Is this a good plan? Questions from an 8th grader pursuing a health career.

[Mahic]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and i'm interested in pursuing a career in surgery. I have a plan laid out of how I want to end up as a surgeon, but I don't know if it is good or bad or if it will even work. I don't even have anybody in my family with a medical degree, so I can't ask them. I'm currently in the eighth grade, but i'm taking advanced algebra 2 and advanced biology 1 instead of the regular eighth grade courses for math and science. For next year, when I will be entering the high school for all of my courses I signed up for Language of Medicine, Health Systems Pro, and Latin. I'm planning to write a very informative paper on the evolution of surgery for my graduation project. Is that a good graduation project for somebody wanting to go to med school? What would be a good major for pre-med? What are some of the pre-med colleges that have a history of of their graduates going to good medical schools? What else can I do to make my resume better for med school?

Thank you for all of your help,
Mahic

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[Lunasly]

Relax, man.

You are in 8th grade. Go outside, flirt with the ladies, or play a sport. When I was in 8th grade I didn't get a flying **** about school and the most important part of my day was being with my friends and/or playing video games.

 

[Mahic]

Yeah, I do that too. I'm just interested in getting a jump start on my career.

 

[I'm No Superman]

Q1. Sure, but little to nothing high school related matters to med schools.

Q2. There is no "best" major for pre-med, you can major in whatever you like. Although, I think biology/biochem/chem have include a few pre reqs.

Q3. All 4 year colleges send students to med school.

Q4. Nothing, you're in eight grade man.

 

[Lunasly]

Yeah, I do that too. I'm just interested in getting a jump start on my career.

I highly doubt anything you do now will be worth your while. Go have fun.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

The only thing you can do in high school to set you up for success in medical school is just do well in general, learn how to study like a boss, and get into a good college. If it doesn't have the word "community" in the title and isn't something like "uncle joe's backyard university" you should be solid.

 

[Mahic]

Q1. Sure, but little to nothing high school related matters to med schools.

Q2. There is no "best" major for pre-med, you can major in whatever you like. Although, I think biology/biochem/chem have include a few pre reqs.

Q3. All 4 year colleges send students to med school.

Q4. Nothing, you're in eight grade man.

Thanks for the response. I read the thread from your signature and it gave me some good laughs. So, also thanks for the laughs.

For question 3 I meant what are some the best colleges for getting into med school. As in which ones would look best on your application.

 

[Mahic]

uncle joe's backyard university

Man, I wanted to go to there.

 

[I'm No Superman]

Thanks for the response. I read the thread from your signature and it gave me some good laughs. So, also thanks for the laughs.

For question 3 I meant what are some the best colleges for getting into med school. As in which ones would look best on your application.

Hah, no problem.

For 3 though, what I said is true in both cases. Coming from a Harvard/Stanford/Yale school may help a little bit, but grades, MCAT scores, and EC's are way more important.

 

[Nymphicus]

When I was in eighth grade we didn't have internet at my house. And I'm not even that old.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Man, I wanted to go to there.

Their associate's degree in lawn mowing is pretty solid.

 

[Mahic]

Their associate's degree in lawn mowing is pretty solid.

Yeah, I think I might go with their fast food service degree and get my internship at McDonalds or Burger King.

 

[Hymn]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and i'm interested in pursuing a career in surgery.

Welcome.

I have a plan laid out of how I want to end up as a surgeon, but I don't know if it is good or bad or if it will even work.

any plan is usually better than no plan.

I don't even have anybody in my family with a medical degree, so I can't ask them.

Do you have a family physician? Any friends with relatives in college, medical school, or already doctors? Don't worry I didn't have much info about it even after I graduated high school.

I'm currently in the eighth grade, but i'm taking advanced algebra 2 and advanced biology 1 instead of the regular eighth grade courses for math and science.

Those are nice classes more advanced than what I took in 8th grade, advanced biology might help during high school biology. Try to keep that stuff in mind. (but the important stuff will likely stick on its own.

For next year, when I will be entering the high school for all of my courses I signed up for Language of Medicine, Health Systems Pro, and Latin. I'm planning to write a very informative paper on the evolution of surgery for my graduation project.
Is that a good graduation project for somebody wanting to go to med school?

