Preparing for Medical School After Radiologic Technology BS

[CCarlson]

My name is Courtney. I started rad tech school in Fall 2017. Summer 2018, I realized, I wanted to do more and that my dreams were too small. I decided I wanted to become a doctor, but since I started x-ray school I had to finish it because I am not a quitter. I will graduate in August 2019 with my AS in Rad Tech and in May 2020 with my BS in Imaging Sciences. I will also be starting in August 2019 with my prerequisites for medical school. What advice do you guys have? Has anyone been through this process? I heard most medical schools don't care too much for allied health trying to become a doctor. What would you recommend I do to help me get accepted into medical school? Also, what tips do you have for studying for and taking the MCAT? Thanks for your help. I am really worried about going for x-ray to med school after the things I have heard, so I just need some guidance.

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[esob]

Medical schools care very little about what job you held prior to applying unless that job was something super interesting like the military or being a pro athlete, etc. Other than that, grades, mcat, and more mcat. Add a splash of EC's, and a couple more MCAT points and then watch the acceptances rain down from on high. 😀

Seriously though, getting in is 90% stats and 10% everything else.

 

[RNthenDoc]

I came from the nursing side, and *yes* your healthcare experience is very valuable, just not as much as a bystander would assume. My nursing experience was really only mentioned in one interview, where I was able to answer a “what would you do if XYZ” pointedly... because I had just done XYZ a few weeks prior. I think it can be a nice boon.

All that said, your GPA, MCAT, and extracurriculars are the biggest determinants to getting in. Do your utmost to get A’s and kill the MCAT! I was able to work while doing prerequisites, but it is not easy! Don’t underestimate the difficulty of some of those classes. It’s actually faster to take the classes slower and get A’s than it is to overload yourself initially and require retakes/more application cycles!

Don’t study for the MCAT much until you have taken the appropriate classes. If you’re a total go-getter I suppose you could look at the psych and CARS sections if you had downtime, but you have to maintain your sanity.