[d00lie]

hi i'm a prospective freshman at ucsd. (if it makes any difference to the comment below) :].

if i'm really bad at math, should i transfer my ap credit over? (assuming that I get a 4 or a 5 on the calc test. which i took two days ago) what i mean by that I'm bad at math is I have to work really really really hard to get an A or a B and even if I earn the high marks, I don't think I understood the content as much as I could have. I'm hearing both things like it will skip me out of math but then at the same time, I hear that some schools require you to take 1-2 year of math in college so.. i'm not exactly sure what to do about it.

and same goes for chemistry just b/c i've heard some bad things about chem (esp. organic chem).

[l3oosh]

random but i'm always curious to know how pre-med and med students and people who work or aspire to work in the health field would answer this question:

"Why do you want to be a doctor ? or nurse or etc."

i've gotten a whole range of answers before about motivations and reasons, but i'm just still curious lol

Surprisingly I haven't really been asked this in an interview so I haven't had my answer dissected yet haha. But, I love the human body and am fascinated by all its inner workings. I also want to help people. I've never really considered any other profession (though I wanted to be a marine biologist for a week when I was 8 since I wanted to swim with dolphins lol). I've already heard all the horror stories about med school and residencies and am still not swayed by my decision. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with what I have chosen.

hi i'm a prospective freshman at ucsd. (if it makes any difference to the comment below) :].

if i'm really bad at math, should i transfer my ap credit over? (assuming that I get a 4 or a 5 on the calc test. which i took two days ago) what i mean by that I'm bad at math is I have to work really really really hard to get an A or a B and even if I earn the high marks, I don't think I understood the content as much as I could have. I'm hearing both things like it will skip me out of math but then at the same time, I hear that some schools require you to take 1-2 year of math in college so.. i'm not exactly sure what to do about it.

and same goes for chemistry just b/c i've heard some bad things about chem (esp. organic chem).

I would highly suggest that you transfer your credit over for the calculus AP. Depending on whether you took Calculus AB or BC, you'll still need one or two more semesters of calculus to fulfill the math prereqs for your degree or for your med school. If you don't feel comfortable with your knowledge of calculus before you take the calculus courses in college, I do recommend that you take the courses again regardless of your credit. You can take them again even if you've already transferred your credit. But, if you are able to transfer your calculus credits and not have to take anymore calculus for the rest of your academic career, transfer them. You won't need calculus to take the rest of your premed courses (unless you are majoring in physics or math). But, if you do need to take one or two more semesters of calculus in college and you don't feel comfortable with your basic understanding of calculus, take the courses again to make sure you get the basics for the higher-level calculus courses.

As for AP chemistry, no, I recommend that you take them again. I received a 5 on my chemistry AP, felt comfortable with my knowledge of the basics of chemistry, and still retook the course so I can have a solid foundation upon which to build organic chemistry on. To tell you the truth, general chemistry wasn't entirely needed for organic, but I don't regret my decision. A lot of freshmen have trouble adjusting to college life so I would rather take organic chemistry when I've gotten the hang of college life than mess up on such an important and notoriously hard course my freshman year.

[crescendoll]

I'm finishing up Organic Chemistry 2 this summer and take the MCAT next year.

Wish me luck.

Good luck!

How was OChem? How much harder than General Chemistry is it?
I'm going to be taking it this next school year and I'm kind of nervous because I'm taking Physics at the same time. XD

[l3oosh]

Good luck!

How was OChem? How much harder than General Chemistry is it?
I'm going to be taking it this next school year and I'm kind of nervous because I'm taking Physics at the same time. XD

It depends on whether or not chemistry is your subject. It certainly isn't for me. I have never liked chemistry, and ochem certainly did not change my mind about it. Ochem is a lot of work, much more than general chemistry was for me. You need to stay on top of ochem. I would highly suggest practicing problems, studying everyday, drilling all the reactions and mechanisms into your head everyday. That's what I needed to do to get an A (sadly, I didn't do this and got a B-). This is a class that if you don't stay on top of it, you'll get so far behind it's hard to catch up. That's what happened to me. I never fully understood organic chemistry I so when the final for organic chemistry II came around (my professor made the final cumulative of ochem I and II), I was screwed. Luckily I'm an excellent crammer so I managed to scrape by. I took organic chemistry I with physics II, but it wasn't too much of a problem for me; physics is one of my favorite courses and I never needed to study for it. I could've used all the time I spent not studying for physics for organic, but I'm not a very efficient person.

