- Joined
- Sep 24, 2014
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Good afternoon,
I am an URM female.
I graduated from an Ivy League School recently, currently I am attending getting an MS in EE (focus Signals and Systems)
I really do enjoy engineering but I prefer a career where I can directly assist people.
In high school the easiest subjects for me were biology and history, I retain information very well, so I majored in physics/engineering in undergrad to gain a new skill set.
Last year around this week actually I attended UPenn's hackathon that was geared to more global causes. My partners and I made a global health app and I was very happy, I also really liked the area. And ever since then I have it in my mind I really want to go to a great medical school like that one so I am taking the necessary steps to get there. However, coming on this forum has conjured both negative and positive feelings.
The reason I did not major in biology was because I did not like the atmosphere of my first biology class; people were always stressed (making sure to project it on everyone) and irritating. My friend who is applying for med school and has stellar stats (>4.0 GPA in a hard science, 40+ MCAT) says the same thing of why he didn't major in any bio-related field.
I've talked to various people just to get an opinion, and most people do not like their doctors or dentists, and these are not in areas with terrible health or dental care facilities--great actually (LA, NY, SF). I talked to my parent, who taught at CUMC, and they said the admissions committees are tired of seeing the same people with good stats who only majored in bio/chem all their time in school because that's all they know and they are very limited. Oddly enough, a lot of music majors are accepted because they receive higher scores (music is very similar to math and very logical--so they most likely outscore on the physics section and I would imagine the verbal section also). I was an engineering major and I had friends across the spectrum and there is an unspoken (or spoken) consensus that pre-meds are arrogant and obsessed with prestige--it came up occasionally (not often) in discussion. Engineers are also very arrogant, but it's because they are bitter about their self-imposed lack of social interaction and engineers have the most credits to complete. Also pre-meds whine all the time about OChem. So I took OChem, I did want to see what the fuss was all about-- it wasn't nearly as crazy as everyone made it out to be--Digital Signal Processing is much much harder and no one complained. Actually, all my upper division engineering courses were much harder but people were happy to be there. Engineers also don't care that much to compare GPAs. If someone gets a job at Apple and someone doesn't get the job they think about why their interview might not have gone well and how they can improve NOT because "oh he got it because has family connections/is a URM." They focus on how THEY can improve to get what they want, NOT the perceived short comings of others.
I bluntly said to my parent, "well also a lot of premeds are in it for the money and the prestige--not to help their patients--getting a 42 MCAT and having a 3.9 GPA doesn't make you a better dermatologist, I'd rather have the 3.5 and 35 MCAT who had skin problems all their life so they can relate." They responded "yes, but they don't understand that" my other parent is worse than an Asian parent (and that's putting it nicely) so I understand the pressure some ORMs face. But I've talked to a lot of my Asian friends who want to be doctors and when you get down to the bottom of it most of them are in it for the prestige, money, and to make their parents happy. I have lived life long enough to realize fulfilling those needs doesn't bring true happiness. I am new here, so when I hear ORMs complaining that the middle-class Hispanic or black person with lower stats got in and they didn't and "it's not fair." The Hispanic population is increasing, they want Hispanic doctors and someone to speak Spanish, and the black population does not want to be treated by pretentious white and Asian doctors who think they're better (actually same with Hispanics).
So I am asking all of you: haven't you had professors that weren't good teachers? They attended Ivy Leagues, MIT Stanford but they aren't good teachers. They have PhD s in their field, topnotch research but they can honest to God not teach? (Another blunt blow: getting a PhD in a pure science or any STEM related IS more difficult than med school) Why doesn't that same logic you think apply to doctors? There are a lot of people who hate the coldness of their doctors and just do not wish to visit doctors period. Are doctors and future doctors aware of this, or with their salary, do they just not care? Do some of you pre-med hopefuls realize your patients probably won't like you? Maybe you all think you'll be as good as House and that's cool..but people are seeking more from their doctors.
Also, for the people saying it doesn't make sense for URMs to get in based on color because they will most likely not return to their communities once they have the money. Pleas realize that black and Hispanic culture is much different than Asian culture. If you're a poor white person or black/Hispanic your strength is realizing where you come from and needing to give back to that community, also when you forget where you come from, you get called out. I did economic case studies on China and of course I admire the Asian dedication to excellence in academics but the materialism that exists is despicable, it makes Americans look much less superficial and consumed in comparison. When you die, you can't take that stuff with you. Anyways, I am a mid-upper class URM and I would go to predominantly black and Hispanic communities for service and so would many other URMs I've talked to.
I also never looked into the difference between an MD and DO until recently, and people's disparaging comments about DOs are disgusting.
*Obviously these are generalizations, I am just wondering if anyone has thought of the patient wants or how doctors and pre-med students are viewed by those not in the field*
I am an URM female.
