At the end of that first full year of medical school, any hours needed to complete a B.A. or B.S. are transferred back from courses in medicine. The baccalaureate degree is awarded upon completion of that year and the students officially enter the College of Medicine at the beginning of the second year. In this track, students must complete the same mathematics and science courses required of anyone desiring to study medicine, but there is also time in this option to major in areas such as philosophy, history, literature, psychology, etc., should they choose to do so. The MCAT is taken in the spring semester of their junior year. In the fourth year, students complete the courses in their major, satisfy a foreign language requirement, and write the honors thesis.
Medical school is begun the following year.
Like seven-year students, students in this track may apply to the College of Medicine at the end of their sophomore year and they may be accepted contingent upon their presenting the necessary grades and test scores to the College of Medicine. The College of Medicine requires students applying in either of these tracks to present a minimum overall, as well as science, grade point average of 3.7 and an average score of at least 10 or better on the MCAT and no score in any category below 8. Students in this program are counseled at least once each year in a joint interview with representatives of the University Honors Program, Preprofessional Sciences Committee, and the College of Medicine Medical Student Selection Committee. This may include serving as research assistants in laboratories in the College of Medicine or as preceptors observing patient treatment by physicians in the USF Medical Clinic. In this way, the student can be assured that he or she is progressing as expected, and the College of Medicine is afforded the opportunity to assess the student's preparedness to undertake the study of medicine both in terms of academic ability and overall maturity.