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Ah yeah I know of the coming battles I'll have to fight when it comes time to matriculate. Challenge accepted. I remember from HuMed interviews when Sinai students were saying appeals were quite easy at a couple of schools. My tiny neurotic side is just worried that this'll affect admissions, even though I know it's 2 separate things... 🤔
I see. Well, you majored in chem(?), so you needed the math prereqs for you major to be done faster. Physics II and stats won't be fun, so you should take easy fluff classes your last semester to balance them out!
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My lack of some pre-reqs hasn't been an issue in terms of gaining interviews and acceptances, likely since I listed the courses I have yet to take as future classes on my AMCAS app. You should be fine in terms of admission itself!
Yes, chemistry major! Actually my school doesn't offer full semester versions of calc 1 and 2. It's very odd.... But yeah, I'm taking a creative writing class and a literature class to be more fluffy! And an advanced biochem class which I'm stoked for 😀 and thesis, of course. Yay last semester!
Meh, it's not much. AP Physics is more than enough for the MCAT, if a student knows like 80% of the material. I studied with my old Barron's book for the MCAT lol (supplemented by TBR, which is like the definition of unnecessary overkill).
Oh wow a thesis. I def didn't want to burden myself with that my last year.
Did the class have a lab component?
Also, it appears that a few schools are flexible with the pre-reqs:
http://med.stanford.edu/md-admissions/how-to-apply/academic-requirements.html
https://members.aamc.org/eweb/upload/Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians Report2 2009.pdf
As others have pointed out, you should definitely contact the schools you're interested in.
Haha I went to an arts high school, and came to college not knowing what an atom was nor how to do algebra. AP Physics, Biology, Chemistry, etc were definitely not options at my school! That's awesome that you had such an excellent education in high school. I think that's so important.
Oh, okay! It's a lot of work, for sure, but it's been a really good experience. Plus I wrote a grant proposal for it and got a good scholarship, which is nice since the upcoming debt of medical school is terrifying 😀
Nope, no lab. Most of the schools I'm interested in are pretty flexible, or at least seem to be. I've thought about contacting schools, but it's not like I'm gonna take something random during my upcoming last semester of college just because I have to..I'd feel bad wasting their time hahahaha
I think I'm going with YOLO. Flow with it until it comes time to fight the matriculation battles, it seems. As long as admissions aren't affected, I'm game.
I wish I went to an arts high school. Didn't quite fit into the arts crowd in HS and it was alienating so I gave up lol
I wish I went to an arts high school. Didn't quite fit into the arts crowd in HS and it was alienating so I gave up lol
It was a really cool experience, but I spent a lot of time there feeling out of place since I wanted to pursue medicine (all of my friends went to arts conservatories for college, or they just got jobs as artists) and I spent a lot of time in college sort of struggling to be on the same level of scientific knowledge as my classmates and to prove to myself that I wasn't automatically stupid for not knowing what a beaker was. But ultimately it worked out! I'm really happy for the experiences I've had. I'm sorry that the art crowd at your high school was alienating! That's awful.
I grew up around a lot of snobs. What they didn't see was that I can out-a-hole anyone in the ti-state area. lolz
Wow that is really cool! I went to a magnet high school and was in one of the arts departments, but we still had opportunities to take higher level science courses (due to the huge math/science/technology program). I didn't take advantage of those opportunities as much as I probably should have, but with 6+ hours of training and rehearsal every day, I don't know when I'd have had the time anyway. Did your school have different departments as well? What did you study? I rarely meet other people who had that type of background -- and it seems like you had an even more immersive experience (sorry to hear that you felt you didn't get good exposure to the sciences, however).
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Moop, you're going to have a hard time getting some of those lab courses waived unless you've done a bunch of bench science. I feel like science publications could really help show that you know your way around the scientific method.
It's going to a tough sell for many places I fear.
It's going to a tough sell for many places I fear.
Agreed. Also lots of schools require specifically 8 hours of physics.
I would suggest emailing them now and asking specifically about your case. I have a weird biochem class that I had to do that for. All but one school responded that it was fine so I kept those emails on file for future record. My dream school however said it was not fine and I am therefore fitting in some extra biochem this semester, which I only could have done with this advanced planning.
I would suggest emailing them now and asking specifically about your case. I have a weird biochem class that I had to do that for. All but one school responded that it was fine so I kept those emails on file for future record. My dream school however said it was not fine and I am therefore fitting in some extra biochem this semester, which I only could have done with this advanced planning.
