Book for NonTrads

[PhillyPreMed]

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I'm a second year nontrad pre-med. I have to say that I had a very difficult time adjusting to the rigors of being a pre-med student while working full-time (I work in a hospital as a transporter).

I just finished reading a book called "Getting into Medical School: A Comprehensive Guide for Non-Traditional Students". It's a good read and I could relate to many things that the author wrote about in the book. I highly recommend the book to other nontrad pre-med students.

 

[nontradjd]

What kind of schedule are you juggling with the job?

 

[PhillyPreMed]

I work two 16 hour shifts on the weekends and one 8 hr shift during the week.

 

[nontradjd]

Ok, so, no offense, but are you here to just promote the book or participate in the community? You joined yesterday and immediately posted about it. And, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and grabbed the Kindle book.

I honestly wouldn't recommend it for anybody on SDN. It really only contains information readily available on this website. And, it is primarily explanatory in nature, rather than advice-giving. For instance, it tells you what doctor shadowing is, which, besides being painfully obvious by what it's called, is defined in many places here and on a lot of premed/med blogs and sites. However, it doesn't tell me how I, as a professional with a full-time office hours job, could go about it. And, even if it did explain how, I could just as easily ask here and get multiple ideas how for free. To me, this book seems more an informal encyclopedia rather than a comprehensive guide.

 

[Stephanopolous]

Here's a great non-trad (or any applicant for that matter) book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

and: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

[adoctoralawyer]

Ok, so, no offense, but are you here to just promote the book or participate in the community? You joined yesterday and immediately posted about it. And, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and grabbed the Kindle book.

I honestly wouldn't recommend it for anybody on SDN. It really only contains information readily available on this website. And, it is primarily explanatory in nature, rather than advice-giving. For instance, it tells you what doctor shadowing is, which, besides being painfully obvious by what it's called, is defined in many places here and on a lot of premed/med blogs and sites. However, it doesn't tell me how I, as a professional with a full-time office hours job, could go about it. And, even if it did explain how, I could just as easily ask here and get multiple ideas how for free. To me, this book seems more an informal encyclopedia rather than a comprehensive guide.

That's why I like this board. It's the no b/s, no nonsense approach that people have here.

 

[NoTownPreMed]

That's why I like this board. It's the no b/s, no nonsense approach that people have here.

I agree, this board provides the nitty gritty info you need to know about getting into medical school, something you cannot find elsewhere.

 

[PhillyPreMed]

nontradjd- I don't normally actively participate in the forums, I usually just read what others have to say but when I read the book I thought that it could help others.

I have a question for you that you may be able to help me out with. I'm debating from switching from full-time to part-time in school because I just can't handle a full load of classes. I can't work less hours because I won't be able to pay for rent, car insurance, etc. But my adviser tells me that if I switch then I wouldn't be "competitive" to medical school admissions. Is it true that admissions committees penalize working students?

I would rather take 2 classes per semester, at least until I could find a better paying job.

 

[PhillyPreMed]

Stephanopolous, I read this book (forced to) when I lived in Brazil. It's a fiction novel, it doesn't help me.

 

[nontradjd]

nontradjd- I don't normally actively participate in the forums, I usually just read what others have to say but when I read the book I thought that it could help others.

I have a question for you that you may be able to help me out with. I'm debating from switching from full-time to part-time in school because I just can't handle a full load of classes. I can't work less hours because I won't be able to pay for rent, car insurance, etc. But my adviser tells me that if I switch then I wouldn't be "competitive" to medical school admissions. Is it true that admissions committees penalize working students?

I would rather take 2 classes per semester, at least until I could find a better paying job.

Based on what I've read on the forums, no. Continue to get excellent grades and you'll be fine. I will be doing my pre-reqs as a post-bacc part-timer. The only part that will be troublesome for me is that I will be doing them at a Comm College (due to cost).