Med School

[jasmineH]

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I am curious about the rigorous process of getting into Med School. Does a person have to have all A's in their pre-med classes?? Are all med students just exceptionally smart people? I would like to try for Med school, but don't know if I can be a genius?

 

[GeoLeoX]

Believe it or not, the reason behind the rigorous process is not to separate the geniuses from the non-geniuses, but rather to separate those who really want to live medicine from those who don't. I expect to get a lot of responses to the effect, "I want to practice medicine, but I can't get accepted". To those I ask, "Why?". What keeps you back from getting into school? I am not a genius and I have lots of references to prove it, yet I got into medical school. A person doesn't need to get straight A's (but it doesn't hurt). A person doesn't even have to be pre-med for that matter (as long as you fulfill the minimum science requirements that most medical schools have).

What in fact a successful candidate needs is a desire to practice medicine and the will to do what it takes to get there. That means that if you have poor grades, get better ones. If you don't have volunteer experience, go volunteer. There are many criteria that schools use to judge the "medical worthiness" of applicants and each school may use different ones.

All in all, if you want to go into medicine, find out what it's really like. Volunteer in a local hospital or clinic. Do you know a doctor? Perhaps your family doctor or a physician friend of your parents could help you with this.

You will find that not all medical students are exceptionally "smart" people. You will find, however, that all medical students are exceptionally determined to be physicians.

Hope this helps, I am sure you will get lots of good advice from people on this bulletin board - I have!

Geo

 

[jasmineH]

Are some med schools easier to get into than others? How long does the pre-med degree usually take, say "biology"?

 

[GeoLeoX]

While all schools are difficult to get into, some are more competitive than others and therefore, a little more difficult to get into. For a good general idea of what grades you need to get into each school, go to the library and look in one of those "US Medical School Ranking" Books.

A Bachelor's degree is usually required to enter medical school and that usually takes 4 years after high school.

 

[jasmineH]

Geo, are you a doctor or med student? Did you go through college just hoping to get into med school or was there no doubt in your mind?? I've had Physiology and Chemistry with B's but I don't know if B's are going to carry me.

 

[nkg123]

jasmineH,

I know of many people who have had similar concerns just as you have posed. However, if medicine is truly what you want to do, then I believe you can achieve it. Getting B's in your core requirements is not going to prevent you from being accepted. I know of many cases of people who have had mediocre grades in their core pre-med requirements but who excelled in other classes and had no problem getting in. I'm not saying that you should be complacent and accept mediocre grades -- you should keep trying and putting a full effort, because one day your knowledge (not necessarily the knowledge you gain from college) will directly affect how well you are able to heal your patients.

To get to the point, if I haven't already, keep at it, don't worry about the outcome, and if you want to do medicine badly enough, you WILL get the opportunity.

hope this helps.

 

[GeoLeoX]

I am a med student now, but I went on a roundabout way of getting here after I graduated from college. As I was finishing up my sophomore year in college I decided that while I still wanted to be a doctor, there were other things that I also wanted to do while I was young. Besides that, my grades weren't stellar and I lacked the maturity to go through medical school immediately after college. So, for my last two years of college I took classes that I enjoyed, I worked on a minor in Spanish and took the bare minimum of biology classes required (I had already fufilled my requirements for the classes needed to apply for medical school and I was a biology major). In my junior year I chose to go into research and got into graduate school. I was doing research as an undergrad and it was great. 5 years later I had my Ph.D. and then went on to a post-doc (which by the way is the most fun that you can have while being paid (legally)). It was while after a few years as a post-doc that I knew I had the maturity to finally apply to medical school. Now I had better grades, more life experience, more research experience, more volunteer experience, etc. etc.

So that's where I am today.

It sounds like you are in high school and trying to decide if medicine is where you would like to go. I have been around medicine my whole life from my parents to now my friends so I have known for a long time. The reason that I knew was because I was exposed to what life in medicine is like. If you are curious try to get exposure to medicine and see if it is something that you are interested in.

If you have any more questions, please ask - you will get answers (for better or worse)

Geo

 

[jasmineH]

Sorry, no I am not in high school. I'm 21 and married. I'm just having a tough time deciding because I've been through some Chemistry and Physiology and I do struggle with it. I know what I want but I don't know if I am capable of it.

 

[GeoLeoX]

No, I am the one who is sorry. Hope that I didn't offend. To answer your question with an analogy, I had few A's in my Biology classes (mostly B's) and even a couple of C's in Chemistry. There were a few things that helped me, though. First, I took Calculus in high school then the AP test. So, I got the credit for taking it without getting a grade (which almost definitely would NOT have been an A). Secondly, to show that I wasn't just plain bad in Chemistry I have an advanced degree in Biochemistry.

Again, your grades represent only a part of your entire application (as they only represent a very small part of you!). If you feel that your grades aren't top-notch, first try to improve them and second, try to improve your application in other ways. For example, I have a fair amount of volunteer work. I loved doing it, it was fun, I didn't have the responsibilities of a paid employee and I was treated exceptionally well (I worked for free, after all). Also, I did biomedical research. Again, it was fun and I enjoyed doing it. Find something that you are good at, in which you can excel. Schools like to see leadership and dedication to medicine.

Good Luck!

Geo

 

[Amy Beth]

Originally posted by jasmineH:
Are some med schools easier to get into than others? How long does the pre-med degree usually take, say "biology"?

Biology major takes 4 years to complete. If you go during the summers you can cut time off of that but it could burn you out.