Clueless! Where do I start?

[Louky11]

Hello! I am 24 and very interested in being a medical oncologist; however, I have not the faintest clue of where to begin. At 22 I graduated with my BA in English. I had a 3.1 GPA (not stellar, but I worked most of that time). At 23, I went back for a French degree and was maintaining a 3.7GPA. Unfortunately I became ill with bone cancer for over a year. I spent about half that time in the hospital, and there was no way that I could have gone to school; however, I have managed some correspondence courses for pre-med. I'm still in treatment, but hoping to go back to school this spring.

Obviously I need pre-med courses; from what I have seen, about a year of them. However I am not sure of where to go from there. I am a semester away from finishing my French degree, and am also considering a summer program of studying at a university in France. I am hoping that the high GPA and time abroad would make me a more attractive candidate. However, would I perhaps be better off going for a Masters instead of or in addition to this? Would a BSN program make me look better? Are there books or things that anyone could recommend?

Thanks!

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[sindadel]

Welcome! And good luck on your path.

Graduate courses do not raise your GPA as considered by med school admissions, and a Master's is not looked at as anything particularly special - something like an EC. Take your pre-requisites, and get really good grades in them. Rock the MCAT. Do some substantial clinical volunteering, with as much patient contact as you can swing.

Your personal struggle with cancer will likely make a great personal statement, and if you do all of the above, I see no reason you shouldn't make a great candidate.

But realistically, you are looking at at least 2 years before you can apply, maybe 3.

 

[DrMidlife]

My med onc rocks my world too. But before you pick a specialty, do a ton of research into medicine as a career, in general, and be willing to be talked out of it. If there's anything else you could be happy doing, for the love of all that's holy, do the other thing. Something like 14% of med students actually end up in the specialty they thought they'd be in when they started med school.

...I had a 3.1 GPA...went back...3.7GPA.

Your cumulative undergrad GPA is what matters by far the most. Most med schools (US MD) admit above 3.6 or 3.7. So figure out your total current average (include every college class ever taken) and from there you can figure out how much more undergrad coursework you need to take to get into competitive range. If you are facing multiple years of more undergrad, there are other options with a lower GPA. Your cumulative science GPA carries as much weight as your overall GPA - both numbers need to be strong.

...cancer...

You're definitely not alone - there was a "who's a cancer survivor?" thread in pre-allo not too long ago, and a whole lotta folks replied. It's definitely an asset in the personal statement (less so for those of us over 40, imho).

...correspondence courses for pre-med...

Preferably don't do any more non-classroom, online or community college coursework; it's not viewed as favorably as on-campus 4yr university butt-in-chair coursework.

Obviously I need pre-med courses; from what I have seen, about a year of them. However I am not sure of where to go from there. I am a semester away from finishing my French degree, and am also considering a summer program of studying at a university in France

If you love studying French, then go for it, finish strong, make a lifelong asset of it. Under no circumstances should you jeopardize your French GPA or your science GPA by trying to do both at once. Premed courses will be here for you when you're done. See below about postbacs.

I am hoping that the high GPA and time abroad would make me a more attractive candidate.

Time abroad and an interesting story, yes. That high GPA is only high if it's your cumulative GPA.

However, would I perhaps be better off going for a Masters instead of or in addition to this?

As per previous poster, graduate work is a nice-to-have. If you are so entranced by immunology that you want to spend 2 more years studying it before med school, great, go do it, but don't assume you're a lock for med school because of it.

Would a BSN program make me look better?

Nope. The coursework barely overlaps - there are different levels of chem/ochem/physics/bio for nurses vs. premeds. Plus you're taking a seat from somebody who would actually work as a nurse. Plus it makes you look like you can't make up your mind: English. No, French. No, nursing. No, med school...

Are there books or things that anyone could recommend?

Iserson's guide for getting into med school is excellent. Also pick up an MSAR (www.aamc.org) when you want to get your brain around per-school details.

OK, so there are postbacs designed for folks who didn't get a science degree, have strong academic records, and need to get ready to apply to med school. The better programs like Goucher and Bryn Mawr can really set you up to succeed on your MCAT and during admissions. See the postbac forum here for more information.

Best of luck to you.

 

[njbmd]

Hello! I am 24 and very interested in being a medical oncologist; however, I have not the faintest clue of where to begin. At 22 I graduated with my BA in English. I had a 3.1 GPA (not stellar, but I worked most of that time). At 23, I went back for a French degree and was maintaining a 3.7GPA. Unfortunately I became ill with bone cancer for over a year. I spent about half that time in the hospital, and there was no way that I could have gone to school; however, I have managed some correspondence courses for pre-med. I'm still in treatment, but hoping to go back to school this spring.

Obviously I need pre-med courses; from what I have seen, about a year of them. However I am not sure of where to go from there. I am a semester away from finishing my French degree, and am also considering a summer program of studying at a university in France. I am hoping that the high GPA and time abroad would make me a more attractive candidate. However, would I perhaps be better off going for a Masters instead of or in addition to this? Would a BSN program make me look better? Are there books or things that anyone could recommend?

Thanks!

If medicine is your ultimate aim, a nursing degree is useless. Study overseas unless it's under the umbrella of your home university is not going to raise your uGPA very much and doing a masters other than an SMP (special masters program for pre-med grade enhancement) isn't going to help with competitiveness.

Go to the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine website (do a Google search) and download their premed handbook. It's a free starting point and up to date. It even includes a timeline for application and it pretty realistic in terms of what you need for application to medical school.

If you are truly interested in medicine, stay clear of nursing and anything else that takes you off the path into medical school. Get your pre-med coursework done, get some post-bacc work done (to raise your uGPA), take the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test ) one time and do well and then get your AMCAS application done. You need to be as close to the most recent medical school matriculant averages as you can get in terms of uGPA/MCAT.

 

[Louky11]

Hey everyone, thank you so much for the advice. This is all new to me and it has really opened my eyes.

 

[take the shot]

Hello! I am 24 and very interested in being a medical oncologist; however, I have not the faintest clue of where to begin. At 22 I graduated with my BA in English. I had a 3.1 GPA (not stellar, but I worked most of that time). At 23, I went back for a French degree and was maintaining a 3.7GPA. Unfortunately I became ill with bone cancer for over a year. I spent about half that time in the hospital, and there was no way that I could have gone to school; however, I have managed some correspondence courses for pre-med. I'm still in treatment, but hoping to go back to school this spring.

Obviously I need pre-med courses; from what I have seen, about a year of them. However I am not sure of where to go from there. I am a semester away from finishing my French degree, and am also considering a summer program of studying at a university in France. I am hoping that the high GPA and time abroad would make me a more attractive candidate. However, would I perhaps be better off going for a Masters instead of or in addition to this? Would a BSN program make me look better? Are there books or things that anyone could recommend?

Thanks!

First of all, kudos to you for moving beyond your cancer treatment. I am presuming you have an osteosarcoma? Also, you state you are still undergoing treatment: is this intermittent chemo?
In addition to all the good advice above, let me also recommend to you that when you have healed and have the time, start spending regular time in some oncology capacity. This could include being a research asst, CNA, or shadowing. In particular, the research option is attractive for the adcoms. I know that for the residents trying to get into fellowship, the ones who had the most success are the ones who were involved in research projects.
Best wishes to you for your continued success.