Summary: stay on top of organic chemistry, don't slack, make flashcards, and STUDY. You'll be fine

[-Rose-]

^It really depends on the person. I'm the exact opposite of you-I like Chemistry, and was totally fine with OChem. Made A's straight through, and even became a tutor. Physics though, is a WHOLE other story. I ABHOR physics, but I still managed to make decent grades. Never understood it, and I'm SO glad that I'm totally done with it. It's one of the reasons that I will never go into radiology, haha.

random but i'm always curious to know how pre-med and med students and people who work or aspire to work in the health field would answer this question:

"Why do you want to be a doctor ? or nurse or etc."

i've gotten a whole range of answers before about motivations and reasons, but i'm just still curious lol

For me, I've always felt that I've been really lucky to be able to have parents that worked hard enough for me to come to America and let me have a great education. My parents give back to the community a lot, and they've instilled that into me as well. I like helping people, and I've always been good at science, so to me, medicine is the best of both worlds. I can go on and on about why (you have to write a personal statement on it), but that's the shortened version. To me, these past 2 years have been all about cramming medical information into my head, and so I like to take breaks by going to a student run volunteer clinic that's close by to see patients. All of the patients there have no insurance and hardly any money, but they are all so grateful and nice to you that I always feel better about why I came into med school after going to volunteer.

[joie.de.vivre]

@ l3oosh, -Rose-: thank you for answering ^-^. you guys seem to have given much thought about why you want to go into the med field, and you two would make wonderful doctors (: [believe it or not, i've had people tell me stuff like "oh, i want to be a doctor because of the money" or "i'm going to be a doctor because my dad made me". ehhh.]

best of luck to the both of you in the future !

[d00lie]

l3oosh

thank you for your answer :]. i definitely appreciate it and gl @ school! :].

[-Rose-]

@ l3oosh, -Rose-: thank you for answering ^-^. you guys seem to have given much thought about why you want to go into the med field, and you two would make wonderful doctors (: [believe it or not, i've had people tell me stuff like "oh, i want to be a doctor because of the money" or "i'm going to be a doctor because my dad made me". ehhh.]

best of luck to the both of you in the future !

There are definitely a LOT of people that are in it for the money, prestige, power, or because they were pressured to. Honestly, I admit that those aspects of medicine to appeal to me too. But money shouldn't be the primary thing that motivates you, because honestly, there are a lot of other things that you could be doing right now where you could be making the same amount of money (or even better!) but which don't require so much time, effort, or responsibility. There are times when I find myself envying my friends who are already working and making money, whereas I still have at 2 more years till med school graduation, and then some depending on what specialty I choose. But yea...it does make me a bit sad to see colleagues who aren't very patient-oriented. *sigh*

[l3oosh]

A friend of mine got the same scholarship as me (BA/MD), and he took it solely because as the eldest son of a working class single mom, he felt obligated to become a doctor and help his family. I admire his values, but like -Rose- said, you could easily pick another career that allows you to make just as much money with shorter training. However, the difference between those careers and a career as a physician is the stability of being a medical doctor. There is always a shortage in doctors. Plus, the income of a physician is pretty much guaranteed to be high. Lawyers, sorry for picking on y'all, are on both ends of the spectrum.

[joie.de.vivre]

i agree that things like money, longterm stability, status, practicality and etc. do play a factor and that those reasons, like you guys mentioned, shouldnt be the primary or sole motivations. a drastic example, but, when a person has been given the power and responsibility of handling human lives and what he is focusing on is only little green pieces of paper...then there is something wrong with that picture to me. but, im sure that very few doctors just do it for vanity factors bc becoming one takes a great deal of conviction, drive, time and effort

@l3oosh: you are doing a BA/MD program ? me too ! which one ?
@-Rose-: what specialty(ies) are you leaning towards ? j/c ^^

[Yongo10]

Next semester I'll be a junior and a bit afraid that from the classes I just took my GPA will take HUGE hit... I can still go to med school and all that if I do bad right? lol, I feel like I just answered my own questions.

I wonder if med school is worth it...

[l3oosh]

I'm in the UH/Baylor BA/MD program. Not a very good undergrad school, but I'm really looking forward to attending BCM

Next semester I'll be a junior and a bit afraid that from the classes I just took my GPA will take HUGE hit... I can still go to med school and all that if I do bad right? lol, I feel like I just answered my own questions.

I wonder if med school is worth it...

lol, yeah, be careful in your junior/senior year. If your GPA drops a lot, you'll have a heck of a time trying to recover in time.

I ask myself all the time if med school is worth it. And the more I think about it, the more it is.

[-Rose-]

^Haha we're practically neighbors! I go to UTMB. In fact, I'll be doing my 3rd year rotations in Houston, because they just added that option for my class. Our hospitals still aren't at full capacity since that little storm called Ike ran through.

I wasn't aware that UH had a dual BA/MD program-I only knew of the Rice one. But yeah, Baylor's a great school! I always thought they had a good idea with starting rotations early in 2nd year-it totally helps with board prep.

[l3oosh]

^-- whoa so cool! I was always curious; what happens now to your UTMB curriculum? how did you make up for the lost time when Ike ran through? Did you just join another school or have classes taught in another building?

UH doesn't really have a BA/MD program. There are only about 5 - 8 of us each year. The program was only open to high school students who went to Debakey High School of Health Professions, something that good ol' Dr. Debakey had offered to us students when he was still part of Baylor. The program used to offer a full scholarship to both UH and Baylor, but during my senior year, they took away the paid tuition to Baylor :/ Still, I guess I shouldn't be complaining xD haha yeah, I heard that shortened classroom time is a major advantage.

