Confused and Worried still

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Alright, I had posted here a few months back, and bluedevilmike gave me some great advice and after thinking it over, I'm at a crossroads now. While I don't have to choose my next semester classes now, I'll have to choose them by summer.</p>

<p>So, a few weeks back, I was granted admissions to University of Michigan. I had always considered a job in business as I thought that's my best outlet to travel. I love to travel, and have been doing it all my life (literally). </p>

<p>So, I'm at this crossroads where, I have this feeling that to be really successful in business, I'd have to give up some ethics, and possibly hurt others to have gains for myself. I guess that it never really hit me until now. The money that I could possibly make in business is tempting, but as we all should know, that's not everything. </p>

<p>I personally love to help people. I'm very interested in medicine, and always have been. My family's been very science focused, and my family line are all basically chemistry teachers, or doctors of some sorts (Ph'D not MD). This is where I'm a bit stuck. </p>

<p>From what I've heard, the classes are hard. In high school, I didn't really try too hard, and didn't do too well in my biology, physics, chemistry classes (B average). That landed me at a tier 3 university and thus required me to transfer. Now that I've gotten into a great University that has a good premed program, I'm starting to reconsider pre med as something I want to do. </p>

<p>What I'm scared of, is that </p>

<p>1) I won't get into any good med school because of my GPA / MCAT / all of the above
2) I'm afraid that if I take pre med classes along with business classes, I'll screw up somehow, and fail to either graduate in 4 years (it's a huge thing for me, dont' ask why), or just screw up my GPA, which ruins both chances for a good med school and a good B school. </p>

<p>I know that if I do take those classes, I'll try as hard as I can. I don't mind giving up parts of my social time for studying. It's just that I'm afraid if I'm just naturally bad in Chemistry, Bio, Physics, ect, that I'll screw up in college, which is something I can't afford right now. </p>

<p>So basically, I've come to realize I have 3 choices</p>

<p>1) Focus on pre med (I'm a sophomore), take MCATs in my Junior year, and hope for the best.
2) Focus on Business, take GMAT when I get out of school, and get a job at some firm that hopefully focuses on travel.
3) Focus on both pre med and business, try for pre med first, and if I don't get into a good med school, I'll try my luck at business. </p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

2

<p>CVJN: I think you are at a real crossroads in your life. I think you have to choose one path here. It would be impossible to do both business and premed requirements at UM in two years. You need to do some serious thinking. </p>

<p>Both of these paths are going to be quite hard at UM and your classes will be full of other kids who want to keep their GPAs up. The business school at UM is well respected. Why not get your degree in business, get a job you can travel in, and then later, if you still want to go into medicine, you could pursue it then.</p>

<p>I think sticking with your business-travel plan might be your best bet. You will be able to find a job and keep up your ethical standards. I've heard that business ethics is a big deal in MBA programs now. </p>

<p>And by the way, I went to grad school at UM and loved it. It's a great school and campus. GO BLUE!!!</p>

3

<p>I'll have 3 years to do what I want to do since I transfered in as a to be sophomore. I have a thing that I want to graduate with in 4 years, and it's something I really want to do so I'm sticking to that guideline at least. </p>

<p>I was just wondering what you meant by go into medicine later? I was under the impression... well, that you really can't.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info! Go Blue!</p>

4

<p>Link to previous thread for others' reference:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291508%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291508&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hi CV:</p>

<p>It's good to see you back. (Not that I'm glad you're still confused and worried, but you know what I mean.)</p>

<p>1.) Certainly I think you can afford to just dip your feet into the premed classes a little bit. Try your hand at General Chemistry (the first semester) and see how that goes. Do you have to swim twice as hard just to keep up? Then premed might not be right for you.</p>

<p>2.) BM is right, actually, and I was a little surprised when I first discovered this fact, too. There's what we call post-bacc programs which will allow you to complete your premedical requirements after college. Many times these are offered through colleges. I know Harvard and Columbia, at least, both offer such programs.</p>

<p>3.) I really don't think business requires as many ethical compromises as you think, and I do think medicine requires a lot more than you might think. One of the things we're discussing, for example, is genetics: when to patients' families have a right to know? Certain diseases are genetically inherited, and a patient's sibling often wants to know that they're at risk for such a disease -- but can we tell them? What are the limits on our patient's privacy? I could name eight or ten other moral dilemmas off the top of my head.</p>

<p>On the other hand, business is, at its core, the art of providing things that people value. It is, of course, possible to be a con man: to trick them into wanting those things in the first place. But I have found that very few of the major business careers leverage this possibility. Most firms are genuinely providing valuable services to their clients in exchange for money.</p>

<p>Where do real estate agents gain their money? From helping clients find and sell their homes. Consultants can be timewasters and moneysoaks, but they can also be good at their jobs and provide crucial insights and an outsider's perspective. Even the hard things you have to do -- say, impose pay cuts -- are often done for a greater good, i.e. preserving your employees' jobs at all.</p>

<p>Business has power to do harm, it's true, but, then, medicine can be used irresponsibly too. Many studies, for example, have found that doctors routinely prescribe unnecessary care during slow years. These studies are controversial and flawed, in my opinion, but the possibility certainly exists.</p>

<p>4.) If your heart is in a medical service career and -- hypothetically -- the competition is too intense, then you should be aware that there are many, many allied health professions which pay quite a bit of money. But none of them will match an investment banking career. If your heart is in travel, then I really don't think business is as unethical as many seem to think.</p>

5

<p>Hello again bluedevilmike! It's good to see you again. </p>

<p>I think I'd honestly enjoy medicine more. While I know that ethics plays a big role in medicine as well, something about me just is wired to think that business ethics are... well, just more or less "malicious" than medicine ethics. While that may be true or not, it's just how I think right now, which I honestly don't know why. </p>

