Please let me know if this irregular pre-med plan is good or a pipedream.

[Maleficient]

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Hi everyone,

So I recently graduated UG with plans to go to law school or work on community advocacy, but after getting a job at a large litigation firm I'm having second thoughts.

Looking back on my UG career I started to realize that I didn't really enjoy my politics courses and spent most of my personal time reading up on nutrition, dermatology, biology and other scientific topics but every time I wanted to add a more difficult science course I was dissuaded by advisers because of the risks it posed to my LSAC GPA.

So now I have a 3.9 GPA and strong non-science EC's and LoR's but virtually no science background. I want to explore medicine (dermatology or neurology in particular, though I know those are the most competitive) but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I go back to university to get those pre-req credits as non-degree seeking I will not be eligible for financial aid and if I go back as degree-seeking I will have to take classes not necessary to med school admissions in order to qualify to take classes that are.

Before making this $15,000 investment I thought it would be a good idea to spend a year working full time and studying for the MCAT to see if I would even have the chops to handle the science classes/medical school in the first place. I thought I'd teach myself and practice test and depending on those scores even take the real MCAT and then decide whether or not to take that UG gamble from there. If I do go back, I plan to go hard and pay out of pocket so I can quit my job and spend my spare time working on research and shadowing physicians.

What do you guys think? Anyone else ever find themselves in this situation?

I appreciate all your help!

 

[Mosa]

Just be mindful that different med schools only accept MCAT scores taken within a certain number of years. It varies so maybe take aamc practice tests to gauge yourself instead of the real deal before you do your UG science courses. Also, med schools see all of your MCAT attempts so if you take it before your UG classes and score say a 27 but then you gain a lot of science background necessary and score a 38 the second time taking the MCAT, that 27 will still be visible to med schools and may weigh you down.

 

[LizzyM]

There are formal post-bacc programs that will provide financial aid (loans) to students doing the pre-med required courses. The best of them also help you find a research lab and clinical volunteer experiences as well as writing very strong letters of recommendation that basically tell your whole life story and why medicine. I 😍 seeing these applicants.

Do not take the MCAT without having taken the pre-reqs and multiple practice tests. A bad MCAT score will haunt you! Don't take the chance.

 

[FSU2013]

A few things. Very few, if any, people will do well on the MCAT without taking the prerequisites. Its not particularly hard, but if you have no real science exposure, it would be exceedingly difficult for you to get a reasonably competitive score. There is really no reason to even consider taking it become you have most, if not all, prerequisites done.

Neurology isn't competitive.

The marginal utility of another bachelors is almost nil. Figure out what financially makes sense for you, then do that. If you decide medicine, it would probably be worth going straight through on your own dime to expedite the decade long process that is medical training.

Probably the most important thing to do is simply decide if you want to be a doctor. There are countless medical careers that you might enjoy - none of which require the training, work load, financial burden stress or intellect that getting an !D requires. Its along road ahead and you need to be sure. Getting some first hand experience is a good place to start.

Enjoying learning about something and the practical aspects of a field are drastically different. I LOVE physics. I went to med school planning on going into radonc. It wasn't until near the end of my third year when I came to grips with the fact that I absolutely hate clinic. I think cancer and treatment modalities are exceedingly interesting, but that won't make me enjoy getting up everyday. I liked surgery and I love the brain, but I wouldn't be caught dead in a neurosurgery residency - I value time with my wife too much. There are a ton of things important in picking a field, but you don't need to worry about that yet.

Also worth noting, you go to med school to be a doctor, not a particular type of doctor. I thought I'd go into radonc, but I wanted to be a doctor first. If you go to med school saying "I want to be a dermatologist" then dont like derm, you will be very seriously disappointed. If you decide to become a physician, potentially a dermatologist or neurologist,

So long story short, there is a reason most nonscience ,majors go through the typical couple year post-bac while doing something that gets you real clinical experience (potentially while working to pay the bills) then take the MCAT. Good luck.

 

[McPhee]

Do not take the MCAT without having taken the pre-reqs and multiple practice tests.

Agreed. You don't have to go crazy with biochem, immunology, physiology, etc., but you at a bare minimum need a strong science foundation, which the pre-reqs provide you.

 

[mimelim]

. I 😍 seeing these applicants.

I do too. Prefer them to stock pre-meds any day of the week.

 

[darkjedi]

Pick up a ton of medically related EC's/shadowing/volunteering positions. You're a shoo-in for a formal post bac program provided you have good SAT scores. While you may very well be able to take your pre-reqs at a local university, formal post-bacs let you do them all in a year and have an unparalleled support system in place. You can also look into something called "linking" which allows you to skip an extra year that most people would take in order to apply for med school. Linking lets you go straight from the one year postbac into med school, but only some formal postbacs have this program in place. Downside is that these programs tend to be costly compared to state universities, however I believe the advising and support network is well worth the cost, especially considering the fact that med school is going to cost at least 250k total anyway.