Ask AZK about being Pre-med/Getting into Medical School

[AZK]

I thought I'd up the content in this forum with an Ask me thread for all of you that are premed. Maybe it will catch on and other posters can also have some good threads. I am a current M1 at UMD. Fire away...

[tabako]

I've only looked at the requirements for my university's med school, so I would like to know how much the premed requirements vary from med school to med school.

Also, my school recommends shadowing people in medical fields as well as community service. How much of each of these did you do and how much would you recommend doing?

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
I've only looked at the requirements for my university's med school, so I would like to know how much the premed requirements vary from med school to med school.

Also, my school recommends shadowing people in medical fields as well as community service. How much of each of these did you do and how much would you recommend doing?

[/ QUOTE ]

Most requirements are the same at all schools:

a year of physics
a year of bio.
a year of chem.

all with lab.
2 semesters of english
a semester of math/mathematical science
certificate of graduation
mcat

Certain schools require extra courses (i.e. biochemistry, stats, advanced bio.) and others want you to be well-rounded (1/4 of your 120 credits in social sciences (usc)) Generally the more competitive the school, the more requirements.

Shadowing is interesting...when you actually know something. I shadowed a doc once or twice in college, both of which were in my senior year, I got close to nothing out of it. I was horribly bored, didn't find anything remotely interesting, and I was kinda tired of waiting around and wandering around with him not having a [censored] clue what was going on. Good shadowing experiences are directly proportional to the amount of material you know. Freshmen year I got nothing out of it, senior year I close to nothing out of it, last week I shadowed a doc where virtually every patient we saw that day I had learned about something related to their illness in my classes. I didnt even feel the time go by and was completely interested. I'd shadow a little bit just to write it down and say that you've done it, but I wouldn't go overboard. I think I did <15 hours of shadowing in all of undergrad.

Community service...this is a big one. I was not much of a community service person(I did a lot of research instead) but it is really really important that they see you do this. Try and pick 1 activity med related and 1 non-related, and just try to do several hours consistently each semester. If you volunteer at the hospital it looks better doing it 3 hours /week for 2 years than a semester full time (12 hours/week), it's also easier to stomach. My application was lacking in community service...I did 1 year in the Michigan ED (3hours /week) horribly boring, and I taught hockey to kids for 3 years (fun, easy, community service)...

[tabako]

How do AP credits and lab requirements work out? This is something that I should probably talk to an advisor about, but you might have some experience with (could also vary from school to school, I'd imagine).

I passed out of a semester of intro bio, and a semester of physics. Both classes had a lab section in my high school, but will med schools want me to retake the lab portion of these classes in a university setting?

[AZK]

I passed out of Intro. chem. the U wrote me a letter and it wasn't a problem, then again, I was a chem. major, so I had plenty of chemistry to fill in. I would check with your premed advisor.

[CheckRaise]

Cool idea, I'm not pre-med but I'm a chem major and I've got a few questions.

I have to take a semester of biochemistry next year. However the last time I took bio was in high school. Am I [censored]?

What was your favorite chem class?

Is p-chem really has tough as I've heard? I'm pretty decent at math, and from what people say it sounds more like a math class than a chem one.

Did you take the standardized o-chem final?

[lennytheduck]

I'm applying to medical school right now.

When you interviewed at Maryland did you get your interview right away? I am currently in the "Holding for further review" category at UM and just want to know what the actual likelihood of receiving an interview is. Thanks.

Also I am out of state and applied pretty late in the cycle.

[AZK]

Mr. P - You are absolutely right, for most people doing poker would probalby be a bad idea, my personal statement was not entirely Poker, it mostly just served as an intro. to get the reader hooked. I wouldn't say I received several interviews, the first year I applied really late with late MCAT and got 4 interviews and 4 waitlists, I was interviewing in Jan/Feb when most people were interviewing in Sept/Oct, I probably applied to about 20 schools that year.

The 2nd year I applied much earlier and only about 16 schools, I got 4-5 interviews and 3 acceptances, with me canceling the other schools before they had a chance to reply. The 2nd time around was much smoother, my interviews went a lot better and I was more comfortable

mmb- Fim and it's not even close.

Lenny - I applied to maryland (in state) and they put me on hold waiting for my first semester grades from georgetown (I did a masters there) so that took some time, when I finally got my interview (again way late in cycle I think feb.) I was happy but I was already into 2 schools so the pressure of having to go somewhere was off, that being said, I really wanted to go to maryland, I interviewed and had the best interview I have ever had with one guy here who I think is kinda a big deal, it's really the only reason I think I got in, I mean I was a competitive applicant, but nothing really distinguished me from anyone else. This guy and I just clicked and the interview went really really well. I heard back in two weeks. Normally I'm told it takes a month or 2. They normally make a pretty good effort to interview people if they are competitive, and they don't fill their class early, I've always been told that UMD is behind in general compared to other schools in their admissions processes... so don't lose hope. If you get an interview let me know what day and I can come to your interview luncheon (they normally have M1s talk to interviewees). Best of luck.

[CheckRaise]

AZK

Why did you go through a M.S program if you knew you were going to med school?

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
AZK

Why did you go through a M.S program if you knew you were going to med school?

[/ QUOTE ]

Short answer: Stupidity.
Long answer: I was worried that I wasn't qualified enough to get in, since I got waitlisted at all the schools from the year before, I needed to do something and I already had 3+ years of research experience, so when in doubt, more school. Of course when I got in in the middle of Oct. and was bound to the MS program I felt like a retard. It was ok though, I mostly just went in to pick up notes and take exams and played poker pretty much the entire time. My class nickname was "ghost". It didn't help that the people at georgetown suck.