For those who decide on medicine late in the game....

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Dr. Josh

Should we somehow mention it to justify/explain why we took no science courses until junior year nor had any clinical volunteering/shadowing etc until then? On one hand I think it would justify that but on the other hand I'm afraid adcoms will think we can't really want it compared to those who knew in or before high school that this was their passion. How do you handle this?

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Should we somehow mention it to justify/explain why we took no science courses until junior year nor had any clinical volunteering/shadowing etc until then? On one hand I think it would justify that but on the other hand I'm afraid adcoms will think we can't really want it compared to those who knew in or before high school that this was their passion. How do you handle this?

I was in the exact same position. What was good about my file is that I had some volunteering experiences and research that I did regularly before I became premed (I was going to go straight up and down PhD hardknocks)

I just told them that I was interested in the field amongst a sleu of others and bam bam bam bam activities are what I did to figure out that its for me.

Its refreshing for adcomms bc its more honest (my opinion) than the omg when i was 3 i put a bandaid on a squirrel and since then i wanted to be a doctor.
 
Entered med school 10 yrs after college graduation. Had to go back and take the prereq's I never took in college. My determination to pursue the path and honesty @ how/why I changed my career path worked to get me multiple acceptances. Seems there has been more acceptance of a variety of "non-traditional" students in last 10 yrs. suggestion: capitalize on your status as "convert" or "prodigal son."
e.g. "I think I tried to avoid my destiny for a long time, but it became clear to me that this is my direction in life. This is what I'm meant to do. Now I'm trying to determine which medical school will force me to strengthen my weak points and capitalize on my strengths," which brings you right back to reviewing your strengths.
 
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Should we somehow mention it to justify/explain why we took no science courses until junior year nor had any clinical volunteering/shadowing etc until then? On one hand I think it would justify that but on the other hand I'm afraid adcoms will think we can't really want it compared to those who knew in or before high school that this was their passion. How do you handle this?

Heh, junior year is late? ;)
 
I was told the "hard" sciences were my things... Physics, Math, Engineering. And I hated it after I tried it all in undergrad. I stumbled from major to major trying to find my thing. And when I finally came to medicine, I immediately knew this was it. And I threw everything I had in to it.
 
Should we somehow mention it to justify/explain why we took no science courses until junior year nor had any clinical volunteering/shadowing etc until then? On one hand I think it would justify that but on the other hand I'm afraid adcoms will think we can't really want it compared to those who knew in or before high school that this was their passion. How do you handle this?

No science courses until junior year? There are a ton of non-trads out there who didn't take science courses until several years after they graduated. Relax -- you'll be fine. Just make sure you get plenty of clinical experience in the time that you do have. I doubt it'll come up, but if it does, just explain that you wanted to try several things before choosing a career. Nowadays, most adcoms seem to regard the "I've wanted to be a doctor since I was born" with a healthy degree of skepticism. I think it actually looks better if you've looked at a variety of career options before choosing medicine.
 
No science courses until junior year? There are a ton of non-trads out there who didn't take science courses until several years after they graduated. Relax -- you'll be fine. Just make sure you get plenty of clinical experience in the time that you do have. I doubt it'll come up, but if it does, just explain that you wanted to try several things before choosing a career. Nowadays, most adcoms seem to regard the "I've wanted to be a doctor since I was born" with a healthy degree of skepticism. I think it actually looks better if you've looked at a variety of career options before choosing medicine.

:thumbup: :D
 
Entered med school 10 yrs after college graduation. Had to go back and take the prereq's I never took in college. My determination to pursue the path and honesty @ how/why I changed my career path worked to get me multiple acceptances. Seems there has been more acceptance of a variety of "non-traditional" students in last 10 yrs. suggestion: capitalize on your status as "convert" or "prodigal son."
e.g. "I think I tried to avoid my destiny for a long time, but it became clear to me that this is my direction in life. This is what I'm meant to do. Now I'm trying to determine which medical school will force me to strengthen my weak points and capitalize on my strengths," which brings you right back to reviewing your strengths.

thanks, that sounds good, although i'm not really either non-traditional nor a prodigal son. I've always worked hard and i am graduating on time; I've just had almost as many majors as I have semesters, well at least my first two years. :eek: That doesn't necessarily sound so good either.

thanks everyone for your advice; i do really value it.
 
Should we somehow mention it to justify/explain why we took no science courses until junior year nor had any clinical volunteering/shadowing etc until then? On one hand I think it would justify that but on the other hand I'm afraid adcoms will think we can't really want it compared to those who knew in or before high school that this was their passion. How do you handle this?

As other posters have said, it's not going to be a problem as long as you do demonstrate that, once you did decide on medicine, that you've thought it through and done the volunteering, etc. I didn't turn premed until essentially graduating and did a postbacc, and it was never an issue in any interviews. The closest question I ever got to that was along the lines of how I thought having majored in History might help me as a physician.

Like Jonesie said, these days it's the people who decided to be a doctor when they were six and never second-guessed it or confirmed that decision as an adult that encounter more difficulty in the process.
 
junior year is hardly "late" yo udont need to explain that at all hahaha :cool:
 
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