All that sounds pretty amazing, sounds like you are getting into a good high school. Congrats. Good luck on your graduation project, and yeah of course that is a good graduation project that might help you out to get into pre-med in college, but don't think that's going to stick with you into Medical school... they want to see that you do great things "recently" before you apply into them. So it might only help you for your own good, colleges might take it into account, but Med school probably wont since it won't be recent.

What would be a good major for pre-med? What are some of the pre-med colleges that have a history of of their graduates going to good medical schools?

Biology, Microbiology, Neurology, etc... and minors that might make you stand out, like Arts or Education or Business. Definitely try to find a major in your chosen school that makes it easy for you to finish your pre-med requirements.

What else can I do to make my resume better for med school?

Work Experience. Volunteering is great, but real jobs carry REAL responsibilities and give you a more fulfilled resume, in order to apply to paid jobs in your college years. Med school is unlikely to look at your "resume" but you might be able to talk about working in advanced jobs to help pay for college because you are responsible, etc. Some colleges offer research programs for high school juniors and seniors, that might not be a bad idea.

Thank you for all of your help,
Mahic

don't forget about,
Advanced placement (AP) classes in high school. Hopefully you are taking advanced math classes in junior high (middle school / I was taking high school Geometry in 8th grade), and doing well. But don't do anything you can't handle. Extra curricular activities and leadership positions help you look good for a good undergraduate (before medical school) college. keep a high GPA and SATs or ACTs are important. Don't think you can do it on your own, ask your parents to talk to schools about finance so that you as a family can eventually make the right choices for undergraduate college. But you are not even past middle school yet. So just think about your GPA and AP classes, try out Student Government just for kicks (it seems like you are a go-getter and do-gooder) and do other EC's that you might be interested in. All scholarships are important, the less money, the more likely you'll get them sometimes, so apply to plenty, and apply early. Its important to keep yourself happy and healthy.

Good luck!

 

[Seahawk]

Dude to be honest...Even the stuff you do in high school won't really affect you getting into med school.

Doing some stuff in later high school like shadowing and stuff would be ok...Maybe do your HS grad project on something related.


I would try and forget about going to med school until then if I was you...College is the judgment time and your performance there will be 99% of you getting in or not (as far as the stats are concerned).

 

[notbobtrustme]

get into college first lol. You should be more concerned about getting laid than med school in 8th grade man.

 

[Docsted]

One major thing you can do now to get ahead and prepare for medical school is study for and take the ACT/SAT. Taking this during high school and doing super well on it means greater ability for scholarships. Getting school paid for means you might have to work less, which means you have more time for studying and less debt once entering medical school.

 

[Mahic]

Thank you for all your replies, I appreciate them. For anybody else viewing this forum here is a great article on what medical schools look at.

 

[Mahic]

One major thing you can do now to get ahead and prepare for medical school is study for and take the ACT/SAT. Taking this during high school and doing super well on it means greater ability for scholarships. Getting school paid for means you might have to work less, which means you have more time for studying and less debt once entering medical school.

Yeah I started prepping for the SAT in the beginning of 7th grade.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

I was told the SAT was a reasoning test so I never studied for it.

 

[JustMeditate]

It's great that you want to go into medicine, and that you've already begun to contemplate how best to achieve your goals. Contrary to what others may say, there are things you can do as a high school student to boost your chances of getting into medical school. But at this stage in the game, there is little you can do to boost your application directly. Why? Because most medical schools could care less what you did in high school. People change, and they'd rather review your work in college than your work in high school. After all, they'll be accepting or rejecting the "college you", not the "high school you." So, here are my tips...

1. Do well in high school, and make yourself a competitive college applicant. Take LOTS of GT and AP courses, accomplish near straight A's in all your classes, and get 4's or 5's on all of your AP exams. Study for the SAT/ACT at least a year in advance of your test date, making sure to take full length exams under testing conditions and review any vocabulary, grammar, or arithmetic you may have trouble with. Do really well on the SAT/ACT. And, finally, get involved long term in some interesting EC's. Do some volunteer work, get a leadership position in a club or organization, maybe even do some research.

Why all this, might you ask, when medical schools don't give a flying f*ck how you did in high school? To get scholarship money, and lots of it. In this economy, nearly every university is reducing the amount of merit based aid it awards, and the competition for those limited funds can be fierce. But getting your college education paid for, either via scholarships or through the help of your family, is essential. If you have to spend 30 hours a week, during your college years, at Burger King so that you can pay for your college education, you won't have time for the clinical volunteer work, shadowing, research, nonclinical volunteer work, TAing/tutoring, leadership, and study time you need to be a competitive medical school applicant. It's sad, but true. The more leisure time you have to study and complete EC's, the better your chances are of getting into medical school.

