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?

[edtost]

why are premeds all so annoying, overachieving, and miserable?

are people like that drawn to premed, or does the horrific load of classes they have to take combined with the competitiveness of the process make them that way?

[Big Poppa Smurf]

ed,

it's probably both. everyone knows what pre-meds are like and that it's hard work, so it filters out people whose personality is not like that. Then since it's a lot of work some people probably get ruined.

Also, the people who have the "pre-med" personality are also those most likely to make sure you know they're a premed. The cool premeds probably don't talk about it as much or so obnoxiously.

[CheckRaise]

[ QUOTE ]
does the horrific load of classes they have to take combined with the competitiveness of the process make them that way?

[/ QUOTE ]
I think this is the main reason, the pre-med kids I know work very hard because they so much pressure on them to get A's.

Another question I have, how much does GPA matter when med schools are reviewing applications? Does your MCAT score have more influence or is GPA the most important factor?

[restrikt]

Were you playing poker before your medical school interview?

Did you mention poker in your application or bring it up in the interview?

I'm assuming it would be unwise to mention it, but if your hobbies are brought up, do you think mentioning poker in a med school interview would be very bad?