Army Will Commission Pre-Med Students Now

Moving to forestall a threatened shortage of doctors, the Army last week extended draft deferment and a chance for commissions to men in their first and second year of medical school and pre-med students who have been accepted by a reputable graduate school.

The new ruling is a broadening of the procedure which has been followed until now, under which commissions were offered to third and fourth year medical students only. In the past these men have been commissioned in the Medical Administration Corps of the Army and then sent back to finish their training.

Aside from men who held commissions, deferment for medical students has been largely a matter of individual discretion on the part of local draft boards. Board 47 in Cambridge, according to officials there, has usually deferred any men taking medical training, but other boards have been free to draft as they wished.

Under the new plan, men in the College who are accepted by the Medical School will be immediately eligible for commissioning. They will then enter the School, and remain in the Army Reserve until they are called to active service upon completion of their education.