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fellowstudent92 said:
No you made yourself look like a fool by making a thread like this. I knew in high school what the USMLE was (family members as physicians) but I never even thought about studying this kind of stuff at that age. HA.
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Thank you so much for your advice, you may leave this forum.
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Cookiepro said:
Do you think your at a disadvantaged because you went to a community college?
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Not really. The chair of STEM there does a great job in making each science class as rigorous as most of the classes at UCSD. The only thing I'd say that is disadvantageous going to a CC is that you are not as connected to a community that can offer you a lot in terms of gaining experience in medicine. At UCSD there are so many labs to work at. You'll be able to see the limits of conventional medicine and be apart of advancing medical knowledge through research. You just don't have those opportunities at a CC. I met a student who went straight to UCSD, he did 4 years of research at the center for theoretical neuroncology and is probably in his second week of medical school at Case Western. So yes, you will lose research opportunities that may help with getting you experience.
 
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emagavin said:
Not really. The chair of STEM there does a great job in making each science class as rigorous as most of the classes at UCSD. The only thing I'd say that is disadvantageous going to a CC is that you are not as connected to a community that can offer you a lot in terms of gaining experience in medicine. At UCSD there are so many labs to work at. You'll be able to see the limits of conventional medicine and be apart of advancing medical knowledge through research. You just don't have those opportunities at a CC. I met a student who went straight to UCSD, he did 4 years of research at the center for theoretical neuroncology and is probably in his second week of medical school at Case Western. So yes, you will lose research opportunities that may help with getting you experience.
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Oh i see:

Also is your favorite show spongebob?
 
if you think taking a medical technologies class at a CC is going to be beneficial, then you might as well just read the stethoscope wikipedia page instead, because you'll get about the same amount of content from both.
 
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I think I've lost brain cells reading this thread...
:whoa:
 
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You should start early and know that ignorance and naivety comes in many forms. If you are to be a professional you should probably help develop your colleagues and not degrade them.
Cookiepro said:
Oh i see:

Also is your favorite show spongebob?
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Not at all. In fact I hate spongebob.
 
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Hope I'm posting in roll bread, If not, OP maybe you should enjoy your summer instead? Find some nice girls, have some fun, chill with your friends, play LoL, go visit places... Sheesh
 
emagavin said:
You should start early and know that ignorance and naivety comes in many forms. If you are to be a professional you should probably help develop your colleagues and not degrade them.


Not at all. In fact I hate spongebob.
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Lol, I find this a bit ironic. Your profile image shows spongy doing surgery! Lol Dr. Bob Pants.

Did you get in to medical school? Or not yet ?
 
I have a pre-college Freshman doing research with me right now. I'll tell you what I told him...

You have a clear cut advantage over the vast majority of future medical school applicants. Starting early is huge. The pitfall that people fall into is that they think that this advantage is because they will get a head start with their academics. This could not be further from the truth. Your academic prowess, ie your GPA and your MCAT will be dictated by your studiousness. How good your study habits are, how innately intelligent you are, how good your previous schooling was, etc. Starting super early will NOT impact those things or any other future test. So then, why do you have an advantage? Because of everything else.

#1 You have more time to answer the single most important question: "Should I really apply to medical school?" Medical training is long. I did not take a single gap year or take any time off. I will not finish my residency until I am 33 years old. To put that into perspective, that is 15 years from where you are right now. The vast majority of students will accrue somewhere between 100k and 300k in debt. Some fortunate ones less, some very unfortunate ones, much more. Medicine offers so much reward as a career. By the same token, it requires a tremendous amount of sacrifice in terms of your time, energy and money. Many physicians will offer the advice, "If you can see yourself doing anything else besides medicine, you should do that instead."

#2 You have the time to so something substantial. Your academic prowess will speak for itself. If your goal is not only to get into medical school, but have your pick of school as well, the best thing that you can do is have something to sell other than that you are a good student. Volunteering, research, etc. It isn't about checking a box. It is about getting something out of it and providing something to the scientific community, local community, etc. This isn't about having more hours than other people. This is about actually having a real impact on something and being able to share that with Adcoms to demonstrate who you are as an individual.
 
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mimelim said:
I have a pre-college Freshman doing research with me right now. I'll tell you what I told him...

You have a clear cut advantage over the vast majority of future medical school applicants. Starting early is huge. The pitfall that people fall into is that they think that this advantage is because they will get a head start with their academics. This could not be further from the truth. Your academic prowess, ie your GPA and your MCAT will be dictated by your studiousness. How good your study habits are, how innately intelligent you are, how good your previous schooling was, etc. Starting super early will NOT impact those things or any other future test. So then, why do you have an advantage? Because of everything else.

