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I am 14 years old and I want to become a doctor, what are the best med schools out there?
med schools
- Thread starter taydoctor
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Instead of worrying about med schools right now, you should look into colleges that have good pre-med programs. That will help you get into a good med school. But dont' even worry about med schools for atleast the next 7 years.
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taydoctor, that's excellent that you have such early ambitions to work for.
First of all, I think that before settling on being a physician, you should constantly ask yourself why is it you want to become a doctor. Then go about living your life as you want to. As a 14 year old, there is a lot of time to experience and try new things that would make you a better med school candidate, but more importantly, living your life enables you to figure out the answer to the question above. If you are truly passionate about medicine, then spend some time volunteering if you haven't already done so, shadow docs, talk to other sorts of medical professionals (physical therapists, nurses, physician assistants, researchers). Talk to them about their job and about their lifestyles. Becoming a doctor should be a choice made based on passion and based upon understanding as much of the pros and cons of profession.
Once again, you have a lot of time to work at becoming a doctor, that wont run away from you. Develop your other interests (sports, politics, art, music, whatever) as you will find that even as a doc, one needs to have hobbies.
Finally, the best med schools are the ones that you would feel comfortable learning at so i could name off some ivy leagues which are wonderful schools, but depending on your perrsonality you might find another school to be more conducive to your learning.
good luck
First of all, I think that before settling on being a physician, you should constantly ask yourself why is it you want to become a doctor. Then go about living your life as you want to. As a 14 year old, there is a lot of time to experience and try new things that would make you a better med school candidate, but more importantly, living your life enables you to figure out the answer to the question above. If you are truly passionate about medicine, then spend some time volunteering if you haven't already done so, shadow docs, talk to other sorts of medical professionals (physical therapists, nurses, physician assistants, researchers). Talk to them about their job and about their lifestyles. Becoming a doctor should be a choice made based on passion and based upon understanding as much of the pros and cons of profession.
Once again, you have a lot of time to work at becoming a doctor, that wont run away from you. Develop your other interests (sports, politics, art, music, whatever) as you will find that even as a doc, one needs to have hobbies.
Finally, the best med schools are the ones that you would feel comfortable learning at so i could name off some ivy leagues which are wonderful schools, but depending on your perrsonality you might find another school to be more conducive to your learning.
good luck
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taydoctor said:
All you need to do right now is concentrate on grades and getting into a good college with a good history of placing its pre-meds into med school.
You could volunteer for some humanitarian cause (hospital, charity organization) if you want too or maybe even get a job of some type in a hospital or as a lifeguard. But thats as far as I would take it.
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taydoctor said:
Well, you've got some time to think about it. I would suggest you read through this site, and see what you can find out. You might also want to buy a copy of the Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) guide when it comes out later this spring. That book will tell you 95% of what you need to know, and is the "official" book put out by the Association of American Medical Colleges. It's about $25 and I think it comes out in April sometime. That edition will be the 2006-2007 one.
If you are absolutely brilliant, know that you want to go to medical school for sure and already have medical experience, you might want to apply for a combined BS/MD program where you are admitted to an associated undergrad college and have a conditional acceptance at the corresponding medical so long as you meet the requirements (like maintaing a certain GPA and not cheating, etc).
Also, just a warning. Do not get too caught up in a school's reputation, or name recognition. U.S. News ranks them, but that's based on research funding mostly. You want to find a school that is a good match for what you want to do (clinical care, research and/or teaching).
Finally, undergrad is really the time in your life for broadening your outlook on life. You do not HAVE to be a biology major, and many schools actually like it if you aren't. Go to the undergrad school you feel most comfortable at and feel would give you the best education, and not necessarily the one with the biggest name you can get into.
Geez at 14, you've got a while to even think about where you would go to undergrad. Are you even in high school yet? Not to belittle you, but you're getting WAY ahead of yourself.
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jbone said:It's all about the "O".
Oprah???
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jbone said:It's all about the "O".
O-face!!!
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Find Magnum and unleash it.
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taydoctor said:
Don't listen to all these jerks telling you not worry about med school and enjoy life, they're just jelous because they didn't worry about med school until later on in college and they ended up not gettig into good med schools because of it. Here are some of the schools you should think about getting into, even at undergrad level because I know some of them have 7 year combined programs.
Harvard
Wash U
UCSF
Stanford
Duke
UPenn
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jbone said:It's all about the "O".
"O" as in Overstock.com:
http://buy.overstock.com/ostk_variety.mov
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MiturBinesderty said:
Hahaha! The kid is 14 years old. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't start shaving yet and you're telling him to worry about getting into medical school and to not enjoy life? "Jelous"? I'm not applying until June, but I'm solid applicant and when I was 14 years old, I wanted to be a garbageman! Didn't you make a post asking if you should start studying for the MCATs two years in advance? That gunner attitude you're preaching to this kid will either lead to: a) burning out or b) becoming a massive tool which no med schools need.
BTW, not one of those schools you listed has a BS/MD program.
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MiturBinesderty said:
Jerks? At 14 years old, you shouldn't even be thinking about which med school to go to. As I said before, you still have another 6-8 years left before you start applying. I haven't even applied yet so you argument of not getting in is invalid for those who haven't applied. To the OP, look into BS/MD programs. But remember, you still have 4 years before you graduate high school. When you take the ACT, make sure to do well on it, and maintain a high GPA in high school. Do some volunteer work. That way you can get into a BS/MD program.
