Advice to all you newbies

[MedStudentWanna]

I know this is going to sound harsh, but believe me it's constructive advice.

We're all pre-meds here and that pretty much means we all have healthy egos and some of us have a lot of arrogance too. Most of us get good grades and complete awesome EC's for the purpose of getting into med school. Some of us are trying to make up for a poor academic record. Some of us are nontrads. Some of us are married. Some of us have kids. But the bottom line is that we're all aiming for a 3.5 or higher and a 30+ MCAT. Beyond that, no one has any clue what works and what doesn't for adcoms. So when you have a 4.0 and a 39 MCAT and you come here to ask about your chances, just realize that you're going to get some not-so-friendly responses for a few reasons: (1) it looks like you just want a pat on the back because, really, what do you want us to tell you? That you have no shot? Come on! You have a 4.0 and a 39 MCAT. You're smart enough to know that isn't true and (2) there are many people who don't have anywhere near those scores and when you do and act like you're oh so worried about your chances, you've basically told the people in the 3.3/29 MCAT pool that they have no shot at all.

Just think about these things or else your first or second thread will be filled with snippy comments from people who think you're only fishing for compliments.

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[narc]

Someone needed to say it. Well done sir.

 

[doctor0125]

You are won smart fellow

 

[Vvandenn]

 

[Timmythemic22]

Thank you... from one of the lesser folk.

 

[notdeadyet]

Just think about these things or else your first or second thread will be filled with snippy comments from people who think you're only fishing for compliments.

On the other hand, if you have a really awful GPA and MCAT, feel free to post. It makes those of us swimming in mediocrity feel just a little bit better.

 

[rajad10]

On the other hand, if you have a really awful GPA and MCAT, feel free to post. It makes those of us swimming in mediocrity feel just a little bit better.

hahahaha

 

[Erina]

THANK YOU FOR THIS.

and if you absolutely do have to post about your chances, please please please do it in the official "what are my chances/where to apply" thread.

 

[NonTradMed]

Nicely said. Yet sadly I believe there will always be the "I have a 4.0 and 40 MCAT so do I have a chance at med school" thread on SDN.

 

[akademiks1989]

Any advice to the newbies who haven't started college? Seriously, besides "you are thinking about med school wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to early, go get a life"

 

[braluk]

Any advice to the newbies who haven't started college? Seriously, besides "you are thinking about med school wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to early, go get a life"

lol, enjoy college, thats all you really have to worry about. You'll never get an experience like college ever again. Start worrying about med school during the last half of sophomore year and junior/senior year.

but if you are that inclined to be a gunner, i say, get ur prereqs done quickly and importantly, look at med schools that you might want to go to (still early i know) and see if they require any classes that are out of the regular BCPM reqs- University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for example, requires 2 semesters of standard Psych classes and one social sciences class. I am a bio.anth major so social science was easily fulfilled but i had no idea about the psych requirements. seeing that i graduated, i cant really finish psych in my "senior year". Anyhow i digress.

One thing i would have really liked to of had done, is major in philosophy. It would have made the verbal section of the MCATs cake. hmm what other advice...be careful of the company you keep, some can lead you down a road, especialy in college, that is detrimental to your studies. do not cheat- if you ever get caught and its labeled on your transcript, you will most likely have a nil shot of getting into med school for at least a good amount of years to come after graduation.

but seriously

enjoy college. the heyday of that has come and gone for me, and I certainly remain nostalgic when I think back to the first two weeks of orientation/classes in freshmen year.

 

[braluk]

Any advice to the newbies who haven't started college? Seriously, besides "you are thinking about med school wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to early, go get a life"

oh also, biochem and physiology = for adcoms.

 

[Igni Fera]

I know this is going to sound harsh, but believe me it's constructive advice.

