switching from allied health to premed

[Jim Henderson]

Hello. I am a sophomore at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. My
current major is athletic training. Springfield is a very competitive college
for allied health studies. I had to go through two interviews in order to be
accepted into the program. I job shadowed an athletic trainer near my
town for six months and I thought I really enjoyed what the career had to
offer. I am now in my second semester of field work. I have worked with
some athletes on my own but still under the supervision of a certified
athletic trainer. The end of January will mark my sixth month of working in
the training room and observing the certified athletic trainers. I really enjoy
the major; however, for the past couple of months I have felt like the major
is not allowing me to do what I want. I feel like an athletic trainer is very
limited as to what they can and can not do with an athlete. I just feel like I
want to do more! I have recently begun to seriously look into medical
school and into changing my major. However, I have just started to take
physics of movement science and have only taken anatomy and physiology
my freshman year on top of my athletic training courses. After reading
through your website I realize that there are many courses I still have to
take as prerequisites. I am torn between really loving the atmosphere of
athletic training but also being dissatisfied with the limitations of an athletic
trainer's job. I love the sciences and working with people. I enjoy the
allied health fields and I am sure that there is something in this wide field
that I would like to do. I am very interested in medical school but I also
love the school that I am at now. On top of the eighteen credits I carried
last semester, I also attended a practicum where I worked with different
athletic team's injuries here at Springfield, six days a week, approximately
four hours a day. My GPA is a 3.357/4.0. I also play softball for the
college. Is this good enough that I could consider medical school? Could
there be a way that I could stay here and take the courses needed for
premed or, if i do take these courses, would it be considered premed and
then I could apply to medical school? Would you suggest that I should
look for a school that offers premed as Springfield does not. I am not
quite sure what to do. I don't want to continue taking courses that are not
necessary if I want to enter into medical school. I want to get started with
my premed prerequisites; however, I also want to make sure that this is
what I want to do. I am not quite sure if this is the address to send this type
of email to but I am really confused and I am desperately reaching for any
advice I can get. If there is someone who could give me any advice my
email address is:
Thank you very much for any help you can give me. I greatly appreciate it.
Your website has also been a big help!

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[drhenderson]

posted 08-15-1999 01:38 AM
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Thanks for your letter! It sounds as though
you have a good start on the whole process by thinking things through
thoroughly. Your background in athletic training will be an advantage if you
do go to medical school, especially in your anatomy courses.
I think you have a very good chance at getting into medical school.
However, it is all going to hinge on the grades you get in the prerequisite
classes for medical school admission as well as your scores on the MCAT.
Athletic training is fairly limited, compared to being a physician, but that is
fine for some people. You will have many options if you go to medical
school, but their is one field in which you would already have a head start:
sports medicine. Sports medicine doctors are physicians that have generally
completed either family practice, internal medicine, or orthopedic surgery
residency and have done a fellowship in sports medicine. They do more
than mend ankles and bones... they evaluate the heart, lungs, and other vital
systems in athletes. It is a very interesting and growing field. The field is
further described in the following book: Opportunities in Sports Medicine
Careers (Vgm Opportunities Series)

Anyway, that is just a thought. Right now you need to do the following:

Know that you can get into medical school. You are not at any
disadvantage.
Take your prerequisite classes. Start studying for the MCAT right
way... I suggest the following book:

Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review 1998 with CD-ROM by Kaplan
List Price: $60.00 Our Price: $48.00 You Save: $12.00 (20%)

Work on getting letters of recommendation early... get them right
after you take a class, while you are fresh in the professor's mind.
Have him or her put your letter on file for when you need it.
You do not have to go to a college that has "pre-med." Pre-med is
not so much a major as it is a state of mind... you can major in
anything and still go to medical school as long as you have the
prerequisite courses such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, a year
of chemistry, a year of biology, a year of physics, and often a
semester of calculus.
Have fun in college, too!

I encourage you to read the "clinicals" section of the medical school page
and choose "our experience" to see what med school is really like!

Best wishes,


Jim Henderson, MD

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Jim Henderson, MD of Medicalstudent.net