Debt and MCAT question

[rysgst1]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi! I'll try to make this short, but a little background on me, I am 25 years old and I recently quit my job, that I couldn't take for one more day, to become a doctor. I have five years + experience of clinical experience and realize the time committement I will be putting into this. But this is something I really want to do, and I have decided nothing will stop me.

I have three questions, my degree is in finance, so I have virtually no science background, except for the required classes, ( basic biology & chemisty)..So I have done a lot research on post bacc. programs...mostly on this site and school website, (thanks for all of the info). Well, I pretty much have decided that I am going to take the classes at Univ. of South florida, b/c it is cheaper than most programs, even though I have to pay out of state tution, but it's worth b/c I won't have to pay rent, I have a place I can stay : ), and I figure I can get really good grades since I'll have little distractions (I live in Illinois). I would also love to go to medical school down there and most medical schools in florida only admit residents, so I have to establish residency. My first question will it help my chances of getting in if I did to post bacc work at that particular school? (I know I have to apply to more then just 1 : ) ) Also, since I am 25 I would idealy like to start medical school in Fall 2008, to do this, I would have to take the April 07' MCAT....My question is since I have some time before I start school again, and no science background, would it even be possible for me, to self learn the material I need for the April 07' MCAT? ( I will also have about a two semesters worth of science classes by that time)

Also, I went to a private college which costs me about 25k per year to go to for my finance degree. I still have about 40k in debt, I have read online that I will be able to borrow enough money to get through med school, But realistically I am talking about being about 200k in debt when I graduate medical school. My question is during medical school can I defer my undergrad loans, or do I have to be paying them during Med school?


Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[Gabby]

Never mind! I'm blind sometimes. I didn't realize USF had a program.

Anyway, good luck to you! I'm in the same boat you are.

 

[Truth_seeker]

I have three questions, my degree is in finance, so I have virtually no science background, except for the required classes, ( basic biology & chemisty) My first question will it help my chances of getting in if I did to post bacc work at that particular school? (I know I have to apply to more then just 1 : ) ) Also, since I am 25 I would idealy like to start medical school in Fall 2008, to do this, I would have to take the April 07' MCAT....My question is since I have some time before I start school again, and no science background, would it even be possible for me, to self learn the material I need for the April 07' MCAT? ( I will also have about a two semesters worth of science classes by that time)

Also, I went to a private college which costs me about 25k per year to go to for my finance degree. I still have about 40k in debt, I have read online that I will be able to borrow enough money to get through med school, But realistically I am talking about being about 200k in debt when I graduate medical school. My question is during medical school can I defer my undergrad loans, or do I have to be paying them during Med school?

Good questions. By basic science, I'm assuming 1 semester of Bio and 1 semester of general chem. Most med schools req. 1 yr of the following, gen. chem, gen. biology, organic chem. and physics. That's the minimum you'll need to prepare you for the MCATs. As for doing post bacc work at a particular school hoping to get accepted to their med school. Well, that depends. Schools today are all about diversity. That's not to say that if you did post-bacc work at Florida, you wouldn't or would be accepted based upon doing your work their. As for "self-learning" the material for MCAT...you'll find two schools of thought and there are good reasons behind both. One is that you can do it on your own, why pay $1600 if you can put your nose to the grindstone and learn it yourself through Kaplan, TPR, and ExamCracker books. On the other hand, some people are willing to pay the cash to have a structured review environment and accountability. I'd say that's up to you. As for repaying undergrad loans, you can defer payment on your loans as long as your in a doctoral degree program or in school at least half time. If you're on the 2008 timetable, your goal will be to get into classes, study very hard, volunteer and get experience. And then hope and pray. Good luck to you! Hope this helps. PM me if you want.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
You need to have one year of General Biology with lab, one year of General Chemistry with lab, one year of Organic Chemistry with lab and one year of General Physicis with lab. You also need to be able to apply the knowledge from these courses to problems that you encouter on the MCAT. Having a head full of factoids that you have attempted to memorize is pretty useless until you can apply them. A good way to find out is to get a couple of the retired MCAT exams; do them under test conditions and see how you score.

What is your hurry? You have plenty of time to make sure that you learn the material and can apply it. Believe me, you only want to take the MCAT once and do well. A string of mediocre scores, even with one good score, can be a death blow for your application expecially since you were a non-science major to begin with. I am on the admissions committee of an allopathic medical school and we "red flag" any student who has more than two takes on the MCAT. Don't make this test a liability. Take your time and be sure that you can apply the knowwledge from the above courses to problem-solving on the MCAT.

If you are a student, your federal loans are deferred. If you borrowed from private sources, it is up to your borrowing institution as to when and how you have to pay back your loans. You need to investigate this before you start school or you might find yourself in default and not eligible for financial aid should you get into medical school.

Commercial prep courses such as Kaplan, TPR and others may be useful but do some comparision shopping and pick the right course for you. Are you at a knowledge deficit or a knowledge-application deficit? Do you really need to spend time in a classroom going over pre-med factoids or can you study on your own and work on application of those factoids? Figure out what you need and purchase what gets you the best score.

njbmd 🙂

 

[albaniandoc]

Hi rysgst1.
I want to say that I am currently at USF in the Biomedical Sciences Program. I am an RN and decided to go back to go to med school. I am 26 at the moment. The program down here is not really in a formal, organized format per se. I am taking classes as a Post-Bach. I really do not enjoy the teaching of the professors at USF. Some are good, some basically suck. There is no good professor that teachs Biochemistry, so basically most students will get a ****ty grade and their GPA will drop. They call it a weed out class. A concept that I do not understand at all. Why would you weed out students that are smart and have a good chance of going to med school. Not only that but medicine is a profession that has a shortage of professionals. The teachers should help you do better in class so you can move on, not fail you.
Basically there are like 5 total As given in the class and the majority fails (over 50%). I have a huge problem with that.
For most part the classes are large in size, and not very flexible schedule wise. For people like me with a full time job, it's almost impossible to take classes like Biochem, Genetics, Cell Biology since most are offered three times a week in te morning.
This is a typical schedule for Organic Chemistry :
Class MWF 09:00am-09:50am
Discussion: R 11:00am-11:50am (which you hate to attend)
Exam time: M 5:00pm-5:50pm (four exams)
Orgo Lab:M 08:00am-11:50am and T 09:30am-10:45am or any other similar combination.
If you look at it you are taking Organic Chemistry 4-5 days every week at different times, so you cannot keep a job.
In conclusion, what is happening is that there is a huge number of students so that the USF does not feel that they have to be flexible to the demands of the few working professionals.

If I were to do this all over again, I would go to a small private college, where you get personalized attention, but that's just me.
I wish you luck either way. Pm me if you have any questions.

 

[rysgst1]

Thank you everyone! You have all been a great help!