Just graduated High School...

[BlitzSleep]

I just graduated from high school and now attending a 2 year community college to get my basic classes out of the way before transfering to . But I have NO idea what classes are required for pre med. I am new to all this, I am wanting to be an anesthesiologist, I have been for a long time. But now i'm diving into the details. As a first year in college here is my schedule:

Computer Literacy
Intermediate Algebra
Writing
RF100 (some class that is suppose to help with studying and other skills...i dont see why it's required..)

I will be calling UT today and finding out...but is there any kind of book or anything that i should read that will help me. I've read the FAQs on the SDN forums.

I was also wondering how many years does it take to graduate from med school to begin training...or do i begin training while i'm in med school? i know training is 4 years, but i wanna know how many years the school is itself...i'm really confused on this part

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[case42]

I was also wondering how many years does it take to graduate from med school to begin training...or do i begin training while i'm in med school? i know training is 4 years, but i wanna know how many years the school is itself...i'm really confused on this part

4 years of highschool
4 years of undergraduate college
4 years of medical school
4 years or residency (the last 3 here are where you really concentrate on anesthesia but you will have some experience before this point as well)

 

[Gern Blansten]

There are books available(probably could search it on amazon) that are helpful. I would also recommend an early reading of How to Get Into a Residency by Iserson. It gives some details about the length of training and competitiveness of certain specialties(although this changes at times and may not be completely accurate). It also gives tips on interviewing which should also be applicable to med school interviews. It also gives tips on creating a CV(resume). By the time I read the book, 1/2 of it was too late for me to do anything about. By the way, the MCAT score IS important. Study hard!

Given the fact that you will be transferring into a school where other premeds already know each other and most of the premed advisors, you need to make a special effort to get to know the people who will be writing letters of rec for you. They can make or break you. Make sure they know who you are and that you are a very hard worker with a strong commitment to succeed. Flunking out of your first premed class at the institution is a sure fire way to NOT make a good impression. Work hard and get good grades. Go the extra mile. Make sure people notice you for the right reasons.

Try and get some clinical experience following doctors around. This is good for your application, but also helpful for you to make sure you are making the right decision. Don't do it for the money. It will be a long ways down the road before you will see any of that. If you don't love medicine, it will not be worth it.

Although you say you are sold on anesthesiology, keep an open mind and consider all of the specialties. You may be surprised where you gravitate to. Being open minded will also help you enjoy and succeed on your clinical rotations. If your surgery ( OB, medicine etc) attending knows right from the start that you want to go into anesthesiology, they may form a bias against you and perceive that you have less interest in their specialty which COULD translate into a lower grade if that person's bias is strong.

On a similar note, med school is very competitive at the current time. There may also be a strong push by some schools to get more primary care providers. Sometimes this is a hidden agenda. I would be cautious about mentioning an interest in subspecialties in your application unless it is compelling(ie, I have a brother with juvenile diabetes, therefore, my goal is to be a pediatric endocrinologist and help others who are going through the same things that my family and I have faced).

Best of luck to you. I hope this helps you somewhat. Get ready for a VERY long journey.

 

[mdnsw]

schools graduate you
you graduate from school

this gramatical error has really taken off lately
good luck though

 

[medstudent99]

i would concentrate on one thing at a time. i mean first focus on being able to transfer to a university. that's the first step.

 

[medstudent99]

mdnsw...why do u have a picture of someone burning a mexican flag? that is really offensive to me

 

[meddog1]

Like another responder said, go to the office of the pre-med advisor at the university where you plan to later attend. Do this NOW. Get a list of the classes they want to see you taking - jump through the hoops... all of them and don't ever try to take short cuts. The community college thing is okay for now, but get to the university ASAP. While at the community college, knock out the math and English classes the university pre-med advisor said that you need to take.

All of the stuff having to do with residency will come later. For now focus on scholarship and community involvement.