Going to do some small-scale whining on here. So my friends kept pestering me to set an alarm to buy Coachella tickets tomorrow, but then I realized I had four major problems:
1) I'm broke
2) So that weekend my top-two second looks are both on... yup, that's also weekend one of Coachella
3) My friends cannot make weekend two
4) If I spent $$$ on second look and Coachella, then I'd go from broke to doubly-broke
Whelp. Looks like my next 5+ years of life will be Coachella-free... which might be a blessing in disguise. At least I'll avoid the gnarly sunburn/heatstroke? (Last time I went back in ye olde 2011 I turned the loveliest shade of lobster red just half a day into the festival and got wildly sick).
1) I'm broke
2) So that weekend my top-two second looks are both on... yup, that's also weekend one of Coachella
3) My friends cannot make weekend two
4) If I spent $$$ on second look and Coachella, then I'd go from broke to doubly-broke
Whelp. Looks like my next 5+ years of life will be Coachella-free... which might be a blessing in disguise. At least I'll avoid the gnarly sunburn/heatstroke? (Last time I went back in ye olde 2011 I turned the loveliest shade of lobster red just half a day into the festival and got wildly sick).
Do what is more important to you lol. And wait, you're Italian but get burnt instead of tan??
Wait. You'd go to second look over coachella? Seriously? The line-up looks amazeballs. I want to go!!!
Oh gosh, I wish. My family is from the northeastern part bordering Slovenia, so I'm the whitest shade of white.
Queue up for tickets tomorrow! The system opens at noon!
Second look airfare will run me $100 with my remaining airfare perks while Coachella tickets cost $435 – not including the overpriced hotel my friends are splitting. x_____x I know these things are "a drop in the bucket," but I've been trying to save up for a proper holiday this summer. I know I'm ludicrously privileged to be mulling over these things, but what I wouldn't give for unlimited time/money... c'est la vie.
What are your guys plans for the summer and/or spring break period?
Spring break: Go home for 10 days as a much needed break from scribing. Spend time with family. Do hood rat things with my friends if they're back home too.
Summer if accepted to medical school: Quit scribing, move back home, spend more time with family, do more hood rat things with my friends, enjoy life before med school starts.
Summer if not accepted to medical school: Either stay in STL and continue scribing + new clinical volunteering or quit scribing, move back home, and do different clinical experience. Apply to med school again before MCAT score expires.
Summer if accepted to medical school: Quit scribing, move back home, spend more time with family, do more hood rat things with my friends, enjoy life before med school starts.
Summer if not accepted to medical school: Either stay in STL and continue scribing + new clinical volunteering or quit scribing, move back home, and do different clinical experience. Apply to med school again before MCAT score expires.
Yeah, thanks guys, I've heard this a ton. Frankly, I could care less. Some committee isn't going to define how I live my college life. I'm graduating in 5 months, and I'm not gonna take anything in the fall. I'll deal with the lab situations when the time comes. A good number of schools require no physics lab at all, so we'll see how the cards fall in a little more than a year from now
"Some committee isn't going to define how I live my college life."Yeah, thanks guys, I've heard this a ton. Frankly, I could care less. Some committee isn't going to define how I live my college life. I'm graduating in 5 months, and I'm not gonna take anything in the fall. I'll deal with the lab situations when the time comes. A good number of schools require no physics lab at all, so we'll see how the cards fall in a little more than a year from now
Well, if you don't get accepted anywhere because you couldn't follow their explicit instructions regarding required premed classes, then by default the committee "defined" how you were supposed to live your college life. You really shouldn't take any unnecessary chances.
Never heard of anyone not getting in due to prereqs. Even the adcoms on here admit they never look or factor it into their decisions; some other people only do it when students are getting ready to matriculate. Either way, like I said, no more time left in college to take so many labs anyway. If I have to, I'll do it later haha. I spent my entire college career trying not to be a scaredy premed who does everything by the book, and I ain't gonna start now. Thanks for all the feedback though!
It's hard to envision myself moving away to school anywhere because it's still so uncertain where I'll be. I know I'm fortunate to have these potential choices (or even any choice at all), but I could be in Cleveland or Durham or New York or Seattle which are four entirely separate regions of this huge, culturally diverse country.
My point is that the schooling should come first, but it's hard to ignore the very different environments that might come along. New York is not Durham, and at this point it's really hard to tell how much that kind of distinction will matter w/r/t my happiness.