#1 You have more time to answer the single most important question: "Should I really apply to medical school?" Medical training is long. I did not take a single gap year or take any time off. I will not finish my residency until I am 33 years old. To put that into perspective, that is 15 years from where you are right now. The vast majority of students will accrue somewhere between 100k and 300k in debt. Some fortunate ones less, some very unfortunate ones, much more. Medicine offers so much reward as a career. By the same token, it requires a tremendous amount of sacrifice in terms of your time, energy and money. Many physicians will offer the advice, "If you can see yourself doing anything else besides medicine, you should do that instead."

#2 You have the time to so something substantial. Your academic prowess will speak for itself. If your goal is not only to get into medical school, but have your pick of school as well, the best thing that you can do is have something to sell other than that you are a good student. Volunteering, research, etc. It isn't about checking a box. It is about getting something out of it and providing something to the scientific community, local community, etc. This isn't about having more hours than other people. This is about actually having a real impact on something and being able to share that with Adcoms to demonstrate who you are as an individual.
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I want to become a radiologist and i'm worried about the USMLE because if i get an average score it will be very difficult to become a radiologist. Thank you for taking your time to write to me. I will volunteer.

Also my community college has a class called medical technologies. Its not part of my major but its a class that looks medical related? would such class help me? link:

http://facultyfiles.deanza.edu/gems/hasselpatricia/termtel1.pdf
 
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Cookiepro said:
I did, radiology and dermatology are competitive, are they not?
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Competitiveness is linked to many things, including job prospects. If you spend some time perusing the radiology MD/DO forum, you will see references to the poor job market that currently seems to plague new attendings in the field. The field is saturated, it seems. Jobs that offer good location, income and career mobility seem few and far between. There has even been reference to physicians who cannot find jobs, at all, even in the less "desirable" geographical areas.

Yes, radiology is competitive, relative to family medicine or PM&R (for now, people are catching on), but it couldn't be labelled, on average, as being as competitive as dermatology. But these things change. Anesthesiology is in the ROAD acronym, but it is currently considered to be fairly wide open. Dermatology is competitive, at the moment, due to all pertinent factors; income, locations of jobs, average hours worked per week, scope of practice, etc.

Other competitive areas are the general surgical subspecialties, academic internal medicine and most of its subspecialties, freakin' radiation oncology, ophthalmology, academic and upper tier peds, neurosurgery, orthopedics and otolaryngology, among others.
 
The hospital system my sister in law works for cut 6 dermatologist from a city of about 200k, and 3 hours from the nearest academic center. Things might be changing in the coming years.

Studying for step 1 now will not benefit you at all. You do not even have the basic classes. Concentrate on your classes now, shadow some docs (and not just radiologist), volunteer, etc.
 
Also, you are at least 6 years away from step 1. If you need that much time to retain the info, what about step 2 that is taken your 4th year of medical school?
 
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Yeah OP I think Step I is a little short sighted. It might be too late to start studying at this point, tbh. You might want to take the lower score and start studying for Step III because that really decides if you become an MD or not... To put it in perspective, I started studying for Step I when I was 10 in 5th grade and I'm only getting low 270's on NBME's as a college senior.

In all seriousness, it doesn't seem that OP is heeding any advice given to him that doesn't agree with his preconceived notions. This is a waste of time for the people trying to help.
 
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Dr. Retractor said:
Yeah OP I think Step I is a little short sighted. It might be too late to start studying at this point, tbh. You might want to take the lower score and start studying for Step III because that really decides if you become an MD or not... To put it in perspective, I started studying for Step I when I was 10 in 5th grade and I'm only getting low 270's on NBME's as a college senior.

In all seriousness, it doesn't seem that OP is heeding any advice given to him that doesn't agree with his preconceived notions. This is a waste of time for the people trying to help.
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Sorry to burst your bubble, I came here for advice; i got some awful ones like yours, but i got great feedback and excellent advice from others. they did not waste their time, they really helped me out unlike you.
 
People are telling you that it's a terrible idea to study for Step I at this point but you don't seem to understand that.
 
