What's an average student to do??

[Chamahk]

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So like do we still have to post in here even though we're not in h.s. anymore?? 😛
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Anyway so I hear becoming a doc is really competitive. It comes down to survival of the fittest (academically). So I was wondering what are the chances for an average or below average academic kid to get into med school and become a doc? What if he doesn't have one of those "I could have died during child birth but some doc miraculously saved me and since then I've always wanted to be a doc" reasons for pursuing a career in medicine?? What if he's doing it just to do it?? What if this average kid is taking remedial math in college?? What are his chances?? 😳

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Medical school applicants are above average academically. The ones that get accepted are above average generally from that group.

In college, you need to buckle down and improve. Refine the study techniques that work. Eliminate the ones that don't and replace them with new ones. You'll want to bust your butt to get better at math, since a separate GPA consisting of bio, chem, physics, and math (BCPM) is often examined in applicants in addition to the general GPA.

You'll want to go crazy-go-nuts and do pretty well on the MCAT.

All that being said, you don't have to be a summa cum laude to get into medical school. Or a magna cum laude. To be honest, you don't even have to graduate cum laude if you blow the rest of the application out of the water with extensive and deep clinical experiences, research, a well-developed interest in medicine, and a good story to tell about something you're passionate about.

You're going to want to be above-average, though. Don't settle for the median.

 

[Neurocentric]

So like do we still have to post in here even though we're not in h.s. anymore?? 😛
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Anyway so I hear becoming a doc is really competitive. It comes down to survival of the fittest (academically). So I was wondering what are the chances for an average or below average academic kid to get into med school and become a doc? What if he doesn't have one of those "I could have died during child birth but some doc miraculously saved me and since then I've always wanted to be a doc" reasons for pursuing a career in medicine?? What if he's doing it just to do it?? What if this average kid is taking remedial math in college?? What are his chances?? 😳

If you're not in HS anymore, you can probably post in the pre-medical allo forum (or osteo, if DO is more your thing).

As far as average/below average, stats of your grades are probably going to help to give us an idea of what we're looking at, here. But basically, yes, medical school is incredibly competitive. I mean, if you don't have a 4.0, that's okay, but at LEAST a 3.5 gpa will give you a chance. You have to do extremely well in your pre-med courses; you need to do really well on the MCAT.

Besides all that, you need to do extra-curricular activities that either have to do with medicine or not. Medical schools want to see well-rounded students. Do what you enjoy. You also, however, need volunteering and shadowing experience so medical schools can see you are interested in the clinical aspect of medicine. Research is good as well, and is a must for most top-tier medical schools.

As far as the motivation.. what do you mean by "doing it just to do it?" I mean, do you actually care about medicine and what it entails, or are you just doing it because it's a career and it's whatever to you? You need to have some interest, or medical school is going to be a complete drag for you. You should never do a career "just because", you know what I mean? Obviously, your ambitions for medical school don't have to be complete "Oh, I just feel like I was given a gift to save people," and all of that, but you need to have an interest, and it should be sincere.

 

[indya]

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[sphun65]

So like do we still have to post in here even though we're not in h.s. anymore?? 😛
------------------------------------------

Anyway so I hear becoming a doc is really competitive. It comes down to survival of the fittest (academically). So I was wondering what are the chances for an average or below average academic kid to get into med school and become a doc? What if he doesn't have one of those "I could have died during child birth but some doc miraculously saved me and since then I've always wanted to be a doc" reasons for pursuing a career in medicine?? What if he's doing it just to do it?? What if this average kid is taking remedial math in college?? What are his chances?? 😳

You have to enjoy the courses you take in college to consistently do well in them. For some, you will just have to bite the bullet, but for most you will be best served by pursuing something you enjoy and do well at. This is a lot different than in high school and should benefit you. Be sure to make use of your newfound power of choice.

No one can chance you based on you having to take remedial math . A few of us were bad high school students and still somehow found a way. Something will click for you down the road. Don't sweat it now.

 

[Chamahk]

As far as average/below average, stats of your grades are probably going to help to give us an idea of what we're looking at, here. But basically, yes, medical school is incredibly competitive. I mean, if you don't have a 4.0, that's okay, but at LEAST a 3.5 gpa will give you a chance. You have to do extremely well in your pre-med courses; you need to do really well on the MCAT.