My point is that the schooling should come first, but it's hard to ignore the very different environments that might come along. New York is not Durham, and at this point it's really hard to tell how much that kind of distinction will matter w/r/t my happiness.
If I got into both SLU and Miami, it would be a tough choice. However, considering how sucktastically cold STL is right now, I might choose Miami just for the guaranteed nicer weather lol.
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I feel exactly the same way. I could be in Los Angeles, New York, Cleveland, or Rochester MN next year, depending on news I get in the next few months. Vastly different choices!!!! And I have ZERO idea where I will end up haha because I haven't heard from my four top choices. I'm so grateful to know I'm going somewhere, but it's stressful to not be able to plan out my life right now. I'm just trying to enjoy the ride and let the chips fall where they may, but I'm about to enter a super stressful semester and I'm worried I won't have any time to make plans (housing, roommates, when I'm moving, how I'm moving, if I'm bringing a car, etc.) until May. Terrifying! And what if you make all those plans but suddenly get off the waitlist and have three days to change all your plans and turn around and drive across the country?! Ahhh!
But I'm still excited about everything 😀 Can't wait to see how this turns out for all of us!
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I'm still interviewing so spring will be consumed by that I think. I have no vacation days left to spare outside of that anyway.
For the summer, I'm planning a trip to India and SE Asia for atleast a month. Gotta see how much cash I have left after all this interview crap is done and how much I can afford to spend there. A childhood friend from India and his family are going to be in Bali in June so I have a feeling I'll be linking up with them for the lulz.
If you could find any way to make Coachella, I would totally do it, unless you truly seriously undoubtedly need to go to second looks to help you decide! My best friend and I (who also applied to med school) have this notion of "f*** it, senior year" which helps justify whatever we decide to do, and we don't normally act this way so it's quite refreshing. You're in, enjoy your last time off for a while (assuming you will be doing research or something between M1 and M2). Plus @ridethecliche is absolutely right about the lineup.......insane. So unless you seriously feel like you can't miss second look, do it!
Spring break I'm most likely flying to Miami and summer I plan to do a Eurotrip of some sort, currently in the process of saving up!!
Spring break will be a trip to Europe with my best friend. (Haven't decided exactly where we'd like to go, however.) Summer will most likely be a couple of 2-3 week trips, perhaps back to Europe and one up North in Maine to my friend's house. I'll probably find myself back in DC or NY/Princeton at some point as well to visit friends!
I have mixed feelings about going to Europe as a 20 something. I feel like I'd rather do that when I'm older and have more money and do things now that wouldn't be as enjoyable at say 50.
For me that has included some crazy trips in Uganda and now I'm planning my summer trip through part of SE Asia. Sure you can do this stuff with a lot more money, but I feel like money is a much bigger barrier in Europe than elsewhere. I guess you could go to Greece where inflation is so bad right now that you'll live like royalty if you travel there!
For me that has included some crazy trips in Uganda and now I'm planning my summer trip through part of SE Asia. Sure you can do this stuff with a lot more money, but I feel like money is a much bigger barrier in Europe than elsewhere. I guess you could go to Greece where inflation is so bad right now that you'll live like royalty if you travel there!
I'M NOW OFFICIALLY PART OF THIS CLASS!!!!!!!!!
Europe can be done relatively inexpensively if planned out well in terms of hostels and transportation. I usually shop and eat at local markets there anyway, so it's really not too bad. Funnily enough, Greece is one of my top choices for my next trip, so maybe it'll be even cheaper. However, I agree you can get much farther on your money on other continents. Even when I lived in Russia, the prices were shockingly low compared to what I was used to.
I just think that the best things in europe are expensive to enjoy.
Then again, I have friends that studied abroad in Paris and did it pretty inexpensively once their housing expenses were accounted for, so there's that.
Another friend did a 2-3 month trip through SE Asian for less than 3K of which atleast 500 or so was spent getting scuba certified and then diving. That's a pretty huge difference! I'm probably going to be able to start and end my trip from India, which should make it even more inexpensive.
2-3 months on that budget is pretty incredible, and definitely much harder (if not impossible in some places) to do in Europe! Some of my friends have been able to do Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia for several months on a decent, but still small, budget - they had a great time, too. Where are you looking to go during your trip?