Cookiepro said:
lol what? I'm not even talking about step 1 :) im studying the mcat chemistry section
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Why are you studying for the MCAT chemistry section if you HAVEN'T EVEN TAKEN GEN CHEM I????? How will understand things like equilibrium, pKa, pH, pI, radiation, etc.? Forget about gen chem, what about organic chem? Do you know what happens when you add HNO3 to toluene? Do you know what happens if you add H2SO4 and SO3 to the resulting product? Do you know what (+/-) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is? Do you know what R and S configurations are? You have no background and learning it like that is setting yourself up for disaster later on. Maybe you have to wait until you take the MCAT to realize you're making a mistake.
 
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Dr. Retractor said:
Why are you studying for the MCAT chemistry section if you HAVEN'T EVEN TAKEN GEN CHEM I????? How will understand things like equilibrium, pKa, pH, pI, radiation, etc.? Forget about gen chem, what about organic chem? Do you know what happens when you add HNO3 to toluene? Do you know what happens if you add H2SO4 and SO3 to the resulting product? Do you know what (+/-) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is? Do you know what R and S configurations are? You have no background and learning it like that is setting yourself up for disaster later on. Maybe you have to wait until you take the MCAT to realize you're making a mistake.
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I understand all of these topics well, my SAT chemistry score is a 800 and my ap score is a 5. please leave me alone.
 
Dr. Retractor said:
Why are you studying for the MCAT chemistry section if you HAVEN'T EVEN TAKEN GEN CHEM I????? How will understand things like equilibrium, pKa, pH, pI, radiation, etc.? Forget about gen chem, what about organic chem? Do you know what happens when you add HNO3 to toluene? Do you know what happens if you add H2SO4 and SO3 to the resulting product? Do you know what (+/-) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is? Do you know what R and S configurations are? You have no background and learning it like that is setting yourself up for disaster later on. Maybe you have to wait until you take the MCAT to realize you're making a mistake.
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and NO im not studying organic chemistry right now.

Do you know the four quantum numbers? Principal quantum # Angular quantum # Magnetic quantum # Spin quantum #

Do you know Orbital Hybridization? Do you know lechaitler principle?

Do you know osmotic pressure? Do you know how to use density (Mass/Volume) with relationship to Molarity. Just stop harassing me thank you.
 
Your immaturity is evident throughout all your posts. It's horrifying to think that you may be taking care of patients some day.

And I'm not harrassing you. I'm just telling you you're making a mistake. Do with that what you will. I don't give half a **** what you do. Good luck at community college Mr. 800-on-SAT-chem-and-5-on-AP-chem.
 
Dr. Retractor said:
Your immaturity is evident throughout all your posts. It's horrifying to think that you may be taking care of patients some day.

And I'm not harrassing you. I'm just telling you you're making a mistake. Do with that what you will. I don't give half a **** what you do. Good luck at community college Mr. 800-on-SAT-chem-and-5-on-AP-chem.
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Lol, i'm asking advice from people who care to help, you simply dont care than why post here.
 
Cookiepro said:
Hello Doctors & Members,

I have graduated high school two months ago. I have a goal to attend medical school based on observation and shadowing doctors. I have started my Mcat preparation and know that I have to take USMLE after med school. Do you guys recommend me to start early preparing? How can I prepare for this? Please share your insights. Thank you!
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No, but there is no one size fits all answer to your question. You know your study habits better than anyone posting here. Do you think you need 3 years to prepare for a 7/8 hour test? If yes, than by all means go ahead and start. See https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/faqs/

Cookiepro said:
Although my major is molecular biology and does not require anatomy and physiology, I think I should take these classes regardless. What do you think will this help in med school? Will this be helpful on the mcat and usmle?
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If med schools don’t require it, why do you think you need it? Keep in mind material in premed courses is not so much meant to carry over to med school, but to give adcoms a way to compare students taking same somewhat difficult science courses. Again, however, you know yourself better than anyone here. So if you believe you need the security blanket of college anatomy and physiology then go ahead and take it and make sure you do well in it.

Cookiepro said:
I already waste to much time playing games, league of legends, too nerdy need to do something else, I took a physics class this summer and passed it with an A I'm trying to keep a 4.0 in college.

Are you saying memorizing random facts is a waste of time with out a clear frame work?
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Typically med students are exposed to basic science first two years and then are given one-two months to prep for Step 1. If you believe think you can learn this stuff from flashcards without a framework that med school would provide, good luck. Here’s a link to sample step 1 questions.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http://www.usmle.org/pdfs/step-1/2014samples_step1.pdf&ei=f5nqU72iFYigogTvkYLoBg&usg=AFQjCNFmji6F37MxuKyCS5RF_DC6qZVGTw&bvm=bv.72938740,d.cGE

Cookiepro said:
When did I say the word guarantee? Nothing is guarnteed, you need good stats and extracurricular activities in order to be considered for an interview. A 4.0 does not guarantee acceptance but it is better than having a 3.0 and applying to med school then your chances are even lowered. And an Mcat score of 45 is almost a guarantee to a medical school, just pass your interview.
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you are right you need solid overall app. Nothing is guaranteed, not even a 45. As interviewing is a learned skilled maybe consider acquiring, reviewing interview prep materials and as actually practicing interviewing as well.

