BYU med school? Not anytime soon
(BYU) Daily Universe 23Sep99 D3
By Amy E. Spittler: NewsNet Staff Writer

That OTHER school in Utah (not BYU) has opened up the new Huntsman Cancer Institute, increasing its lead and prestige in the field of medicine. Will BYU ever compete and open a medical school of their own? Many BYU pre-med students want to know. After all, there are hundreds of them each year, and they excel in competitiveness, and would like to remain true to their school (there's enough blood red in medicine without having to go to the U of U).

But according to this article, BYU pre-med students for years to come had better look at going elsewhere to earn their medical degrees. According to Academic Vice President Alan Wilkins "Medical schools are just huge cash hogs. You really have to set up a whole hospital, and the funds needed to do that, among other things, would just impoverish some of the university's other programs." Not to mention the fact that there just aren't enough patients in Utah to feed TWO medical school hospitals (too little population or just too much WOW-induced health?).

Wilkins goes on to say "Our primary role is to prepare students to go elsewhere, whether to another educational institution or a career. We're a feeder school. That's part of the heart of our mission."