We're all pre-meds here and that pretty much means we all have healthy egos and some of us have a lot of arrogance too. Most of us get good grades and complete awesome EC's for the purpose of getting into med school. Some of us are trying to make up for a poor academic record. Some of us are nontrads. Some of us are married. Some of us have kids. But the bottom line is that we're all aiming for a 3.5 or higher and a 30+ MCAT. Beyond that, no one has any clue what works and what doesn't for adcoms. So when you have a 4.0 and a 39 MCAT and you come here to ask about your chances, just realize that you're going to get some not-so-friendly responses for a few reasons: (1) it looks like you just want a pat on the back because, really, what do you want us to tell you? That you have no shot? Come on! You have a 4.0 and a 39 MCAT. You're smart enough to know that isn't true and (2) there are many people who don't have anywhere near those scores and when you do and act like you're oh so worried about your chances, you've basically told the people in the 3.3/29 MCAT pool that they have no shot at all.

Just think about these things or else your first or second thread will be filled with snippy comments from people who think you're only fishing for compliments.

Oh, come now... when we get these posts over and over and over again, we have so many juicy chances to remind these folks (and ourselves) that grades and MCAT scores aren't everything. LORs and personality (interviews) and experiences count sometimes more than the numbers... otherwise we wouldn't even be in the running, right?

 

[akademiks1989]

I'm not sure if I understand the process completely, but if I apply at the end of junior year, and I will take biochem and physiology senior year, would that be okay? Would it be enough reassurance to the adcoms to know I will be taking it?

 

[TMP-SMX]

I'm not sure if I understand the process completely, but if I apply at the end of junior year, and I will take biochem and physiology senior year, would that be okay? Would it be enough reassurance to the adcoms to know I will be taking it?

Yes it's fine. If you update them with that info during an interview it's good. They like to see the pre-reqs done before you apply, but those courses aren't required to most schools. So you'll be fine. Just update schools as the process goes on.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Come on! You have a 4.0 and a 39 MCAT. You're smart enough to know that isn't true

Ntch-ntch.

Have to watch out for those dumb 4.0 kids.

All they know how to do is 4.0 things.

School, 4.0'ed it, work, 4.0'ed it, girlfriend, 4.0'ed her, a couple times actually

BUT!
When it comes to medical school admissions, it all unravels.

 

[narc]

Ntch-ntch.

Have to watch out for those dumb 4.0 kids.

All they know how to do is 4.0 things.

School, 4.0'ed it, work, 4.0'ed it, girlfriend, 4.0'ed her, a couple times actually

BUT!
When it comes to medical school admissions, it all unravels.

Im lost Guess im not a 4.0er

 

[braluk]

gunners 4.1 it

 

[Erina]

gunners 4.1 it

yeah well my high school GPA was a 4.3 something. and if college worked the same way, you can bet i would have at LEAST a 4.5. i'm thinking that makes me better than all of you.

however, college doesn't work that way and i only have a 3.98 with a 35 MCAT. do you think i can get in?

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

however, college doesn't work that way and i only have a 3.98 with a 35 MCAT. do you think i can get in?

Yes, college needs classes that count for 1.5x the normal amount.

With those numbers, you should be fine... unless you apply on a weekend. They'll be closed so I doubt you'll get in. But you could probably throw a brick through the window or something.

 

[braluk]

one thing that pissed me off bout my UG is that bio lab counted for 2 credits while a regular class counted for 4. bio lab was twice the amount of work then any other class I had that year

 

[Erina]

Yes, college needs classes that count for 1.5x the normal amount.

With those numbers, you should be fine... unless you apply on a weekend. They'll be closed so I doubt you'll get in. But you could probably throw a brick through the window or something.

hahaha thanks for the vote of confidence.

i was thinking i may just use seduction to get in...ya know, work my magic...

 

[Erina]

one thing that pissed me off bout my UG is that bio lab counted for 2 credits while a regular class counted for 4. bio lab was twice the amount of work then any other class I had that year

it must be understood by colleges throughout the country that labs must have twice the work and half the credits as every other class. i'm looking forward to ochem lab this fall...

