What would I need to do to be a competitive applicant?

[atomi]

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[Tusk]

I would assess the main reasons you want to be a doctor and then figure out if it is worth the work. It seems that the main things drawing you to medicine are high salaries and prestige. You also mentioned you're not really interested in patient care. I'm not saying you couldn't be a great doctor, but with at least 9 years ahead of you, the desire just to make good money isn't going to sustain you when times get rough.

 

[BozoSparky]

Volunteer/shadow before you get the application ball rolling. You have an interesting background, and I have no doubt you would be accepted to a good medical school. But like you said, the application process itself is a major pain. Get some experience, it might save you a lot of trouble. Medical schools are going to want to know if you tested your motivations anyway...

 

[atomi]

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[OctoDoc]

A lot of knowledgeable people will chime in here. I'm going to add that you also have to eat a poop hot dog.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=1007

 

[pokeytu]

Coming from another engineer that GPA is very impressive. If you do well on the MCAT you will have a very competitive application. You should consider shadowing and getting in some clinical time because it does seem like you have been very indecisive on career choices and the schools want to see that you have put in some serious consideration to the decision to become a doctor. Taking 1 year of requirements and the MCAT doesn't quite cut it.

 

[Barfalamule]

Tough decision. If you decide to do anything towards medicine, do it slowly. Start volunteering to get a sense of what's about(especially to see if you like hospitals and patients). I think ADCOMS will be watching this. I have no doubt that you'll get into a top medschool; you seem like a pretty smart guy, but sticking with your job a little while, volunteering some, and maybe taking a class or two a semester could put you in a really good position a year or two down the road. And that journey looks mighty good on paper.
This is all if you decide to go medicine.
I was an engineer and realized I had about a 3 year shelf-life before the job would start eating away at me. I was the one with a 3.2 from a state school surrounded by 4.0's from MIT and Georgia Tech, etc. But when it came down to it, the sweet job meant nothing because it didn't push me and it sure as hell didn't feel good coming to work.
You know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Take all of this advice with a grain of salt. You know your capabilities and you know your dreams. A lot of these folks commenting tend to be the >22 crowd with no concept of a full time job and life outside of school.

 

[Tusk]

That's not totally true. If I was just concerned about a high salary I would definitely go to law school. And that's also one of the questions I've asked myself - did I just apply for the money? What I'm really searching for is a challenging and exciting career in science. Certainly medicine seems like a good place to find this. Am I considering medicine just for the money? No, absolutely not. There are much easier options immediately available to me if I just want to get rich. Am I interested in prestige? Of course.

The main question I was trying to ask was the fesiability of my plan to finish up pre-med and apply. Sorry, I guess I kind of did get long winded in some philosophical areas.

I wasn't trying to call you out or anything. It just seems that you were disappointed that you could have been doing your current job with a worse GPA. It just seemed that you were throwing darts with engineering, law, and medicine.

Anyway, with your grades, it shouldn't be a problem for you to get through the prereqs. I'm not sure if you can take gen chem and org at the same time. At many schools gen chem is a prereq for org. But, get through those and score well on the MCAT and you shouldn't have a problem.

I would encourage you to get involved in a hospital with patients in some form or fashion. Also try shadowing a doctor. The first autopsy you see will go a long way in helping you decide if med school is a viable option.

 

[atomi]

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[Dr.Who?]

The main question I was trying to ask was the fesiability of my plan to finish up pre-med and apply. Sorry, I guess I kind of did get long winded in some philosophical areas.

You have a great GPA, and I feel you will be able to do well on the MCAT as well. Granted, that will get you interviews. Will it get you in? that might be another case.

I am a non-trad, and I've worked full time for a couple years, so I'm one of those >22 applicants with a tremendous understanding of a full time job and a life outside of school.

From my personal experiences (I'll be starting at an allopathic school this summer) I've noticed that Interviewers really want to know how badly you want to do medicine. If your application shows you're smart, but don't have the desire, then they will question your motivations for medicine.

My suggestion is to get some serious clinical experiences. Shadowing a doc once a month may not cut it. It has to be some serious time spent in the hospital or a clinic learning what the medical profession is all about.

You might also want to consider looking into research. Most people do it and realize research isn't for them, and a lot of interviewers respect that. It's sort of a "testing the waters" sort of mentality. Since I'm predicting you'll have great scores, if you do like research, maybe you'd want to try going for the MD/PhD route. You'd definitely be competitive there.

Then there's the case of LOR's. It seems you'd have some great letters talking about your intellectual ability, but who can you ask that will attest to you being able to relate with people? Will adcoms just see you as a book worm that's got a great GPA and high MCAT, but no personality? This of course is where LOR's and of course, the interview will come into play. Do you really know why you want to do medicine? A couple of interviewers asked the 'why medicine' and 'how bad do you want it' types of questions. You should really have concrete nswers, and maybe you will as you go through the typical pre-med process.

Ugh, i'm tired, and I hope that makes sense...just some things to consider...

 

[Dr.Who?]

