switch from pre dent

[12345a]

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hey guys,

I'm entertaining the idea of switching from pre dent to pre med. I'm a community college transfer and I'll be going to UC Berkeley next semester as a psychology major. As I'm not too familiar with the pre med protocol...I was wondering if I could waste a bit of your time with some questions =D

1) I have completed a year of genchem and still have Orgo, Bio, and Phys. I'm planning on taking 3 years to graduate after transfer and I'll be taking one pre req per year. How will this be viewed by the adcoms? even if I maintain a high GPA, will it be seen as a bad thing that I took 3 years with a light coursload and no overlap of science courses?

2) As a non science major, I don't intend to take any upper division science classes besides biochem and maybe something else. Will this make me a less competitive candidate?

3) How often are qualified students rejected from all the schools that they applied to and are forced to apply in the next cycle or get an MS before reapplying?

4) Will dental volunteer hours at UCSF not carry as much weight as medical hours?

 

[dw2158]

hey guys,

I'm entertaining the idea of switching from pre dent to pre med. I'm a community college transfer and I'll be going to UC Berkeley next semester as a psychology major. As I'm not too familiar with the pre med protocol...I was wondering if I could waste a bit of your time with some questions =D

1) I have completed a year of genchem and still have Orgo, Bio, and Phys. I'm planning on taking 3 years to graduate after transfer and I'll be taking one pre req per year. How will this be viewed by the adcoms? even if I maintain a high GPA, will it be seen as a bad thing that I took 3 years with a light coursload and no overlap of science courses?

2) As a non science major, I don't intend to take any upper division science classes besides biochem and maybe something else. Will this make me a less competitive candidate?

3) How often are qualified students rejected from all the schools that they applied to and are forced to apply in the next cycle or get an MS before reapplying?

4) Will dental volunteer hours at UCSF not carry as much weight as medical hours?

1) i think no overlap in pre-reqs is okay, but i wouldn't recommend taking a light load overall every semester. you need to show that you're ready to handle med school, no question. so even if you're only taking one science class, be sure to fill out your schedule with at least 3 other classes each semester.

2) for many people, two upper division science classes might be okay, but for you i might say otherwise. coming from a CC, you really do need to show that you're ready for this. biochem and something else are a great start. and if you excel at all of it, i'm sure that would be fine 🙂

3) tough question. it all depends how smart you are about applying. if you only apply to top 20 schools, it wouldn't be surprising if you got rejected everywhere. or if you applied late. basically, be smart about your spread of school choices and be sure to apply early. if you do both of these things, there's no reason you should get rejected everywhere!

4) i don't really know about this. they'll probably carry some weight but there is no question that you need to get some medical exposure as well. enough to convince adcoms that you are confident that you want to switch (if that's what you end up doing).

good luck to you!

 

[12345a]

^^thank you very much