Hahaha, thanks for the input guys. I'm afraid Coachella will be a no-go, since I really want to get out of the country for a little while this summer and >$500 is a lot to spend for just 3 days of festivities. 🙁
Ahhh sweet guys! Those look like awesome plans. You're making me look at airline tickets now. 😉 My gap year job ends mid-June, which sadly means it'll be peak vacation time and rainy season in SE Asia... which is where I was hoping to go.
@Bovary @sunflower18 totally feel you on that. I keep forgetting that most of my schools will require a car – and as my current car is has over 100K miles and has been costing me a fortune in maintenance – I fear this is going to be yet another major expense on the horizon.
As for Europe, I think it'll be highly country-dependent. You'll be hard pressed to find a cheap hostel in London, but I spent ~1.5 months in Spain for about 3K, including airfare. That was five years ago, so I forget what the exchange rate was like. Admittedly, I hotsel-ed it, but had an utter blast and spent more than my fair share of money on food/activities.
Oh gosh, Greece is on my fantasy travel list. It's probably uber-touristy, but I really want to see Santorini.
From what I've read the prices in SE Asia will be significantly lower (excluding Singapore), but depending on plans you'll be liable to cough up a lot of money. My BBF did Japan, Singapore, Indonesia (Bali), Malaysia, the Philippines (Boracay), Taiwan, and Vietnam within a 5 week spread – admittedly his itinerary was insane, but all told he spent about ~3.5K, the majority of which was spent in Japan and Singapore.
Ahhh sweet guys! Those look like awesome plans. You're making me look at airline tickets now. 😉 My gap year job ends mid-June, which sadly means it'll be peak vacation time and rainy season in SE Asia... which is where I was hoping to go.
@Bovary @sunflower18 totally feel you on that. I keep forgetting that most of my schools will require a car – and as my current car is has over 100K miles and has been costing me a fortune in maintenance – I fear this is going to be yet another major expense on the horizon.
As for Europe, I think it'll be highly country-dependent. You'll be hard pressed to find a cheap hostel in London, but I spent ~1.5 months in Spain for about 3K, including airfare. That was five years ago, so I forget what the exchange rate was like. Admittedly, I hotsel-ed it, but had an utter blast and spent more than my fair share of money on food/activities.
Oh gosh, Greece is on my fantasy travel list. It's probably uber-touristy, but I really want to see Santorini.
From what I've read the prices in SE Asia will be significantly lower (excluding Singapore), but depending on plans you'll be liable to cough up a lot of money. My BBF did Japan, Singapore, Indonesia (Bali), Malaysia, the Philippines (Boracay), Taiwan, and Vietnam within a 5 week spread – admittedly his itinerary was insane, but all told he spent about ~3.5K, the majority of which was spent in Japan and Singapore.
I kinda want to go to london as well. One of my best friends is there right now doing a year long masters so I could just hang out with her and not have to pay rent...Maybe I'll go for a week in the spring once interviews are over.
I wish I could afford going on vacation 🙁
Correct. Even as an undergraduate you could have filled out your own FAFSA. I would suggest submitting an estimate of you and your parents income taxes, then submitting a correction when taxes have been filed. That way you are "in line" to be considered for finaid at your school. You'll usually have to notify the school via-email once corrections are made. But yes, you should be filling out your form on your own. You can do that online at fafsa.ed.gov
I think i Will do that
Hmmmm ok that makes sense. Are you "in line" once you submit FAFSA? Or do you have to have need access and school specific apps completed too? Because you need this years taxes to fill out need access right?
I believe you will be at most schools. I cannot speak for each one. But generally, the earlier you are in queue, the better chances you have of receiving a good finaid package. Aid is usually on a first come first serve basis and you can be left without anything if you apply too late in the cycle.
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Hmmm definitely good advice to follow! How early is "early"? Is end of February too late?
Just because we're not neurotic enough: https://www.insidehighered.com/news...-students-and-potentially-lower-financial-aid
tl;dr - Some schools use the order you list them on your FAFSA against you. If you list them first, you obviously want to go there and will probably attend even without a generous aid package.
I wonder how much this reflects the process medical schools use to determine how they dole out aid?
tl;dr - Some schools use the order you list them on your FAFSA against you. If you list them first, you obviously want to go there and will probably attend even without a generous aid package.
I wonder how much this reflects the process medical schools use to determine how they dole out aid?
I feel this applies more to undergrad..,,
Lol this process is confusing enough. What you guys think about the army scholarship? Have any of you considered it?
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