In HighSchool (Grade 10) Would like advice on getting in

[Highschool]

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I am sixteen and am preparing for medical school early. I would appreciate any advioce or help anyone would volunteer to me.
🙂 Thanks

 

[Fenotypic]

Riiiiiight------

If you're serious then i have this to say:

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW

 

[MoosePilot]

I am sixteen and am preparing for medical school early. I would appreciate any advioce or help anyone would volunteer to me.
🙂 Thanks

I'd probably post this in the pre-allopathic forum, this is the kind of thing those of us over there obsess about 🙂

Get good grades in high school. Get a solid SAT or ACT score. Get accepted into a good college. I don't believe you have to be in one of the big name colleges to get into med school, but some people seem to think so.

Do well in college. A really high GPA will help you get into the med school of your choice. Major in whatever you want to, but be sure to take the pre-reqs required by medical schools. Take the MCAT and get a good score. Volunteer in a health career related field to learn some stuff and get an idea if you really want to be a doc. Do some research. Form some relationships with some professors and some health care professionals during all this work. Be sure they remember you positively because you'll want letters of recommendation for your application.

Have a life throughout this. Having a life is always important and not worth giving up for much of anything.

Apply to med school starting the summer after your Junior year of college.

 

[DO_Surgeon]

I would start studying now!!! Get an MCAT book and devote every waking minute to studying. Skip prom, homecoming, and possibly high school graduation commencment...you need to eat, sleep, and breathe O-Chem no time to waste.

I agree with Moosepilot, enjoy high school, do well on ACT/SAT and go to the college of your choice. Remember to enjoy college life as well, and grind out the grades. Keep in mind people often change their minds repeatedly during college so don't be stressing about med school now.

 

[curlycity]

Any kind of jumpstart you can get on improving your communication abilities would be very helpful ... also learning how to think critically. These are two things you see a lot of 21 year olds lacking. It's important to be well-spoken and a good listener/observer for everything from establishing relationships with profs who will write you rec letters, to the interview itself, right on up to providing good patient care. And critical thinking skills will help you avoid pitfalls like thinking science/medicine is full of facts - our knowledge of the universe and ourselves is constantly evolving and keeping that at the forefront of your mind throughout your education will help you stay curious, keep an open mind, and continually update your knowledge. This attitude will help make you an appealing candidate for med school. Communication skills + science smarts. Good luck!!!

 

[meltmyfaceoff]

honestly its pretty late for you to be getting into this. have you thought about nursing?

 

[NubianPrincess]

Just relax, and do your best. There will plenty of time for academic related stress in college 🙂

 

[Peter Griffin]

I actually think that 10th grade is the perfect time to get started. I would begin by perfecting your handwriting. A lot of people have problems reading doctor's handwriting and now is a great time to perfect this art so you don't have to worry about it later. I would also practice dictation, it is a skill you will definitely need. I wouldn't worry to much about O-chem. I would absorb that as fast as possible and move on to neurophysiology and other more interesting subjects. I would also recommend learning 3 or 4 foreign languages, I hear med schools really like that. It is important that you don't waste any more time. Seriously, have fun in high school. And keep posting in purple text, it's quite refreshing.

 

[stang]

Why the harsh replies?

I wish I had known from high school that I wanted to go to medical school, it would have saved me from bombing my freshman year and having to get a masters to make up for it. 😀

Also to the OP, do what MoosePilot said, you can start volunteering now.

 

[45408]

Consider some AP or IB courses, do well in chemistry and English so you can test into higher-level courses when you take placement tests in college. See if you can volunteer somewhere that you'd like to volunteer (if it's a hospital, that's fine, but don't do it "just because"), and start saving money up now through summer jobs.

 

[pratik7]

read whatever you like in your spare time. Perferably something like the economist or scientific american. It will really help out for the verbal

 

[Lorae]

At age 16 all you really need to worry about is doing well in school. Get good grades so you can get into the undergraduate program of your choice. Then do well in your undergraduate degree. Keep your marks as high as you can!!

Another good thing to do at your age is start some volunteer work. Something that helps people in your community! At your age I worked with the St. John Ambulance brigade and volunteered at community events as a first-aid provider. Pick something that sounds interesting to you...

and don't forget to have fun! enjoy high school and your first degree. don't do everything with "only medicine on your mind". Find areas that are interesting to you and you will excell.

good luck

 

[gschl1234]

read whatever you like in your spare time. Perferably something like the economist or scientific american. It will really help out for the verbal

Also consider reading the New Yorker. It really helped me on the verbal.

 

[adamj61]

You should be worried about getting laid right now...

 

[Peter Griffin]

You should be worried about getting laid right now...

Brilliant and true.