Just my 2 cents

 

[BlitzSleep]

There are books available(probably could search it on amazon) that are helpful. I would also recommend an early reading of How to Get Into a Residency by Iserson. It gives some details about the length of training and competitiveness of certain specialties(although this changes at times and may not be completely accurate). It also gives tips on interviewing which should also be applicable to med school interviews. It also gives tips on creating a CV(resume). By the time I read the book, 1/2 of it was too late for me to do anything about. By the way, the MCAT score IS important. Study hard!

Given the fact that you will be transferring into a school where other premeds already know each other and most of the premed advisors, you need to make a special effort to get to know the people who will be writing letters of rec for you. They can make or break you. Make sure they know who you are and that you are a very hard worker with a strong commitment to succeed. Flunking out of your first premed class at the institution is a sure fire way to NOT make a good impression. Work hard and get good grades. Go the extra mile. Make sure people notice you for the right reasons.

Try and get some clinical experience following doctors around. This is good for your application, but also helpful for you to make sure you are making the right decision. Don't do it for the money. It will be a long ways down the road before you will see any of that. If you don't love medicine, it will not be worth it.

Although you say you are sold on anesthesiology, keep an open mind and consider all of the specialties. You may be surprised where you gravitate to. Being open minded will also help you enjoy and succeed on your clinical rotations. If your surgery ( OB, medicine etc) attending knows right from the start that you want to go into anesthesiology, they may form a bias against you and perceive that you have less interest in their specialty which COULD translate into a lower grade if that person's bias is strong.

On a similar note, med school is very competitive at the current time. There may also be a strong push by some schools to get more primary care providers. Sometimes this is a hidden agenda. I would be cautious about mentioning an interest in subspecialties in your application unless it is compelling(ie, I have a brother with juvenile diabetes, therefore, my goal is to be a pediatric endocrinologist and help others who are going through the same things that my family and I have faced).

Best of luck to you. I hope this helps you somewhat. Get ready for a VERY long journey.

This helped a lot. thank you very much.


UT claims not to have anything on anesthesiology...I will keep an open mind about other fields, but unless one absolutely grabs me, I will try to stay with anesthesia. Will I have to attend a different premed/med school?

 

[fakin' the funk]

This helped a lot. thank you very much.


UT claims not to have anything on anesthesiology...I will keep an open mind about other fields, but unless one absolutely grabs me, I will try to stay with anesthesia. Will I have to attend a different premed/med school?

I had a similar question when I was applying to med school: "Are medical schools 'known' for certain things, i.e. if you were interested in specialty X would it be best to go to a school known for specialty X?"

The answer is, generally, no. Career-wise, it's in your best interest to go to the "best" school that will accept you, as the quality of its clinical & academic departments will on average be better than a "lesser" school, and you wanna keep your options open. However, some schools are known for certain things, and it would not behoove you to pursue an unrelated medical specialty; ex. Boston U is known for primary care especially for the underserved, so if you wanna do CT surgery you might be best off going somewhere else. Anyone please correct me if I'm way off base here.

But seriously dude, if you're 17/18 and just outta high school, who knows if you'll wanna be a doc of any kind when college ends.

...Unless you're one of those ppl with the "my mom, dad, brother, uncle, and grandma are anesthesiologists" family.

 

[mdnsw]

Computer Literacy
Intermediate Algebra
Writing
RF100 (some class that is suppose to help with studying and other skills...i dont see why it's required..)

You should look into the classes you are taking. These don't all sound like real college classes and UT might not give you credit for them. I had a friend who did two years of community college. When he transferred, he only had a little over one semester of credit because things like intermediate algebra don't count. I'm just saying look into it now rather than two years from now.

 

[Gern Blansten]

You should look into the classes you are taking. These don't all sound like real college classes and UT might not give you credit for them. I had a friend who did two years of community college. When he transferred, he only had a little over one semester of credit because things like intermediate algebra don't count. I'm just saying look into it now rather than two years from now.

