<p>I'm a high school freshmen and I'm interested in pursuing a medical career. Preferably in diagnostics. What are some good colleges that have good pre-med programs. And what comes after pre-med anyway? (I know I probably should have read into this more, sorry)</p>
<p>What are their acceptance rates? minimum GPA's? SAT scores? etc....</p>
<p>Thanks so much</p>
<p>You can pretty much concentrate in pre-med at almost any college or university (notice i said concentration, not major/degree, because it doesn't exist.) You go to college, take (i believe) a year of bio, chem, physics, and english plus your major requirements. don't quote me, but generally you need those courses plus a great GPA + recommendations and ECs. You take the Mcats in junior year. After undergrad, you go to Med school. I would check some schools and talk to pre-med advisors and med school acceptance rates. But relax and enjoy being a freshman at the moment! you have plenty of time to worry about med school later.</p>
<p>I can give you some schools that I know are known for having many students go to Medical school.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg College
Juniata College
University of Pittsburgh
Johns Hopkins U
But any top school will have an amazing prgrams, those four just popped into my head.</p>
<p>Please go the the Pre-Med Topics forum and read some of the sticky threads at the top. They will give you some great information about what it means to be premed and what the steps are for getting into med school.</p>
<p>creighton university.</p>
<p>The full coursework required is this:</p>
<p>One year of biology
One year of general chemistry
One year of organic chemistry with lab (Some med schools let you substitute the second semester with biochemistry)
One year of physics
One semester to a year of college math (usually calculus, but sometimes a semester of statistics is accepted)</p>
<p>Those are the actual core requirements. Then as keenonkane said above, you need a great GPA (which probably carries the most weight), and a great MCAT score (it stands for Medical College Admissions Test) which you take usually spring / earlier summer of the year you apply (remember that you have to apply a full year prior to actually entering medical school). For example, most people apply the fall of their senior year in college, already having taken the MCAT that spring or early summer.</p>
<p>MCAT is a test that measures your abilities in
Physical Sciences,
Verbal Reasoning,
Writing Sample, and
Biological Sciences </p>
<p>You then need several letters of recommendations, usually one from your pre-med advisor, and from other professors (from both science / non-science). And whatever else the med school requires.</p>
<p>Obviously this process is very hard, and unfortunately many pre-med schools don't get into any med schools at all (even though they apply to 10-15).</p>
<p>However, it's a worthwhile path if you know you want to practice medicine (well, it's the only way to become a full physician).</p>
<p>After med school (4 years) and a series of tests, you complete your residency at a nearby hospital. This process lasts 3 years, for which you're basically an intern the first year, and then you move up. You are paid for your work, but only very minimally. This time is considered extremely hard (as if the prior stages were easy), as residents (especially first year) are worked to death. You can expect 20-30 hour shifts, where you might go 12 hours or more without eating or sleeping. You're expected to put in 90-100 hours a week.</p>
<p>So once again, this entire process is very difficult, and you should be absolutely sure that you want to do this for the rest of your life. You will have to sacrifice time and possibly getting married, have children, etc. until you're done with your residency, which if you complete a specialty, you might finish in your mid-thirties.</p>
<p>My suggestion for you, srs1367, is same as keenonkeane. If you're a freshman, you have more than abundant time. Just do well in classes now, and don't be fixated on the idea that you're going to medical school. I don't want to sound condescending, but there is a really good chance that what you want to do will change quite a bit by the time you get to college. Not to mention, when you get to college, it will probably change even more. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! In fact, that's better than "being sure" of what you want to do. The reason is that (once again, apologies if I sound condescending) at your age, you don't know what you want to do. What you need to do is spread yourself out in various types of courses, and see what interests you. This might be tough in high school, but definitely possible for college. When you get to college, don't be so obsessed with fulfilling your general course requirements and then moving straight forward onto your major and possibly pre-med requirements. When you've taken a variety of courses, what you like will actually manifest itself.</p>
<p>I tend think of college students who choose their major way early on in this manner.</p>
<p>They're standing outside a candy shop that they've never visited, and they see a window display of all different kinds of candy, and without knowing much about them they say I want candy x! Rather, they should try some of each candy, and decide which one they like.</p>
<p>My point is that college freshman, for the most part, are simply not yet qualified or acknowledgeable enough to choose a major. Thus for you, high school freshman, the best thing to do is simply do as well in your classes right now.</p>
<p>Believe me, don't worry so much about which pre-med school you need to get into. If you have a really high GPA (both weighted / unweighted) by the time that you get to your senior year, and all the other good stuff, great colleges will come calling your name.
If you do well enough, basically most colleges will accept you, and you'll have a much larger range of options than if you were to choose two or three pre-med schools that you want attend.</p>
<p>Hope it's helpful.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The full coursework required is this:</p>
<p>One year of biology
One year of general chemistry
One year of organic chemistry with lab (Some med schools let you substitute the second semester with biochemistry)
One year of physics
One semester to a year of college math (usually calculus, but sometimes a semester of statistics is accepted)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Close, but not quite (eg. 1 yr bio labs and 2 yrs chem labs required by most schools) and while there are general coursework guidelines, each school can have specific requirements (eg. 1 yr expository writing), so you need to check individual schools. Please go to the Pre-Med forum, where your questions will be answered by current med school students who have actually been through the process.</p>