Based on questionnaire response from 105 medical schools (33 of which offer 3-year programs) the author concludes that the programs have been a productive and valuable medical educational experience, that more objective studies are needed to evaluate the products, and that they should remain an option. (JT)

Students and faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine found the three-year medical program to be an unsatisfactory educational experience due to excessive intensity of classroom work, insufficient vacation time, and inadequate time to teach basic science. Measures of student performance showed no differences between three- and…

In a survey of faculty, five issues in which opinions were most diverse include: adequacy of program content, time available for faculty to do research, work demands on faculty, basic medical knowledge of three-year students, and quality of post-M.D. positions obtained by three-year graduates. (Author/LBH)