Sometimes it feels like the whole universe is pre med

[peppercat]

I don't know what to think anymore. I am transferring from the university college of Cape Breton (small school) to Dalhousie university in Halifax. Anyway, UCCB has a few pre meds...nothing huge but I went to dal the past weekend and I got to meet a bunch of freshmen. Like almost EVERY single person was like a wanna be a doctor. <img border="0" alt="[Wowie]" title="" src="graemlins/wowie.gif" /> I couldn't believe how many there really are.
I've always been terrified of if i will be accepted. I don't know, I guess a lot of freshmen change their minds, get bad grades, surviving orgo, etc. Being from a small community I guess I didn't realize how bad pre med syndrome is at larger universities. Anyway it shocked me, just my 2 cents.

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[peppercat]

sorry, i didn't mean to poist this twice
OOPS

 

[MaggieD]

I know how you feel - I have a bit of a complex when it comes to competition. I can't help feeling that all these people are so much better than me in every regard. I remember the day I went to freshman orientation. The biology department had a meeting of a incoming students and they asked all the pre-meds to raise their hands. Honestly like 95% of the room had their hand in the air. I was shocked. I remember thinking I had absolutely no chance in competing with any of them. I was stunned by how many there were!
Then, about 3 weeks later, the school had it's first pre-med society meeting. Now, all the pre-meds were there, freshmen, sophomore, etc. It was in an auditorium and every seat was taken. I went home that night seriously considering pursuing a Ph.D in English.
But as the year went on, the numbers took a drastic nose-dive. This was due to Bio 101 and Chem 121. Those were bona-fide weed-out courses at my school. I felt like a million bucks when I got A's in them.
But yes, sometimes it really does seem like the whole world is pre-med. I know how you feel.

 

[relatively prime]

That's the way it is at a lot of good univerisities... the numbers drop off sharply after Organic Chemistry. I had a friend at Dartmouth who told me that there are so many freshman pre-meds at Dartmouth that the university purposely hold the O-Chem classes early in the morning... to see who's really serious about being pre-med.

You can delete the other post... just go to "edit" and check the delete box.

 

[jintonic5]

The numbers definitely go down drastically as you go through college- out of my friends from freshman year, i'd say about 1/3 stuck with it, and the rest fell away for one reason or another. you can even feel the difference in class sizes- my basic chem classes and orgo classes were held in the same huge auditorium, and my orgo class definitely felt smaller- and it got even smaller after the fall semester.

if you want it to happen, don't be intimidated by all the other people- come hell or high water, if this is what you really want go for it!

 

[altaskier]

Who cares about other pre meds...that is the type of mentality you should have. Realistically, you aren't going to be the only doctor in the U.S. And everywhere in medicine, you will find people that have similar interests as you do. This starts from your medical school class and stretches till the day you are done. By the way, there are other people out there. I know you obviously know this. A lot of my friends in undergrad were non-science people. But then again, a lot were science people. I was never one to care about competition or what grade/score someone else got. Be comfortable with yourself and with your abilities. I'm sure you'll make it at the end!

Good Luck and Relax

 

[oldman]

Ha, and I thought you were a hopkins ugrad. Anyway, sure there are tons of pre-meds. Don't worry about it. You just plug away at your own goal and let those others take care of themselves.

 

[robf]

I was just thinking about this the other day. Yeah, at my school, like 95% of the freshman were pre-med and they all went around, ?I?m pre-med, I?m pre-med...look at me, I?m gonna be a doctor?, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. After a semester of getting beat to a pulp by either general chem. or bio, half drop out. Even more drop out after second semester of freshman year because they can?t cut it. Then orgo comes around and finishes off the ones that were barely hanging on. By senior year only like 10% of the original 95% are bona fide pre-meds.

 

[oldman]

btw, i like your miss piggy avatar.

 

[racergirl]

robf is right. Being "premed" is rediculously common among freshman. After the actual CLASSES start, the numbers drop off like crazy. Lots of fields are like this. At my school, a lot of freshman were chem eng. majors..for about 1 semester!

 

[Hopkins2010]

After going thru the admissions process, I'm actually glad that a lot of people are choosing medicine. It gives our profession a better chance of getting the best and brightest that colleges have to offer.

Of course before you get accepted somewhere its hard to see that in a positive light.

 

[TroutBum]

Hello, several people have already mentioned this but it's true. Everyone and their mom is a premed as a freshman. Honestly, the first chemistry lab will probably cut that number down by half, then Orgo will take out half of the survivors. Don't sweat it, people will discover really quickly whether or not they're willing to put up with the classes, and the number of premeds will drop like a rock by junior year.

 

[The DOC]

Everybody here is exactly right. Pre-med freshmen are a dime-a-dozen. Once they realize the challenging exams, coursework, and tough times are not worth satisfying their parents......they stop. Harsh, but true.

