Medical school 101?

[pakbabydoll]

This is all the information I have so far!

1) Major is what ever you like and keep your GPA above 3.6
2) Take MCATS and apply after your junior year
3) Meet requirements 2 semesters in biology, 2 semesters in chemistry, 2 semesters in physics, 2 semesters in organic chemistry, 2 semesters in English and 2 semesters of college level math ( cal 1&2 recommended)
4) Volunteer and patient contact. ( would volunteering at a hospital in ER and SICU count and satisfy that requirement? also having a job as pharmacy tech at the same hospital?)
5) Research? I am still at a CC so I don't know much about that.
6) letters of recommendation from science teachers
7) Clinical activity? now I don't understand this part.
8) essays
9) personal statement ( what would people write?)
10) if you went to CC like me then take upper level science classes at a university or be ready to explain. but I called the medical school I want to go to and the adviser there said as long as you take upper level science classes at a university it should be fine. As a science major thats the plan.


Anything else? What else is there to do?

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[007xx]

My pre-med advisor told me to ensure that O. Chem was taken at a major university. As far as the other pre-reqs, I think it's OK to take them at a community college, especially calculus.

Are you a non-traditional applicant?

 

[pakbabydoll]

what is a non traditional applicant?
I thought those were who were going back to school after a while but I just graduated from high school. c/o 2007

 

[TheRealMD]

what is a non traditional applicant?
I thought those were who were going back to school after a while but I just graduated from high school. c/o 2007

Come back in 3 years.

 

[foreverLaur]

take organic chemistry at your university and not in the summer unless you are taking a full course load. i'd recommend doing the same for the rest of the prerequistes.

secondly, i'd recommend taking biochem as an increasing number of schools are requiring and it and those that don't recommend it.

if your university has a medical school, i'd take anatomy. if not, i would either not take it or take it at a school with a med school (otherwise, i've heard scary stories about what they teach in "anatomy")

i'd also look into taking physiology.

any idea what you will major in? most people major in the sciences because it is just easier - you get all the prerequisites incorporated into your major and get all the upper division science in there too.

i'd take calc I for sure if it won't kill your GPA (and more schools are requiring it) but nobody requires Calc II so I wouldn't take it unless (1) it is requried or (2) you are at a quarter school because one quarter or calculus only covers half of what a semester of calc I does - at least that is what i found when i took calc I at a semester school and transferred to a quarter school.

 

[OCallag]

Try to take pre-reqs at a university. Wouldn't hurt to take a semester of stat if you can fit it in , but very few school actually require it. Do EC's that you like and stay committed to for a while - they look better than piddling in this and that. I don't know if pharmacy tech would exactly be clinical experience (I'm not sure about patient exposure with it), but the ER would be a great place to find out if medicine's for you and demonstrate to med schools you know what you're getting into. For a lot of places you'll need letters of rec from two science profs, but get a letter from your school's premed committee/advisor, as well. Also wouldn't hurt to get one from an employer or volunteer supervisor and from a non-science professor. Good to start looking into these now since you don't want to wait until you're applying and scrambling to find anwhere from 2-5 writers. Research isn't required and, unless you have a strong desire to do some or have a hankering to go to a med school that's really big into research, go volunteer in a clinic or non-medical setting instead. With the personal statement, write why you want to be a doctor. Simple as that.

 

[riversoul]

This is all the information I have so far!

1) Major is what ever you like and keep your GPA above 3.6
2) Take MCATS and apply after your junior year
3) Meet requirements 2 semesters in biology, 2 semesters in chemistry, 2 semesters in physics, 2 semesters in organic chemistry, 2 semesters in English and 2 semesters of college level math ( cal 1&2 recommended)
4) Volunteer and patient contact. ( would volunteering at a hospital in ER and SICU count and satisfy that requirement? also having a job as pharmacy tech at the same hospital?)
5) Research? I am still at a CC so I don't know much about that.
6) letters of recommendation from science teachers
7) Clinical activity? now I don't understand this part.
8) essays
9) personal statement ( what would people write?)
10) if you went to CC like me then take upper level science classes at a university or be ready to explain. but I called the medical school I want to go to and the adviser there said as long as you take upper level science classes at a university it should be fine. As a science major thats the plan.


Anything else? What else is there to do?

