Questions from a high school senior

[Debacle20]

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Hello everyone, i'm new to this forum so forgive me for any questions I ask that seem mundane but i'm pretty nervous about my future as a chem major with a premed track. I will be attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall and I want to be able to graduate and attend a top 20 medical school hopefully. Here are some of my questions.

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

2. Should I look for research oppurtunities/volunteering as soon as I get to campus or start looking after my first year?

3. UCSB is on a trimester system, if I want to appeal to the top medical schools how should my schedule look in terms of science classes and should I go with 4 or 5 classes in my first year?

4. This may seem like a dumb question but UCSB is not widely regarded as a academic school, it has the reputation of a "party school." Will this affect me when applying to Med schools?

 

[armybound]

Welcome.

Your goal should be to do as well in your courses as possible. By doing this, you'll have a better shot at a 34+ on the MCAT, and a better chance at being successful in admissions. The school you go to won't matter at all (or very little) with a very strong GPA and good MCAT score.

Personally, I'd give myself a year to get used to college, which is vastly different from high school, before looking into doing other things like volunteering. If after a semester you're doing really well in your classes, you might look for a volunteer position on the weekend or join a couple of organizations at school. Don't ever let it interfere with your schoolwork, though.

Work hard and do well in your classes. Do extracurricular activities that interest you. Don't overload yourself trying to impress schools, as this usually stresses you out and results in poor grades. Above all else, have fun. College is a great time to meet lifelong friends.

 

[Debacle20]

Thanks for the response, I like that atleast for a semester I won't be stressing about research and volunteering but what about class scheduling? Should I go with the usual 5 classes seeing as UCSB is on a trimester system or should I go more so that I can finish my general ed requirements faster and get to the higher level science classes?

 

[armybound]

I'm not familiar with a trimester system, so I don't really know. In general I would say do whatever everybody else does. Don't overload yourself. There's no real advantage to hitting upper level courses faster. If you feel like it, summer classes might be a good option.

 

[roseglass6370]

Hello everyone, i'm new to this forum so forgive me for any questions I ask that seem mundane but i'm pretty nervous about my future as a chem major with a premed track. I will be attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall and I want to be able to graduate and attend a top 20 medical school hopefully. Here are some of my questions.

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

2. Should I look for research oppurtunities/volunteering as soon as I get to campus or start looking after my first year?

3. UCSB is on a trimester system, if I want to appeal to the top medical schools how should my schedule look in terms of science classes and should I go with 4 or 5 classes in my first year?

4. This may seem like a dumb question but UCSB is not widely regarded as a academic school, it has the reputation of a "party school." Will this affect me when applying to Med schools?

Hey!

Congrats on your acceptance and decision! 🙂 Here's my 2 cents...

1. Junior year. You don't even need to start thinking about the MCAT yet. The fact is, you'll have nothing to study for until you take the pre-reqs. Seriously.

2. Volunteer - first year but NOT first trimester.
Research - save it for later.

3. I have no idea. Talk to your advisor.

4. No.

Best of luck!

 

[cometstarg]

.

 

[christina30]

I'm also a high school senior and I'll be a biology major at The College of New Jersey next year. How much money does the full med school application process cost, including things like secondary application fees and travel costs if I were to apply to about 13 schools? Any ballpark estimates would be much appreciated.

Over $1000.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

If you haven't started studying for the MCAT, you've already failed.

 

[mubaby]

1. I also say Junior year (though I would start at the BEGINNING of junior year not midway through like me). However, I would suggest learning all the stuff in your intro sciences WELL so that you're only reviewing when it comes to the MCAT not relearning everything.

2. You should start looking now, but you don't actually have to do it until your second semester/second year. Give yourself time to adjust to college. If you think you've got a handle on it after the first few weeks, then go ahead and find something then. No point in waiting. You might need to have some basic sciences under your belt for research depending on the prof.

3. Is trimester like a fall, spring, summer semester set up? You should plan it so that by the end of your junior year, your premed prereqs are finished.