Besides all that, you need to do extra-curricular activities that either have to do with medicine or not. Medical schools want to see well-rounded students. Do what you enjoy. You also, however, need volunteering and shadowing experience so medical schools can see you are interested in the clinical aspect of medicine. Research is good as well, and is a must for most top-tier medical schools.

As far as the motivation.. what do you mean by "doing it just to do it?" I mean, do you actually care about medicine and what it entails, or are you just doing it because it's a career and it's whatever to you? You need to have some interest, or medical school is going to be a complete drag for you. You should never do a career "just because", you know what I mean? Obviously, your ambitions for medical school don't have to be complete "Oh, I just feel like I was given a gift to save people," and all of that, but you need to have an interest, and it should be sincere.

h.s.'s a joke to me but in h.s. I had a 92/3.7 (first 3 years) no AP just honors history. Senior year after I got accepted into college I said screw h.s. and just laid back. My SATs were really bad. The two sections that schools care about I got less than a 1000 but I guess my gpa is what helped me get in?? I did really bad on the math section though. Didn't know half the stuff and left alot of blanks and guessed alot.

Do I care about medicine and what it entails?? yeah. I find it fascinating. I like the researching and reading. I think the human body itself is fascinating but the problem is those med school interview folks wont buy this. I just have this negative thought that unless I come up with something better than that, I'm screwed. But honestly I think a doctor's the greatest job in the world. Nothing else really interest me. Like engineering I'd rather do small projects at home than go to school for it and do it as a career. Doctor's where my heart is. But nothing life changing happened to me that made me want to become a doc. I've heard some peoples reasons for pursuing a career as a doc and it's stuff like "I could have died and some nurse saved me" that makes my "I find the human body fascinating" a clever joke don't you think?

 

[Neurocentric]

h.s.'s a joke to me but in h.s. I had a 92/3.7 (first 3 years) no AP just honors history. Senior year after I got accepted into college I said screw h.s. and just laid back. My SATs were really bad. The two sections that schools care about I got less than a 1000 but I guess my gpa is what helped me get in?? I did really bad on the math section though. Didn't know half the stuff and left alot of blanks and guessed alot.

Do I care about medicine and what it entails?? yeah. I find it fascinating. I like the researching and reading. I think the human body itself is fascinating but the problem is those med school interview folks wont buy this. I just have this negative thought that unless I come up with something better than that, I'm screwed. But honestly I think a doctor's the greatest job in the world. Nothing else really interest me. Like engineering I'd rather do small projects at home than go to school for it and do it as a career. Doctor's where my heart is. But nothing life changing happened to me that made me want to become a doc. I've heard some peoples reasons for pursuing a career as a doc and it's stuff like "I could have died and some nurse saved me" that makes my "I find the human body fascinating" a clever joke don't you think?

I wasn't really gung-ho in HS either, but when you made the effort, you had the grades, so just keep that in mind during undergrad. Don't slack off, and the second you think you might be slipping in a subject, ask for help.

As far as the reason why you want to go into medicine.. that is a fine reason. You don't have to have complete altruistic reasons. The trick is to make your reasons sound the right way, like in an interview and in your personal statement. Also, you probably haven't shadowed or volunteered yet. If you haven't experienced some of the clinical stuff, you can't really expand on why you want to be a physician.

If this fall you are an incoming freshman, then just relax. Your reasons for wanting to become a physician will grow as you do all the stuff you need to apply for medical school. You can formulate how you want to express that later.

 

[Chamahk]

Medical school applicants are above average academically. The ones that get accepted are above average generally from that group.

You're going to want to be above-average, though. Don't settle for the median.

I'm not settling for mediocre or average. It's just that things don't come easy to me. What'll take someone about an hour might take me longer than that. So I wanted to know if someone who's not "up there" stands a chance in medical field considering how rigorous and competitive they say it is.

Trust me if I could have it my way I'd want to be like Good Will Hunting but it's not like that 🙁

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Don't worry too much about your reasoning for wanting to be a doctor. Mine is basically "this all seems pretty cool."

