Can anyone answer my questions?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I just started college this semester. I have an idea about most things, but I have a few somewhat easy questions. Feel free to skip questions/do whichever ones you feel like. Thanks!</p>

<p>~ Majors/Minors.... Are they really that important? I really want to major in Psychology, but only as a personal choice. I haven't chosen it to "impress" any medical schools, because I doubt it will anyways. Does it matter what my minors are?</p>

<p>~ EMT... I've been told that I should do this because it will look good. I don't think it will, since a lot of pre-med students are doing this now. How do people even fit this into their schedule?.. Is it something I should still consider?</p>

<p>~ In the last year I have taken up two instruments (which I played a few years ago). I play<br>
them regularly and I'm currently in lessons. I'm also looking for a sport to do outside
of school so I can stay active. Will these look good for medical school by any chance?</p>

<p>~ Any ideas/advice on things I can do to stand out more?</p>

<p>~ Any extra advice about anything?</p>

2

<p>Majors/minors don’t really matter as to what they are rather it matters in the sense that it matters to YOU.</p>

<p>Pre-med is a set of prereqs one takes to fulfill the requirements in order to apply to med school. It is not what gets you in. You are what gets in. Have a major that you enjoy and will stretch you as a scholar. That is what will appeal to med schools. Be realistic about your academic goals, don’t put so much on your plate you don’t get to enjoy anything.</p>

<p>Everyone learns at a different pace and you should be mindful of what your pace is. That in turn will allow you to manage your cum GPA and bcpm GPA. An instrument will also allow you to develop academically and hopefully provide you with a stress reliever. But again if it becomes a stresser than begin to prioritze what is important to you.</p>

<p>Does your uni provide PE courses? Flamenco dance, hip-hop, golf, kayaking, rock climbing, swimming, aerobics…take your pick and go from there. My kiddos were D1 athletes so their time was much more limited. When son went to complete another undergrad degree at another university that offered so many PE options he took full advantage of all his choices. He didn’t really need any to graduate but had always wanted to learn to golf, learn all 4 strokes of swimming and play tennis. As a college football player he never really had time to do all those things so he relished the opportunity of learning something different.</p>

<p>Remember, these 4 years of undergrad are a gift of time.</p>

<p>You have opportunities that might never happen again. If you know that now, at the beginning of your college career and really act upon you will be more than ready to apply to med school.</p>

<p>Maintain and manage your GPA, cover all your pre-reqs, look for volunteering and shadowing opportunities and learn to prioritze.</p>

<p>The more opportunities you give yourself, clubs, ECs, tutoring, volunteering, travelling the more you will discover what you like and don’t like. The more you discover about the world of medicine and educate yourself the more prepared you will be for applying to med school and succeeding when you get in.</p>

<p>Don’t worry so much about what will look good for med schools. Worry about becoming a great student and a FANTASTIC person. Find a major that fits you. A minor that you really enjoy. And if along the way you discover you love medicine, then that is an extra bonus.</p>

<p>Son is an MS1, was a econ major with greek classical studies minor (not exact title). His first uni did not have the other majors he wanted so his gap year was spent obtaining 2 more degrees in micro and biochem with a genetics minor. All of which he really enjoyed. All make sense since he wants an MD/MBA/MPH, which he didn’t know until he took the courses. Not a set plan but something that evolved along the way. His senior thesis helped cement his ideas.</p>

<p>Again, take what you like and figure out what you don’t like (son wasn’t crazy about research but didn’t know it until he had done several years of it.)</p>

<p>ENJOY!!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

3

<p>Thank you! I do understand that my undergrad years are going to be the best years, so I’m trying to do things in school that I’m interested in.</p>

<p>I’m part of a big community college, but they have different colleges around my state. The only two that have PE courses are thirty minutes away. I really want to do those, but I don’t want to drive that far.</p>

<p>And yeah, I’m doing stuff that appeals to me. I just want to know if they’ll make help my chances of being accepted into a medical school. </p>

<p>I haven’t officially changed my major (it’s still liberal arts) because I’ve been told it isn’t as important for me right now. I’ve chosen Psychology as my major and Biology as my minor. I love both of them, so it’s more of a personal choice instead of what I think will look good.</p>

4

<p>RE: EMT Having the credential isn’t important or impressive. (Tons of people have it.) It’s only valuable if you actually USE your EMT to do something–like volunteer or paid employment as an EMT. </p>

<p>RE: music or sports–these in and of themselves will not impress med school adcomms. It’s not something that really even gets considered during the admissions process. Music or sports, however, do make you a more interesting, fully rounded person–someone is likely to be more able to connect on a personal level with individuals. (Like patients or interviewers)</p>

<p>Med schools aren’t looking for cookie cutter applicants. They’re looking for real people with a variety of interests, abilities and skills who are able not only to understand the science of medicine, but who also are articulate, interesting individuals who have good people skills.</p>

<p>There are many, many paths to med school. You need to find your own.</p>

5

<p>Thank you WayOutWestMom. I love honest advice from people, so.</p>

<p>A lot of these things aren’t even me doing them for a better chance at being accepted. They’re some of my interests, so I wondered if it would help me get accepted.</p>

6

<p>wayoutmom rocks. Adcoms like people who excell at what they do. Major in what makes you happy and do what makes you happy and stand out. Don’t check off boxes to get in. Consider the fact that you may not get in. What will you do then?</p>

<p>(We selected a student from Berkeley with a major in “Prestidigitation”. He was a well known magician in California. But he also had all As in the premed classes)<br>
(We also selected a kid for LA who was a top surfer, We have had a professional football player who is now a heart surgeon in Chicago)</p>

7

<p>WOWMom,</p>

<p>FWIW, my MD/PhD program director said they specifically look for musicians and athletes, so it is considered, but as you said, it’s not because musical or athletic skills are required or looked upon favorably but because of what playing an instrument or a sport for half your life says about you.</p>

<p>As the director said to me at my interview, “It’s because musicians and athletes have experienced firsthand what it means to be dedicated to a life-long discipline. Just like in science, music and sports never end, there are always new challenges, always more setbacks than successes, and without the desire to always keep going and accomplish more, one won’t succeed in either.”</p>

8

<p>Successful premeds with professional level of skills in music and sport are geniuses. I doubt that there are many of those who can get into a medical school w/o taking a gap year. So, be careful about the MCAT change if you are not one of them.</p>

9

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<p>I’ve also thought that research (esp. spending 2-3 years on one project or with a single PI/lab) has similar function in med school admissions. It’s not that your 2-3 years of lab experience makes you a better doctor or scientist, but it’s more what the experience of doing long term lab research with it myriad frustrations, plentiful failures, and oftimes pervasive boring routines says something about your character. That you have perseverance and persistence—much like having long term experience in athletics or music.</p>

10

<p>Hmm. Thank you for all the great replies :slight_smile: I was first chair (which doesn’t really mean much now) in school before I quit. I think I’ll continue with my flute and sax, thanks guys.</p>