Misc. Undergrad advice requested please :D

[ssandedoc]

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Hey again all, I just had a few questions.


Ok right now I'm finishing up my second semester of my sophmore year. I'm retaking Organic I in the fall (got a B in the class but I didn't put enough study time in to really get what I needed out of it).

My first question is should I take a few classes this summer and try to do some volunteer work on the side? I already have over 500 hours at a local hospital.

My second question is how do I approach getting to know a DO? I really am intrigued in the profession, but somewhat shy about getting to know one. My mom works at a hospital and one of her friends said she would be happy to get one of her DO friends to talk to me.

Also, with my Junior year coming up, is there anything that I can be doing to better prepare me?

Thanks for the help!
Scott

 

[LVDoc]

First of all, do not consider retaking organic I if you already have a 'B' in the class; that is pointless - if you don't think you learned the material (obviously you did if you pulled a decent grade in the class), you can always review it before you start Organic II.

Don't do any more volunteering hours at the hospital; 500 is enough. You need to do some shadowing instead - most admissions committees look for signs that you have done this, because it provides you a direct experience in seeing what doctors do on a daily basis rather than acting as a candy striper.

If you have connections, definitely use them; your mom's friend would be the best source for this and you wouldn't have to go through all the hoops of searching around the hospital or looking up any DO's in your area to ask. Talk to the DO you are about to meet, get to know him/her well, show signs of interest in the profession, possibly ask if you could shadow him/her one of these fine days. If they see your interest, I think they would be reluctant to say no (especially since, this is, again, one of your mom's friend's friends...it may be a few degrees of separation, but s/he is not just a "complete stranger").

By the way, you have to relearn organic anyway (only a limited amount) for the MCAT, and most likely you will be using 'prep books,' so forget about retaking the class. I don't understand how your school will let you do that though. Here, no one in any major can repeat the class if they passed with a C or higher.

 

[ssandedoc]

Hey LVDoc,


I will be transferring from a community college to a 4 year school in the Fall. I was thinking about retaking Org I at the 4 year school. To be honest I should have gotten a C for Organic I, but I was right on the line. I mean I didn't do anything special and there was no rounding up to my knowledge at least I think my science department at comm. college doesn't round up. And the teacher was excellent in my Organic I class. The reason I want to retake it is because I just barely got through. I spent "some" time studying, but I had my step grandpa dieing and did die in a nursing home, and a lot of personal issues that were being dealt with during the time.

I just don't want to walk into the MCAT unprepared, and also I just don't want to struggle when I'm trying to prepare for it. I'm thinking of taking my first MCAT in April of 06, but I haven't studied yet or bought any of the testing preparations. And when I took the ACT my highest score was a 20. My current college GPA is a 3.52. Part of me feels like I know I can do this if I dig deep, but another part of me wonders if I really have what it takes.

 

[DOpride]

stop sweating the organic. You will be fine with the transfer B, just review a little before orgo 2. The MCAT only has limited orgo (trust me, it was my worst subject and I did fine) and prep books (I recommend examkrackers) will prepare you for that part of it. Try to do shadowing and maybe some research, rather than more volunteering. If you are going to do more volunteering, try to do it at a clinic or somewhere where you will get more hands on experience.

 

[ssandedoc]

Okay thanks DOPride for the advice. On the volunteering part, I currently volunteer 4 hours a week at the OKC National Memorial. I know its not clinical or hospital related, but I just do it for me. And that's one thing that bothers me is that in the fall my schedule might conflict with that.

Also for hospital experience, I'm currently working part time (16 hours on the weekends) at a local hospital in Materials Management. Its non-clinical but its been helpful and insightful.

Anyways thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[smc927]

You're on track. Relax about organic. Study hard in all of your classes. It'll all reprocess and reformulate in your mind as time passes anyway. You'll have to review it all for the MCAT. In my opinion retaking organic would be pointless. You'll see what you need to learn when you start preparing for the MCAT.

I recommend examkrackers books. They were very useful to me.

Transferring from community college to a major university should put more force behiind your educational accomplishment and help get accepted. Make sure you have some hard classes there. If you already have all your prerequisites at the community college and you transfer to a university and don't take more science there what's the point?

Don't worry about volunteering. Shadow. How? Ask. Just ask. "Hi, I'm going to apply to medical school. I want to be a D.O. Can I spend a few hours with you as you see patients?" If the doc says no, ask somebody else.

Good luck!

 

[deleted19731]

Hey ssandedoc, what Junior College do you go to? I also go to a junior college in OK and I am transfering to a 4 year soon.

 

[ssandedoc]

Hey RPW,


I guess I don't put what college I'm at and going to because of privacy, but I've mentioned it before in another post because someone asked, lol. Anyways I go to OKC Community College (Go pioneers! <cough> like anyone knew we had a mascot). Before this past month, while going to OKCCC I was going to transfer to OU and even used their course equivlancy table to guide me. But now my friend Daniel showed me his school in Chickasha, USAO and I really like it. Also they have a special transfer scholarship just for OKCCC students so I think I'm a good candidate to get it. Back to OU for a sec, I toured there while in high school but I think I wasn't ready to go onto a big university and it was a good thing I didn't because I think I would of been lost in the crowd. And 2 years later revisiting them, and looking at UCO, OBU and some out of state places I've figured out what I want out of a school. A good education, small class sizes, and a good experience. At OU, the majority of the science classes and other classes have around 100 plus people in the lecture class. How bad is it this? Probably not too bad since I don't ask questions a lot. But the idea of 100-225 people in 1 class is way too many people in my opinion. That's why OU has gone from #1 on my list to #2 or #3. USAO is really small, the drawback is that they offer only 1 section of most courses, which can conflict with other courses.

Anyways, I'll shut up now.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Hey again all, I just had a few questions.


Ok right now I'm finishing up my second semester of my sophmore year. I'm retaking Organic I in the fall (got a B in the class but I didn't put enough study time in to really get what I needed out of it).

My first question is should I take a few classes this summer and try to do some volunteer work on the side? I already have over 500 hours at a local hospital.

My second question is how do I approach getting to know a DO? I really am intrigued in the profession, but somewhat shy about getting to know one. My mom works at a hospital and one of her friends said she would be happy to get one of her DO friends to talk to me.

Also, with my Junior year coming up, is there anything that I can be doing to better prepare me?

Thanks for the help!
Scott

It would be a complete waste of time and money to retake a B. You should retake all D's & F's. If your GPA is extremely low, then consider retaking C's, as needed. Retaking a B is silly.

If you don't feel you learned the material, take a Princeton Review MCAT course (or Kaplan if Princeton is not available in your area.)

Continue with the volunteering, and follow around a specific physician. Get to know this physician, so he can write you a recommendation later.

By the way, I always took summer courses, and see no reason you should not do this. It can be very beneficial to you in the long run.

Good luck!