IntroductionIn Peru, medical students may obtain their professional degree by either passing a qualifying examination or completing a thesis. However, for students who entered medical school in 2016 or later, completion of a thesis became mandatory. This study aimed to evaluate the time to completion of the professional degree and identify factors among medical students at a national Peruvian university.MethodsAn observational study was conducted using time-to-event analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression in R.ResultsAmong 183 medical students, 76.5% (n = 140) obtained their professional degree during the follow-up period, with a median time to degree completion of 208 days [95% confidence interval (CI), 171–249]. Approximately 1 year after completing the medical internship, 76.5% of graduates had obtained their professional degree. A longer time to graduation was associated with male sex [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.51] and the requirement for ethics committee approval (HR = 0.52); whereas students who enrolled in 2016 achieved degree completion more quickly (HR = 1.77).DiscussionThese findings underscore the importance of strengthening research training within medical education in developing countries while also streamlining institutional and administrative processes that may delay professional degree completion.