Desperately Seeking Advice

[seventiesgal200]

Hi everyone. I am currently new to the message board. I have a question and I am pre-registering for classes next week. I am currently at an undergraduate college - it's a CUNY - and I am a junior. I have decided as a junior to go pre-med. Of course this is usually not the case because many begin as early as freshmen. I am currently taking a biology class and am not doing too good (it is one of the hardest classes in the college and the teacher is menacing). I was wondering - I became pre-med and I started taking the science classes (bio so far) and have about 7 more classes to go. If I go this route, I will most likely finish a year or two late....
I am an English major and only need about six more classes in the major and then I can take two more requirements and a minor and I will be done on time (after next year). Then I would take the Postbaccalaureate program, let's say, at NYU, Columbia or another NY school.

Which do you think is the better option? Stay as pre-med in my CUNY college now and get ok grades (because of my major also) OR should I get my major done and go on to a Postbaccalaureate program for a year or year and a half? I mean is it better to stay longer in college, especially a CUNY, or go on to a "brand name" school and just have a sole concentration on the science classes?????

Please reply as soon as possible if you can. I'd greatly appreciate it. Racking my brain.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tacrum43]

Hi everyone. I am currently new to the message board. I have a question and I am pre-registering for classes next week. I am currently at an undergraduate college - it's a CUNY - and I am a junior. I have decided as a junior to go pre-med. Of course this is usually not the case because many begin as early as freshmen. I am currently taking a biology class and am not doing too good (it is one of the hardest classes in the college and the teacher is menacing). I was wondering - I became pre-med and I started taking the science classes (bio so far) and have about 7 more classes to go. If I go this route, I will most likely finish a year or two late....
I am an English major and only need about six more classes in the major and then I can take two more requirements and a minor and I will be done on time (after next year). Then I would take the Postbaccalaureate program, let's say, at NYU, Columbia or another NY school.

Which do you think is the better option? Stay as pre-med in my CUNY college now and get ok grades (because of my major also) OR should I get my major done and go on to a Postbaccalaureate program for a year or year and a half? I mean is it better to stay longer in college, especially a CUNY, or go on to a "brand name" school and just have a sole concentration on the science classes?????

Please reply as soon as possible if you can. I'd greatly appreciate it. Racking my brain.

Have you gone to talk to a pre-med advisor at your school? That might be a good step.

Personally, I would opt for a post-bacc program at another school if I were in your situation. There are many that have linkages with medical schools, so take a look and see what's available.

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

 

[tacmrage]

Have you gone to talk to a pre-med advisor at your school? That might be a good step.

Personally, I would opt for a post-bacc program at another school if I were in your situation. There are many that have linkages with medical schools, so take a look and see what's available.

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

I completely agree. Also, I would take it as an excuse to go explore another city, another college.

 

[Truth_seeker]

I agree going to your advisor is a good idea. However, IMHO, I think you should finish your degree in English and then hit the pre-med pre-req's. The logic is concentrate on what's before you. That is to say you're almost done w/ your undergrad. Focus on it and get a strong GPA. Then enroll as a post-bacc somewhere and focus entirely on that program. Bio can be tough. Not to burst your bubble but the pre-req's don't get any easier. That's why I'm suggesting doing one thing at a time and maximize the opportunity for a good GPA. Good luck.

 

[Pemulis]

The CUNY system has a fine reputation (the 4-year schools, at any rate), and there is no reason that you won't get into med school taking your premed courses there. But--you MUST do well in your premed courses. If you don't have at least about a 3.5 average in your science coursework, you are not going to be a very competitive applicant to med school. So take the course of action that will lead to you doing your best. What that course of action will be only you can know. But it is not at all uncommon for older students, people who have been out of school for a few years, etc. to decide to go back for medicine. Don't think that doing a post-bac or taking an extra year in college is going to hurt you. Quite the opposite--med schools like well rounded applicants who stand out from the crowd of people who've been premed forever.

Lastly, you may already be doing this, but one of the best things you can do right now if you want to go into medicine is to start doing some sort of medically related volunteer work. There are a few reasons for this. Med schools like to see it on your app, because it shows you know what you're getting yourself into. It gives you stuff to talk about in your application essay and interviews, when the day arrives for those. Most importantly, it will help you see for certain if medicine is the career for you. And if it is, trust me, those tough premed courses get a bit easier when you have some extracurricular experience that helps you stay motivated and focused on the end goal.

Good luck.

 

[seventiesgal200]

I completely agree. Also, I would take it as an excuse to go explore another city, another college.

Do you think it's worth to go to another city (I live in New York-very close to NYC) like maybe Connecticut (Yale) or Massachusets (Harvard) for post bacc? Or should I wait and explore that when applying to medical school?

BTW you've all been a great help. I think I am going to finish my undergraduate course work and begin a program in the summer to concentrate just on science. Thank you again. If anyone else has anymore input - shoot.