Advice first year pre med coming in Fall

[sjwallis99]

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How many hours should I shadow?
how many practiums should I have?
How many EC should I have?
Good MCAT score?
What can make me better?

 

[625233]

1. 50+
2. Bio (1&2), Chem (1&2), Organic Chem (1&2), Physics (1&2), Biochem (1), sociology, psychology
3. Aim for 15
4. 30+ (33 is the national median for accepted students)
5. I can't answer that for you, explore your interests and hope they make you an interesting individual.

 

[soccerusa]

Also, I would offer a piece of advice that is a little unconventional: treat undergrad like a game where you win if you get into med school. I am not saying don't have fun or anything. Instead treat picking your classes, planning your time with a goal to maximize GPA and MCAT. If you want a top a school then throw in some productive research. I found that being light on other ECs was not even mentioned when I applied to the top schools. Its amazing what a strong GPA, MCAT and publication record can do. So, pick easy professors, space out hard classes, take exam schedules into account when registering etc. Try and make your life as easy as possible so you can just focus on school.

 

[NotYou20]

Have fun. Volunteer at a hospice, nursing home, free clinic, or hospital enough so that you know that you want to work with sick people the rest of your life. If you don't like it, medicine probably isn't for you. Pretend you don't want to go to medical school when choosing a major and finding the rest of your ECs.

 

[sjwallis99]

thank yall I appreciate it!!

 

[Salt Salt]

Pick a major you enjoy, whether that's political science or biology or criminal justice or whatever. Succeed in that major during your four years.

 

[Nucleophile1]

- Find a place to volunteer and stick with it. Don't bounce around from place to place. I wish someone had emphasized volunteering when I was a freshman.
- Don't overload your schedule first semester. Give yourself some time to get adjusted.
- Don't skip class or start procrastinating. Develop good study habits now rather than later.
- Don't start worrying about the MCAT now.
- Shadow doctors of various specialities.

 

[FutureBenCarson]

Start thinking about your story right now. And take steps to develop it. Engage in ECs that kinda go with "your theme"

 

[sjwallis99]

Great Thank Yall

 

[pkteen]

Maybe I'm completely wrong with my advice as I'm only a sophomore in college right now but I don't think you should put such a quantitative number on EC's so early in the game. Volunteer, shadow etc. as much as possible if you like it (and you should if you really want to work with patients for the rest of your life) and go with the flow. Make sure your GPA is kept as high as possible and worry about the MCAT more when you're closer to it. Again, just my 2 cents...

 

[sjwallis99]

Great thanks

 

[Gandyy]

Good advice above. Also 31 is national average for MD matriculants. Not 33

 

[Meeehai]

Honestly the best advice I could give to any first year pre med is to have a handle on what you need to accomplish in your undergrad years to become a competitive applicant. And it seems as if you're already on top of understanding what you need to do. I was in the dark for a while when I started so I had to scramble and catch up in my last two years. I seriously just partied with friends and played video games during my freshman/sophomore summer and looking back I wish I had done more for preparation.

 

[Hospitalized]

Is that your date of birth in your MDapps ID?

 

[mcatjelly]

Don't feel the need to get involved just for the sake of doing it. Clubs are a waste of time in my opinion. Get involved with research early of its something you're interested in, but make sure the lab is a good one to be in. Have fun at parties but don't let your grades slip.

Hey. One of my most meaningful experiences was a club that became my life in college. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[sjwallis99]

great thank yall! and I am 16 graduated so I'm just trying to get everything I need so I can succeed

 

[Gandyy]

Also from what I"m personally learning this application cycle, dont take too many gap years (in my case 3) if you want to go to a MD medical school. In my case I absolutely had to for personal problems.

The conundrum you can get yourself into is the following: Lets say you have a 3.7+ gpa (decent enough for MD). After college if you have a high gpa, doing a SMP or postbacc looks like a poor decision to adcoms. This is because if you do poorly in a SMP, then your hard earned 3.7+ is now essentially meaningless.

Furthermore, MPH's and many other graduate degrees have giant inflation in their grades and so rightfully so, MD adcoms do not pay much attention to how well you would do in a MPH or other relatively easy mode graduate degrees.

So bottom line.. if you take more than 2 gap years, they assume that you have forgotten how to read and write. Ok, not really, but you get my point.

Unfortunately this is my experience right now. Between a rock and a hard place.

So please if I can save you from this demoralizing situation, dont take that many gap years. I advise just one if you want, but thats it.