<p>what it's like being a bio major for all your bio premeds out there? lots of memorization, competition, etc? hard to get A's?</p>
<p>The intro classes are filled with annoying premeds but once you weed them out, by the time you get to the upper level classes, you get mostly people who actually like biology.</p>
<p>How do they get weeded out?</p>
<p>Usually grades or reality. When premeds finally get a glimpse of what medicine is really like, suddenly it doesn't seem to attractive anymore. And since they were only taking biology in order to go to medical school, they change majors.</p>
<p>You know... the ones that don't make the cut (because they are "weeded out") often receive corporal punishment for their lackluster academic performance. Harsh? Yes. But those are the rules.</p>
<p>If you don't get into med school, what can you do with a bio major? Research?</p>
<p>Yes or you can be a teacher. You can also go to law school and be a clinical malpractice lawyer. Or if you are lucky, find a job for the gov't.</p>
<p>You'd have an easier time getting a job if you do a Master's in some field of biology, as opposed to just having a BA or BS.</p>
<p>a bachelors in bio, chem, or biochem will land you an entry level job in pharma.</p>
<p>You can go to law school and become whatever kind of lawyer you want.</p>
<p>You can go to graduate school and become a researcher.</p>
<p>You can work in a lab and be a researcher.</p>
<p>You can go teach high school.</p>
<p>Or junior high.</p>
<p>You can work on Wall Street. Management consulting. Finance.</p>
<p>You can go to PA school. Or NP school. Or PT school. Or OT, OD, RN, PharmD., DDS.</p>
<p>You can find a job in IT.</p>
<p>After a couple years of any of those, you can go get an MBA.</p>
<p>You could go intern with a Senator.</p>
<p>You could enroll in the army.</p>
<p>You could become a journalist.</p>
<p>You could become a technical writer.</p>
<p>If you choose to become a researcher, don't you need to take some test for grad school? If so, what is the test like, what is it called, and how hard is it in terms of specifics and compared to the MCAT?</p>
<p>There is no qualifying exam for a career in research -- i.e. if one wanted to permanently work full-time in the job that NCG is currently doing.</p>
<p>There is a qualifying exam to enter graduate school. The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is a joke. It is actually less advanced, in content, than the SAT.</p>
<p>Of course, if the SAT was hard, then the GRE might also be hard.</p>
<p>Oh please, no one wants to work fulltime on a permanent basis at the job I'm doing.</p>
<p>You don't find many post-bacs in research. Most are either interns, fellows, or 'tweeners (there was an article in Nature about us 'tweeners). Most researchers either have master's or PhD's. The GRE is supposed to be much easier than the MCAT. The problems may or may not be easier but because the test taking pool is not as strong, it's easier to score in a higher percentile.</p>
<p>Can I apply to both grad and medical school simultaneously? If I apply to MD/PhD programs in all of the med schools that I applied to, can I apply apply to those schools for just a PhD grad program also? Also are decisions about grad school at the same time as for med school?</p>
<p>There's no rule against it, but I've never heard of anybody doing it. Grad school timing is (I think) much more like undergrad timing: no rolling.</p>
<p>So basically you suggest that I wait until like Nov after I applied to med school and then apply because I should, hopefully, receive answers from at least some of my med schools if I was accepted or rejected, right?</p>
<p>I would not apply together. because Med school might not like you applying to graduate school. I have heard that they don't exactly like hard core science do they. One of my friends had excellent GPA ( 3.91) Excellent MCAT score (38) and he had a lot of research but he only got in to one of the schools he applied to. His adviser said it might because he did a lot of scientific research and those poeple tend to go more toward research then med school.</p>
<p>You see, I want to apply to an MD/PhD because I want to do research also. I like medicine as a whole too and an MD/PhD seems like the best thing to combine both worlds. However, if I do get into med school I may be able to transfer into an MD/PhD program. These programs are extremely competitive b/c they accept only 15 ppl in each med school. That is why I want a back-up.</p>
<p>Just from the sound of it, the idea of applying to PhD programs "as a back up" does not sound like a viable plan. It sounds as if you're not really passionate about medicine (ie, getting the MD).</p>
<p>I know.... thats what I was thinking. It sounds like PhD or Medicine either way is good for you however medical schools look for students look for students who are passionate about medicine.</p>