 

[g3pro]

This is actually a serious question, and so I'll give a serious answer: take as many AP classes as possible. Keep raking in that college credit so that you can take advanced bio or whatever classes you want. That's what I did. 🙂

 

[Premedtomed]

JUst chill It is a long road

Oh Yes get good grades and get some volunteer experience if you can

 

[ZOT! ZOT!]

You should be worried about getting laid right now...

Not everyone is a slut like you. The above quote is bad advice. The last thing you need to do is get AIDS and never make it through med school. How about doing things in life that matter?

 

[gary5]

I'd probably post this in the pre-allopathic forum, this is the kind of thing those of us over there obsess about 🙂

Get good grades in high school. Get a solid SAT or ACT score. Get accepted into a good college. I don't believe you have to be in one of the big name colleges to get into med school, but some people seem to think so.

Do well in college. A really high GPA will help you get into the med school of your choice. Major in whatever you want to, but be sure to take the pre-reqs required by medical schools. Take the MCAT and get a good score. Volunteer in a health career related field to learn some stuff and get an idea if you really want to be a doc. Do some research. Form some relationships with some professors and some health care professionals during all this work. Be sure they remember you positively because you'll want letters of recommendation for your application.

Have a life throughout this. Having a life is always important and not worth giving up for much of anything.

Apply to med school starting the summer after your Junior year of college.

Hi Highschool. The advice above is the best listed. You can ignore the others. One more thing: Continue to investigate other careers during college. Even though you're now interested in medicine, the best career for you may be a different one.

Good Luck! 😛

 

[Psycho Doctor]

is that why so many med students don't know what a member of the opposite sex looks like? 😛

 

[ZOT! ZOT!]

is that why so many med students don't know what a member of the opposite sex looks like? 😛

Is sex really that big of a component for a happy, fulfilling life? Honestly, that is sad that some people measure happiness by how much they "get".

 

[cucswiz]

word, you should definitely be open to different career paths during hs as well as college. things can change pretty suddenly in terms of what you "think" you want to later on in life... do the volunteering, get into different types of clubs etc, but make sure you expose yourself to a wide variety of things. its a lot easier to experiement when you're young!

 

[Premedtomed]

Is sex really that big of a component for a happy, fulfilling life? Honestly, that is sad that some people measure happiness by how much they "get".

Glad to know some sensible people will be future docs 👍

Party on

 

[lowbudget]

If you're in 10th grade, couple of practical things to keep in mind...
1) PSAT's in 11th grade: this is when they determine National Merit Scholarships. It'd be nice to be a scholar, which helps tremendously when applying for big name schools and full-time scholarships at state schools.
2) SAT I's in 12th grade: obviously the higher the score the better. They're changing it so keep up with how the changes will affect how you study for it.
3) SAT II's in 12th grade: Especially Writing and Math.
4) AP/Honors classes and grades
5) Extracurriculars, sports, leadership, community service activities

6) Being a teenager: going out, making friends, staying out of trouble, enjoying your friends, learning how to be independent and think independently, learning how to be a contributing member of a civil society, exercising, eating right, getting sleep, dating.

7) Start thinking of possible colleges. You don't need to know what you want to major in, but think about where you might want to go for college. Doing summer camps, summer high school programs are a good way to see life on a college campus and learn how to be independent (laundry, finding food, making new friends)
8) Think about other careers you might be interested aside from medicine.
9) Consider doing BA/MD programs. There's a list of them on the AAMC website under Medical Schools/Dual Degree. Most accept high school students with some sort of guarantee entry into med school.

http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section3/degree2.cfm?data=yes&program=bsmd

There are pros and cons to doing these programs which are worth discussing with your parents/siblings, friends, people on this thread, your teachers, career counselors, current program students, and med students. Realize however at the end of the day, it is YOUR choice to apply, it's OTHER'S choice to accept you, and YOUR choice again to participate in the program.

Work smart, play hard, hope your dreams come true.

 

[doc luv]

lots of good advice above. but just want to emphasize that a lot of pre-meds (especially many of those who have known that they wanted to go to med school since high school) tend to be high strung and total nerds. all they do is study and stress about their gpa, mcats, etc.

work hard, but dont turn into one of these people. hopefully ure young enough that u havent turned into one of those anal pre-meds u'll find in college. travel, party it up, buy some shoes, whatever strikes your fancy. trust me when you look back at your hs and undergrad years u'll be much more satisfied if you lived your life to its fullest.

 

[MoosePilot]

Is sex really that big of a component for a happy, fulfilling life? Honestly, that is sad that some people measure happiness by how much they "get".

Sex is one of our biological imperatives, like eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. I like to do all of those things. It's cheap, a lot of fun, and can be great for the health if approached intelligently.

