Is it too late to try to attend medical school?

[deleted1029825]

I am an engineering student. Recently, I have become increasingly interested in becoming a physician, since I really would like to help people and I am fascinated my medicine. However, I'm almost finished with my engineering degree. I've taken a few courses relevant to the medical school requirements, but I still would need to take many. My GPA is 4. I have worked over a year doing research. Other than that, however, I don't have any medically-relevant ECs. I plan on adding the required premedical courses to my schedule and taking an extra semester to make that happen. I also plan to take the MCAT once I've finished the relevant premedical courses. However, I currently have no medical volunteering or shadowing experience. I am very interested in obtaining an MD or MD PhD. Would admissions committees see my transition from pure engineering to medicine negatively (especially since it happened late in college)? Is it too late for my to pursue the goal of becoming a physician? What could I do to maximize my chances of getting to med school?

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[LizzyM]

It is not too late unless you are a 60 year old undergraduate.

Given that you haven't had any exposure to medicine or the medical field, it would a good idea to start that as soon as possible to be sure that your gut instinct that this is a good choice for you is correct. Shadowing and working/volunteering in a clinical setting are two things to start doing as soon as possible.

Have you had any experience of helping people through community service projects, tutoring or other activities that help those who can't help themselves and can't afford to hire that help? Non-clinical volunteering is also valued and you may have already been doing some of that based on your own desire to help people. If so, keep it up. If not, consider why you haven't been doing that and whether your interest in helping people is really a recognition of a desire to be in a career that involves for interaction with other people than you are getting in engineering.

Figure on 15-20 hrs/wk for MCAT prep for at least 3 months. This factors into account the fact that the practice exams are 7 hours in length and it takes about that long to review the exam after you've taken it to determine why you got some questions wrong and to be sure that the questions you got right were not just a lucky guess. There is an entire sub-forum here devoted to MCAT prep and some good training schedules that can be helpful. Do not take the MCAT until you are ready... every attempt will show up on your application and it is not a good idea to take it "just to see how you do".

You should know that the application cycle for medical school starts in June for matriculation the following summer/fall so you may want to factor in 18 months of gap time after you finish your degree and the requirements for admission. Along the way you will want to ask faculty members who know you well (2 science, one non-science) for letters of recommendation and you will want to consider whether to have an Interfolio file for those letters. You should also make an inquiry at your school's pre-professional office to find out if the school offers a "committee letter" and what is involved in obtaining one.


Finally, stay out of trouble. Avoid activities that could get you "written up" on campus or arrested. With room for only 43% of all med school applicants (in other words, the majority who apply do not get admission anywhere), medical schools can be very picky.

 

[gyngyn]

There is even a medical school with a particular mission to blend engineering with medicine (Carle Illinois).

 

[Goro]

Nope, not too late at all!

 

[Tenk]

You’re fine. Some of the best doctors I’ve known were engineers. Humans are basically just complex pump systems with a ventilation system and an electrical system anyways. You’ll be fine just make sure you do all the prereqs and other things. There are plenty of threads here on all that. Good luck.

 

[_Cloud9]

It is not too late at all!! You're still in your undergrad and so many people don't even decide to pursue medicine until they've graduated! Plus, it's really never too late Adcoms will not see this as a negative thing! Plus - amazing GPA especially for engineering

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Engineering is usually a GPA killer. Yours is outstanding. My friend got a degree in BIO engineering AFTER he attended medical school. He was a rural family doc who got bored. He read a book on differential equations on vacation and placesf out of the class. His work was on energy transfer from the charging pack on an artificial heart that would not burn the skin. Get your pre reqs out of the way, take the MCAT when you have prepared, and you should be fine. Good luck and Best wishes!

 

[deleted1011020]

I am a third year engineering student at a state school (top 50, according to US News). Recently, I have become increasingly interested in becoming a physician, since I really would like to help people and I am fascinated my medicine. However, as said previously, I'm already midway through my third year in my engineering degree. I've taken a few courses (stats, physics, English, and gen chem) relevant to the medical school requirements, but I still would need to take ochem, biology, and biochemistry at least. My GPA is 4.0 in electrical engineering. I have worked over a year doing research in computerized surgery at my school and have a few poster presentations under my belt (but no journal publications). Other than that, however, I don't have any medically-relevant ECs. I have worked multiple internships in engineering and research (but none of those involved medicine or the medical field), with one year being worked as an engineer in Europe. I plan on adding the required premedical courses to my schedule and taking an extra semester to make that happen. I also plan to take the MCAT once I've finished the relevant premedical courses. However, I currently have no medical volunteering or shadowing experience (though I plan to start as soon as possible); I have not done any TAing, medical volunteering, or shadowing. I am very interested in obtaining an MD or MD PhD to leverage engineering with medicine. Would admissions committees see my transition from pure engineering to medicine negatively (especially since it happened in my third year)? Is it too late for my to pursue the goal of becoming a physician? What could I do to maximize my chances of getting to med school?

With that engineering GPA and a solid MCAT score I can guarantee you age is going to be the last thing adcoms care about.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Everything everyone above has said, but you're really going to need to prove that you want to help people and know what you're getting into. How you do that is through volunteering and clinical exposure - the more the better. Also, volunteering with one or two groups long-term looks better than lots of short-term efforts.

Also, if possible, consider taking Anatomy and Physiology and Genetics in preparation for the MCAT. If you can't that's ok but you'll need to study them on your own.

 

[RJGladstone]

Everything everyone above has said, but you're really going to need to prove that you want to help people and know what you're getting into. How you do that is through volunteering and clinical exposure - the more the better. Also, volunteering with one or two groups long-term looks better than lots of short-term efforts.

Also, if possible, consider taking Anatomy and Physiology and Genetics in preparation for the MCAT. If you can't that's ok but you'll need to study them on your own.

Genetics and anatomy barely appear on the mcat and its definitely not necessary to take those classes to get the proper MCAT competency for them...in fact its probably a better use of time to just self study the very limited genetics and A&P that does appear.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Genetics and anatomy barely appear on the mcat and its definitely not necessary to take those classes to get the proper MCAT competency for them...in fact its probably a better use of time to just self study the very limited genetics and A&P that does appear.

Yeah, that's what I said. But if you've otherwise got a hole in your schedule, it's worth taking them. Assuming you get into medical school, those are useful to have prior exposure to.