Graduate entry medicine: High aspirations at birth

Abstract

Four-year fast-track courses for graduates started in the UK in 2000, and are now offered at 14 UK medical schools. Graduate entry medicine (GEM) started five years earlier in Australia, and of course in the USA it has been the norm for students to begin studying medicine after university graduation. This paper reviews the aspirations for GEM and looks at the early evidence on delivery against those aspirations. Particular reference is made to the experience at Warwick Medical School which was one of the two pioneers of GEM in the UK, has the largest GEM intake and continues to admit only graduates.