2. Read for leisure, and continue to do so throughout college. Believe it or not, the verbal section of the MCAT is considered one of the hardest sections. I personally believe it is because so many pre-meds AP out of their Humanities and/or English requirements, major in the sciences, and decide they do not have the time or desire to pick up a book during the entirety of their four year college education. But reading difficult, and varied texts is the only way to become good at the verbal section of the MCAT, and you simply can't cram that into 3 months of MCAT studying. In fact, I am of the opinion that the biology and physical sciences sections are the only sections in which you can drastically improve in a few months. You get good at verbal by reading and taking reading/writing intensive courses years prior to any official MCAT studying.

3. Have some fun! Explore different hobbies you are curious about, hang out with friends, go on vacations, sleep in until noon! Medical schools don't want pre-med drones. They want well rounded, fun people, who aren't just smart, but relatable. Being a doctor entails interacting with people, and making yourself likable is key. This is a lifelong pursuit, and you might as well start now. Good luck!

 

[Mahic]

It's great that you want to go into medicine, and that you've already begun to contemplate how best to achieve your goals. Contrary to what others may say, there are things you can do as a high school student to boost your chances of getting into medical school. But at this stage in the game, there is little you can do to boost your application directly. Why? Because most medical schools could care less what you did in high school. People change, and they'd rather review your work in college than your work in high school. After all, they'll be accepting or rejecting the "college you", not the "high school you." So, here are my tips...

1. Do well in high school, and make yourself a competitive college applicant. Take LOTS of GT and AP courses, accomplish near straight A's in all your classes, and get 4's or 5's on all of your AP exams. Study for the SAT/ACT at least a year in advance of your test date, making sure to take full length exams under testing conditions and review any vocabulary, grammar, or arithmetic you may have trouble with. Do really well on the SAT/ACT. And, finally, get involved long term in some interesting EC's. Do some volunteer work, get a leadership position in a club or organization, maybe even do some research.

Why all this, might you ask, when medical schools don't give a flying f*ck how you did in high school? To get scholarship money, and lots of it. In this economy, nearly every university is reducing the amount of merit based aid it awards, and the competition for those limited funds can be fierce. But getting your college education paid for, either via scholarships or through the help of your family, is essential. If you have to spend 30 hours a week, during your college years, at Burger King so that you can pay for your college education, you won't have time for the clinical volunteer work, shadowing, research, nonclinical volunteer work, TAing/tutoring, leadership, and study time you need to be a competitive medical school applicant. It's sad, but true. The more leisure time you have to study and complete EC's, the better your chances are of getting into medical school.

2. Read for leisure, and continue to do so throughout college. Believe it or not, the verbal section of the MCAT is considered one of the hardest sections. I personally believe it is because so many pre-meds AP out of their Humanities and/or English requirements, major in the sciences, and decide they do not have the time or desire to pick up a book during the entirety of their four year college education. But reading difficult, and varied texts is the only way to become good at the verbal section of the MCAT, and you simply can't cram that into 3 months of MCAT studying. In fact, I am of the opinion that the biology and physical sciences sections are the only sections in which you can drastically improve in a few months. You get good at verbal by reading and taking reading/writing intensive courses years prior to any official MCAT studying.

3. Have some fun! Explore different hobbies you are curious about, hang out with friends, go on vacations, sleep in until noon! Medical schools don't want pre-med drones. They want well rounded, fun people, who aren't just smart, but relatable. Being a doctor entails interacting with people, and making yourself likable is key. This is a lifelong pursuit, and you might as well start now. Good luck!

Thanks.

 

[MedBound1]

I wanted to fly fighter jets for the air force when I was in 8th grade... reading this is crazy to me. Good for you that you're already laying out a plan for the future but don't let anything stress you out at your age. Also, be open to other things, don't tunnel vision yourself, who knows if that's still what you'll want to do by the time you graduate college.

 

[nysegop]

You don't need to worry about medical school at such a young age. Most people don't know that they want to pursue healthcare until they go to college. Some don't even think about it until after college. Just do well in high school (so you can get into a good UG college/university) and you should be fine.