[daisyink]

so to get into med school, do you have to take the MCATs AND take courses in bio, chemistry, and physics?
because i thought that the MCATs and your GPA were all that they considered.

i'm a college freshman, so there hasn't been much discussion about majors or career paths yet.
but i'm 80% sure i want to be a psychiatrist.

[baboxxyun]

so to get into med school, do you have to take the MCATs AND take courses in bio, chemistry, and physics?
because i thought that the MCATs and your GPA were all that they considered.

i'm a college freshman, so there hasn't been much discussion about majors or career paths yet.
but i'm 80% sure i want to be a psychiatrist.

MCAT, Pre-Req sciences courses(bio chem ochem phy, maybe more depending on the med school you apply to.), and GPA matter.
these are the three MAIN factors that determine med school acceptance.
Volunteer work, shadowing, and extra curriculars only give you a competitive edge. Although, imo these are highly over rated. These should be second to your schoolwork.

[d00lie]

hi i'm an incoming freshmen but ahaha i'm slightly worried on what i need to do.

in terms of volunteering when is a good time to start? right away or should i wait until i'm used to my college life first and then start like winter/spring quarter?

i'm going to ucsd next year. are there any particular good places to volunteer? (like if you have a insightful experience there & you can recommend me the place :]) i'm not familiar with the city surrounding the college so recommendations would be great .

[daisyink]

MCAT, Pre-Req sciences courses(bio chem ochem phy, maybe more depending on the med school you apply to.), and GPA matter.
these are the three MAIN factors that determine med school acceptance.
Volunteer work, shadowing, and extra curriculars only give you a competitive edge. Although, imo these are highly over rated. These should be second to your schoolwork.

is there a way to find out which courses are required?
i guess since it depends on the med school, you'd have to check out their individual requirements...?
(for courses, i mean.)

i'm planning on being a psychology major, since i'm 99% sure i am going to specialize in psychiatry.
the science courses aren't exactly planned out for me, so i want to make sure i take the right courses. @__@

[baboxxyun]

is there a way to find out which courses are required?
i guess since it depends on the med school, you'd have to check out their individual requirements...?
(for courses, i mean.)

i'm planning on being a psychology major, since i'm 99% sure i am going to specialize in psychiatry.
the science courses aren't exactly planned out for me, so i want to make sure i take the right courses. @__@

General Chem
Organic Chem
Intro Bio
Gen Phy
Those four are the pre-reqs most med schools go by. but some medical schools make you take additional classes, such as biochem. The extra classes needed are usually on the college's website. Also, keep in mind that these are all lower division sciences classes.

[yohimbine]

hi i'm an incoming freshmen but ahaha i'm slightly worried on what i need to do.

in terms of volunteering when is a good time to start? right away or should i wait until i'm used to my college life first and then start like winter/spring quarter?

i'm going to ucsd next year. are there any particular good places to volunteer? (like if you have a insightful experience there & you can recommend me the place :]) i'm not familiar with the city surrounding the college so recommendations would be great .

Start when you feel you can mange your course load.

Sorry, not @ UCSD. Try visiting/calling hospitals near campus.

[FTIsland4ever]

This forum is so good!! Good thing I found it. Well Im like a complete noob when it comes to these things lol. I know wat major I want to do but not sure wat I should take, like courses in college or university. n Im a senior right now <-- wow I know it seems like this is a late question lol, but better late than never right?

Im planning on majoring in nursing, but not sure wat courses to take when Im college. Cause my parents said that 3rd and 4th year of college is mostly when u actually focus on your major. But I wanted to take courses that can help me prepare in the beggining so Im prepared. I took earth science, biology, chemistry, and currently taking physics. I guess for math I took geometry adv, algebra adv, pre-calc adv, and currently in Fundamental Calc. Is that ok?? Im so clueless cause Im not the smartest person haha and get lazy once in a while hehe. ugh it seems like I have so many questions but I can't think of any right now...I guess when I remember them I'll post it sorry if my question didn't made sense at all!!

