I am about to graduate from Berkeley with a CS & Stats Double Major but I've recently, seriously, been considering a switch to doing pre-med. My GPA is alright, cGPA sitting at a 3.8 right now. As a serious inquiry, should I make the switch and if so does anyone have tips on how I could get into medical school given my mostly software background.
CS & Stats Double Major Trying to Switch to Pre-Med
- Thread starter jwy6011
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Also graduated from Berkeley (go bears). I personally made the choice to switch fields because during a summer when I was working on personal projects, coding simply did not excite me at all. I figured, if I can't even get excited about making my own stuff with 0 restrictions and unlimited creativity, how could I possibly be fulfilled in a career in that field?
You need to ask yourself why you want to switch. If it's to become some idealized, romanticized view of a pediatric cardiothoraccic surgeon, then you might be sorely disappointed. If it's to "help people," well there are literally hundreds of other careers that help people. Even within medicine there's PA/nursing/etc. So why medicine in particular (rhetorically)?
Your GPA is great, so you don't need to do any transcript repair. It took me ~2 years to finish all the courses in a postbacc, and it'll probably take you a similar amount of time as well, if you haven't taken any hard sciences at Cal. On top of that, you'll need clinical experience, non-clinical volunteering experience, and shadowing. It will be a pain in the a** making little money and trying to fit all this in. (it's difficult to fit all EC's and classes while working full-time). It's kind of like starting a second, pseudo-degree.
From my experience, it's extremely hard to get into classes as a non-degree, visiting student, UC or CSU. You're at the bottom of the totem pole, and you can't register until the first day of classes. If I were you, I'd apply to the UC Berkeley Extension postbacc program. They provide all the classes + a committee letter.
You need to ask yourself why you want to switch. If it's to become some idealized, romanticized view of a pediatric cardiothoraccic surgeon, then you might be sorely disappointed. If it's to "help people," well there are literally hundreds of other careers that help people. Even within medicine there's PA/nursing/etc. So why medicine in particular (rhetorically)?
Your GPA is great, so you don't need to do any transcript repair. It took me ~2 years to finish all the courses in a postbacc, and it'll probably take you a similar amount of time as well, if you haven't taken any hard sciences at Cal. On top of that, you'll need clinical experience, non-clinical volunteering experience, and shadowing. It will be a pain in the a** making little money and trying to fit all this in. (it's difficult to fit all EC's and classes while working full-time). It's kind of like starting a second, pseudo-degree.
From my experience, it's extremely hard to get into classes as a non-degree, visiting student, UC or CSU. You're at the bottom of the totem pole, and you can't register until the first day of classes. If I were you, I'd apply to the UC Berkeley Extension postbacc program. They provide all the classes + a committee letter.
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I'm going to recommend that you start by getting 24-50 hours of shadowing (e.g. three to six workdays of 8 hours each) physicians including at least one physician in primary care (general internal medicine, general office-based pediatrics, or family medicine).
After you've seen what the workday entails from the physician's side of the exam table (it is different from what you see from the patient's perspective), then consider a formal postbacc program.
If your goal is to "help people", show me that you are willing to do that now with whatever skills you have as a volunteer. Ideally, you help people face-to-face and the people are different from yourself (much older, much younger, much poorer). The work need not be clinical, you can help with tutoring, mentoring, adult literacy, food and shelter services, etc. Aim for 6-8 hours/month, month after month. You'll get to know more about people and have the opportunity to build teamwork and leadership skills with other volunteers.
At some point, you'll need some clinical activity beyond shadowing. You are going to be spending several years in a hospital environment, even if you ultimately end up in an office-based practice, so you might as well get a feel for it and understand the rules, the pecking order, and all that. Hospitals operate 24/7 so you should be able to fit volunteering or a paid job into your schedule at some point before or during your post-bac. You'll want to have at least 150 hours of clinical activity before you apply and, of course, can accumulate more during your application year.
After you take all the pre-req courses, or shortly before you complete the last of them, you'll need to prepare for and take the MCAT. This is a 6 hour exam that generally requires about 300 hours of preparation. (someone can correct me if I'm wrong, most of my info comes from self-reports of applicants to my school who did very well on the exam). Factor that in to your timeline and don't rush things by taking the exam before you are ready. Like chewing gum, it will stick to your shoe and follow you around for a long time.
BTW, the application cycle opens in May and the common application (AMCAS) is submitted by July 1 (ideally) with the hope of starting medical school the following summer/fall. There is a secondary application to just about every school. Interviews are required for admission and tend to take place between August and March (this used to require overnight trips for almost every interview but most schools are doing virtual interviews now and unlikely, I think, to go back to the way things were prior to 2020). Offers of admission go out between October and April with some waitlist movement through the late spring. It is a long and costly journey so it is best to be prepared with eyes wide open.
After you've seen what the workday entails from the physician's side of the exam table (it is different from what you see from the patient's perspective), then consider a formal postbacc program.
If your goal is to "help people", show me that you are willing to do that now with whatever skills you have as a volunteer. Ideally, you help people face-to-face and the people are different from yourself (much older, much younger, much poorer). The work need not be clinical, you can help with tutoring, mentoring, adult literacy, food and shelter services, etc. Aim for 6-8 hours/month, month after month. You'll get to know more about people and have the opportunity to build teamwork and leadership skills with other volunteers.
At some point, you'll need some clinical activity beyond shadowing. You are going to be spending several years in a hospital environment, even if you ultimately end up in an office-based practice, so you might as well get a feel for it and understand the rules, the pecking order, and all that. Hospitals operate 24/7 so you should be able to fit volunteering or a paid job into your schedule at some point before or during your post-bac. You'll want to have at least 150 hours of clinical activity before you apply and, of course, can accumulate more during your application year.
After you take all the pre-req courses, or shortly before you complete the last of them, you'll need to prepare for and take the MCAT. This is a 6 hour exam that generally requires about 300 hours of preparation. (someone can correct me if I'm wrong, most of my info comes from self-reports of applicants to my school who did very well on the exam). Factor that in to your timeline and don't rush things by taking the exam before you are ready. Like chewing gum, it will stick to your shoe and follow you around for a long time.
BTW, the application cycle opens in May and the common application (AMCAS) is submitted by July 1 (ideally) with the hope of starting medical school the following summer/fall. There is a secondary application to just about every school. Interviews are required for admission and tend to take place between August and March (this used to require overnight trips for almost every interview but most schools are doing virtual interviews now and unlikely, I think, to go back to the way things were prior to 2020). Offers of admission go out between October and April with some waitlist movement through the late spring. It is a long and costly journey so it is best to be prepared with eyes wide open.
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