I give it 👍 👍

 

[leviathan]

I'd probably post this in the pre-allopathic forum, this is the kind of thing those of us over there obsess about 🙂

Get good grades in high school. Get a solid SAT or ACT score. Get accepted into a good college. I don't believe you have to be in one of the big name colleges to get into med school, but some people seem to think so.

Do well in college. A really high GPA will help you get into the med school of your choice. Major in whatever you want to, but be sure to take the pre-reqs required by medical schools. Take the MCAT and get a good score. Volunteer in a health career related field to learn some stuff and get an idea if you really want to be a doc. Do some research. Form some relationships with some professors and some health care professionals during all this work. Be sure they remember you positively because you'll want letters of recommendation for your application.

Have a life throughout this. Having a life is always important and not worth giving up for much of anything.

Apply to med school starting the summer after your Junior year of college.

Take this post into consideration, and ignore all the flamers. Starting your preparation this early in the game will help you avoid some mistakes that I made myself. Remember to take Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in high school so that you are ready to take university level courses at that time. Keep your options open as well. At your age, you could change your career decision 5-6 times before you finally make a permanent decision. Most of all, have fun and enjoy your high school years while they are still around and don't be stressing over med school this early in the game.

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

TROLLLL!L!LL!LL!
* feeds cookie and runs away *

 

[Rugger81]

floss.


and wear sunscreen.

 

[Prozach]

Umm, yea, the sex part. Get laid. Now. 👍

 

[Psycho Doctor]

hey i didn't mean sexually (i'm not exactly experienced in that area and i was planning on waiting until marriage)....i just meant the whole thing as a joke.

 

[sunflower79]

lots of good advice above. but just want to emphasize that a lot of pre-meds (especially many of those who have known that they wanted to go to med school since high school) tend to be high strung and total nerds. all they do is study and stress about their gpa, mcats, etc.

work hard, but dont turn into one of these people. hopefully ure young enough that u havent turned into one of those anal pre-meds u'll find in college. travel, party it up, buy some shoes, whatever strikes your fancy. trust me when you look back at your hs and undergrad years u'll be much more satisfied if you lived your life to its fullest.

Among the best advice on this thread. (assuming you're not a troll!)

Another tip: Make sure this is what you want. In high school and college I tried everything: mock trial, engineering camp, psychology research. Medicine is a long and hard road. Talk to some residents now: they are generally miserable and will convince you to do something else.

best,
~sunflower

 

[no-see-um]

To the OP, come back when you reach college.

 

[sweatybrain]

agree. if you are not convinced, with every single molecule of your body, that medicine is right for you...don't do it. My PhD advisor was actually trying to talk me out of it when I asked him for a LOR.

An excerpt of his e-mail:

"There are already enough doctors...[if you want to impact society] the problem is more politics, economics, and to some extent science. It seems to me what you were doing the the startup company is potentially of far higher impact than any one doctor could do. It may feel weird that it has to be motivated by the need to make a profit, but that is what drives the world. If we don't find economic solutions to these poverty-related problems, we won't find solutions at all."

so my advice is to try to explore all avenues. If nothing else, it will reaffirm your belief that medicine is the career you want to pursue. And you will have a little fun along the way.

Enjoy your high school and college years. Those are the best years of your life!

Among the best advice on this thread. (assuming you're not a troll!)

Another tip: Make sure this is what you want. In high school and college I tried everything: mock trial, engineering camp, psychology research. Medicine is a long and hard road. Talk to some residents now: they are generally miserable and will convince you to do something else.

best,
~sunflower

 

[Cerbernator]

this is the point in life where things are very simple and all you have to worry about is bitches and bling - enjoy!

 

[wytosk]

Just dont forget to enjoy ur life!!!!

 

[mentoz]

agree. if you are not convinced, with every single molecule of your body, that medicine is right for you...don't do it. My PhD advisor was actually trying to talk me out of it when I asked him for a LOR.

An excerpt of his e-mail:

"There are already enough doctors...[if you want to impact society] the problem is more politics, economics, and to some extent science. It seems to me what you were doing the the startup company is potentially of far higher impact than any one doctor could do. It may feel weird that it has to be motivated by the need to make a profit, but that is what drives the world. If we don't find economic solutions to these poverty-related problems, we won't find solutions at all."

so my advice is to try to explore all avenues. If nothing else, it will reaffirm your belief that medicine is the career you want to pursue. And you will have a little fun along the way.

Enjoy your high school and college years. Those are the best years of your life!

hope he wrote you a nice letter!

 

[susannaQ]

To the OP: if you haven't done it yet, I would recommend volunteering at a hospital to see what patient care and medicine is like, see who you would be working with, and the pace of different environments (and try to shadow a doctor eventually).

To the other people who are telling him/her to get laid: I don't think its going to help him/her get to to medical school any easier if he/she has little people running around that look like him/her.