 

[Janieve]

Hello everyone, i'm new to this forum so forgive me for any questions I ask that seem mundane but i'm pretty nervous about my future as a chem major with a premed track. I will be attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall and I want to be able to graduate and attend a top 20 medical school hopefully. Here are some of my questions.

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

2. Should I look for research oppurtunities/volunteering as soon as I get to campus or start looking after my first year?

3. UCSB is on a trimester system, if I want to appeal to the top medical schools how should my schedule look in terms of science classes and should I go with 4 or 5 classes in my first year?

4. This may seem like a dumb question but UCSB is not widely regarded as a academic school, it has the reputation of a "party school." Will this affect me when applying to Med schools?

UC Santa Barbara? Nice. 👍

The only questions I'm going to answer, though, are 2 and 3.

2: It's great to get involved on your campus, but for the love of GOD, don't do it because you feel obligated to as a premed. Instead, just go for things you're interested in. If you're a closet journalist, see about joining the school paper. If you love politics, join a political debate group. You see an ad about something you've never even thought of - say, a free lesson in South Korean drumming - you go for it. You never know what's going to stick with you. Hell, I went to a random lecture from a congressman and walked out with a few new points of view to consider and a free messenger bag.

3: I happen to be at a school on the quarter system! My adviser told me when I arrived not to take excessive amounts of any one subject - be it English, science, what have you - until you're comfortable with the school. That might be after one term or it might be after one year. My advice on classes to take as a freshman is the same for every freshman, though, regardless of system: take whatever you never thought of taking.

Seriously. Don't burn yourself out on science, no matter how much you may like it. Take French or sociology, maybe gender studies. Who knows what you might come to love! Just pick at least one or two classes that you never would've thought to take. There is so much out there besides just premed requirements: art, political science, history, theater, nutrition, anthropology, international studies - take your pick! Sure, you may end up hating one or more - but it's better than waking up in a panic your sophomore year and realizing that you hate physics, you have to go to genetics class, and there's some super hot French girl your roommate wooed away just from knowing how to say she had pretty hair in her own language.

Oh, and condensed version of the rest of my speech: don't try to grow up too fast; do stupid things while you still can; date high schoolers until you get to college; take any and all opportunities; consider possible other tracks than just medicine.

Toodles!

 

[Debacle20]

Well I did some volunteering at a UCLA affiliated hospital earlier in my junior year of high school for about 80 hours where I pushed around patients and got to witness some doctors do some medical procedures like basic surgeries and cancer treatment, is that a good start? Also what is the ideal date to take the MCAT in your junior year? Would a summer sitting be too late?

 

[roseglass6370]

Well I did some volunteering at a UCLA affiliated hospital earlier in my junior year of high school for about 80 hours where I pushed around patients and got to witness some doctors do some medical procedures like basic surgeries and cancer treatment, is that a good start? Also what is the ideal date to take the MCAT in your junior year? Would a summer sitting be too late?

Admissions committees don't look at any ECs you did in high school. While, yes, that was a good experience, unfortunately it will count for nothing on your app.

Also, stop worrying about the MCAT. You don't even need to think about it yet. Cool down or you'll burn out before you even start college. Promise me?

 

[Debacle20]

I'll try but coming from a Indian family i've grown up my whole life with the idea of being a doctor, more specifically a surgeon drilled into my brain. I will look at other majors but my real goal right now is to end up at a Johns Hopkins or a Washington U so i'm trying to get everything planned out as early as possible as weird as that may be.

 

[obiwan]

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

how the heck does a high school student know that they want an MCAT score above 34 let alone how the MCAT is scored....

also, you're talking about some serious stiff competition if you want to go to a school like hopkins or washu so good luck

 

[roseglass6370]

I'll try but coming from a Indian family i've grown up my whole life with the idea of being a doctor, more specifically a surgeon drilled into my brain. I will look at other majors but my real goal right now is to end up at a Johns Hopkins or a Washington U so i'm trying to get everything planned out as early as possible as weird as that may be.

I understand. I know of people in similar positions. The most important thing, however, is to know how to prioritize and divide your goals. When you're an entering freshman your chief goal should be to do as well as you possibly can in your classes. Studying for the MCAT as a freshman is a fruitless task and a waste of time. The best way to "study for the MCAT" in your first year of undergrad, is to learn the material in your classes very well. Know the concepts not just the "how-to" of doing problems. This will come in handy later for "real studying."