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I heard that WashU does and then Penn is thinking about getting one soon.Will Ferrell said:
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Well... When I first looked at this board... I was 12 years old in 7th grade and talked on its chat box thing it used to have lol... that was about 5 and half years ago and now I'm a 17 yrs old and a Junior in highschool... I live in Southeast Texas and plan on attending either Baylor or UT-Austin in the fall of 2007...
If I was your age and could go back in time I'd definetly try my hardest at the very beginning of higschool... hopefully your not in higschool yet and your in middle school... regardless of what teachers tell you... middle school is completely pointless and grades dont mean ****... Now, like I said, the SECOND highschool starts I'd try my ass off if I were you... Every little stupid thing counts and it WILL stick with you all the way through... try getting into AP classes and lots of EC's (extracurriculars) like key club, french or spanish club, and others that you have to apply into like HOSA (which is bad ass on college apps. because of alllll the volunteer hours) and Honors Society (looks good on all college apps.)...
Take me for example... My freshmen year of highschool I completely blew off everything bc I thought it was cool to not do any work or anything and I was definetly hangin with the wrong crowd... I ended my fresh/ year with a 3.15 GPA which sucks bad... I'm now in the middle of my Junior year with only a 3.5 which is also terrible ALL because my freshmen year was sooo bad... Now, I cant get into honor society because my GPA is too low... Luckily I got into HOSA (our school starts Junior year) because When I applied I had to go through an interview and write a paper... they looked at the person at a whole and what was there cause for wanting to be apart of the medical profession... I got lucky...
But anyways... Just try as hard as you can and still have fun at the same time... Meet new people, play sports, and stand up for what you believe... To get into a great med school you dont need to go to an Ivy league college like Yale or Harvard... Go where you think you best fit in and can concentrate the best on your college work... I know what it's like to be the age you are and wanting to be a doctor... feel free to PM (private message) me anytime you want and I'll try to answer your questions the best way possible... My e-mail is [email protected], you can try that if you want also... Don't get into too much trouble... peace
If I was your age and could go back in time I'd definetly try my hardest at the very beginning of higschool... hopefully your not in higschool yet and your in middle school... regardless of what teachers tell you... middle school is completely pointless and grades dont mean ****... Now, like I said, the SECOND highschool starts I'd try my ass off if I were you... Every little stupid thing counts and it WILL stick with you all the way through... try getting into AP classes and lots of EC's (extracurriculars) like key club, french or spanish club, and others that you have to apply into like HOSA (which is bad ass on college apps. because of alllll the volunteer hours) and Honors Society (looks good on all college apps.)...
Take me for example... My freshmen year of highschool I completely blew off everything bc I thought it was cool to not do any work or anything and I was definetly hangin with the wrong crowd... I ended my fresh/ year with a 3.15 GPA which sucks bad... I'm now in the middle of my Junior year with only a 3.5 which is also terrible ALL because my freshmen year was sooo bad... Now, I cant get into honor society because my GPA is too low... Luckily I got into HOSA (our school starts Junior year) because When I applied I had to go through an interview and write a paper... they looked at the person at a whole and what was there cause for wanting to be apart of the medical profession... I got lucky...
But anyways... Just try as hard as you can and still have fun at the same time... Meet new people, play sports, and stand up for what you believe... To get into a great med school you dont need to go to an Ivy league college like Yale or Harvard... Go where you think you best fit in and can concentrate the best on your college work... I know what it's like to be the age you are and wanting to be a doctor... feel free to PM (private message) me anytime you want and I'll try to answer your questions the best way possible... My e-mail is [email protected], you can try that if you want also... Don't get into too much trouble... peace
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You should definitely try hard in high school, but not just because you're thinking of going to medical school. You should try hard because it will get you into a good college and increase your chances of doing well in whatever you want to do, even if it's not medicine.
That said, you can succeed academically in high school without becoming a tool or totally giving up your social life. Play sports, join the band, honor societies, chess club, whatever floats your boat. You don't need to worry about shadowing doctors and crap in your free time in high school. A) That young you are probably going to miss out on the significance of some of your experiences, and B) medical schools don't really care what you did in high school.
High school should be about preparing for college. College should be about preparing for medical school, if that's what you feel drawn to. And you should DEFINITELY have fun at ALL POINTS along the way.
And stay away from SDN!!! Save yourself!!!
That said, you can succeed academically in high school without becoming a tool or totally giving up your social life. Play sports, join the band, honor societies, chess club, whatever floats your boat. You don't need to worry about shadowing doctors and crap in your free time in high school. A) That young you are probably going to miss out on the significance of some of your experiences, and B) medical schools don't really care what you did in high school.
High school should be about preparing for college. College should be about preparing for medical school, if that's what you feel drawn to. And you should DEFINITELY have fun at ALL POINTS along the way.
And stay away from SDN!!! Save yourself!!!
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WholeLottaGame7 said:
It should be noted that some of us didn't even start preparing for med school until well after college. Certainly no reason to consider it in high school. It is a long highway with many exits to the same place.
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nrut88 said:
Since you're in high school, I would suggest that you try harder at your writing. You'll need those skills in college.
If I were your age and could go back in time, I'd definitely try my hardest at the very beginning of high school. Hopefully, you're not in high school yet and you're in middle school.
