Engineering Major as Pre-Med?

<p>31MCAT destroyed ochem and physics sections because I TA’d for ochem 2 years and intro physics for 1 year. I did okay on bio and verbal. The bottom line is my 3.36 cum gpa does not cut it, at least this cycle. However I did get all A’s in my pre-med pre-reqs except bio II B+ (should of stopped there and majored in soc). Sorry my cum gpa is 3.36 and science gpa is 3.64(apparently you don’t count csce and engineering classes, but do count math) and chemE is 3.62. My advisor told me most doctors get a job and become “temporary solutions” to the “problem” and that it is the people in the lab solving the problems through progressive research. Also, I’m getting paid about 30k a year to do research and receive my PhD.</p>

<p>When I teach ochem however, I will make sure to fail all unqualified pre-meds through tough exams that test concepts rather than memorization. I had different professors for ochem I and II. Ochem I was all memorization the prof tested material at its most basic level, markovnikov etc. Then ochem II little memorize except to push electrons to a negative atom etc. and form kinetic/thermodynamic product as well as synthesis (my fav). The ochem IIs profs exams were extremely fun because of how challenging they were to me to the point where people waited until he was on sabatical to re-take it with the 1st semester prof a second time. Why? because they are premeds and don’t care about the material just the grade.</p>

<p>First, let’s be clear on MCAT standards here. You can’t “destroy” chemistry and physics and do “okay” on bio and verbal while getting a 31 overall. Any subsection which is a 9 or lower is a really serious problem. So either you’re considering an 11 to be “destroying,” which is silly, or you’re considering a 9 to be “okay,” which is also not right.</p>

<p>EDIT: I’m also aware that organic chemistry is a small part of the biology section and that physics is mixed with general chemistry. So I suppose your comment means it’s possible that you did TERRIBLY on general chemistry.</p>

<p>Second, you’re understandably frustrated but if you wrote things like this in your essay or said them in your interview, that would also get you rejected.</p>

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<p>I assume you mean that you will write very hard tests that tough concepts rather than memorization, and flunk an appropriate percentage of the overall student body accordingly.</p>

<p>Yes most people passed 1st semester compared to 2nd semester. I only took the mcat once don’t know how many times the average person takes it just that 24 is average. The scores were 13P, 11B, 7V respectively. Ochem wasn’t much of the biological sciences section, though it might differ each exam. I am frustrated with the system didn’t get interviews, tons of offers for grad schools but my application is stronger in the area of research and tutoring. Also, I only applied to 3 med schools and the graduate schools more or less contacted me even though I applied. My essay focused on how engineering can be used to renovate the field of medicine.</p>

<p>Unlike, say, the LSAT, MCAT subscores matter a great deal, and a 7 is really truly terrible. When they tell you that the national average is 24, that’s among all test-takers. Among students who eventually actually go to medical schools, the average is a 31. And applying to just three medical schools is also really truly atrocious. If you’re a strong applicant, you should be aiming at 12-15 schools. If you’re a weaker applicant, you should be looking at 20. And if you had a disastrous showing on the MCAT (as you did), you have no business applying at all – but if you really insisted, you should have been trying something like 30 applications.</p>

<p>Medical schools typically have 6% admissions rates. Even if you’re a really good candidate (which you were not), your odds of getting in somewhere when you apply to three schools is something approximating 17%. That’s not good odds.</p>

<p>And retakes on the MCAT are also really bad news, so most folks just take it once. Goodness, where are you getting your information?</p>

<p>As bad as you think the 3.36 is, that wasn’t the problem here. The problems were 7 and 3. A 7 is a disaster. To put that in perspective, an 8 is already pretty much an auto-reject at every school in the country and even a 9 is really, really bad. A 7 is just an unmitigated train wreck. And Verbal is considered the most important of the three sections.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to pick on you, but I want you to understand that this wasn’t “the system” failing you, and this wasn’t because your courses were too hard, and this wasn’t even because your GPA was too low. This was because your MCAT was really truly terrible. That also explains why you did better in grad school admissions: they don’t see the MCAT.</p>

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This is exactly the reason why I sometimes feel sorry for those premeds! Sometimes I feel that it may be a good idea to NOT let any PhD-track students to teach premeds. I heard so many negative opinions from those on the research/academic track toward the premed students. It is a hopeless case – They just can not mix well with each other! The problem is not that the PhD track student has not enough knowledge to teach (as a TA or instructors); rather, it is their extremely negative attitude toward the premed students. BTW, more chemistry departments, as compared to the biology or physics departments, tend to have more these kinds of instructors (maybe because they control 8 out of 16 science prereq classes – excluding the M from the BCPM here. M is really not science even though it is the cornerstone of the background knowledge for those who are on the science track in graduate school or upper-division science classes.)</p>