 

[TroutBum]

Heelpain: Um, I don't know if I'd agree with you about intro pre-med classes not being hard. At my school the whole first year of gen chem. was a "weed-out" class--it was twice as difficult as any of my upper level courses.

 

[Chronotropic]

I wouldn't say all these people didn't make it. I know alot of people who made it through the first two years then decided to go into other fields. I know a few who decided to get a masters in bio because they really did enjoy bio. A number of others actually switched to PA or other med fields.

 

[2badr]

Man you guys sure are smart!Do we have any (or future) ADCOMS members in here???
Seriously,the good part is that hopefully by the time you get to the upper-level classes,you have decided that medicine is what you really want to do.You have had some clinical exposure and are aware of the ups and downs of medicine.But I still believe it is true: that you'll never know unless you experience it for yourself.
When I was a freshman in college,everyone was a pre-med,it seemed.On the first day of class,the prof did the old look to your left,look to your right-one of these people will not make it thru the first semester.He then proceeded to pass out a 'questionnaire'. When we recieved it-much to the horror of some of our freshly scrubbed 17 and 18 year old faces-it certainly looked a lot like an exam to us.He assured us,"No,I just want to gauge where my class is as a whole." Yeah,right.He used the test to "suggest" who should and should not be part of his class,offering suggestions along the way.
When my financial aid got all funky (whole 'nother story ),unfortunately,I had to drop his class.
I am now in the process of starting all over again.And strangely enough I would not hesitate to take that class with him again.So chin up,my dear.If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel,it will well be worth the trip!!!
Good luck.
Somoa,like the swimming analogy.

 

[silver_eyes]

Ok. i go to UOP (uiniversity of the pacific. Beagle knows where that is. she is alumni. anyway, ok every FREAKING person there is either pre-pharm or pre-dent. HARDLY any pre-meds (which is good in my case). Ok out of like 5000 students, about less than 20 of them are pre-med or maybe even 10. no joke.

in uop the weed out coruses are bio 51/61 and chem 25/27 (g. bio and g. chem). I got a c- in both bio 51/61 and a C in g chem. taking chem 27 right now. is that ok? taht i got a C- in them. i dont have the time and money to repeat them over again to get a better grade. i heard that the more specific the bio courses get (genetics, microbio, etc) the easier it is. anyway, thats weird, but i have talked ot a few people who that is true.

UOp doesnt have a pre-med club, or a AMSA. i emailed my faculty advisor and the bio sec to have a pre-med club/amsa. whatever the student at ucla, uci, or darthmouth get, we dont b/c there is no pre-med club on campus. no help on the applications, no field trips, etc.

 

[Beagle]

Silver Eyes
Why don't you drive up to Davis if you need help with your pre-med stuff? Or since you live in San Jose, you can always drive to Stanford ...
I'm sure there are more opportunities for you if you contact those schools..
Anyway goodluck with all the studying!
The weeder courses do suck and leave you wondering if you're good enough, but once you make it through them, everything is easy.
The reason the upper division courses give better grades is mainly because the information you are learning is easier. Once you take more and more Biology, you realize, everything is ALL THE SAME!
This was the case for me anyway...but I noticed that I studied about 100 times more for General Biology, just to get a B, when I could study a few nights before an upper division course and get an A. Also, there is a little bit of grade inflation in upper division...sometimes! The higher you get, the more likely there will be grad students taking the same course as you. Grad students don't get anything lower than a B- because it is considered failing...
So good for the undergrads!

 

[brontehardyeliot]

My aunt is an academic advisor at the University of Texas at Austin, and she said that actually, only about half of incoming freshman are premed; the other half are prelaw. As everyone else has mentioned though, after a semester or two those numbers change pretty significantly. :wink:

 

[UCLA2000]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by silver_eyes:
[QB]
in uop the weed out coruses are bio 51/61 and chem 25/27 (g. bio and g. chem). I got a c- in both bio 51/61 and a C in g chem. taking chem 27 right now. is that ok? taht i got a C- in them. i dont have the time and money to repeat them over again to get a better grade.QB]••••Are those grades ok? Well I'm not going to lie to you and say yes. Sorry but if you want to get into medical school, you're going to have to work a hell of alot harder than that. C-'s in Bio classes and C's in Chem classes are not going to be looked favorably upon by ANY medical school.

If I were in your position I would do whatever it took to raise my grades. If you have to cut everything else out of your life except for school then do it. If you need tutoring, then get it.

The fact of the matter is that you're struggling in weeder courses. It's not because everyone else is smarter. It's not because the class is too hard. You're struggling because you don't want it bad enough. You're not putting in the same amount of time and effort as the other people, and as a result they're kicking your ass all over the place.

You want to get into med school&gt;? Work harder.