[CitrusFlower]

I want to advance in Dermatology and I have checked out the requirements. I really want to know if this is right for me because to advance in this field I should taking physic, chemistry, etc. I'm fine with the fact that I will have to study long and hard but I have a problem. I'm very sensitive to surgical things and I know as a dermatologist their will be surgery involve. I'm just wondering if any of you current medical students used to be like this and how have you over come it? I don't think this should be affecting me to advance in this career so I want to overcome it.

[meilotus90]

Hi, I've got a question.

I'm currently a 1st year undergraduate student outside of the US. I read that in order to do Medicine in US graduate schools, I need to have done at least one year of undergraduate in the US.

Question! If I go to the US for 1 year exchange, will that count?

Thanks!

[musicfan]

Is there anyone wanting to become a Physical Therapist here? I would like some advice about this career.

[baboxxyun]

I want to advance in Dermatology and I have checked out the requirements. I really want to know if this is right for me because to advance in this field I should taking physic, chemistry, etc. I'm fine with the fact that I will have to study long and hard but I have a problem. I'm very sensitive to surgical things and I know as a dermatologist their will be surgery involve. I'm just wondering if any of you current medical students used to be like this and how have you over come it? I don't think this should be affecting me to advance in this career so I want to overcome it.

when you say "sensitive to surgical things"
do you mean you are uncomfortable around blood or the actual thought of cutting into human flesh?

i cant really think of any MD practices that involve absolutely NO blood related activity.
but there are a few that dont deal with surgery.

the closest thing i cant think of to try and overcome your fear without actually being in a operating room first hand would be...... watching movies and shows lol.
medical documentaries show surgical procedures that give you a glimpse of the environment.
and "gory" movies like Saw, if you are up to it, are full of blood and gore LOL (i dont recommend this one, but if you can watch this without freaking out you shouldnt have a problem with a surgical operations)

[Gotham]

I want to advance in Dermatology and I have checked out the requirements. I really want to know if this is right for me because to advance in this field I should taking physic, chemistry, etc. I'm fine with the fact that I will have to study long and hard but I have a problem. I'm very sensitive to surgical things and I know as a dermatologist their will be surgery involve. I'm just wondering if any of you current medical students used to be like this and how have you over come it? I don't think this should be affecting me to advance in this career so I want to overcome it.

There's no surgery in dermatology unless you mean Mohs microsurgery. Even then its pretty nonbloody.

You do have do go through surgery and OB/GYN clerkship in your third year which can be pretty gory and disgusting. Ive seen amputations, huge pockets of pus that needed to be drained from various places, a guy with 3/4 of his body with necrotizing fasicitiis. Honestly it can be pretty exciting when you scrub in but Ive heard of people fainting in the OR . Needless to say you have to do well in these clerkships because derm is insanely competitive.

I would say concentrate in getting into medical school and doing well in grades and Step 1. You've got alot of hoops to jump through before thinking about applying to derm.

[Tuxedomask]

Going to post some basic Med School information.

Some Prerequisites: General Biology (with lab)
Inorganic (General) chemistry (with lab)
Organic chemistry (with lab)
Physics (with lab)
English composition or writing-intensive courses (Sufficient credit for liberal arts degree)
Mathematics (College-level algebra or above)

You must take the MCAT and receive a decent grade on it. Your GPA (3.5-4.0 is highly recommended, but I have seen or heard of people getting in with 3.0) is taken into account but they would like your best grades in those courses mentioned above. So if you have a slightly lower than average GPA but excel in the in the prerequisite courses than I'm sure you're in good standing.

Again this is general information I can think of or know of. You guys should just check out some admission requirements for the Universities you are interested in. You will also have to attend an interview with the admissions panel of the University (usually 30 mins - 1 hr long).

[blooberri026]

What are the pros and cons of doing a postbacc program? I'm considering it as one of my options. Anything will help!

[yohimbine]

What are the pros and cons of doing a postbacc program? I'm considering it as one of my options. Anything will help!

