<p>Alright, I'm a homee-schooled 15 year old, and I take my GED when I turn 16 next year, and probably my SAT and ACT as well. After that, I sign up for community college, and I'd like to major in Chemistry, then proceed to become a doctor/oncologist. I'm pretty good in reading, writing, and I'm pretty decent in Chemistry, and with math, I'm at least a B- average student, at least. Bt my problem is, I only have doen Algebra 1, and a little geometry, and in my second semester of community college, I'll have to take pre-calculus. I've never even donw trig. Next, I was wondering, will community college hurt my chances of getting into medical school? And will I really have to take the MCAT in my junior year of college? I don't know if what I learn in community college will be enough to ace it... Any advice or knowledge to help me?</p>
<p>Community college is an alternative way to complete general education and lower division classes. Choose your community college, classes within the college, and professors and you could easily have a superior experience to going to a four-year university- small class sizes, enthusiastic professors, and (if you choose honors classes during the day, not regular evening classes) enthusiastic motivated students. Your preparation could be very good, and the courses are the same as you would be required to take at a four-year university. You would be on the same footing as anyone else for preparing for the MCATs and Medical School.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much math doctors need, but Algebra II and Trig is often the course taken after Geometry and before Pre-Calculus, so you may be in the correct sequence.</p>
<p>If you have a poorly performing community college or want to take evening classes, you may have a different experience.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Community college will not damage your chances for medical school so long as you have very good grades in community college and equally good grades at the 4 year college you eventually matriculate to. </p>
<p>Gaining admission to medical school is very competitive. You need to be better than a B- student. The average accepted medical students has a GPA above 3.65, or approx A-.</p>
<p>The other thing you need to be aware of is that every single grade you earn in community college counts toward your college GPA and must be reported when you apply to medical school. So do your very best–in all your classes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, you can take the MCAT whenever you’re ready to take it. Many students take the MCAT after college graduation. However, you cannot apply to med school until you have taken the MCAT and received your score. You should also know the process of applying to medical school takes a full year. This means if you take the MCAT after graduation you will be 1-2 years out of college before you start med school. This is not an unusual situation and the average age for incoming med students is 24. </p>
<p>~~~~ </p>
<p>I would suggest your first priority right now should be to strengthen your math. You have big gaps in your math preparation. You will need college algebra and trigonometry (a semester of each) before you can be successful in college level general chemistry or college level physics. Both of those are required for a chemistry major and for medical school admission. I strongly recommend that you NOT take gen chem or physics until you’ve completed both and probably pre-calc as well. </p>
<p>Med school admission requires or strongly recommends 1 semester of calculus and 1 semester of statistics/biostatistics. A few medical schools require a second semester of calculus in addition to the above. And Harvard’s HST requires 3 semesters of calculus and 1 semester of linear analysis/differential equations.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>Lastly, while it’s great to have a particular specialty in mind, please understand that there is no guarantee that you will qualify for an oncology specialty.** That depends on your grades in med school, and how well you score on national standardized exams during med school. You shouldn’t pursue medicine if you will only be happy working as an oncologist. If you would never ever consider becoming a family medicine physician or general internist, then med school may not be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>** There are 3 kinds of oncology specialties: medical oncology (specialty is actually called hematology/oncology) which takes 6 years of training after med school; radiation oncology which takes 5 years of training after med school; and surgical oncology which takes 7 years of training after med school.</p>
<p>You need MUCH better grades. WayOutWestMom is 100% correct. You need to take your time and get great grades. If it takes an extra year to transfer to a university, do not worry about it. Medical school takes a really long time!</p>