Pre-Med Myths

[Noctrine]

This letter

http://questscholars.stanford.edu/activities/professional/pre-med_letter/premed_myths_download.shtml

was written by Dr. Michael McCullough who created the Quest Scholars Program at Stanford. I found it useful and am curious to see what y'all think.

-Noctrine

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[xaelia]

One note I particularly agree with is the "you don't need to take the intro science pre-med track" to satisfy the pre-med requirements. For many pre-meds who took AP track courses in high school, the introductory college courses are going to be mind-numbing repetition - a waste of your time, and it'll be far more difficult to force yourself to rake yourself over the same coals over again in order to study the minutae needed to get an A.

And, what's the deal with the curious hyphenation in the HTML version?

 

[Street Philosopher]

dude check out that guy's CV. farking amazing!

 

[Gleevec]

I dont really buy the MCAT is a threshold test. The MCAT from what Ive heard on SDN and from my advisor is like the SAT. True, it doesnt predict how good a doctor you are (it just correlates to first year med performance and USMLE scores), but the SAT correlates with 1st year GPA also, and it is considered extremely important.

I like the rest of his piece though, I just think he sounds too happy-go-lucky about GPA + MCAT.

 

[Street Philosopher]

i think his point is that mcats are considered in categories, such as 36+ / 33+ / 30+, etc, rather than 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40...

once you hit the highest threshold, let's say 36+ or maybe even higher than that for MSTP or whatever, it becomes essentially no diff than a 37 38 39 40 41...

of course there might be a second highest threshold maybe at 33 so that 34 35 would be considered equally... etc

 

[conure]

I think it is all really good advice and pretty much sums up what a lot of people try to say here on SDN. In fact I think you could make this thing the FAQ for the site.

I particularly like the myth about "bad grades make me a bad person, good grades make me a good person". I am guilty of needing a succesful grade fix every now and then, but when it is the only thing that satisfies then there is a problem.

 

[Noctrine]

I would also like this to become "standard information" for premeds (because I've found it so helpful), and emailed Dr. McCullough to see if he'd be ok with it being posted or at least a link to it being posted "permanently" in the FAQ here.

Originally posted by conure
I think it is all really good advice and pretty much sums up what a lot of people try to say here on SDN. In fact I think you could make this thing the FAQ for the site.

I particularly like the myth about "bad grades make me a bad person, good grades make me a good person". I am guilty of needing a succesful grade fix every now and then, but when it is the only thing that satisfies then there is a problem.

 

[agent]

Myth #12.

If I don?t go straight through college I will appear weak to medi_cal schools.

False. Very false. If you take time off you will likely even appear more well-rounded to the nation?s top-flight medical schools. Students with some life experience often work better with patients. Medical schools know this and very often even prefer mature students with more life experience. Life experience also makes you a more interesting applicant.

This is my favorite

 

[Adcadet]

Myth #12.

If I don?t go straight through college I will appear weak to medical schools.

False. Very false. If you are human you already appear weak to medical schools.

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
i think his point is that mcats are considered in categories, such as 36+ / 33+ / 30+, etc, rather than 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40...

once you hit the highest threshold, let's say 36+ or maybe even higher than that for MSTP or whatever, it becomes essentially no diff than a 37 38 39 40 41...

of course there might be a second highest threshold maybe at 33 so that 34 35 would be considered equally... etc

Ah ok, thanks for clarifying. I thought they meant: anyone above a 34 is good.

 

[mvervaine]

man. break me off a piece of his resume...

 

[STi555]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
i think his point is that mcats are considered in categories, such as 36+ / 33+ / 30+, etc, rather than 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40...

once you hit the highest threshold, let's say 36+ or maybe even higher than that for MSTP or whatever, it becomes essentially no diff than a 37 38 39 40 41...

of course there might be a second highest threshold maybe at 33 so that 34 35 would be considered equally... etc

Well I saw a post a few months ago that had the number of people applying with a certain score and the number accepted. All the applicants above 40 got in and nearly all the 39s. The percentages then decreased down the line so I don't think that most medical schools group the scores into categories. This would also seem a bit unfair because a single point difference could bump you to another category. However, I wouldn't worry about this too much as we all do the best on the MCAT that we can.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Originally posted by STi555
I wouldn't worry about this too much as we all do the best on the MCAT that we can.

exactomundo

 

[Saluki]

I thought his essay was awesome... If only I had some awesome story to share, maybe I could pretend I had serious medical problems when I was younger..... Only joking.... But seriously, his essay is downright inspiring. No wonder he got in where he wanted to. My only serious medical problem was having to wear one of those braces because I was born with my legs too loose in my hip sockets. Have you ever seen them. It's a metal thing that goes all the way up your leg and then like a plastic part up near your butt. Incredibly ugly and not extremely comfortable. If any of you guys are going into orthopedics, set your sights on making something better!