<p>As I've said before, I've always wanted to help people, so that's a huge thing. And while money now isn't gonna be the biggest factor, I'd like to live a comfortable life that I can support my family (possibly wife and kids). That's something I shouldn't really worry about since both provide a pretty good income. </p>

<p>I've had many chats with a friend of mine at Notre Dame that's doing their pre med program there. She and I both have a very strong moral standard, and strongly oppose a lot of what's wrong in the field. I may sound hypocritical and possibly naive, but I hope, if I do go into the field, to never be one of those doctors. The thought of it alone just bugs me. You're in the field to help people, not make money. </p>

<p>My biggest concern, would still have to be my inability to measure up to other med students. It's no secret that pre med students are some of the best on any campus. And while I'm sure in competition, I'll be able to put in just as much time as everyone else, I'm extremely worried if I don't have a natural affinity for it. </p>

<p>It really stems from that in classes like Honors Biology, I'd never study, but still get a respectable B in the class. But in AP Chemistry, while not studying, I'd go down to a C range. I guess it's just that I've never really applied myself, that I'm not sure how far I'll be behind. That part also slightly scares me, being behind and how much behind I will be. It's so daunting that the pre med majors that I know, have wanted to be in medicine and working towards it since their middle school years, while I'm kinda making a rash decision. </p>

<p>The big thing about not doing say General Chemistry right away, is that I've heard to get into med school, you should take the MCATs one year before you get into med school, so that should be somewhere around Junior/Senior year. If I don't finish my pre-reqs, will I be really prepared for the MCATs? Can I really afford to not really but "waste" a semester in taking a class that while will go towards my requirements, will make me further behind in terms of preparing for the MCATs.</p>

<p>Sorry for the long posts >_></p>

6

<p>I certainly don't think that business is inherently any less ethical than medicine. If you'd like to hear it, I can try to convince you of this.</p>

<p>You'd want to take the MCATs at least ~a year and a half before you start med school, and I think transfer status is likely to be a good reason for you to take a gap year.</p>

<p>Oh, and genchem is most certainly a medical prereq, and it shows up heavily on the MCATs. So it's not a waste of a semester by any means. I'd go ahead and take it right off the bat.</p>

7

<p>Well, what I meant by a "waste" is that as a sophomore, I'll have 2 semesters, as a junior, 2 more semesters, and a senior, 2 semesters. Let's assume that I take my MCATs in the middle of my junior year. I'll have about a year and a half. That's 3 semesters.</p>

<p>Theres are the basic pre med requirements</p>

<ul>
<li>A year of Freshman Chemistry along with the appropriate laboratory courses</li>
<li>A year of Organic Chemistry along with laboratory courses</li>
<li>A year of Biology along with laboratory courses</li>
<li>A year of Physics along with laboratory courses</li>
<li>A year of English</li>
<li>A year of Calculus or other advanced math classes, including Statistics</li>
</ul>

<p>I've done my year of English (hopefully it'll transfer, it's business English), I've done up to Calculus 2, and probably taking Stats at Michigan. So I'll have Freshmen Chem, Orgo 1 + 2, Bio, Physics and Genetics (I believe that's required at Mich)</p>

<p>That's 6 classes for 3 semesters. That's 2 classes per semester, which is a pretty tough load I think. And from that, I'm still taking some other classes on the side, like languages which shouldn't actually be too bad. But anyway, let's say I take freshmen Chem for my 1st semester. That's 2 semesters to fit in 5 classes, 2 of which (Orgo) are supposedly some of the most failed at U Mich. And the big thing, I'm thinking and I could be TOTALLY wrong, that it's cutting a bit too close to the MCATs. I'd like to have 2-3 months to probably study for them at the very least.</p>

<p>It's just going to be very tight if I do Chem for one semester. </p>

<p>However, would it be a class that I could possibly take at a CC over the summer? Is that too much information to cover? Would I get about the same things taught or will I be missing some stuff that could potentially screw me over later on?</p>

<p>And for the business ethics thing, I'd like to hear it. PM me if you want. </p>

<p>I'll check this in the morning, I forgot it was 2:30... >_></p>

8

<p>Apparently med schools don't like you to take core required classes at a CC, especially not chemistry. A lot of people don't like to take the MCAT during college semesters because it's so hard to study for your regular classes along with the MCAT prep. Lots of people take it in the summer.</p>

<p>You don't need to worry so much about exactly when to take the MCAT at this stage. You need to see how you do in chemistry, physics, etc. at UM first. You can always take the MCAT before your senior year, or even after your senior year. </p>

<p>It is really hard to fit in all the required classes for your major when you are starting a little later on the med school path. This happened to my D and she is going at least one extra semester to get it all in.</p>

<p>I meant in my earlier comment about doing medical school later, that there are quite a number of med school students who have other degrees and life experiences before they go to med school. They are called non-traditional applicants. You could get your degree in business or accounting and go to work in a hospital or other health care setting, volunteer there, get to know doctors, and so on, and then possibly do the medical school route.</p>

9

<p>The usual time to take the MCAT is at the end of one's junior year. April, for example, would work great. So that's 6 classes in four semesters. And, sure, add Intro Bio to GenChem during your first semester. It'll give you a feel for what premeds are expected to do.</p>

<p>And while you shouldn't take premed classes at a CC over the summer, doing them at Michigan over the summer is probably not a big negative -- as long as you're doing the other EC's and such.</p>

10

<p>Also, as previously mentioned, medicine probably won't cut it if your family is at the extreme fringes of financial need.</p>

<p>Furthermore, a quick reminder that business -- while not as tough -- can be pretty tough in and of itself, as well. So taking that path would hardly be an easy way out.</p>