Unfortunately for you blitz, I think this poster is correct. Those courses don't, by name, sound very transferrable. He gives you good advice. I would take the required math, english, and history as well as getting some PE credits out of the way at the JC. It certainly will be cheaper at the JC, but I would agree that you need to get to the 4 year college asap. As you are considering colleges, check their med school acceptance rates and how many "wash out" after the weedout classes. I would think that they would be inversely proportional at most schools. For example, if they weed out the less serious students early, hopefully they are successful at placing the remaining students into med schools. If less serious students are allowed to remain premed, their eventual success rate will be lower. It would be frustrating to me to finish school in a premed track only to find out I was not competitive in the eyes of the med schools. My undergrad school did a VERY effective job of redirecting the less serous students and thus had a 90+ % success rate for graduates getting into med school. It is nice, unless of course, you are one of the ones that get redirected

 

[chicamedica]

I agree with the last 2 posters (and the person who warns that you may not even want to go to med school by the time you're done with college, much less set yourself on a particular medical field).

HOWEVER. . .in order to be able to take "real" premed courses, one should have a handle on things like intermediate algebra and writing. Sounds like you didn't quite finish high school. . .or your high school was just that weak (which unfortunately is common across the US). With that in mind though, you may have to stick with the junior college until you beef up your background in high school basics, but expect to spend the full four years in the 4-year university once you're able to transfer (i.e. dont expect to be able to shorten the path towards an bachelors degree thru transferring credits).

if these courses are all redundant from high school for you, I wouldn't even waste time and money with the junior college. Go straight to the 4-year. It'll cost you less in the long run.

 

[aredoubleyou]

I agree with the last 2 posters (and the person who warns that you may not even want to go to med school by the time you're done with college, much less set yourself on a particular medical field).

HOWEVER. . .in order to be able to take "real" premed courses, one should have a handle on things like intermediate algebra and writing. Sounds like you didn't quite finish high school. . .or your high school was just that weak (which unfortunately is common across the US). With that in mind though, you may have to stick with the junior college until you beef up your background in high school basics, but expect to spend the full four years in the 4-year university once you're able to transfer (i.e. dont expect to be able to shorten the path towards an bachelors degree thru transferring credits).

if these courses are all redundant from high school for you, I wouldn't even waste time and money with the junior college. Go straight to the 4-year. It'll cost you less in the long run.

Whatever (with headshake, maybe a roll of the eyes too)

I went to JC too.
Never did algebra in HS. Thats right, I said algebra.

Got into med school no problem (3 of them actually).

And spent 4 years total in college. 1.5 in JC (graduted), 2.5 at University.

Just take like 8 classes per semester in JC, they're usually really easy. DO NOT TAKE biology, chemistry, or physics in JC - most of your med prereqs should be at University (defenitely the science ones). Get your history, french, humanities, out of the way. Maybe take 1 bio class just to make sure you like it.

Oh yea, you'll have to give up pot. Works wonders

 

[aredoubleyou]

Oh yea, and why do you wann be an anesthesiologist and know nothing about med school. Most people wanna be genral pract, or surgeons? What gives?

 

[Laryngospasm]

Oh yea, and why do you wann be an anesthesiologist and know nothing about med school. Most people wanna be genral pract, or surgeons? What gives?

Im thinking its a lifestyle thing.

 

[cdql]

Im thinking its a lifestyle thing.

Cough moooooolah cough

 

[mdnsw]

Cough moooooolah cough

Sounds set on anesthesiology, but I bet he's having a hard time choosing between anesthesiology, radiology, cardiology, gi, and MOHS?

 

[BlitzSleep]

Wait...so I can go to any med school for 4 years, then go to residency training for 4 years and become an anesthesiologist? And if I change my mind before residency that I want to be something else i can go into residency for that? thats one thing i'm not clear on..oh and i dont smoke pot lol. and the thing about me being an anesthesiologist is a long story...Oh and the hospital i'm wanting to work at (Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga) theyre anesthesiologist office is like close friday-sunday and stay open untill like 6pm...but i know there will be 24/7 call-ins...right? that sounds fine with me.