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

hahaha thanks for the vote of confidence.

i was thinking i may just use seduction to get in...ya know, work my magic...

Damn, you're going to use seduction too?
Now I need a whole new strategy.

alright, think, think

think

pasta

ok pasta is not a strategy

yeah I know but pasta sounds good and we can eat it while we think of a strategy

yes, yes, I agree

so I'm going to eat pasta and think of a strategy

sure, sure




Okay, so mine is pending. Let me know how the seduction thing works out.

 

[braluk]

out of all the labs, id have to say ochem was by far my favorite.

 

[Erina]

ok to kinda save face and not reply to two different comments in two different responses, i'm responding to both here:

oculus: you've hit on my favorite food. combine that pasta with cheese and im in absolute heaven. pasta could definitely be a strategy...especially if it's combined with seduction. there! that's how you can make your strategy different from mine and add to the diversity of the medical school.

braluk: i didn't want to admit it but i love ochem and im secretly excited for the lab. but ive heard from classmates that it's absolute hell with all the reports that we have to write. maybe i can use my seduction strategy discussed above on my lab TA and get out of those reports...

 

[deleted106503]

one thing that pissed me off bout my UG is that bio lab counted for 2 credits while a regular class counted for 4. bio lab was twice the amount of work then any other class I had that year

Are you kidding me? Bio Lab here at UF was 1 credit hour for 3 hours of lab a week. Lecture was 3 credit hours. Same with gen chem. Orgo 2 lab (no 1 lab) was 6 hours a week for 2 credits. It was fun, though. Anyone who says they hate Orgo lab will look back on it and see they really enjoyed it. It's like a mini meth lab in there.

 

[rajad10]

Are you kidding me? Bio Lab here at UF was 1 credit hour for 3 hours of lab a week. Lecture was 3 credit hours. Same with gen chem. Orgo 2 lab (no 1 lab) was 6 hours a week for 2 credits. It was fun, though. Anyone who says they hate Orgo lab will look back on it and see they really enjoyed it. It's like a mini meth lab in there.

yea the UF bio lab is terrible. 1 credit for all those stupid practicals that took forever to study for.

 

[somemaybedoc]

Are you kidding me? Bio Lab here at UF was 1 credit hour for 3 hours of lab a week. Lecture was 3 credit hours. Same with gen chem. Orgo 2 lab (no 1 lab) was 6 hours a week for 2 credits. It was fun, though. Anyone who says they hate Orgo lab will look back on it and see they really enjoyed it. It's like a mini meth lab in there.

More of a micro scale methlab...

 

[braluk]

my favorite labs that stuck in my head for orgo was definitely either the one where we made a bunch of different perfumes and rum and stuff, or we made bioluminescence. there was also one lab where we made aldehydes which colored orange and yellow and red and smelled like Al Bundy's feet for weeks

 

[burntfries]

my favorite labs that stuck in my head for orgo was definitely either the one where we made a bunch of different perfumes and rum and stuff, or we made bioluminescence. there was also one lab where we made aldehydes which colored orange and yellow and red and smelled like Al Bundy's feet for weeks

your ochem labs seem like so much fun...the most interesting thing i got to do was extract limonene from orange peels, and even that was tedious...

 

[AMcD3]

ok to kinda save face and not reply to two different comments in two different responses, i'm responding to both here:

oculus: you've hit on my favorite food. combine that pasta with cheese and im in absolute heaven. pasta could definitely be a strategy...especially if it's combined with seduction. there! that's how you can make your strategy different from mine and add to the diversity of the medical school.

With my gf, pasta = seduction. Absolutely the best of all worlds.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

ok to kinda save face and not reply to two different comments in two different responses, i'm responding to both here:

oculus: you've hit on my favorite food. combine that pasta with cheese and im in absolute heaven. pasta could definitely be a strategy...especially if it's combined with seduction. there! that's how you can make your strategy different from mine and add to the diversity of the medical school.

