Questions from a Chem-Eng looking into pre-med...

[ToledoPike]

Hey everyone,

First off, I must say that over the past week or so I have been looking at these forums and they have provided a great amount of insight for me on pre-med and just a career in medicine in general and have helped clear my mind of a lot of different thoughts. With that said, I will get started with my question with a little background on me:

I am a 4th year Chemical Engineering major at the University of Toledo with a minor in chemistry and a 3.96 GPA. I also have work experience in this field with co-operative experiences at a large chemical engineering company over the summers that treats me very well. Aside from this, I am extremely involved on campus being President of the largest fraternity on campus for the 2nd time, being a director of the largest philanthropy on campus (dance marathon), and also being involved in many other great organizations and taking leadership roles.

Now, although that may have seemed like bragging please do not take it in that way. My life is great, but over the past year I have had my doubts about my future career. After starting at my company I quickly realized that chemical engineering is not the career path for myself and not something that I could envision doing for my entire life. There has always been a thought in my mind though about medicine and a career in this area, so here is my question.

After a great deal of thought I have decided to take the MCAT and apply to med. school. There are numerous reasons why, but the main question I have is in regards to advice you all may have in the steps I should take. I have taken my prereqs (thus far I have taken 1 year bio+lab, 3 years chem + labs, 2 years calc based physics, 2 years calc, and a lot more..) and am hoping to take the MCAT in August.

In preparing for the MCAT, I would like to hear what has worked best for you all and what review courses you would suggest. I have looked into TPR and it fits perfectly with my summer schedule, but I know that may not be enough. What is the best way to get started now when I have a busy schedule until mid april and what has worked best in those months of review that many of you have taken?

Also, just in looking to apply for med. school, what suggestions can you make for me to add onto what I do now? I have no research or shadowing of any sort and I know that is a weakness and I still have time to work on that (I graduate in Fall '08), but what would be an overall suggestion for someone like myself?

Any advice is appreciated and sorry if this was a drug on post

Thanks a ton!

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[spicedmanna]

I'll address the MCAT component of your post: for MCAT-related questions, you should check out the MCAT forum; there is lots of good advice there. For example, here is a thread on 30+ MCAT study habits:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=46880

On EC's: you already have a lot of good experiences and EC's. There are some additional things you might want to consider to strengthen your application further. Clinical experience, while not "required" as such, is almost an essential component of a good application. Try to find a way to get some direct contact with patients. Many people volunteer at a hospital or a free clinical in order to accomplish this. Furthermore, you may wish to talk with your FP, or other contacts, to arrange some shadowing experiences with attending physicians. Research experiences are good if you are interested in that kind of thing; some schools emphasize research more than others, and would thus like to see that you have some. Research the MSAR and/or the individual medical school to find out what focus the schools have.

 

[spicedmanna]

Duplicate thread in pre-allo:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=377494