Session 16

In today’s episode, Ryan talks with Dr. David Muller, the Dean for Medical Education at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (MSSM) about FlexMed, a program that allows you to apply to medical school as early as high school senior or undergrad freshmen or sophomore, as well as skip most of the traditional premed requirements like the MCAT, organic chemistry, biochemistry, or physics. FlexMed is basically an upgrade of what was previously called HuMed (Humanities in Medicine).

Today, David discusses all you need to know about FlexMed, including how you can prepare yourself to become a competitive applicant to the FlexMed program in the future.

Here are the highlights of the conversation with David:

What is FlexMed?

• An alternative path to medical school for students who don’t want to sacrifice broad and deep college experience or don’t want to go through the “detrimental” environment in the premed world
• Students don’t have to take the traditional science requirements, and they instead explore their individual passions
• Students take an additional semester in the realm of health policy, public health, global health, bioethics, and biostats
• The number of available seats for the program has increased from 1/4 of a medical school class to 1/2 of a class

Do FlexMed students do okay with less science background?

• FlexMed students are given a 6-week course to expose them to biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics to avoid “shell shock”
• FlexMed students have the bearings after the first semester and are on par with peers

How do FlexMed students perform compared to “regular” students?

• 2010 published HuMed article shows no statistical difference in success
• A nonsignificant trend towards psychiatry and primary care residencies in FlexMed students

The ideal applicants for the FlexMed program:

• Have a great degree of commitment to the field
• Can articulate and demonstrate what they’re going to do with their education
• Are innovative and creative
• Have great ambition

How FlexMed can help prevent burnout in premed students:

• Creating a system to help prevent burnout in premed students
• These students can be the drivers of more dramatic change

Links and Other Resources:

• FlexMed Program
• 2010 Published HuMed Article
• Some criticism of the FlexMed program
• Wall Street Journal Article
• Hang out with us in the Premed Hangout Facebook group! Click join and we’ll add you up to our private Facebook group.
• Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep): Get one-on-one tutoring for the MCAT, full-length practice tests, and more to maximize your MCAT score. Use promo code “MSHQ” to save!