Pros
-With some postbac the teachers will get to know you better
-You prove to them you can handle the course load.
-You build stronger/better connections

Cons
-Some postbac aren't guaranteed admission into the med school
-you "waste" a year if you aren't accepted

[yangxx2]

There's no surgery in dermatology unless you mean Mohs microsurgery. Even then its pretty nonbloody.

You do have do go through surgery and OB/GYN clerkship in your third year which can be pretty gory and disgusting. Ive seen amputations, huge pockets of pus that needed to be drained from various places, a guy with 3/4 of his body with necrotizing fasicitiis. Honestly it can be pretty exciting when you scrub in but Ive heard of people fainting in the OR . Needless to say you have to do well in these clerkships because derm is insanely competitive.

I would say concentrate in getting into medical school and doing well in grades and Step 1. You've got alot of hoops to jump through before thinking about applying to derm.

I completely agree.
I wouldn't put much thought into what specialty you want just yet, because you won't really know until you've tried it out. Many people enter med school thinking one thing, and end up doing something totally different. Clinical rotations is when they get to learn about the different specialties, so that's about 3rd and 4th year.

And about derm being insanely competitive...you need to be like top 5-10% in med school class to get a residency in it. It's ridiculous when you think about it, because you're in class with some of the smartest people from their undergrads, so you're competing with the best of the best.

But I wouldn't worry about that just yet. Study hard, get that MCAT score you want, make sure you have clinical experience, and get in med school first!

[let them eat cake]

I'm a recent UC graduate with a BA in Economics. I was originally taking the Pre-med track when I first entered my university. I quickly switched majors because I felt that med school wasn't for me. But now that I've graduated, I'm deeply regretting my decision. If I want to apply to med school, I know that I need to take the required course list, such as o-chem, bio, etc. I never took any of those classes since I was an Econ major. What do I have to do to be eligible for Med school? Can I just take the required classes at a community college, or do I have to start all over at a 4-year university? I want to enter the field of Dermatology to be specific.

[iRAWRoX]

I had a question too :/

I started college with my major as BioChemistry, mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to major in, and I thought science would be the right path if I wanted to go to medical school.

And now, after a couple weeks of school, I absolutely hate those science classes. I already knew I was going to struggle before I came to the decision but now, I want to major in something I actually like. I am thinking about majoring in Political Science, but I'm afraid I have a slim chance of getting accepted into medical school if I change my major.

All in all, would changing my major have an effect on my medical school acceptance later on, and is there any advice you Soompi-ers can give me so I don't start getting paranoid when Medical School is still 4years away? ^-^

Thanks <3

[baboxxyun]

I had a question too :/

I started college with my major as BioChemistry, mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to major in, and I thought science would be the right path if I wanted to go to medical school.

And now, after a couple weeks of school, I absolutely hate those science classes. I already knew I was going to struggle before I came to the decision but now, I want to major in something I actually like. I am thinking about majoring in Political Science, but I'm afraid I have a slim chance of getting accepted into medical school if I change my major.

All in all, would changing my major have an effect on my medical school acceptance later on, and is there any advice you Soompi-ers can give me so I don't start getting paranoid when Medical School is still 4years away? ^-^

Thanks <3

major affects nothing.
some people say that med schools look for diversity and that having a non science major would actually increase chances of being accepted, but there has been no solid proof of any med schools doing this.

but if you dont like your current major, switch. simple as that.
no point in going for a major you dread.
the only reason people generally go with biochem, bio, or chem majors is because the classes fall within the med school required classes.

[yohimbine]

I had a question too :/

I started college with my major as BioChemistry, mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to major in, and I thought science would be the right path if I wanted to go to medical school.

And now, after a couple weeks of school, I absolutely hate those science classes. I already knew I was going to struggle before I came to the decision but now, I want to major in something I actually like. I am thinking about majoring in Political Science, but I'm afraid I have a slim chance of getting accepted into medical school if I change my major.

All in all, would changing my major have an effect on my medical school acceptance later on, and is there any advice you Soompi-ers can give me so I don't start getting paranoid when Medical School is still 4years away? ^-^

Thanks <3

As stated above, change your major and do well in your pre-req science course.