"1) Major is what ever you like and keep your GPA above 3.6 "

try to shoot for a science GPA that is above 3.6 by application time

"2) Take MCATS and apply after your junior year"

- this is correct if you plan on going straight into med school. from talking to several MS1's who went straight in however, they regretted it and wish they had taken at least a year off after graduating from undergrad to travel, relax, etc. this is what i'm doing, although i'm still working at my doc's office as well as my research lab.

i would also recommend taking the MCAT at least 2 months before June, that way you'll have MCAT scores all ready to go so you can apply EARLY and get your AMCAS verified by mid-late june. this way, you'll beat the app rush that usually occurs in July and don't have to wait so long to get verified and get secondaries.

"6) letters of recommendation from science teachers"

you'll probably need a LOR from a non-science prof as well as someone from your clinical experience (i.e. physician you shadowed/ worked for). i believe rosalind franklin requires a "work" LOR. a total of 5-6 LORs is a good number: 2 science, 1 non-science, 1 clinical, 1 research, 1 other.

"7) Clinical activity? now I don't understand this part."

clinical experience, like volunteering as you mentioned, or shadowing/working for a physician. really helps with the personal statement (which essentially asks "why medicine?") and also with some secondary questions regarding your specific interest in medicine and what experiences influenced your decision to become a physician, and not some other profession in the health field.

one OTHER thing:
you'll probably want to be solidly involved in EC's, i.e. stay committed to them for a prolonged period and be actively-involved. becoming a club officer/pres, hobbies (dancing, sports, etc. - yes, these are asked about in the AMCAS as well as some secondaries), studying abroad, are some EC's that come to mind.

g/l

 

[DeadCactus]

take organic chemistry at your university and not in the summer unless you are taking a full course load.

Is taking it during the summer looked down upon?

 

[OCallag]

Is taking it during the summer looked down upon?

Most say yes, but I'd look at the trade-off between taking it during the summer and during the fall and spring. At my undergrad, orgo was ridiculously difficult during the year but easy during the summer (of course, I figured this out after taking it during the regular year). So while it looks a little bad to take it during the summer, you need to consider how difficult it would be to take it during the school year.

If it's going to be a bad semester anyway and you foresee yourself sacrificing orgo time to other things (and, consequently, getting a bad grade), then you might want to take it during the summer to ensure you get that really good grade.

 

[barto123]

This is all the information I have so far!

2) Take MCATS and apply after your junior year
Anything else? What else is there to do?

It's not The MCATS, it's The MCAT! I get annoyed when people call it that, sorry don't know why.

You'll make a fine uptight and overachieving Pre-Med student. You've barely started college and you're already concerned with you personal statement.

 

[pakbabydoll]

You'll make a fine uptight and overachieving Pre-Med student. You've barely started college and you're already concerned with you personal statement.

I have to be. If I had known what I wanted to do in 9th and 10th grade then I would have studied harder in high school and gotten a 100% scholarship instead of a 75% scholarship then I would not have had to go to a CC. I would have gone directly to a 4 year university. I got accepted at UCF and UNF but I could not go because of financial trouble.

There is no way I am going to mess this up.

 

[diosa428]

Is taking it during the summer looked down upon?

I took it over the summer. It was easier than taking it during the year, both because it was so face paced that you couldn't forget anything that you had learned, and because they just couldn't fit as much material into the course as they would during the regular year. Plus, I took it at a university that was notoriously easier than my school, and my class was filled with a bunch of students who had already failed the course once. I got an A for both Orgo I and II, and no one really seemed to care where I had taken it or why I took it over the summer.

 

[diosa428]

I have to be. If I had known what I wanted to do in 9th and 10th grade then I would have studied harder in high school and gotten a 100% scholarship instead of a 75% scholarship then I would not have had to go to a CC. I would have gone directly to a 4 year university. I got accepted at UCF and UNF but I could not go because of financial trouble.

There is no way I am going to mess this up.

Some schools won't accept pre-reqs from a community college, and I don't really think it looks good if ALL of your pre-reqs are taken at community college, unless when you transfer to a university, you take a bunch of upper level science courses to prove you can handle science courses at the university level. I would look into this more before you plan your schedule at the community college.

 

[neuro1617]

I took it over the summer. It was easier than taking it during the year, both because it was so face paced that you couldn't forget anything that you had learned, and because they just couldn't fit as much material into the course as they would during the regular year. Plus, I took it at a university that was notoriously easier than my school, and my class was filled with a bunch of students who had already failed the course once. I got an A for both Orgo I and II, and no one really seemed to care where I had taken it or why I took it over the summer.

I also took organic 2 over the summer & it was easier, I thought, b/c it was so fast-paced and hard to forget stuff. But this class covered the exact same material covered during the regular year so nothing was left out. And I did worse in organic 2 than 1 b/c it was at a different university (and the class was notoriously difficult) than where I had organic 1. Did a lot of self-teaching...