Any "Medical Technology or CLS" pre meds out there?

[clc8503]

There's not that many of them at my school. I only know a few of them. I was wondering how many of my sdn pals were "med tech" pre meds as well. List the program you are attending and your course load.

Hematology
General Chemistry II and lab
Health Information MAnagement
Medical Microbiology

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[mek117]

I'm a MLS (as it's now called) grad student so I will have a MS in medical laboratory science and MT certification. It's a full-time 2yr program: one yr coursework, one yr internships.

I am still torn as to whether I will pursue medical school or get a phD in Medical Laboratory Science (the program will be up and running at my school by the time I graduate).

 

[Morsetlis]

The average age for MLS/CLS are around 40-50 and the market will soon need more. My local community college is churning out noobs with the MLT AA degree for support this.

MLS/CLS are extremely interesting and a worthy post-grad options (normal college students won't take Immunology/Hematology/Microbiology so you'll need 1-2 years post-grad for it) that complement the pre-med BCPM well. However, these are just undergrad classes and unless you want to pad your GPA, applying to SMP's or directly to medical school is preferable for the MD path.

MLS/CLS also get paid decently, but if you wanted a career that only took a BA/MS and pays decently you'd have gone into investment banking or nursing.

 

[persianprep08]

as of now i'm still a Biology major. but my application is in review...hopefully i will find out soon.

 

[willen101383]

I am an MT. Ive been working as an MT for 5 years now. I love it...but start med school this fall and cannot wait!

 

[willen101383]

The average age for MLS/CLS are around 40-50 and the market will soon need more. My local community college is churning out noobs with the MLT AA degree for support this.

MLS/CLS are extremely interesting and a worthy post-grad options (normal college students won't take Immunology/Hematology/Microbiology so you'll need 1-2 years post-grad for it) that complement the pre-med BCPM well. However, these are just undergrad classes and unless you want to pad your GPA, applying to SMP's or directly to medical school is preferable for the MD path.

MLS/CLS also get paid decently, but if you wanted a career that only took a BA/MS and pays decently you'd have gone into investment banking or nursing.

Ur spot on with that age....I am consistently the youngest one in every lab I work in. In my current lab its me (27) my supervisor (37) and my two fellow techs (68) (55). I laugh as I crank up my NIN playlist on pandora and they cringe...

 

[startswithb]

Just curious what the strategy is for majoring in CLS if you know you want to go to med school? You will not be taking the advanced upper level science courses that chemistry/biology majors take, so the grades will arguably not be as competitive. I think the only case a CLS degree would be meaningful is if you planned on working 2-5 years in the field to gain clinical experience.

 

[willen101383]

Just curious what the strategy is for majoring in CLS if you know you want to go to med school? You will not be taking the advanced upper level science courses that chemistry/biology majors take, so the grades will arguably not be as competitive. I think the only case a CLS degree would be meaningful is if you planned on working 2-5 years in the field to gain clinical experience.

I dont know what the curriculum is in every program, but in a lot of programs you DO get most of the pre reqs done. I was not a med tech major. I was a biology/chem major undergrad. When I graduated I did an internship, got my MT cert/NYS license and started working. Over time I decided to go to medical school. Who knows how adcoms view MTs but the clinical experience coupled with a "atypical" bachelors likely spikes the interest of certain adcom members. You already have a lot of clinical experience once you graduate with your bachelors...and are knowledgable about topics in lab medicine that docs really know very little about.

 

[Buttercreme]

Any Updates??

 

[ArkansasRanger]

There's a big two page thread on this in the pre-DO forum. Check it out.

 

[clinicallabguy]

Just curious what the strategy is for majoring in CLS if you know you want to go to med school? You will not be taking the advanced upper level science courses that chemistry/biology majors take, so the grades will arguably not be as competitive. I think the only case a CLS degree would be meaningful is if you planned on working 2-5 years in the field to gain clinical experience.

My CLS department had a pre-professional track and promoted the program. Of 40 graduating students, there were at least 7 of us that were pre-professional. It ended up working out well for me. I did it because I loved the major, rather than because I thought that it would or wouldn't make me look better on a med school app. Now that I'm in medical school I'm glad that I majored in something that I liked, and even prepared me well in some ways for medical school. I posted this on another forum, but we just finished medical microbiology and it is one of the most intense classes of MS1 where I'm at. However, because of the 3 intense semesters of CLS micro it was one of the easier classes for me. It's nice to have been exposed to clinical stuff before medical school! You'll realize when you get here how little time you have to get important stuff to sink in your head and hopefully get into your long term memory.

I may be able to land a decent summer job as well. I'm trying right now. I hope I can find something.

 

[BlameItOnTheOH]

Hey guys...I'm an MT and have been trying for awhile to try to get an answer on here as far as how to go about listing courses from the clinical internship year on AMCAS. Are you requesting transcripts be sent to amcas just like a regular college transcipt? Do you list the courses taken along with all the other college courses, or are they separate? Do the grades count towards your sGPA or just your cGPA? or neither?!