If anyone has msn messenger, aim, or just a cell # they could post/private message for me i would really appreciate just taking a few minutes to talk with me about it. I am serious about my career, i've been so indepth on trying to figure out what to do i have a $210.66 phone bill (from calling hospitals, colleges, dir. assistance, etc.) and haven't spent much time with my family. I appreciate all the help you guys are giving me and the patience you are showing. thank you all.

 

[DreamMachine]

.

 

[Gern Blansten]

We take Friday morning through Monday until 6AM off at my hospital too. We just tell the surgeons "tough crap."

 

[Laryngospasm]

Wait...so I can go to any med school for 4 years, then go to residency training for 4 years and become an anesthesiologist? And if I change my mind before residency that I want to be something else i can go into residency for that? thats one thing i'm not clear on..oh and i dont smoke pot lol. and the thing about me being an anesthesiologist is a long story...Oh and the hospital i'm wanting to work at (Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga) theyre anesthesiologist office is like close friday-sunday and stay open untill like 6pm...but i know there will be 24/7 call-ins...right? that sounds fine with me.

If anyone has msn messenger, aim, or just a cell # they could post/private message for me i would really appreciate just taking a few minutes to talk with me about it. I am serious about my career, i've been so indepth on trying to figure out what to do i have a $210.66 phone bill (from calling hospitals, colleges, dir. assistance, etc.) and haven't spent much time with my family. I appreciate all the help you guys are giving me and the patience you are showing. thank you all.

There is so much wrong here....

 

[Gern Blansten]

Blitz, IF you are sincere, you are going about things the hard way. You desperately need an advisor(not like a spiritual advisor, but a premed advisor). Directory assistance cannot help you get into med school. Like I said at the beginning, buy a book on getting into med school. It will spell things out for you in much more detail than we can or want to here. From what you have stated, your career decision is not well thought out and is based on a lot of faulty information. First step is to make sure you know what you are getting into and make sure you even know what a doctor really does. It sounds like you have got the cart in front of the horse. No offense intended, but you need to go back to the basics and go to a pre med forum for this type of info from people who are in your same situation. Good luck.

 

[MossPoh]

It is almost unheard of for a university....even a junior college or such to NOT have some sort of premed advisor to guide you in the right direction. First thing i would do is call up and find out who that person is and spend a nice long visit with them. Second thing I'd do is call the uni you wish to transfer to and make sure they will accept the classes you are taking. The ones you are taking next semester, excluding the English are pretty much not applicable for premed requirements. It sounds like you have a nice light introduction to college though which is something I wish I did. You should aim for getting into medical school for now, and then the speciality to choose later. You want to experience every area of medicine possible.....if you stay locked onto one thing it can be especially painful to realize you really don't like it and may force yourself into something you have a complete disdain for. I advocate visiting me and the others in the pre-allo or pre-osteo forums.....

 

[The_Sensei]

BlitzSleep........

Dude. You need to get a better grasp of the English language. Your grammar and syntax are HORRIBLE! Is English your 2nd language?

 

[Gern Blansten]

BlitzSleep........

Dude. You need to get a better grasp of the English language. Your grammar and syntax are HORRIBLE! Is English your 2nd language?

I thought "syntax" was that extra money you had to pay the government when you bought alcohol or cigarettes.

 

[Laryngospasm]

BlitzSleep........

Dude. You need to get a better grasp of the English language. Your grammar and syntax are HORRIBLE! Is English your 2nd language?

He also needs to do the whole free long distance thing on the cell phone that everyone else in the United states is doing. Who really has a 200$ long distance bill anymore?

 

[Gern Blansten]

He also needs to do the whole free long distance thing on the cell phone that everyone else in the United states is doing. Who really has a 200$ long distance bill anymore?