<p>Also, most CCers who have been around here for some time would agree with BDM that a 7 MCAT subscore, especially in the arguably most important verbal section, is a big problem that can not be repaired by the strength of other aspects of the application.</p>

<p>I have to interject a personal anecdote about PhD students who mistreat the pre-meds. (And this is TRUE story.) </p>

<p>Mistreating your pre-meds can come back and bite you.</p>

<p>When my husband was a first year PhD student in physics at a big name state U, he TAed General physics–the one that the physics and engineering students took. He was truly a terribly TA because: 1) he was busy trying to pass his own coursework and 2) he didn’t value the teaching experience. (IOW, he hated teaching and spent as little time as possible preparing. Pretty common attitude among science doc students.)</p>

<p>Forward 30 years, DH developed a very rare and life threatening cancer. The regional cancer center attempted surgery, but the tumor was inoperable. He consulted with 2 other national cancer centers; both offered palliative care and no hope. But he did find a still another national cancer center which had a unique and still experimental approach. The treatment was a combo of chemo & radiation followed by extensive surgery–and this surgery was being done nowhere else in the world. He was accepted a patient—and guess what? Guess where his surgeon had gone to college? And as a EE major no less. Yes, DH had actually taught his surgeon 30 years prior.</p>

<p>It truly is a small world.</p>

<p>(Fortunately, the doc didn’t remember DH and in any case didn’t hold a grudge. The treatment DH received saved his life.)</p>

<p>*I will make sure to fail all unqualified pre-meds through tough exams that test concepts rather than memorization. *</p>

<p>Oh please…it’s one thing to commit that you won’t give A’s and B’s to undeserving students, but to insist on failing unqualified pre-meds is truly outrageous. Throwing around a bunch of F’s can result in loss of financial aid and education opportunity to many students who simply need to redirected to another career. It’s one thing to somewhat ensure that med school isn’t in their future by giving them C’s, but to flunk them just because they aren’t med-school worthy is obnoxious.</p>

<p>I’m not surprised that you got into a PhD program. You probably did well on the GRE Quantitative section and GRE subject (if req’d), and didn’t need to do that well in the Verbal (since STEM PhD programs seem to accept students with 650 Verbals)</p>

<p>Where will you be going for your PhD? And in what area?</p>

<p>BTW…did your parent post about your MCAT situation a short time ago? I recall a parent posting about their child’s similar scores and short app list.</p>

<p>I will be entering college as a freshmen in the fall. I would never want a professor like you, slickid. That is not right to fail people. I think that a student should prove themselve to get the A, but I don’t agree with failing people on purpose without a valid reason.</p>

<p>I think that it is a bad idea to disclose one’s intention of being a pre-med. I have heard that some professors do not like pre-med students working in their lab either since many pre-meds are only interested in research for a couple of years. I had regrets about asking my S to list his career goal as pre-med in his college application.</p>

<p>I have a slightly different question. I will be graduating from a 5-year Masters Plan in Computer Science and Engineering, and will go straight to work for at least the next 4-5 years. I have been considering taking the required classes that I will be missing as well as the MCAT at the end of these 4-5 years and apply for Medical school.<br>
From my current degree, I will have:
Chem I (w/lab)
Physics I and II (w/labs)
Statistics
Calculus I, II, and III</p>

<p>So, I would have to take at least
Chem II (w/lab)
Bio I and II
Org Chem I and II
some upper-level chem and bio classes</p>

<p>So that I qualify for med school. </p>

<p>I know that this is crazy and insane, but is it possible?</p>

<p>*I had regrets about asking my S to list his career goal as pre-med in his college application. *</p>

<p>I don’t think profs know/see what is written on a college app. I think the only way a prof would know a student is pre-med is if the student told the prof.</p>

<p>kaleid–it’s not crazy. Medical schools are much more open to non-traditional students than they have been in the past. </p>

<p>One thing you need to be aware of is that it looks like the content and format of the MCAT will be changing in 2015 with new additional requirements in genetics, cell & molecular bio and social sciences. Right now the changes are merely proposed changes, but you will want to keep an eye on this and see how the changes affect your plans.</p>