If you're going to go to medical school, you technically have to do a pre-med program with required courses like Organic Chemistry. Now some of these are relevant to medical school but some (like OChem) are viewed as a weed-out [1].
Could you just do a straight medicine degree out of high school? Yes. How much shorter would it be? You can look at other countries for this.
The US system is getting worse too because there's an increasing demand for gap years to make your applications competitive. That means a gap between undergrad and medical school where you're padding your resume. That might be doing a Masters or it might be practical experience. That's potentially more debt and more interest on your debt.
The residency application process is a nightmare. For competitive specialties you might need another gap year after medical school to do "research", That position can be low-paid too so, again, more debt. And you'll be even older by the time you're a doctor.
If you fail to match the first time you try, you're in a bad place. You're going to be less desirable as a candidate the next year if you try and match again.
In the UK it takes only 7 years to become a doctor. Students can enter medical school directly after high school. You do undergraduate medical degree (MBBS), followed by 2 years of Foundation program (paid clinical internship).
If you're going to go to medical school, you technically have to do a pre-med program with required courses like Organic Chemistry. Now some of these are relevant to medical school but some (like OChem) are viewed as a weed-out [1].
Could you just do a straight medicine degree out of high school? Yes. How much shorter would it be? You can look at other countries for this.
The US system is getting worse too because there's an increasing demand for gap years to make your applications competitive. That means a gap between undergrad and medical school where you're padding your resume. That might be doing a Masters or it might be practical experience. That's potentially more debt and more interest on your debt.
The residency application process is a nightmare. For competitive specialties you might need another gap year after medical school to do "research", That position can be low-paid too so, again, more debt. And you'll be even older by the time you're a doctor.
If you fail to match the first time you try, you're in a bad place. You're going to be less desirable as a candidate the next year if you try and match again.
[1]: https://forums.medicalschoolhq.net/t/why-organic-chemistry-i...