Very non traditional future MCAT takee...help?

[snowie85]

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Hi all,
Let's start with a little background. I am a sophomore Journalism major at the University of Minnesota in the honors program. I have stellar extracurriculars, a great GPA, I was all set to go to law school until alas, I met my demise and switched to the dark side. I decided I need, for my own sanity, to go to med school. I'm just that determined...I think I will self implode if I do anything else.

However, I have only taken one biology course and one statistics coursein college. I am planning on taking chem, ohem, biochem and some other elective courses...but I need your advice. What can I do if I'm just NOT as sharp as the science majors? I need to do well on the MCAT (obviously) but I also need to figure out what science math courses I can take on top of my major without exploding from stress. I am not opposed to graduating late.

Let me know your thoughts and thank you so much for reading. I'm ready to do this thang.

 

[LifeTake2]

For starters...unless you missed something you are not what most would consider a non-trad.

You are still an undergrad and just chaging directions, makes you pretty normal and with decent grades and a good MCAT you will have no issues.

I'd suggest you focus on your pre-req's first and then stress over the MCAT.

Spend some time reading on the various forums here and good luck.

 

[Erythropoietin]

Hi all,
Let's start with a little background. I am a sophomore Journalism major at the University of Minnesota in the honors program. I have stellar extracurriculars, a great GPA, I was all set to go to law school until alas, I met my demise and switched to the dark side. I decided I need, for my own sanity, to go to med school. I'm just that determined...I think I will self implode if I do anything else.

However, I have only taken one biology course and one statistics coursein college. I am planning on taking chem, ohem, biochem and some other elective courses...but I need your advice. What can I do if I'm just NOT as sharp as the science majors? I need to do well on the MCAT (obviously) but I also need to figure out what science math courses I can take on top of my major without exploding from stress. I am not opposed to graduating late.

Let me know your thoughts and thank you so much for reading. I'm ready to do this thang.

Cell biology class helped me a lot and a lot of the topics are covered in mcat as well. So definitely look into that. Pay attention in biochem b/c that's a really helpful class!
Don't forget the physics classes and check into which med schools you want to apply to and what they require. A lot of them require 1 semester of calculus (but you may not have to take it since you already took stat.)
For chemistry, genchem and orgo is all you need unless you are a chem major.

 

[MAnne]

I took Stats quite some time before I went back to do my undergrad. The med schools I have looked into say Stats isn't a replacement for Calculus. The residents and attendings I know say Biochem is def helpful even if it's not a pre-req and there are school that do require it.

Here is a list of the standard pre-reqs for med schools:

• Biology or Zoology (with Laboratory): 2 semesters
• Inorganic Chemistry (with laboratory): 2 semesters
• Organic Chemistry (with laboratory): 2 semesters
• Physics (with laboratory): 2 semesters
• College Mathematics: 1 semester (All schools I looked into require Calculus)
• *English: 2 semesters

**English requirement must include one semester of a college writing course. College approved "intensive writing courses" may substitute for English.


I was a BA major which means instead of taking 14 credits of Bio major elective courses, you can take 8. But since I want to take Biochem, Biostats and another Computer course in Bio, I switched to BS.

I agree Cell Bio is def helpful and I also took a major requirement that involved a more in depth type of cell bio course with a little anatomy mixed in.

Good luck,
~M

 

[SN2ed]

You should find out if you really want to be a doctor or if you're merely in love with an idealistic impression of what being a doctor is about. I would strongly urge you to shadow for an extended period of time before making a huge shift. Plenty of people have been in love with the idea, but once discovering everything that's entailed, don't have an interest in continuing.

Just going from your first post, I'm not sure you've spent the time learning about the profession. This is especially the case when you mention it's for your sanity or you'll implode without it. Neither of those are good signs.

 

[dmf2682]

You should find out if you really want to be a doctor or if you're merely in love with an idealistic impression of what being a doctor is about. I would strongly urge you to shadow for an extended period of time before making a huge shift. Plenty of people have been in love with the idea, but once discovering everything that's entailed, don't have an interest in continuing.

Just going from your first post, I'm not sure you've spent the time learning about the profession. This is especially the case when you mention it's for your sanity or you'll implode without it. Neither of those are good signs.

This. Forget about figuring out how you can get in. Focus on determining if this is something you actually want to do. Sure, take classes while you're figuring it out, but also use them and shadowing to see if the material interests you, and if the profession is a fit. I *wish* I had shadowed some engineers in college before becoming one.

 

[snowie85]

For the sake of brevity I left out much of my background. I came into college as a premed student and also a national ranked competitive horse back rider, which made the thought of prerequisites very unappealing. I was not focused on my future and decided to change my major to something I was good at, but did not really see myself enjoying long term. Stupied 18 year olds. I personally believe that we ALL should look for a profession we simply can't live without, which is why I piled on the drama when describing my love for medicine. Not Grey's Anatomy.