Evaluating my plan...

[codewarrior05]

I'm currently starting on my 3rd year at my university and need some advice. I am looking into applying to D.O. schools but am unsure of how to proceed. Currently my major is chemistry and I find the material interesting however I question my ability to maintain good grades while in advanced courses. I'm debating between sticking with chemistry or graduating in community health. If I choose the community health major I will graduate in the summer of 2010 instead of summer of 2011.

My progress thus far:
AP Credits:
Chem -5 Chem I credit
Calc -5 Calc I credit
Stats -3 Intro to Statistics credit

Semester I
Intro to Psych 3.7
College Physic I 3.7
Physics Lab I 3.0
College English I 3.0
Elective 3.0

Semester II
Art 3.7
Chem I Lab 3.4
Chem II 4.0
College English II 3.4
Ethics and Values 2.4
American Studies 3.7

Semester III
Upper Chem Elective 4.0
Business Law 4.0
College Physics II 2.3 (excluded from GPA, retook the classes)
College Physics Lab II 4.0
Psych Elective 3.0

Semester IV
Chem II Lab 4.0
Upper Chem Elective 4.0
Upper Level Statistics 3.7
College Physics II 4.0 (Included in GPA)

Semester V
(Taken at another school)
Compressed Organic Chemistry
Semester I = 4.0
Semester II = 3.0

Current GPA = 3.6

My Questions:
-Am I on track for getting into medical school?
-Does my major really make a difference? Would community health be look down on? The probability of maintaining this level of GPA in chemistry is low, while extremely high in community health.


Side note:
-I am doing physician shadowing and plan on taking the MCAT in Jan (after taking biology).

Just looking for some feedback / direction.

Thanks,
codewarrior05

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[TexasTriathlete]

You are fine. Major in whatever you want. You don't need to major in a hard core science to get accepted.

What is looked down upon is biology majors. Or looked neutrally upon, at best. Everyone is a biology major. If you like art, major in art. You don't need to love undergrad biology to do well in med school. You'll never see any more **** about drosophila again. You can probably say the same for chem majors.

If you like this community health ****, then go with it.

 

[beckhunter116]

Pick whatever major makes you happy.

Everything looks good, the only thing I wonder about is your school has a -/+ system right? That's how you got a 3.7 or 3.4. I can't remember how AACOMAS handles that. Your GPA may go up or down. Hopefully someone else will comment on that...

Are you volunteering anywhere?

Try to shadow a DO so you can hopefully get a letter and then you won't be limited in what schools you can apply to.

Good luck!

 

[wongb18c]

I'm currently starting on my 3rd year at my university and need some advice. I am looking into applying to D.O. schools but am unsure of how to proceed. Currently my major is chemistry and I find the material interesting however I question my ability to maintain good grades while in advanced courses. I'm debating between sticking with chemistry or graduating in community health. If I choose the community health major I will graduate in the summer of 2010 instead of summer of 2011.

My progress thus far:
AP Credits:
Chem -5 Chem I credit
Calc -5 Calc I credit
Stats -3 Intro to Statistics credit

Semester I
Intro to Psych 3.7
College Physic I 3.7
Physics Lab I 3.0
College English I 3.0
Elective 3.0

Semester II
Art 3.7
Chem I Lab 3.4
Chem II 4.0
College English II 3.4
Ethics and Values 2.4
American Studies 3.7

Semester III
Upper Chem Elective 4.0
Business Law 4.0
College Physics II 2.3 (excluded from GPA, retook the classes)
College Physics Lab II 4.0
Psych Elective 3.0

Semester IV
Chem II Lab 4.0
Upper Chem Elective 4.0
Upper Level Statistics 3.7
College Physics II 4.0 (Included in GPA)

Semester V
(Taken at another school)
Compressed Organic Chemistry
Semester I = 4.0
Semester II = 3.0

Current GPA = 3.6

My Questions:
-Am I on track for getting into medical school?
-Does my major really make a difference? Would community health be look down on? The probability of maintaining this level of GPA in chemistry is low, while extremely high in community health.


Side note:
-I am doing physician shadowing and plan on taking the MCAT in Jan (after taking biology).