One question. I've considered staying in my current job and taking a class each semester to finish the prereqs like you said. The only place that this is offered at night (after work) is the community college though. Would night classes from the community college while working full time hinder my application? I've heard that you should avoid community college classes if possible. Going back for another year of undergrad full time and then a year of nothing while applying would cost me well over $100k in lost wages and tuition. But if that's the way it's got to be...

COnsidering you did really well in undergrad, CC classes might not have that much of an impact if you do well on the MCAT. You already have a great GPA in a tough major, so no worries. There's always an option of a Post Bach, but that's mainly for people with a weak GPA or MCAT to "prove" to schools they can be competitive in the big leagues.

Perhaps a bigger and more immediate question is law school, and that's really something only I can answer. Although if there happens to be any other people here who teetered between law/med, I'd love to hear your take. There's always JD/MD programs, but....no.

This is something you've really got to determine for yourself...you've got a tough decision to make and I think you really need to try things out and decide what you want to do that will make you happiest.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

That's not totally true. If I was just concerned about a high salary I would definitely go to law school. And that's also one of the questions I've asked myself - did I just apply for the money? What I'm really searching for is a challenging and exciting career in science. Certainly medicine seems like a good place to find this. Am I considering medicine just for the money? No, absolutely not. There are much easier options immediately available to me if I just want to get rich. Am I interested in prestige? Of course.

The main question I was trying to ask was the fesiability of my plan to finish up pre-med and apply. Sorry, I guess I kind of did get long winded in some philosophical areas.

It's obvious that you have a demonstrated interest in science, but it doesn't seem that you have a demonstrated interest in people or medicine.

So even if you finished up your premed studies as quickly as possible, there are going to be gaping holes in your application in the areas I just mentioned. I doubt a committee will look favorably upon that.

 

[MollyMalone]

It's obvious that you have a demonstrated interest in science, but it doesn't seem that you have a demonstrated interest in people or medicine.

So even if you finished up your premed studies as quickly as possible, there are going to be gaping holes in your application in the areas I just mentioned. I doubt a committee will look favorably upon that.

I agree with this. You'll do fine on everything else. I agree with the above poster that in your shoes, some CC prereqs aren't going to sink you except maybe at the top of the top schools. But I don't really get any passion for people out of the things you've posted. Not saying it isn't there, but it hasn't come across. And if you don't want to work with people, why go into medicine? Sure, there are specialities with less patient care. But throughout school and residency (at least) you're going to have to be on the front lines.

If I were on your adcom, I would absolutely want to see some direct patient care in your app. I know it's hard to get. Hospital volunteering is usually terrible, but sometimes you can get lucky. Same thing with free clinic. The best way to get patient care experience is paid. EMT and CNA are the usual routes to this, with EMT being longer but sexier and CNA being shorter but way less glam. If these are really not an option (if you're supporting a family or something), hospice volunteering generally allows you to get a little more in the way of face-to-face contact.

*warning - ranty sort of statement not totally directed at you, OP*

I'm a non-trad too, coming from a hardcore clinical background, so I admit that my opinion may be more biased than most. If I had my way, every single medical applicant would have been puked on, pissed on, **** on, hit, and cussed at, would have held the hand of a dying person and comforted their family, and would have had a long term relationship with someone suffering from a chronic, at least partially self-inflicted major illness, all from a patient care perspective (as opposed to seeing it in your family, etc.). Clearly, this is not practical. But I have no idea how you decide that you want to be a doctor without having done at least some of those things. Obviously, people do. But I don't understand it. (I'm not saying that people who haven't done these things will be bad doctors or anything like that, and this is just my opinion.)

 

[dbhvt]

Seems like a lot of people want to kill you. I would suggest getting a bullet proof vest.

If you want to know what to do to get into the best medical school, luckily it's the same thing you need to do for your own sanity. Admissions commitees are generally full of smart people and they will spot you right away as someone considering medicine because it is ranked as a better profession than law.

Dig into some kind of activity that will give you some serious insight into what makes an MD meaningful, ie, clinical exposure. How do you know if it's enough? You know it's enough when you're convinced that medicine is absolutely the field for you. Take care of that, smoke the MCAT, and you'll be a top applicant.

If debt and prestigous degrees are what get you hot, by the way, you might try going to law school and then applying to med school. The only person I ever met who claimed to get in everywhere she applied was a recent Harvard Law grad. I'm pretty sure she's decided to stay for med school.

 

[atomi]

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[atomi]

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[Oculus Sinistra]

Yes, of course... that seems to be the major part of my application that I am missing.... The demonstrated interest part of the application is a real bear though, especially for someone already out of college and with a full-time job. The application process needs to be re-done to not be so focused on pulling people straight from undergrad.

Right... but even with a full time job (I'm assuming M-F 8-5) , you could volunteer on the weekends.

 

[Dov]

i hate threads like this. you are a competitive applicant. you just like to hear other people to say it.

also... we dont need to know you GPA to the thousandth of a point.

if you want to be a doc then do it. it is apparent you wont have a problem getting in.