Deciding to Pursue Medicine in unconventional "Senior Year"

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>So my situation is a little unconventional, so I appreciate the insight and help! </p>

<p>I need one more semester to graduate with a Math degree at Columbia. However, due to personal reasons, I'm taking a year long medical leave and won't be able to finish my last semester of college until Spring 2014. </p>

<p>I have always wanted to pursue medicine, but was always strongly discouraged to do so by my parents. Thus, I've been taking math courses, TAing and doing research in statistics, and taking the GRE -- all to get into some quantitative graduate school and ultimately get some vague finance job. </p>

<p>To go into medicine would mean pretty much dropping everything and starting over. You guys will just have to trust me when I say I have many personal reasons for going into medicine. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay anything for my undergraduate degree, but I realize going into medicine is an extremely difficult and long journey. (and ridiculously expensive) </p>

<p>So after lurking CC boards, I had a few ideas and concerns. </p>

<p>(1) I am considering applying to a post-bacc program. From what I've read, better post-bacc programs can increase my chances of getting into good medical schools. Should I just apply to the Columbia program and continue taking classes there? (it's extremely expensive and I want to know if it's worth it. Since my parents aren't supportive of this change in career, I'd probably have to figure out how to pay for it myself) </p>

<p>(2) Since I have a whole year off, I thought I would make the most of it. I have already applied to volunteering at Columbia-Presbyterian, and to volunteer at a Global Health NGO (still have to see if I've got these). I figure the volunteering will give me some more direct patient contact, so I can get a better feel of the environment. Would you guys recommend I find a doctor to shadow now, or is it too early? Also, I was looking into doing research, but I have virtually no experience in this sort of research. (Stats research is completely different.) Will I be able to contact professors and PIs to do research for them during this break, or would I NEED to take lab courses first?</p>

<p>(3) I can't take any courses at Columbia during my leave, but would it be a good idea to take some of the pre-med courses at another school, before I go back to finish my undergrad? Or should I wait until the post-bacc program? Would it look messy if I took the courses at different places? I was also thinking of self-learning some of these subjects in advance (through MIT open courseware or open Yale courses), so that I can also start preparing for the MCAT. </p>

<p>(4) I read about the MCAT changes, and from what I gathered, the longer exam would include more biochemistry, as well as some psychology and sociology? I figure I'll be in the class that needs to take this new MCAT. Is there anything else I need to watch out for?</p>

<p>(5) Lastly, I guess, I'm wondering if it's too late to switch to pre-med. It would take a lot of effort, and I want to hear your opinions if you would discourage me from pursuing this plan. </p>

<p>Thanks a lot in advance for the responses, guys!</p>

2

<p>I can’t contribute much, but I do know people who’ve gone back years after getting their BA to do their pre-med reqs and then have gone to med school. It’s certainly not too late.</p>

<p>As someone who is just finishing up several months of medical leave, I want to caution you to keep in mind that you needed to leave school so that you can focus on getting better. I found this tremendously difficult to internalize, and it sounds as if you might be having the same problem. I suspect that taking on two volunteer positions and taking science courses is not what the doctor ordered for your time off.</p>

<p>Be careful, and take care of yourself. You really are young. You have time to figure this out, and you’ll only be able to go ahead with your plans if you get well.</p>

3

<p>My D1 decided during her senior year she wanted to go to med school. She was a physics and math double major so her situation w/r/t pre-reqs was similiar to yours, OP.</p>

<p>Her decision to switch to medicine did pretty require her to start over. (Her only pre-req completed was Gen Chem–which physics majors were required to take.)</p>

<p>Now to answer your questions:</p>

<p>1) Yes, a high quality post-bacc can help you gain admission to medical school. They are, however, extremely expensive and the only FA available will be unsubsidized and private loans. You should reflect carefully on the cost before you pursue this option. There are less expensive alternatives–including taking your coursework part-time at a local college while working full or part-time to help pay living expenses and tuition costs.</p>

<p>2) If you have the time and the contacts, start your physician shadowing now. But don’t overwhelm yourself.</p>

<p>RE: research–don’t waste your time contacting profs about biological research. Upaid, volunteer non-students are never taken into labs due to liability and intellectual property issues. And unless you want to be the group’s data cruncher, you have no usable lab skills.</p>

<p>3) Don’t take your science classes except at your home school. Especially if you are on leave from your home school. Doing so looks like you’re trying to “game” the system and will raise questions about why you did this.</p>

<p>4) You need to be checking frequently to see if the med schools you’re most interested in have changed their admission requirements to better align with the new MCAT. Additionally you’ll need to check because some schools have requirements beyond the usual–like genetics and anatomy & physiology; some even require upper level humanity electives. (And math classes won’t fulfill the latter. D tried that argument and got laughed at…)</p>

<p>5) You don’t need to “switch” to pre-med. Med schools don’t care what your major is. They only care if you’ve completed any pre-reqs. You could simply just add bio, gen chem, Ochem, biochem to your currently course of study. It will likely add 1-2 years to your degree completion, but that’s between, you, your parents and however you’re financing your education. Be aware, however, that private universities (like Columbia) usually cap any grants or scholarships at a max of 8 semesters. So any additional time it takes to complete your pre-med requirements will likely be on your or your parents’ dime. Be aware that you will not be able to get private loans without a co-signer and plan accordingly.</p>