Just looking for some feedback / direction.

Thanks,
codewarrior05

I was a chemistry major too and the upper division courses in the chemistry major route can be difficult. Of course it varies from school to school, but courses like physical chemistry I and II, inorganic chemistry I and II and the labs associated with them as well as upper division chem electives can really bring your GPA down if you're not careful. Usually they're also 4 credit courses with lab.

That's what happend to me, due to the difficulty of those courses, I wasn't able to do very well and it pulled by GPA down (but you might be smarter, and looking at your post, you did very well in your upper chem elective). In my opinion, you should pick your classes and major so that you can have cofidence to obtain the highest GPA possible. Medical schools place heavy emphasis on your pre-med courses and how well you perform on them for obvious reasons. However, courses outside of that scope, they could careless. So you should pick the courses that will allow you to obtain the best grades with minimal effort on your end.

Lets say you could pick a relatively difficult science major such as biochemistry or engineering, and receive a mediocre GPA (~3.3), and someone with a relatively "easier" major such as Spanish or community health receives a higher GPA (~3.7), provided that all other factors are equal (MCAT and EC's and PS) the student with the higher GPA stands out more. Do not believe that picking chemistry or biology as a major will prepare you better for the MCAT due to the fact that you will take more courses in those subject areas and broaden your knowledge and understanding, it won't, because all the material you need for the MCAT will and should be taught in your pre-med courses. You might learn more that will eventually aid you down the road, such as when you're actually in med school, but soley for MCAT preparations all you need are your pre-med BCP's.

Well that's my opinion, gl.

 

[Semicolon]

-I am doing physician shadowing and plan on taking the MCAT in Jan (after taking biology).

Why are you taking the MCAT in January? You really shouldn't be rushing yourself into the MCAT; give yourself some time to prepare and take it during the spring if you really want to be early (assuming you're applying at the end of this coming school year).

And I agree that your major does not matter; I just graduated with a degree in Anthropology and I'm starting this fall. Community health would be more relevant at least.

 

[rocketbooster]

Why are you taking the MCAT in January? You really shouldn't be rushing yourself into the MCAT; give yourself some time to prepare and take it during the spring if you really want to be early (assuming you're applying at the end of this coming school year).

And I agree that your major does not matter; I just graduated with a degree in Anthropology and I'm starting this fall. Community health would be more relevant at least.

hehe, community health is the most BS and easy major ever. they have a lot of group projects, which always equates to easy A as long as you follow the instructions. personally, I don't think I'd like it bc in most classes with group projects you get half of the group not doing their part. the few ppl who work have to do ALL the work.

I don't like to judge ppl on their majors, but after working with a bunch of community health majors this year and learning from them what their major was like....yeaaaaaaaaaaa haha. they just have easy hours, not very time cosuming work, and can afford to skip a lot of class without repercussions on their grade. since much of it is based on group projects, you don't miss too many integral notes that will be on tests. mainly because they don't have many tests, and if they do they're generally very easy haha... it's cool, though, because the community health majors agreed with me. it's kind of just one of those majors you do because you know you want to do SOMETHING in health but have no dea what that may be.

 

[codewarrior05]

My school counts an A- as a 3.7 and a B+ as a 3.4.

As far as volunteering, I have been a boy scout leader for a few years and have been on the local search and rescue team. I hope that is the kind of volunteering medical schools are looking for.

 

[beckhunter116]

My school counts an A- as a 3.7 and a B+ as a 3.4.

As far as volunteering, I have been a boy scout leader for a few years and have been on the local search and rescue team. I hope that is the kind of volunteering medical schools are looking for.

So for the A- and B+ AACOMAS handles that a specific way, I didn't have a +/- school so I can't remember how the instructions did it. Hence, your GPA MAY be different in AACOMAS than your trascript--just so you know.

 

[Semicolon]

So for the A- and B+ AACOMAS handles that a specific way, I didn't have a +/- school so I can't remember how the instructions did it. Hence, your GPA MAY be different in AACOMAS than your trascript--just so you know.

For AACOMAS, I believe an A- is 3.7 and a B+ is 3.3.