Is 12 too young?

Was wondering if 12 years of age is too young to start
medical school? Could it possibly influence some parents
perceptions of their own childrens academic goals? Can it
influence other children's views on what they should be able
to accomplish by that age? If you were a school guidance
counselor and a 10 year old came to you feeling inadequate
for not having accomplished what the 12 year old med student
has, then how do you explain it?

http://www.gruntdoc.com/archives/000322.html

Does anyone seriously think that a 12 (or 14 or 16 yr old)
has the social and emotional maturity to establish rapport
with patients,

the psychological aspects of severe illness, disability,
and death?

Yes--12 IS too young. If this isn't a hoax, then it seems to
me that the U of Chicago is just doing it for the publicity.

derek <rastan7@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<vturd0hpdbpd2ntbcahk8eqk440tegcosu@4ax.com>...
> Was wondering if 12 years of age is too young to start
> medical school? Could it possibly influence some parents
> perceptions of their own childrens academic goals? Can it
> influence other children's views on what they should be
> able to accomplish by that age? If you were a school
> guidance counselor and a 10 year old came to you feeling
> inadequate for not having accomplished what the 12 year
> old med student has, then how do you explain it?
>
> http://www.gruntdoc.com/archives/000322.html

saoakman@yahoo.com (Scott Oakman) wrote in message news:<56850582.0406280644.34075c7@posting.google.com>...
> Does anyone seriously think that a 12 (or 14 or 16 yr old)
> has the social and emotional maturity to establish rapport
> with patients,

> the psychological aspects of severe illness, disability,
> and death?

Of course not. :-) All of these wunderkind medical school
enrollees (seems I hear about one every couple years) go
into MD/PhD programs. I'd bet money that they'll lock him
away in a lab, and that he'll get the PhD first, before he
even starts clinical rotations. He probably won't see or
touch a patient until he's 17 or 18, and even if he comes
across as an awkward teenager who freaks out 3/4ths of his
patients ...

... well, I'm sure we've all seen 20-30+ year old medical
students who are completely inept when actually dealing with
people. He won't be the first student who's ever made a
patient uncomfortable. :-)

> Yes--12 IS too young. If this isn't a hoax, then it seems
> to me that the U of Chicago is just doing it for the
> publicity.

I don't know. I'd lend them the benefit of the doubt and
believe they're going to give him an opportunity to flex his
brain, while reigning in his ambition to do things no 14-year-
old should be doing.