Yes! Consolidation is pretty much my favorite -olidation ever. You get five points for being clever and I get one point for giving you five points (I may slip myself two more points when no one is looking)

Pasta with cheese is like walking hand-in-hand to the movies. It can't be beat. If you think about it, lasagna should be a med student's best friend. You could make a lasagna and live on it for a week (unless someone else finds out that you have some and eats it while you're in class).

This is great. A lasagna, a funfetti cake, and cereal. I'll be good to go.

 

[Erina]

With my gf, pasta = seduction. Absolutely the best of all worlds.

your girlfriend knows what she's talking about.

 

[Erina]

Yes! Consolidation is pretty much my favorite -olidation ever. You get five points for being clever and I get one point for giving you five points (I may slip myself two more points when no one is looking)

Pasta with cheese is like walking hand-in-hand to the movies. It can't be beat. If you think about it, lasagna should be a med student's best friend. You could make a lasagna and live on it for a week (unless someone else finds out that you have some and eats it while you're in class).

This is great. A lasagna, a funfetti cake, and cereal. I'll be good to go.

you're making me so hungry. and you're my new best friend.

 

[AMcD3]

your girlfriend knows what she's talking about.

Of course she does, she chose me! haha, sorry, no, i have no ego, no 4.0 for me. but i can cook pasta, which must work for some overworkded adcom as a last resort, no?

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

my favorite labs that stuck in my head for orgo was definitely either the one where we made a bunch of different perfumes and rum and stuff, or we made bioluminescence. there was also one lab where we made aldehydes which colored orange and yellow and red and smelled like Al Bundy's feet for weeks

The only thing I liked about OChem labs is how good acetone felt on my skin when I was cleaning up. So cold... so good.

Afterwards people come up and start banal stories about their days
and you say

shut up shut up!
I want to talk about my acetone!
feel my hands!
can't feel it?
too bad, man, 'cause they feel AWESOME

 

[deleted106503]

yea the UF bio lab is terrible. 1 credit for all those stupid practicals that took forever to study for.

Ehh...Bio 1 lab was kinda easy. I just memorized the hell out of both practicals. Bio 2 lab was a lot of fun. Not sure when you took it, but I think they changed it after a few years from mine. Doing the drosophilia (sp?) fly cross breeding was fun. 1 lab was mostly busy work, which made it boring and more of a hassle.

Orgo lab was definitely the best imo. My lab group got along well. No one really even talked about the lab stuff. We all talked about stuff we did outside of class and just went along with our pre-lab instructions to complete the stuff.

 

[Erina]

Of course she does, she chose me! haha, sorry, no, i have no ego, no 4.0 for me. but i can cook pasta, which must work for some overworkded adcom as a last resort, no?

well if you read back a few posts, you will see that oculus and i have determined that pasta + seduction is the way to go if you want to get into med school. but you can't use that strategy, it belongs to oculus. i claimed the pink scented paper cut into a heart shape that says "I love medicine." but if you really want, i can help you find another strategy. i know, i'm talented...

 

[mvenus929]

my favorite labs that stuck in my head for orgo was definitely either the one where we made a bunch of different perfumes and rum and stuff, or we made bioluminescence. there was also one lab where we made aldehydes which colored orange and yellow and red and smelled like Al Bundy's feet for weeks

My lab instructor from Gen Chem II said she hated Orgo lab, because it was all white precipitates, but she loved inorganic lab because it was so colorful.

If you think about it, lasagna should be a med student's best friend. You could make a lasagna and live on it for a week (unless someone else finds out that you have some and eats it while you're in class).

Or if you have a boyfriend that could probably eat the entire dish by himself. But that's my plan for college this year, now that I have a kitchen... make a big dish on Sunday, and eat the leftovers for the rest of the week.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Of course she does, she chose me! haha, sorry, no, i have no ego, no 4.0 for me. but i can cook pasta, which must work for some overworkded adcom as a last resort, no?

