Some questions from an aspiring doctor

[AspiringMD09]

Alright, I know this may not be in the right place, if any, for me to post this, but I'm really trying to research and find out more about the pre-med/medical school experience.

I'm 17 and soon to be a senior in high school. After high school I would like to enter college as a pre-med undergraduate. Here's the thing...in school I've always been very smart with good grades, well rounded, participates in everything...I know that won't count for much after I get into college though. But I've always been better at doing English and Literature and that sort of work, rather than math and science. I enjoyed my Honors Biology class, and I've taken Honors Chemistry and Trigonometry and done alright in those classes, but I'm afraid when I get to college I'm going to fail miserably. I'm a hard worker and I know I can do it, but are there resources to help me if I struggle in these chemistry classes? Are they really that hard? These are all things I'm curious about and I'd like to hear about anyone who was in a similar situation, and if anyone has any advice that would help me. I thank you in advance and appreciate it!


Tara

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[LadyWolverine]

You'll do fine in college.

Relax and worry about making homecoming court.

 

[AspiringMD09]

Well thanks...I think.

 

[LadyWolverine]

Well thanks...I think.

I'm sorry, I just get frustrated when pre-pre-meds start posting in here. Medical school wasn't even on my radar in high school - I guess I think that all young women should be interested in the same things that I was when I was in high school. That isn't entirely fair. Sorry for the attitude.

Take all the "honors" and "AP" classes you can in high school. They are good preparation for college-level courses. APs try to be college-level, and some of them are, so perhaps those types of courses would be beneficial as well.

Fwiw: I was a biology major (CMB to be exact, but honestly, there's not a whole lot of difference b/w that and other bio majors...pre-meds kid themselves with the supposed "importance" of their undergraduate training, most of the time...)...like you, I also excelled much more in literature/writing courses than I did in science courses. I barely made it through high school physics (I had to con the poor class nerd into helping me with my homework) and found my niche in college in Classics - go figure. However, my love for biology and medicine persevered, and, 1 graduate degree (hard science) and 2 years of medical school later, here I am. Take it for what you will. Good communication and writing skills are indespensable, no matter what you do in life - however, you may find a biology major to be somewhat unfulfilling (if you have the philosophical bent that so many of us have, but deny, on "The Path to Medicine").

PS you can be a Classics/Lit/English/etc. major and still go to medical school...actually, it may give you an advantage. College is an opportunity to learn more about what you love. Take advantage where you can.

Hope this one actually helps. Good luck.

 

[OncoCaP]

Well thanks...I think.

Major in English and only take the minimum pre-med classes. Medicine is more like English and less like science. You'll like it. Some of the best surgeons I know were German and English majors. It's really just a matter of memorizing and then working your tail off. You can do it. I'm not saying you can't go science-intensive ... just in your case you might want to take more of a liberal arts tack.

 

[DoctorPardi]

The most important thing about undergraduate should be pursuing your interests and making the best grades possible (all A's if you can). This will 1) allow you truly enjoy your undergraduate experience and learn a lot about something that you really enjoy and 2) provide you with the opportunity to pursue medicine, law, business or any other career you may decide on later.

That is from an academic standpoint, others might argue the most important thing is making friends, partying and having a fun time. Try to embrace both the recreational and academic aspects of college without letting the recreational aspect negatively effect your academics. Having a really high GPA and the ability to get good LORs from your professors will provide you with a lot of options so that you can go to medical school or go on to be a teacher or whatever ends up suiting you in 4-5 years.

As for pre-medical specific stuff, read the pre-allopathic forum and get an idea for what a lot of other pre-meds do. If you are sure about becoming a doctor you will not only need good grades, you will also need a good MCAT score, and at least some of the following: research, clinical experience, volunteering, and leadership.

 

[LadyWolverine]

Dr. Pardi, I've never told you this before, but your avatar makes me move in my seat. I can't help it.

Awesomeness.

Carry on.

 

[DoctorPardi]

Dr. Pardi, I've never told you this before, but your avatar makes me move in my seat. I can't help it.

Awesomeness.

Carry on.

Thank you, I enjoy it myself .