[-Rose-]

^It depended a lot on what year you were. The 1st and 2nd years basically got 5 weeks off of school. 1st years have to have another month of school added on. Us second years can't really afford to do that since we take boards in June, and so they basically shortened some of our courses. For the 3rd and 4th years, the course directors had to scramble to find places to put them wherever they could. It was pretty hectic, and people were pretty temperamental. One of the faculty for my Osler student societies is in charge of placing the 3rd years students in their rotations, and she was SO stressed out. She literally would get 100's of emails a day from whiny students. I think our school did an ok job of pulling us through-there were times that they could've communicated with us better or done things differently, but I think med students are also really anal.

So when do you actually start med school?

[illneverletyougo]

how bad does it look on your college transcript if you have a C in the intro bio and intro chem, but A's on the upper level ones?

[yohimbine]

I'm going through First Aid, and I'm planning on taking Jenkins' Doctors In Training course...plus my school has a Step Prep thing that they do for 10 days. Other than that, I'm just going to be going through some high yield books like BRS Physiology, Clinical Microbio Made Easy, Lippincott's Pharm, Goljan Path...etc. I'm taking mine June 13th so I only have 6 weeks to study for it. I'm not terribly worried though because my school has a pretty good track record when it comes to Step 1...our average is a 96. It's just going to take a lot of buckling down for me to get through it!

I'm starting off with OB/GYN first in July...oh the joy. -_____-;; I'm really not a fan, haha.

I just finished DIT albeit the online one. I might move my date up now. Hopefully, I can buckle down this week as well and take an NBME saturday to see where I'm at. Congrats with OB/Gyn. i was htinking abou that field... only cause that was always the system that proved to be my buffer.

how bad does it look on your college transcript if you have a C in the intro bio and intro chem, but A's on the upper level ones?

I assume, that you probably took those while you were a freshman. I wouldn't worry about it. Freshman= new school, new environment, first time college yadah yadah. No big deal Rock that MCAT

......, but I think med students are also really anal.

med students anal NO WAY!!! Frankly, I think pre-med students are on a whole different level of anal.

I'll admit though, I have OCPD.

[l3oosh]

^It depended a lot on what year you were. The 1st and 2nd years basically got 5 weeks off of school. 1st years have to have another month of school added on. Us second years can't really afford to do that since we take boards in June, and so they basically shortened some of our courses. For the 3rd and 4th years, the course directors had to scramble to find places to put them wherever they could. It was pretty hectic, and people were pretty temperamental. One of the faculty for my Osler student societies is in charge of placing the 3rd years students in their rotations, and she was SO stressed out. She literally would get 100's of emails a day from whiny students. I think our school did an ok job of pulling us through-there were times that they could've communicated with us better or done things differently, but I think med students are also really anal.

So when do you actually start med school?

lol 5 weeks off school? how will that affect your USMLE? :/

I start med school in two years; I'll be a junior at UH in the fall, so it's a traditional 8-year program. Our contract requires us to remain at UH for four years, even though I've already finished my bio degree >.< So for the next two years, I'll be working on a business major and a minor in medicine and society

I got my orgo final grade back! A- despite having gotten a 70 average xD Much better than the B-/borderline C I made last semester. Now I'm done with orgo for the rest of my life.

btw, welcome back yohimbine

[yohimbine]

lol 5 weeks off school? how will that affect your USMLE? :/

I start med school in two years; I'll be a junior at UH in the fall, so it's a traditional 8-year program. Our contract requires us to remain at UH for four years, even though I've already finished my bio degree >.< So for the next two years, I'll be working on a business major and a minor in medicine and society

I got my orgo final grade back! A- despite having gotten a 70 average xD Much better than the B-/borderline C I made last semester. Now I'm done with orgo for the rest of my life.

btw, welcome back yohimbine

Thanks l3oosh. you don't want to know what kind of withdrawals i went through not seeing your response in a med school thread or even giving my own response .... did you catch House season finale? hmm will my edit make it in time haha Congrats on A and for ebing done with orgo the bane of many students path not long left for you, keep it up!

[l3oosh]

Thanks l3oosh. you don't want to know what kind of withdrawals i went through not seeing your response in a med school thread or even giving my own response .... did you catch House season finale? hmm will my edit make it in time haha Congrats on A and for ebing done with orgo the bane of many students path not long left for you, keep it up!

haha. I'm not quite done yet (three finals on Thursday) but I'm taking a short break. I actually did catch the first few minutes but I realized it was silly for me to watch it considering I haven't watched this season religiously (I missed the Kutner one! )

Thank you for your inspirational words

I'm finishing up biochemistry (just biochem I) this semester, and I heard that taking this course was helpful for med school. But...is it really? I didn't get anything out of this course; it just seemed like regular biology with a few equations tossed in. I actually didn't get anything out of genetics either. For both these courses, all I did was cram the night before each test to get my A. Obviously, I didn't learn anything new. Would it be worth my time if I took the time go to back and review all this material with earnest, for either med school or MCAT?