Actually, it turns out that all Harvard Med is really interested in is how much rigatoni you are willing to donate to their program.

I mean, 4.0's be damned, rigatoni takes finesse.

"Here's my rigatoni," you should say. "I am gifted in the areas of pasta and swordsmanship."

Then you pick up some rigatoni with your sword.

Because if there's one thing Harvard Med hates more than bad pasta, it's liars.

 

[deleted106503]

More of a micro scale methlab...

I guess I could see Frylock knowing the difference.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

My lab instructor from Gen Chem II said she hated Orgo lab, because it was all white precipitates, but she loved inorganic lab because it was so colorful.

Your lab instructor does acid. I hate to break it to you, but that's the deal.

 

[akademiks1989]

I love this site! Only here you will get a bitch rant on newbies and then all of a sudden learn that pasta seduces your girlfriend! Nice!

 

[rajad10]

Ehh...Bio 1 lab was kinda easy. I just memorized the hell out of both practicals. Bio 2 lab was a lot of fun. Not sure when you took it, but I think they changed it after a few years from mine. Doing the drosophilia (sp?) fly cross breeding was fun. 1 lab was mostly busy work, which made it boring and more of a hassle.

Orgo lab was definitely the best imo. My lab group got along well. No one really even talked about the lab stuff. We all talked about stuff we did outside of class and just went along with our pre-lab instructions to complete the stuff.

yea i took it during fall 2004...orgo lab was the best - hands down; although anaytical chem lab made a lot of sense to me and was therefore enjoyable.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

I love this site! Only here you will get a bitch rant on newbies and then all of a sudden learn that pasta seduces your girlfriend! Nice!

There's probably more to learn about women.

I mean... it can't be that simple.

But definitely learn how to cook if you don't know how to.

Personally, I plan to perfect my pasta and learn to tango.

In theory I should be okay up until that point.

 

[akademiks1989]

But definitely learn how to cook if you don't know how to.

Medicine is easier than women.

BTW, my parents had a family owned and operated Italian restaurant for nearly ten years, and I worked it is since I was about 7 years old. I can cook anything Italian..

Anyone who went to UMich and went to the football games will remember "A Taste of Italy" and a little Middle-Eastern boy who used to yell "ICEEEEEEEEE COLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD DRINKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKS!!!!!!!!!! 1 DOLLARRRRRR!" Every Saturday home game!! Yep, that was me!

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Medicine is easier than women.

BTW, my parents had a family owned and operated Italian restaurant for nearly ten years, and I worked it is since I was about 7 years old. I can cook anything Italian..

Wow!

So did you use actual tomato sauce or did you have the thinly sliced tomatoes? It seems like every time I go out for pasta at a nice Italian place, I get the thinly-sliced tomatoes -rouse.

They think we won't lean in and check. Not me. I'm a leaner.

 

[akademiks1989]

Wow!

So did you use actual tomato sauce or did you have the thinly sliced tomatoes? It seems like every time I go out for pasta at a nice Italian place, I get the thinly-sliced tomatoes -rouse.

They think we won't lean in and check. Not me. I'm a leaner.

Well, I use whole tomatoes, put the in the blender while a pot is simmering garlic and onions on oil. And then I add the tomatoe puree with a select other few secret ingredients. Our restaurant was built on secret ingredients, such as the cannoli. And I will take my cannoli secret to the grave...ahhh TOO damn good for my own good..LMAO

I know nothing about this tomatoe slice thing you talk about. Must be a modernized and franchised and stylish way of cooking things these days. Oh well, old Sicily would be proud of me, not those dinguses!!! lol...jp

 

[spospo]

anyone here ever taken a developmental bio lab??? i took the class and the lab. the class had a ton of memorization, but the lab was AWESOME. we worked with flies (of course) and tadpoles. my favorite was working with the chick embryo. our teacher even had enough after all the disections that we hatched two of the chicks. adorable. it was the first bio lab i actually enjoyed doing an independent project for.