[degrews]

I strongly agree. That's what the European system is like, as others have mentioned. Even the 2 years of fundamental science preparation. In Spain, what I would say is the academic equivalent of high-school ends at 16. 16-18 is then spent in "baccalaureate", an optional university preparation program, which is more rigorous and ends in nationally-administered university preparedness exam. A prospective medical student would need to do the science-based variant of this program.