2018;93:82-89.