 

[Hifey]

Hello everyone, i'm new to this forum so forgive me for any questions I ask that seem mundane but i'm pretty nervous about my future as a chem major with a premed track. I will be attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall and I want to be able to graduate and attend a top 20 medical school hopefully. Here are some of my questions.

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

2. Should I look for research oppurtunities/volunteering as soon as I get to campus or start looking after my first year?

3. UCSB is on a trimester system, if I want to appeal to the top medical schools how should my schedule look in terms of science classes and should I go with 4 or 5 classes in my first year?

4. This may seem like a dumb question but UCSB is not widely regarded as a academic school, it has the reputation of a "party school." Will this affect me when applying to Med schools?

Hello 🙂

1. You can't study for the MCAT until you have taken the pre-reqs. So please relax and enjoy yourself. What you can do, if you're super anal, is buy a general MCAT book (or beg it off someone) and just glance through it as you're going through the pre-reqs. that way you know what will be emphasized so you can try to get that to stick a little harder the first time around. Seriously though, do NOT try to start studying for the MCAT until your junior year.

2. I'd wait for after your first year. I did, and it helped a lot. Each quarter is different and you want to fully adjust to all of them. I went into fall quarter all gung ho and super studious and was burned out by the beginning of spring. that and the good weather, the promise of summer, and the beach nearby caused me to not do as well during that quarter. You can start volunteering on the weekends after the first quarter if you want, but don't get involved in anything too heavy just yet.

3. Look at how the sample schedule is for a premed/science major and go with it. I would not go above 16 units max/quarter though. Remember that college requires A LOT more time than HS. give yourself time to adjust to your new living situation and study habits. If you rock freshman year, you don't have to work hard to make up the GPA later. It's always harder to make it up than to be excellent from the beginning. And to keep you on track, you can take a couple of summer classes. this will let you graduate on time.


Hopkins and Wash U are very lofty goals. First, be sure that you would be happy as a doc and then apply BROADLY. Even 40/4.0s get rejected sometimes. Most of all ENJOY COLLEGE. This time of your life is never coming back. Thats something you're not going to realize fully until you're about to graduate and looking at starting the next 7-10 most intense years of your life.

 

[MugenTsukiyomi]

Hello everyone, i'm new to this forum so forgive me for any questions I ask that seem mundane but i'm pretty nervous about my future as a chem major with a premed track. I will be attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall and I want to be able to graduate and attend a top 20 medical school hopefully. Here are some of my questions.

1. How early should I start studying for the MCAT if I want a score that is 34+?

2. Should I look for research oppurtunities/volunteering as soon as I get to campus or start looking after my first year?

3. UCSB is on a trimester system, if I want to appeal to the top medical schools how should my schedule look in terms of science classes and should I go with 4 or 5 classes in my first year?

4. This may seem like a dumb question but UCSB is not widely regarded as a academic school, it has the reputation of a "party school." Will this affect me when applying to Med schools?

1. As early as you can.

2. some people look after their first year because they're still trying to ajust to college but I think you do it whenever you can.

3. If you can handle 5 classes than go for it.

4. Raise you grade and go to a good school. You want to go to a school that will aid you in your preparation for the MCAT and Med school not just some school you can pass.

 

[The Poet Sings]

I'll try but coming from a Indian family i've grown up my whole life with the idea of being a doctor, more specifically a surgeon drilled into my brain. I will look at other majors but my real goal right now is to end up at a Johns Hopkins or a Washington U so i'm trying to get everything planned out as early as possible as weird as that may be.

the whole "my family has drilled into my head that i'll be a doctor" thing sends up a huge red flag for me. are you doing this for them or for you?

 

[christina30]

the whole "my family has drilled into my head that i'll be a doctor" thing sends up a huge red flag for me. are you doing this for them or for you?

This.

 

[roseglass6370]

the whole "my family has drilled into my head that i'll be a doctor" thing sends up a huge red flag for me. are you doing this for them or for you?

agreed...