Should I attempt to apply to med school?
I’m going to be starting my senior year of college as a psychology major and am considering applying to med school after I graduate. I have good grades, a 3.57 GPA and am involved in a bunch of activities, etc. I really think I’d make a great doctor and I have a strong interest in learning about medicine, but I just dont know if I’ll have what it takes to get accepted. I have only taken a general biology class and a psychology class that covered the physiological aspects of the brain as far as hard sciencees go. I’ve only taken a statistics class for math as well. Should I start taking more math & science classes in my last 2 semesters? Chemistry and physics really arent my strengths, should I not take the risk of them bringing down my GPA?
I haven’t taken the MCATS or begun to study for them so I dont know what my scores will be.
I just feel confused about whether I should bother putting in the effort and getting my hopes up if I really don’t have a shot. I’ve heard some schools prefer if you are an unconventional student and come in without being a pre-med student, so that makes me wonder if I’ll have some kind of advantage. If anyone has any insight or knowledge about applying or what I should do I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks!
boarder51x said,
Wrote on November 15, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Hi, since you are a psychology major, you would have to take many lower division classes:
General Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Organic Chemistry
and many upperdivision
These classes are all required, and they are each a year long, except for upperdivision classes. From what you stated, it doesn’t seem like you’ve taken these classes which are a pain. In my opinion, I would say to stick with psychology because that is also a good field.
Dave said,
Wrote on November 15, 2010 @ 3:20 pm
Most med schools require you to take pre-req courses, which include one year of biology and physics with lab, one year of calculus, and two years of chemistry with lab. If you haven’t taken those classes, it will be extremely difficult for you to do well on the MCAT.
iSpeakTheTruth said,
Wrote on November 15, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
You’re ineligible to apply to medical school unless you have taken the minimum prerequisite courses. Unfortunately, you should’ve really have done this during your freshman and sophomore years because it will take you two years of full time to complete your general chem sequence (2 semesters w/labs) and organic chem sequence (2 semesters w/labs) — they are sequential with prerequisites to the lower half.
Additionally, you will need to take college level bio (2 semesters, w. labs) appropriate for bio majors. If you took a non-science major bio course as some sort of general education core then it will not be accepted for medical school entrance. College physics, too, will be required and that’s also 2 semesters w/labs. Oh, and your stats course is not considered qualifying for the math requirement so you will need to take at least one math course at the calculus-level.
Finally, those are only the minimum science courses you need to take. Doing the minimum does not make you stand out as a strong candidate when you are a non-science major. It’s highly recommended you take at least a few upper division biological science courses such as physiology, anatomy, biochem, genetics, cellular/molecular bio. This assures the admissions board that you are familiar and understand advanced biological science topics so when you enter medical school it wont be the first time seeing this type of material. The stats course you took is another recommended course and since you took it already, gives you some bonus points. Good luck, it’s a long path ahead of you but if you’re serious then you’ll do it.