I graduated from an Ivy League School recently, currently I am attending getting an MS in EE (focus Signals and Systems)
I really do enjoy engineering but I prefer a career where I can directly assist people.
In high school the easiest subjects for me were biology and history, I retain information very well, so I majored in physics/engineering in undergrad to gain a new skill set.
Last year around this week actually I attended UPenn's hackathon that was geared to more global causes. My partners and I made a global health app and I was very happy, I also really liked the area. And ever since then I have it in my mind I really want to go to a great medical school like that one so I am taking the necessary steps to get there. However, coming on this forum has conjured both negative and positive feelings.
The reason I did not major in biology was because I did not like the atmosphere of my first biology class; people were always stressed (making sure to project it on everyone) and irritating. My friend who is applying for med school and has stellar stats (>4.0 GPA in a hard science, 40+ MCAT) says the same thing of why he didn't major in any bio-related field.
I've talked to various people just to get an opinion, and most people do not like their doctors or dentists, and these are not in areas with terrible health or dental care facilities--great actually (LA, NY, SF). I talked to my parent, who taught at CUMC, and they said the admissions committees are tired of seeing the same people with good stats who only majored in bio/chem all their time in school because that's all they know and they are very limited. Oddly enough, a lot of music majors are accepted because they receive higher scores (music is very similar to math and very logical--so they most likely outscore on the physics section and I would imagine the verbal section also). I was an engineering major and I had friends across the spectrum and there is an unspoken (or spoken) consensus that pre-meds are arrogant and obsessed with prestige--it came up occasionally (not often) in discussion. Engineers are also very arrogant, but it's because they are bitter about their self-imposed lack of social interaction and engineers have the most credits to complete. Also pre-meds whine all the time about OChem. So I took OChem, I did want to see what the fuss was all about-- it wasn't nearly as crazy as everyone made it out to be--Digital Signal Processing is much much harder and no one complained. Actually, all my upper division engineering courses were much harder but people were happy to be there. Engineers also don't care that much to compare GPAs. If someone gets a job at Apple and someone doesn't get the job they think about why their interview might not have gone well and how they can improve NOT because "oh he got it because has family connections/is a URM." They focus on how THEY can improve to get what they want, NOT the perceived short comings of others.
I bluntly said to my parent, "well also a lot of premeds are in it for the money and the prestige--not to help their patients--getting a 42 MCAT and having a 3.9 GPA doesn't make you a better dermatologist, I'd rather have the 3.5 and 35 MCAT who had skin problems all their life so they can relate." They responded "yes, but they don't understand that" my other parent is worse than an Asian parent (and that's putting it nicely) so I understand the pressure some ORMs face. But I've talked to a lot of my Asian friends who want to be doctors and when you get down to the bottom of it most of them are in it for the prestige, money, and to make their parents happy. I have lived life long enough to realize fulfilling those needs doesn't bring true happiness. I am new here, so when I hear ORMs complaining that the middle-class Hispanic or black person with lower stats got in and they didn't and "it's not fair." The Hispanic population is increasing, they want Hispanic doctors and someone to speak Spanish, and the black population does not want to be treated by pretentious white and Asian doctors who think they're better (actually same with Hispanics).
So I am asking all of you: haven't you had professors that weren't good teachers? They attended Ivy Leagues, MIT Stanford but they aren't good teachers. They have PhD s in their field, topnotch research but they can honest to God not teach? (Another blunt blow: getting a PhD in a pure science or any STEM related IS more difficult than med school) Why doesn't that same logic you think apply to doctors? There are a lot of people who hate the coldness of their doctors and just do not wish to visit doctors period. Are doctors and future doctors aware of this, or with their salary, do they just not care? Do some of you pre-med hopefuls realize your patients probably won't like you? Maybe you all think you'll be as good as House and that's cool..but people are seeking more from their doctors.
Also, for the people saying it doesn't make sense for URMs to get in based on color because they will most likely not return to their communities once they have the money. Pleas realize that black and Hispanic culture is much different than Asian culture. If you're a poor white person or black/Hispanic your strength is realizing where you come from and needing to give back to that community, also when you forget where you come from, you get called out. I did economic case studies on China and of course I admire the Asian dedication to excellence in academics but the materialism that exists is despicable, it makes Americans look much less superficial and consumed in comparison. When you die, you can't take that stuff with you. Anyways, I am a mid-upper class URM and I would go to predominantly black and Hispanic communities for service and so would many other URMs I've talked to.
I also never looked into the difference between an MD and DO until recently, and people's disparaging comments about DOs are disgusting.
*Obviously these are generalizations, I am just wondering if anyone has thought of the patient wants or how doctors and pre-med students are viewed by those not in the field*