<p>I'm really interested in applying early and starting Medical school after completing my sophomore year of undergrad. I understand that this is harder to do, but how common is it for a student to do this? I know it's possible, but I'm wondering why more people don't do this. </p>
<p>To my understanding, the medical school prerequisites are as following:
2 semesters of Biology with Lab
2 semesters of Inorganic Chemistry with Lab
2 semesters of English
2 semesters of Calculus
2 semesters of Organic Chemistry with Lab
2 semesters of Physics with Lab</p>
<p>I also understand that there may be other courses required depending on the medical school (like Biological Statistics or Biochemistry). </p>
<p>I just completed my freshman year at Virginia Tech (which I understand isn't particularly renowned for premed or the life sciences).<br>
I've completed:
2 semesters of Biology with Lab
2 semesters of Inorganic Chemistry with Lab
2 semesters of English
2 semesters of Calculus. </p>
<p>So far my overall cumulative GPA is 4.0.<br>
I've only got Organic Chemistry (with lab) and Physics (with lab) left - both of which I plan to take sophomore year. I'm aware that they're very difficult courses. </p>
<p>Research-wise, during the second semester of my Freshman year, I started doing research at an independent lab facility on campus as a staff member. It required a lot of time and energy, and unreasonable work hours (on more than one occasion, I'd be at the lab until 2 AM in the morning). I'm going to be continuing this research next semester. Hopefully I'll get some shadowing done in the next year or so.</p>
<p>If I were to take the MCAT within the next year (and hopefully do well on it, I realize that's an enormous assumption to make), would medical schools take my application seriously despite my lack of completion of an undergraduate degree? I'm not expecting to get into Harvard Medical or anything extremely prestigious, but would any of you think that any accredited American medical schools seriously consider an early applicant like me who hasn't completed their undergrad? </p>
<p>I'd appreciate any input. Thanks for your time!</p>
<p>What about your volunteering and clinical experience? You need some of those in as well.</p>
<p>Some medical schools have early assurance programs, like Cedar Sini and the upstate medical university in New York, where you can apply during your 2nd year of college and gain acceptance to medical school based on your college and high school coursework/EC’s without taking the MCAT, and then once accepted you can take the MCAT afterwards to maintain the requirements for your place in the program.</p>
<p>It will depend on the specific medical school. Most require the completion of a baccalaureate as a condition for enrollment; however, some only require the completion of 90 credits.</p>
<p>Typically those accepted after completion of 90 credits are truly exceptional students, both academically and in terms of their life experiences. </p>
<p>But as Jweinst1 pointed out there are some early assurance programs that accept students at the end of their sophomore year. Early assurance students stay at their home undergrad and complete their baccalaueate before they can matriculate into med school.</p>
<p>P.S. Many schools have added a semester of Biochemistry (lecture only) to their pre-reqs. (Biochem will comprise a significant portion of the biological science questions on the 2015 MCAT.) </p>
<p>Additionally, the 2015 MCAT includes a new section on Human Behavior that covers topics in psychology and sociology. If you don’t have a background in either of those areas, you should consider adding classes in intro psych and intro soc.</p>
<p>As far as I know this is only possible if you are in ACCELERATED combined bs/md program. There are also other programs that will interview and accept in sophomore year (some without MCAT, and you do NOT need to take it at all), but they still require you to graduate from college. Acceptance to combined bs/md is eextremely competitive and also open only to HS graduates (Ivy caliber).<br>
Basically, from what I know based on D’s participation in bs/md and her friend participation in StarMed (acceptance after sophomore year, no MCAT, but reguired gradution from college, Summa Gum Laude), every program is very different from another. So, you better check with the adcom of the specific program(s). </p>
<p>Do you have a pre-medical advising office at Virginia Tech? They would be your best source of information on available programs. Your best bet would be if any of the Virginia medical schools have accelerated tracks specifically open to VT students.</p>
<p>Jweinst1: You’re right, I was hoping to get on a lot of shadowing/volunteering over winter break. Thanks for the suggestion on early assurance program. I’m starting to look into that now. </p>
<p>WayOutWestMom: The 90 credits would mean I likely wouldn’t be able to get in early until at earliest Junior Year. But I’ll start looking into the early assurance programs. I was hoping to maybe study the MCAT and take the exam before the 2015 exam arrived, but I wouldn’t mind studying Human Behavior and said courses. I like that kind of stuff. </p>
<p>MiamiDAP: I applied to a 6 year BS/MD program at Howard University last year but I unfortunately wasn’t accepted. I’d attempt to transfer, but the program understandably doesn’t allow transfers. I’ll look into StarMed for sure, thanks for the suggestion. </p>
<p>VSGPeanut101: Yeah we do have a Pre-med advising office. I was thinking of contacting them this year, as I was very out of the loop this past year in regards to career services. I’ll definitely look into Virginia schools in that case. </p>
<p>Thanks for all of your responses, I very much appreciate it! Looks like early assurance programs is the way to go. </p>
<p>However - let’s say that I were to by some chance get accepted to an early assurance program without having taken my MCAT. Upon taking the MCAT, if I get a less than satisfactory score, will they revoke my acceptance. How low does this threshold go? 30? 20? I’d appreciate any input. </p>
<p>If taking the MCAT and achieving a specific score is a requirement for your admission, then failing to achieve that score means your conditional acceptance will be revoked. (Note the key work here is conditional.) No second chances. Same would be true if you failed to achieve a specific GPA required by program or if you did not fulfilling any other requirements set out by the program. (Some have minimum hours of clinical experience/shadowing. Or require attending certain summer programs.) </p>
<p>As for the specific MCAT required, this is program dependent. I know of one program requiring a minimum 35 MCAT for its early assurance students. I doubt a 20 would be acceptable anywhere. </p>
<p>As for avoiding the 2015 MCAT—If you have not yet taken OChem and physics, you’re not prepared to take the current MCAT. The new exam goes live in February 2015.</p>
<p>As I said, some programs (including the one at our Local Med. School) do not require MCAT. they have to maintain certain college GPA and go thru interview in their sophomore year. You are correct, you cannot transfer to combined bs/md, it is strictly for HS graduates.<br>
D. considered “accelerated” type a disadvantage (and it was also more expansive in her case). She had chosen non-accelerated bs/md. I am not sure if you understand non-rushing aspect of pre-med. DO NOT RUSH, it is much better to have full 4 years in UG if going to Med. School. Many underestimate the personal gorwth factor when entering extremely challenging in all aspects, not just academically and harsh life of the Medical Student. Got to be a very mature individual to sustain the estreme challenges to your brain, emotions, physical stamina, social side, absolutely everything. </p>