My Situation for Postbac and After

[AlphaKi]

Hello everybody. Here is my situation. I entered the University of Illinois with a fairly weak high school science and math background. For example, I never took Pre-Calc until my junior year in COLLEGE. Now after my third year I have finally completed Calculus I. I am a Psychology major and have done well in all of my classes except Economics ( C+ ). Everything else has been above that. I have a 3.528 GPA so far. I also did not test into General Chemistry but Intro but Intro was not offered for the spring and so I had to take it this summer. As you can see I'm behind. I read on-line looking for hope and stumbled on postbac programs. I learned really fast about all of them, the different kinds ( special masters, traditonal 2 year, special 1 year with general chem over summer, underrep min and underpriv pref, if you'e applied and had a bad mcat core and so didn't get in etc ).

I plan on taking General Chemistry this next year and so I will finish it off and do 2 semesters of postbac before I take the MCAT. But, I will do a lot of hours in both years and so I feel 2 years of solid work should be fine. I plan on being a Psychiatrist and got interested in the field after taking Abnormal Psych and Physiology. I not only got As in both classes, but I aced Abnormal ( 99.4% ) and got 100% on the Autonomic Nervous system dominated exam ( 100% ) in Physio and that was basically all Psychiatric material both. So, I feel that this is an area I feel very comfortable in. I will volunteer this year as well and plan on taking Physics I, II; Organic I, II; Biochem and Bio I, II all in Postbac.

I feel I will be alright except I took REALLY light courseloads my 1st two years, again because I had a weak high school background and didn't feel comfortable. ( average of 13 hours for each semester first 2 years ) My junior year was heavier but still fairly light, only 15 and 14 hours each semester. Now in the fall I will take 18 hours and the spring looks like 16 hours. I plan on doing enough science classwork to be around 16 or 17 hours each semester in Post Bac.

I belong to some extracurricular activities and hold a leadership role in only one of them though Lord knows I have tried

Still, I just wanted to tell me a little bit and see if anyone can give me some helpful advice? I already have started to pickup MCAT verbal books ( though not entire MCAT prep books ) so I can ace verbal ( generally not a solid section for me though on the SAT I did extremely well on Reading Comp only missing a few questions ).

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[pyau03]

Don't worry about getting behind. Your current GPA is decent and you still have time to pull it up in the post-bac program. Just focus on your school work and do some EC (something that interests you that you feel passionate about, not merely an account of the # of hrs. you have invested) along the side. Remember that your numbers are what the adcoms see and they make the first cut for interviews based on that. You may get to explain your Pre-Cal and Econ grades then (oddly enough, I am an Econ major). Don't overload yourself with credits, what matters most importantly to med schools is you do well in whichever discipline you choose. As for your interests in psychiatry, I think you might need a little more hands on experience besides doing well in those related classes. Perhaps you might volunteer in the psych. clinic of a hospital. Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps! Good luck!

 

[AlphaKi]

Thanks!

I signed up to volunteer at the local hospital for general therapy but I am trying to get into a Behavioral Medicine volunteer rotation at a hospital 10 minutes away from my dorm. I went and spent two days ( not overnight ) at a mental hospital seeing the general condition and talking to Psychiatrists. I want to shadow a Psychiatrist sometime soon because I feel that will give me a better understanding of what to expect.

As for loads and grades yes I agree. But, my sister who has friends in medical school stated that medical schools are not impressed with lighter courseloads and good grades than heavier courseloads and the same grades.

I will try and hold more leadership positions.

Thanks for the advice!

AlphaKi

 

[pyau03]

Forgot to mention that you should study hard to ace the MCAT! Good luck!