 

[FutureCTDoc]

At the bare minimum an applicant needs a 3.0 overall, 3.0 science GPA and a 24 MCAT to have even a poor shot of being accepted. For an osteopathic school >3.5 overall >3.4 science and a balanced i.e. 9/9/9, 27 MCAT are average. You can tack on another point 1 or 2 to each of those and add another 4 on the MCAT to be competitive for allo. "Average students" don't get into US medical schools or even SGU, ROSS, AUC or SABA in the Caribbean. Are there some people with lower stats than the average of course, however they usually excel in something i.e. a 3.0 and a mid 30s MCAT or middling GPA and MCAT coupled with impressive research and LORs.

 

[Chamahk]

At the bare minimum an applicant needs a 3.0 overall, 3.0 science GPA and a 24 MCAT to have even a poor shot of being accepted. For an osteopathic school >3.5 overall >3.4 science and a balanced i.e. 9/9/9, 27 MCAT are average. You can tack on another point 1 or 2 to each of those and add another 4 on the MCAT to be competitive for allo. "Average students" don't get into US medical schools or even SGU, ROSS, AUC or SABA in the Caribbean. Are there some people with lower stats than the average of course, however they usually excel in something i.e. a 3.0 and a mid 30s MCAT or middling GPA and MCAT coupled with impressive research and LORs.

yikes. 🙁

considering how rigorous the work supposedly is, what are the chances for an average student though?? If one's struggling with the basics what's their chance when it gets harder for the MCATs and stuff?? That's what I'm curious and want to know. If one's very poor at math what are their chances?
Say you're struggling with Chem and Physics what will you do when you get to like organic chem and calc?? That's my question. I'm wondering what the struggle will be like

 

[indya]

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[Brachyury]

At the bare minimum an applicant needs a 3.0 overall, 3.0 science GPA and a 24 MCAT to have even a poor shot of being accepted. For an osteopathic school >3.5 overall >3.4 science and a balanced i.e. 9/9/9, 27 MCAT are average. You can tack on another point 1 or 2 to each of those and add another 4 on the MCAT to be competitive for allo. "Average students" don't get into US medical schools or even SGU, ROSS, AUC or SABA in the Caribbean. Are there some people with lower stats than the average of course, however they usually excel in something i.e. a 3.0 and a mid 30s MCAT or middling GPA and MCAT coupled with impressive research and LORs.

27 seems a high average for osteopathic schools. I could be wrong, but I thought there were only a handful of DO schools with averages that high. Is there a source to verify this?

 

[Chamahk]

Alright can you guys help me out here for a sec?:

To improve my math (on my own time outside of class) what are some of the things I need to do?? And how do I improve my science?? Like with Bio it's alot of reading but they say it's not memorization but understanding it. How do I improve in these areas?? Where do I start??

 

[Neurocentric]

Alright can you guys help me out here for a sec?:

To improve my math (on my own time outside of class) what are some of the things I need to do?? And how do I improve my science?? Like with Bio it's alot of reading but they say it's not memorization but understanding it. How do I improve in these areas?? Where do I start??

First would be to get a tutor. Your college will probably have student tutors that you can utilize. Speak with them, and they can probably show you how to understand things in different ways.

You also need to change or figure out what your study habits are. For me, flash cards work wonders for most subjects. What will work for you?

 

[peripherin]

If you think that you're only average, then you're forever going to be average. Strive to be better than what you think you are.

Everyone has different high school experiences. Some people went to high achieving high schools and loaded up with AP courses their junior and senior years. Others went to high school that didn't prepare them as well for college. That doesn't mean that they're any less smart. In fact, for those two types of students to get to the same place, students that went to crappier schools had to work harder than than the students that went to better schools. If you went to a mediocre high school, you will have to work harder your first couple of years in college to "catch up" to everyone else. Have some fun in college, but you won't be able to afford to party every night like some of your peers will.

Talk to your professors, to your classmates, and to upperclassmen who have taken the courses about how to study for the courses that you are struggling with. Often times, they'll have study tips that you can not only use for that class, but for your other classes as well.

With math, much of it comes with practice. Unfortunately, most US public K-12 schools do not prepare you as nearly well as they should. If you have the time, do (extra) practice problems. Most remedial math is important to life, thus it helps to have a solid grasp of it. Plus, it'll make premed classes that are heavy in math, such as chemistry and physics, a lot easier.