BANGOR, Maine — For students starting college this fall, the path from undergrad to medical school is getting a whole lot easier.
"After four years of trying to figure out if 'I really want to be a doctor, can I be? Can I get into medical school?' Well, with Husson, yes you can," Dean of Husson's College of Science and Humanities Phillip Taylor said.
Husson currently does not have an advanced medical program of its own. Through its new partnership, undergrad students in good standing will be able to take their entrance exams with a medical school already in mind.
"That creates a whole different world of how I'm approaching my studies, knowing that once I achieve what I have to achieve, I have a guaranteed seat," SGU School of Medicine Dean Dr. Marios Loukas said.
Students accepted into the program at the School of Medicine will also be eligible for a $10,000 scholarship from SGU, distributed throughout their four years of study.
The program will also partner pre-med students with SGU alumni who went through the same steps not too long ago.
"It's a huge network that we can provide to a pre-med student from the medical school perspective," Loukas said.
The school hopes this new partnership will help remedy the ever-growing need for more veterinarians and doctors across the state.
Vet tech Alicia Nejako knows first-hand how challenging it can be to get an advanced medical degree and says programs like this can help make it easier for students in school to follow through to achieve their career goals.
"If you're practically guaranteed one, it might make it easier for some, and it may be less scary for some if they know they have almost a guarantee to go somewhere," Nejako said.