 

[AspiringMD09]

Thank you for the information and advice. I know it must be annoying to have younger kids posting in here, but I'm very driven to research and find out as much as I can now, so that I don't end up lost later on when I need to decide what I want to do. I'm actually very well rounded and do a lot of the normal teenage things, however I always feel like I have to work ten times harder than everyone else if I'm going to make it to where I want to be. I figure it's better for me to research and learn now, than be stuck in college doing something I hate and being completely lost.

Anyway, thank you again.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

Thank you for the information and advice. I know it must be annoying to have younger kids posting in here, but I'm very driven to research and find out as much as I can now, so that I don't end up lost later on when I need to decide what I want to do. I'm actually very well rounded and do a lot of the normal teenage things, however I always feel like I have to work ten times harder than everyone else if I'm going to make it to where I want to be. I figure it's better for me to research and learn now, than be stuck in college doing something I hate and being completely lost.

Anyway, thank you again.

Hey, if the medical school thing doesn't work out you can always use my old fallback plan of becoming a porno star. Ahhh, what if...

 

[njbmd]

Pre-med issue and now moved to Pre-allo.

 

[paradocs we are]

Thank you, I enjoy it myself .

Me too!

 

[ButImLETired]

Thank you for the information and advice. I know it must be annoying to have younger kids posting in here, but I'm very driven to research and find out as much as I can now, so that I don't end up lost later on when I need to decide what I want to do. I'm actually very well rounded and do a lot of the normal teenage things, however I always feel like I have to work ten times harder than everyone else if I'm going to make it to where I want to be. I figure it's better for me to research and learn now, than be stuck in college doing something I hate and being completely lost.

Anyway, thank you again.

Hi,

your post actually reminded me a LOT of me in high school (God, I feel like an old person) so I'd like to give you some advice...especially since I also used to advise freshmen in college on the premed process.
Deciding to go into medicine is one of the decisions that will have the biggest impact on your life- even starting this early. I dont blame you at all for thinking about it already, I knew I wanted to be a doctor since I was 6, and I feel like pretty much everything I've done has been to get there. In high school, I spent my summers researching in clinics or taking advanced bio classes cause I thought they would be fun. I also had a pretty normal teenage life. Having a committed plan is a GOOD thing.
I, too, am SIGNIFICANTLY better at literature than science. My high school physics teacher rounded my grade UP for my transcript...but made me promise him I'd never take physics again. I was good enough at the sciences, and loved bio enough that I could get through chem and physics, so I kept going. I even picked my college based on its premed adviser's reputation.
That being said, I made a big mistake in college, which is that I totally overextended myself. I wanted to take a lot of science, in part because I liked some of it, and in part because I wanted to show to med schools that I could do that, too. So I majored in neuroscience, one of the tougher majors at my school. That first semester freshman year though I felt like I was missing a part of myself, so I tacked on an Italian literature major. I still felt like I wasn't doing all that I had done in high school, so I did music, too, and committed to a bunch of clubs, and got a job. Now, all the bases were covered- but I was exhausted. I spent 4 years running around and doing EVERYTHING, and while I liked everything, I couldn't focus my attention on the sciences, which were still my weaker subjects. I spent almost every summer at school taking more classes to fulfill my majors and premed (premed is 10 classes in and of itself by the way) instead of doing a lot of other cool things that people here on SDN have done. I was sleep-deprived, and quite unhealthy. And I hated all the sciences, because of how much time they were taking away from me, time that I wanted to spend doing the stuff I ACTUALLY loved.
So, moral of the story, don't overextend yourself because you think you should. Premeds as a group are overachievers, but there's something to be said for studying smarter instead of studying more. If your best subjects are English, Philosophy...embrace it. Study them in college, get A's, and get that GPA up. Take the premed requirements and do as well as you possibly can. It doesn't hurt to pad the science gpa with some easy sciences too (every school has classes like "bioethics" which are geared toward non-science people and they tend to be easy A's). Basically, be smart. Don't try to do EVERYTHING. College is about finding what you're passionate about and sticking to it.
Good luck.

 

[AspiringMD09]

Thank you so much for that...this gives me hope that I can do it and make it through...Your insight and relation to how I feel is so helpful!

Thanks again!


Tara