Med Schools Disavow Classics Programs' Claim as Road to M.D.'s

Med school officials say it's all Greek to them that classical language skills help aspiring doctors.

December 7, 2011 RSS Feed Print

Classics training can help develop "useful ways of thinking," McNelis says, though etymologies "are probably not all that significant in helping students."

[Read about how to select undergraduate premed coursework.]

Pamela Sklar, chief of the Division of Psychiatric Genomics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, holds a B.A. in classics and philosophy from St. John's College in Annapolis, Md.

Sklar says three classmates out of 70 at St. John's, which she says is often called "the Great Books School," also went on to medical school—"a measurable but not huge percentage."

"I advise people to pursue what they are most driven to do; if that is classics, so be it. Habits of logical, clear thinking are helpful, but there are many ways to develop these skills," she says. "There are many ways to skin this cat."

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It's all sounds fine, glitzy, glamorous to go against the usual.. but wonder who would folks choose, when you are an operating room ? a choice of a doctor who majored in greek myhtology versus biological science.. ?? ahem !!

Sparatacus of OR 6:51PM December 13, 2011

How do I post this on Facebook?

Judith P Hallett of MD 8:11PM December 07, 2011

Talk about "Greek to me..." A curious and strained quasi-hit job on Classics. Slow day?
It may well be that the Princeton Review needs to update its comments from the AAMC. Still, how does Fobert's suggestion that Med schools look for "well-rounded students" invalidate a the Bloomington Classics department's very modest claim on their website that professional schools "have traditionally sought out students who display a wide range of intellectual curiosity, maturity, discipline." (You don't need a Ph.D. or an M.D. to see that it doesn't, but perhaps the website has changed since this article was published?)
Furthermore, whereas one Med school *admissions* officer may disavow Classics as a as a "road to an M.D." [also "just an anecdote," I might add] she hardly denies that such a path is possible. Moreover, Drs. Muller and Kase at Mt. Sinai showed that "[s]tudents without the traditional premedical preparation [i.e., in the liberal arts and humanities, among which is Classics] performed at a level equivalent to their premedical classmates."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20671464

quare of CT 4:51PM December 07, 2011

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Med Schools Disavow Classics Programs' Claim as Road to M.D.'s

Med school officials say it's all Greek to them that classical language skills help aspiring doctors.

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