Undergraduate student seeking advice

[saint1569]

Hi all!
I just discovered SDNF about 3 days ago and this is my first post here. So far it's been a great resource. =)

I have a couple questions and I'm looking for overall help and advice I guess. I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask so if I should be at a different forum, sorry. =(

First, a little about myself.
I live in the Chicago land area. I just graduated from high school this past spring and am currently attending my very first year in college. I've declared my major in Biology and am in the process of declaring my minor in psychology. I'm a pre-health student at the moment; my interests heavily lie in psychiatry and (neuro)psychopharmacology and that's what I'm planning on studying in med school. I'm really excited for my education to take off. My school has a couple courses in areas like neurobiology and psychopharmacology and I'm really excited to take them, albeit it won't be for a couple years until I get the prereqs done with.

Browsing the forums for a couple days now have made me kinda nervous for med school though. I understand the rigorousness and work it takes and I'm fully committed to it but I can't help to be worried. I'm still fairly new to a lot of things even though I've already roughly planned out my school schedule for the next 4 years or so as an undergrad.

I've been trying to get involved with things like research, groups, and hospital settings but I've been having a hard time. I tried applying at hospitals for jobs but none of them would hire me (I'm planning on doing volunteer work anyway). And I think I remember seeing that I can't join Psi Chi until I'm at least a sophomore or have some psychology credits, which kind of made me sad. =/

I had a couple questions off the top of my head,
1) Would it be a better idea for me to attend grad school and get an MA before attempting to apply to med school? Is there a significant difference in the number of people who are accepted and attend med school who have just a BA as opposed to an MA?
2) How soon is too soon to start studying for the MCAT? I'm not attending one of the best schools for my undergrad studies so I understand my MCAT score is really important. But when should I start preparing for it? I don't really have any credits under my belt yet since I'm just starting (currently enrolled in gen chem and gen bio) so I'm not really sure when I need to start looking into it.
3) I really want to take part in whatever type of research I can, but a couple of my professors have told me that I won't be able to do much as a freshman. Is that really true? What type of places outside of school can I go to to participate in some type of research? I'm trying to build a good resume, but I also just want to be a part of it because I like it.
4) I've noticed people work personally with doctors or shadow them and I feel kind of dumb asking but...how would I go about doing that? I mean, should I just find a doctor and ask...?

Any help or advice anyone would like to share would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm not really sure how to go about doing anything right now. I'm fresh so...I need help. >.< If anyone could give me advice on things I should do or need to do to be in the field of psychiatry and psychopharmacology, that would be great.

tl;dr version:
brand new premed (psychiatry) undergrad student, 1) should I get an MA before applying to med school or go with just a BA? 2) when should I start getting ready for the MCAT? 3) what type of research opportunities are there for freshmen? 4) how do I find doctors to work with for experience?

Thanks all.
Sorry for the long post.

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[nVictus]

just take all the require prereqs for med school, ace them and have a high gpa. when youre done with that, give yourself 3 or so months (depending on your abilities) to study for the mcat. do well on that too. as for research, find something youre interested in and ask a professor, or whoever is the head of the research project, if you can work with them. research only if you want to (or if you really want to pad your stats/activites). be active in a few clubs/groups; show leadership. volunteer at a hospital for 1+ years. shadow a few doctors and apply to med school. what degree you get BA,BS, MA, whatever, does not matter.

 

[chessodoc]

1) No
2) Do well on your BCPMs, and you will do well on the MCATs by default.
3) They lied. I started research at the University at the end of high school, but I literally mass E-mailed/called hundreds of professors. If you do get an interview (which you will), read up a little on their research, you wont regret it.
4) I never shadowed, but, ask your primary care physician!

PS: Forgot to add. Don't forget to have fun! You go to college only once!

 

[Nobuo]

brand new premed (psychiatry) undergrad student, 1) should I get an MA before applying to med school or go with just a BA? 2) when should I start getting ready for the MCAT? 3) what type of research opportunities are there for freshmen? 4) how do I find doctors to work with for experience?

1) Plenty of people get into med school with just a bachelors degree. You don't have to do a graduate degree if you feel like you want to go straight to med school after college. Just make sure you have a good GPA and MCAT and you will be ok.

2) Most people I know studied anywhere from 3 to 6 months in advance of the test. I studied 6 months in advance, but I studied it slowly... as in every weekend. I didn't have that much time because I was in school and working, so I just spread out my studying over a longer period of time. Overall, it largely depends on you and your study habits.

3) Research for freshmen can be hard to find. I didn't start research until sophomore year, and even when I started the most I was doing was washing lab stuff and pipetting random chemicals. I really didn't know what I was doing at first, but you slowly work your way up. By the end of sophomore year, I had my own project and ended up with a good amount of abstracts by junior year. So, just sign up now, and work your way up. Read up on some research that your professors are doing, and just let them know that you're interested in their projects and that you want to be involved.

4) For shadowing doctors, if your school has a pre-med club or program, they might be able to set you up with a doctor to shadow. My school didn't have that, so I ended up using the phone book and calling random doctors. It's really a random process, and you might get turned down a lot, but I ended up shadowing a doctor at a private hospital after a while of calling. If you really want to shadow a physician, there is another service that sets you up to shadow a D.O. physician if you're interested, and the website is here: http://www.osteopathic.org/YOM/mentor_search.htm I haven't tried the service myself, but a few of my friends have, and they say it's decent.

Good luck!

 

[saint1569]

Thanks for all the advice so far.
I'm still fairly new to this so I'm sorry if these are dumb questions...but when do students typically take the MCATs? And what are BCPMs? O.O I've never heard of them before >.<

 

[Nobuo]

Thanks for all the advice so far.
I'm still fairly new to this so I'm sorry if these are dumb questions...but when do students typically take the MCATs? And what are BCPMs? O.O I've never heard of them before >.<

you can take the MCAT whenever you're ready before applying. since the test is computer based now, there are a lot more test offerings, and a lot more people are taking the test a few months before the june AMCAS application opening.

BCPM's is your science GPA. it stands for Bio Chem Physics and Math.

and don't worry about being new. we were all in your shoes at some point in the past, and we all have to learn somehow.