Cookiepro said:
Thank you for your suggestions,

I would like to mention that I have taken ap classes in chemistry and biology and physics. I decided to not apply to universities but a community college instead, I feel in community college I will have more choices. I'm planing to take all the classes you listed unfortunately histology and pathology isn't available at my community college. Any advice on how to take these courses?

There is a class called introduction to health technologies it talks about disease and basic medical terminology. What do you think would this class be fun at a community college?
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with exception of bio, maybe calc, although colleges may give you credit for AP courses, med schools tend to require completion of physics/chem at college level. And if med school accepts AP bio credit then you'll have to take upper division bio courses which shouldn’t be problem as molecular bio major if you do well in them. Talk to advisor.

besides major and premed related, take any course that interests you and that you can do well in

Cookiepro said:
I want to become a radiologist and i'm worried about the USMLE because if i get an average score it will be very difficult to become a radiologist. Thank you for taking your time to write to me. I will volunteer.

Also my community college has a class called medical technologies. Its not part of my major but its a class that looks medical related? would such class help me? link:

http://facultyfiles.deanza.edu/gems/hasselpatricia/termtel1.pdf
Click to expand...

As I am resident, I agree fully with drcrispmd (an attending physician) posts above, you should not be giving any thought to USMLEs. It’s truly pointless.

as to med tech course, only if you find it interesting and can do well in

Cookiepro said:
Sorry to burst your bubble, I came here for advice; i got some awful ones like yours, but i got great feedback and excellent advice from others. they did not waste their time, they really helped me out unlike you.
Click to expand...

It’s really good to ask questions. A college prof once told my class “please ask me questions, it shows me how stupid you are.” You may not like prof’s phrasing, but it gets to point of why we ask questions, to learn something we didn’t know. A flip side however is sometimes when you ask a question, you get an answer you don’t like or is annoying. Learn to move on from on questions you don't like. Fighting back tends to rain down more negativity.
 
amvet70 said:
No, but there is no one size fits all answer to your question. You know your study habits better than anyone posting here. Do you think you need 3 years to prepare for a 7/8 hour test? If yes, than by all means go ahead and start. See https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/faqs/



If med schools don’t require it, why do you think you need it? Keep in mind material in premed courses is not so much meant to carry over to med school, but to give adcoms a way to compare students taking same somewhat difficult science courses. Again, however, you know yourself better than anyone here. So if you believe you need the security blanket of college anatomy and physiology then go ahead and take it and make sure you do well in it.



Typically med students are exposed to basic science first two years and then are given one-two months to prep for Step 1. If you believe think you can learn this stuff from flashcards without a framework that med school would provide, good luck. Here’s a link to sample step 1 questions.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http://www.usmle.org/pdfs/step-1/2014samples_step1.pdf&ei=f5nqU72iFYigogTvkYLoBg&usg=AFQjCNFmji6F37MxuKyCS5RF_DC6qZVGTw&bvm=bv.72938740,d.cGE



you are right you need solid overall app. Nothing is guaranteed, not even a 45. As interviewing is a learned skilled maybe consider acquiring, reviewing interview prep materials and as actually practicing interviewing as well.



with exception of bio, maybe calc, although colleges may give you credit for AP courses, med schools tend to require completion of physics/chem at college level. And if med school accepts AP bio credit then you'll have to take upper division bio courses which shouldn’t be problem as molecular bio major if you do well in them. Talk to advisor.

besides major and premed related, take any course that interests you and that you can do well in



As I am resident, I agree fully with drcrispmd (an attending physician) posts above, you should not be giving any thought to USMLEs. It’s truly pointless.

as to med tech course, only if you find it interesting and can do well in



It’s really good to ask questions. A college prof once told my class “please ask me questions, it shows me how stupid you are.” You may not like prof’s phrasing, but it gets to point of why we ask questions, to learn something we didn’t know. A flip side however is sometimes when you ask a question, you get an answer you don’t like or is annoying. Learn to move on from on questions you don't like. Fighting back tends to rain down more negativity.
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Thanks, honestly I got all the information I needed, thank you for your advice and time.
 
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