Maybe they just need to break down and get a life coach to guide them. It may be too big of a job for a premed advisor. Seriously, if you are calling directory assistance and hospital switchboard operators for education and career advice, you took a wrong turn somewhere and you may need to do some soul searching to figure out if you are wasting your time.

 

[Freshman]

This thread was quite helpful. Im in the exact same situation as "Gern Blansten". Except, I would like to be an anesthesiologist in the medical corps, of the US ARMY. I cant seem to be able to start a new thread so im posting this to his thread.


Thank you.

 

[Gern Blansten]

This thread was quite helpful. Im in the exact same situation as "Gern Blansten"

I think you have me mixed up with the author of the original post.

 

[BlitzSleep]

I used Dir. to get #s of colleges, i just went over my minutes and roamed which screwed me over. I had a talk with my advisor and it's all settled so it's all good now. And I got Sprint so i get free long distance...i'm not a caveman! lol.

The_Sensei, no need to be a dick just because i'm not using proper English on an INTERNET FORUM. go masturbate to some prepositions.

I appreciate the help everyone.

 

[Dhimiter]

Hi, I am a sophomore in college and was where you were two years ago (in a state of confusion that is, not in Junior College). I am at Tufts University and they have a great pre-med advisor, so I will tell you what she told me. As far as pre-med reqs., here's the list:

Math: 1 year (Calculus preferred and in my school Calc 1 and Calc 2 are required pre-med math courses)
Physics: 1 year (Calculus based preferred- Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism)
Biology: 1 year (in my school it's Cell Bio and Populations)
Chemistry: 1 year (general chemistry)
Organic Chemistry: 1 year
English: 1 year (it doesn't matter if you speak it or your major doesn't require it...med schools want to see a well spoken and well written future doctor)

None of those can be AP transfer credits. All pre-med courses must be completed at a University (this has been said many times) as medical schools like to see how well or poorly you did in college level courses not on high school AP's.

Those are the general requirements that most most medical schools go by. There are some that require less, but I don't think any require more. There may be a few that recommend Biochemistry.

Anyway, you need to get yourself into a 4 year college. As you see that's 12 courses (and 8-10 of those are pretty difficult) which means at least 2 semester (if you're a genius) will need to be devoted. This is aside from a major which you must pursue as most schools don't list pre-med as a major. Besides everyone needs a backup plan just in case med school doesn't look so appealing later on (or if you get rejected from all your choices).

Also GPA is very important, and not just in your major but your pre-med courses too.

Hope this helped

Best of luck with your studies

Dhimiter

 

[BlitzSleep]

Great post Dhimiter! it did help, and thank you

 

[The_Sensei]

The_Sensei, no need to be a dick just because i'm not using proper English on an INTERNET FORUM. go masturbate to some prepositions.

That attitude will get you far in medicine. Your horrific grammar and "thought" patterns belie a substandard intelligence that would make it difficult, if not impossible to get into medical school. Let us know if you get accepted......

 

[medstudent99]

That attitude will get you far in medicine. Your horrific grammar and "thought" patterns belie a substandard intelligence that would make it difficult, if not impossible to get into medical school. Let us know if you get accepted......

that is totally untrue. true if u use bad grammar u may think in bad grammar, i do this all the time, but it has more to do with ur up bringing and ur surrondings/environment then it does with intelligence. i know when to be PROPER and when to be me. definitly in the hospital and all medical related issues it is best to be proper.

 

[medstudent99]

That attitude will get you far in medicine. Your horrific grammar and "thought" patterns belie a substandard intelligence that would make it difficult, if not impossible to get into medical school. Let us know if you get accepted......

"thought" patterns?!?! r u serious??? okay genius explain to me why there is so many FMG's in medicine??? they don't even speak ENGLISH half the time! and some of them are very intelligent and capable.

 

[medstudent99]

grammer does not equal medical ability...period, but it doesn't hurt. u should get use to using proper english in any professional setting.