One Confused Undergrad Sophomore!

[mystic river 00]

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Well, I think I've considered just about every possible field out there before considering medicine. And, strangely enough now, I can't think of any other area of work that I would want to be in. So, I know (99.3%) that I want to go into medicine. Now, I dont know whether to be a physician, or a PA, in pediatrics, neonatology, family practice. Oh yea, and I've also considered a physical therapist.

Here are my current stats:
Undergrad Sophomore at a mediocre college. I'm planning to try to get into UNC and then go from there. My GPA is about a 3.45 ((b/c of the C in calculus, therefore, I'm taking another calculus to prove that I can do better than that. Do med schools concentrate on math grades as much as science?)) I've volunteered at an adult day care and a literacy council. But, I really want to get more experience directly with medicine..perhaps do lab work or work in a hospital. Is there something I could volunteer or work as....that would not need any or very little training? (I live in Southeastern NC) Some things Im also considering are going into the peace or ameri corps before med school. Does anyone think that this would hurt or help my admissions into med school? Additionallllly, I'm freaking out because I wonder if I would do well on the MCAT. I know that there is a verbal and math part on there and I got only a 1060 on my SAT (440=verbal ). Anywho, can anyone suggest specific volunteer jobs that would be good to involve myself in? Gosh, I have sooo many questions/concerns..please help me! Does anyone go to UNC or is an alumni of UNC (esp. with the med school??)
Advice, secrets, hints, comments, suggestions, blabbering appreciated. And, my screen name is Mystic River 000. IM sometime regarding medicine!! 😛

-Confused Girl

 

[mystic river 00]

Telling me what your experiences were in preparation for medicine might help me out a lot also!! 🙂

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

Hello, welcome to SDN!

Firstly, I would advise you to contact some local physicians to see if they would allow you to shadow them. This will allow you to get some firsthand experience in the medical field. If YOUR doctor practices in your area, that would be a good place to start. Lab jobs and other volunteer work are good, but they don't necessarily give you a lot of information about clinical medicine.

Secondly, ponder long and hard before deciding which career to pursue. Medicine involves years and years of training - a lot of personal sacrifice is necessary. It is hard to balance your life while becoming a doctor. Many people have to delay things like starting a family and living an otherwise normal life until much later than their freinds. It is very difficult and time consuming - far beyond the MCAT and pre-med years. It is also vital to acknowlege just how much politics surrounds medicine.

But there are also many advantages to medicine. You get to help people, talk to them and their families, and learn new things every day. There is a lot of flexibility - the various specialties allow you to choose a career that suits you. And, naturally, the salary is generally rewarding.

As far as being a PA is concerned: It is a fun field that has many of the advantages of medicine with few of the drawbacks. Of course, PA's aren't doctors, but they have an increasing amount of autonomy these days. Maybe you should try to find some PAs willing to discuss their career with you.

Don't worry about the MCAT. If you do well in your pre-med requirements you'll have a good shot at the MCAT. It just requires some extra preparation and practice. (BTW - there is little math on the MCAT).

 

[bigbassinbob]

Well, I think I've considered just about every possible field out there before considering medicine. And, strangely enough now, I can't think of any other area of work that I would want to be in. So, I know (99.3%) that I want to go into medicine. Now, I dont know whether to be a physician, or a PA, in pediatrics, neonatology, family practice. Oh yea, and I've also considered a physical therapist.

Here are my current stats:
Undergrad Sophomore at a mediocre college. I'm planning to try to get into UNC and then go from there. My GPA is about a 3.45 ((b/c of the C in calculus, therefore, I'm taking another calculus to prove that I can do better than that. Do med schools concentrate on math grades as much as science?)) I've volunteered at an adult day care and a literacy council. But, I really want to get more experience directly with medicine..perhaps do lab work or work in a hospital. Is there something I could volunteer or work as....that would not need any or very little training? (I live in Southeastern NC) Some things Im also considering are going into the peace or ameri corps before med school. Does anyone think that this would hurt or help my admissions into med school? Additionallllly, I'm freaking out because I wonder if I would do well on the MCAT. I know that there is a verbal and math part on there and I got only a 1060 on my SAT (440=verbal ). Anywho, can anyone suggest specific volunteer jobs that would be good to involve myself in? Gosh, I have sooo many questions/concerns..please help me! Does anyone go to UNC or is an alumni of UNC (esp. with the med school??)
Advice, secrets, hints, comments, suggestions, blabbering appreciated. And, my screen name is Mystic River 000. IM sometime regarding medicine!! 😛

-Confused Girl

Are you by chance a student at UNC-W? That's where I just graduated from, and if that's where you are, I could give you all kinds of advice.

 

[mystic river 00]

yes, I do attend uncw 🙂

more responses please 😕

 

[bigbassinbob]

First of all, if you havn't already, you should talk to Dr. Tim Ballard in the biology department. He's an excellent pre-med advisor, and a really nice guy you may even want to write a recommendation for you in the future. He'll also tell you about the pre-med club, which is very helpful in the application process.

I'll tell you my stats and experiences just so you get a feel for what some other pre-meds at the same school as you are doing. I applied last year with a 3.85 GPA (4.0 the last 2 years), and I got a 30 on the MCAT (9P, 10V, 11B). I was a member of the pre-med club, biology club, and several honor societies. I had spent the summer after my sophomore year volunteering in a physical therapy clinic (lots of direct patient contact) up in Raleigh, and I volunteered for 6 months in the emergency room at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Also, I did a semester research project under Dr. Sizemore for microbiology. Although I ended up on several waitlists, I wasn't accepted anywhere. Over the summer I met with Dr. Peden, the admissions director at ECU, and he told me what I really needed was a combination of direct exposure to the area of medicine I was interested in, and non-medical volunteer work. So right now I'm volunteering in Habitat for Humanity, and I'm going up to Chapel Hill in a few weeks to spend some time with an internist.

From my experience, here's what I think you should be doing: Since you already have a good amount of non-medical volunteer work, you should try to volunteer at New Hanover hospital. It requires only that you go to a class to listen to a presentation about volunteering, then you can start immediately. Try to shadow a physician as well. You should do medically-related stuff for at least six months to show you're interested in it. Or, if you stay at UNC-W, they have an internship available with Dr. Steinkrauss (not sure of spelling), who works in the labs at the hospital. I would have done this myself but I didn't know about it until after I graduated. Other than that, there's not too much medically-related lab work you can do around Wilmington.

Your grades are OK, but you should try to pull them up a bit. Since you're only a sophomore, you have plenty of time to do this, and med schools always look for an upward trend in grades. What's your major? Whatever it is, make sure your grades are very strong in it. As for your question about math and science grades, math grades are counted as science grades on your med school applications. They average all your grades in biology, chemistry, math, and physics to give you a science GPA, then all the rest of your grades to count for your non-science GPA. Science GPA is obviously more important, so try to pull up your C in math. Was your C in calculus in Math 151? If it was, then I strongly recommend you don't take Math 152 without having a very good understanding of the material in 151, because the second half of it relies heavily on the first.

As for your score on the SAT, don't worry about it at all. I had an 1110 and a 2.8 GPA in high school, so your scores in high school really don't correlate to those in college. I had a similar score to you on verbal on the SAT, but still got a 10 on verbal reasoning on the MCAT.

If there's anything else you need to know, just ask, I'll be glad to help you out with it.