Why Is Medicine Not A Graduate Degree?

[medici]

I've always been a bit confused as to why med school is an undergraduate degree and not a graduate degree. Especially since our degree says doctor of medicine, like a doctor of philosophy. Is this a historical thing? What does graduate even mean?

[jlkhhylyiluh6]

I don't have any science behind this, but I'm pretty sure a graduate degree adds novel findings to the field of study (this is actually a requirement to obtain a masters/PhD).

 

You're not really doing that in medicine, since you're just learning all there is to know about the medical field (vs say coming up with new treatments).

[OttawaURookie]

I don't have any science behind this, but I'm pretty sure a graduate degree adds novel findings to the field of study (this is actually a requirement to obtain a masters/PhD).

 

You're not really doing that in medicine, since you're just learning all there is to know about the medical field (vs say coming up with new treatments).

That would make sense, but you have PA's getting Masters lol

[ralk]

I've always been a bit confused as to why med school is an undergraduate degree and not a graduate degree. Especially since our degree says doctor of medicine, like a doctor of philosophy. Is this a historical thing? What does graduate even mean?

 

You don't have to complete an undergrad to enroll in medicine, so it's an undergraduate second-entry degree. For it to be a graduate degree, everyone in the program has to be a graduate 

[robclem21]

^^ second this

[rmorelan]

You don't have to complete an undergrad to enroll in medicine, so it's an undergraduate second-entry degree. For it to be a graduate degree, everyone in the program has to be a graduate 

 

well at Western you have to

 

It is probably a bunch of stuff a lot of which others have already said - also all professional programs are also undergraduate ones - engineering, law, medicine, pharm, nursing............ there is universal standard pretty much there. Plus yeah you don't contribute to adding to the sum of human knowledge as you would with a masters or phd (although with course work masters that can be a bit gray, and so can MBAs and several other master degrees as well).

 

One other thing is that a doctorate of medicine really just is the first step - in of itself it is pretty useless if you want to practice medicine - you then MUST do residency and residency is considered a graduate degree (yes you are still a student as a resident - complete with student fees no less).

[Edict]

I've always been a bit confused as to why med school is an undergraduate degree and not a graduate degree. Especially since our degree says doctor of medicine, like a doctor of philosophy. Is this a historical thing? What does graduate even mean?

 

It really is undergraduate medical education since you are learning medicine not actually contributing to the field which you do in a graduate level course. Also, you don't technically need a BSc, for example Queens now has a 6 year MD and McGill has had a 6 year MD as well. 

 

Traditionally, medicine was never really a graduate degree, especially during wartime Canada when doctors were often fast tracked for the war effort. The undergraduate medical degree is actually called a bachelor's degree in many parts of the world especially in those that follow the UK system. There a doctor of medicine degree is only awarded for original research, usually 2 years in length, kind of like a masters here. 

[rogerroger]

It's historical.

 

At one time all med schools awarded bachelor degrees. The MD was reserved for doing research after initial training. Scotland mixed things up in the mid to late 1700s by awarding an MD degree directly at the end of medical school.

 

Later when the first North American schools were starting up many of the founders had graduated from the Scottish system. So we started awarding MDs after med school here in North America. Later in the 19th century the UK standardized things and the Scottish practice of giving MDs to everyone ended. However on this side of the Atlantic we just kept giving MDs as the standard medical degree.

[snacks]

and it's all complicated by the fact that not only is "doctor" is generally understood to refer to a physician, even bachelor of medicine holders in the UK, but it actually is rooted in the latin word for "teacher".

What a mess!