<p>I am a freshman at Stony Brook. Before I came to college, I never truly understood what being a pre-med meant. However once the work piled on, I quicly understodo just how difficult it is. I mean a partial contribution may be the fact that I am still a freshman who is adjusting. But now I understand that every single point matters. Every exam matters because that can be one's defining point in both the class and in med school admissions. I don't want to sound paranoid, but I kind of am. I just want to know, if every pre-med feels or felt this way. I am not trying to say that I do not want to be pre-med anymore, but this just makes me appreciate pre-meds more and how hard they work to get into the best med schools. Since, I am in a state school so I need to work 10 times harder than someone who is in a name school just to be recognized for an interview. I guess that sort of adds stress. </p>
<p>Also, I do not know if any of your schools have this, but my school has all of these BS classes that "enrich one's life" which are split into categories that one needs to take, such as art, music, humanities, etc. These classes are os time-consuming and annoying. I need to take 11 of those classes besides my pre-med pre-quisitives and major pre-quisitives. I was thinking, I know this is ill advised, to take maybe a few of them during the summer or winter break to just allow me more time to concentrate on the classes for my major and med school pre-reqs. If anyone was ever in a similar category as I am currently in, please comment on how you were able to manage all of this. </p>
<p>Thanks and sorry if I sound like I do not want to be pre-med anymore, but I guess that the stress is getting to me. I just hope life will improve.</p>
<p>You need to chill the hell out. You're wrong. Flat out. You're wrong. </p>
<p>No single test is going to define you - ever...unless it's the MCAT, or your third try at USMLE Step 1. The difference between a 94% and a 96% doesn't matter. The difference between a 91% and a 88% matters a little bit more, but even then - NOT VERY MUCH.</p>
<p>You need to get over this "state school" fear, because that's a crock as well.</p>
<p>Lastly, those general education requirements are pretty common. You're not doing anything special. Those should be your easy classes anyway. They should be low stress, and who knows you might actually learn something...and surprise - those courses are the exact ones that will make you a better doctor. Being a chemistry wiz doesn't matter when you get to your third and fourth years of med school. But being able to relate to people - that matters a lot, for them, and for your evaluations. </p>
<p>So seriously, calm down, look at the big picture. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. Take some to really look at what is important, not what is stressing you out most as those two things are rarely the same thing. Realize that hundreds of thousands of doctors have gone through the exact same things as you have. Getting all stressed out over everything is not going to help you excel.</p>
<p>I agree with BRM, esp. with regards to those "BS" classes. Although I was your typical bio major in college, I took courses in history, English, Asian American studies, sociology, psych, Spanish, math, anthropology, etc. There's definitely value in these courses not only to increase your oral communication and writing skills but also to expand your view of the world as well as your cultural competency. Remember that medicine is multidisciplinary.</p>
<p>We've been over the "perfect pre-med school" discussion a thousand times. The things that make a good pre-med school are things like the quality of pre-med advising and the opportunities to be involved on campus, in research and out in the community. All those are things that are nearly impossible to quantify while you're a HS student on college visits...and even when you're in the school. Things like prestige or presumed academic rigor that people tend to focus on when looking at the Ivies or what have you, simply don't make a difference in admissions. If they do, they're so minor that they can't be overcome by being a better applicant.</p>
<p>The biggest thing to recognize is that a smaller or more prestigious school is probably more likely to actively guide you through being a pre-med. They'll set up mock interviews for you, the pre-med advisor is more likely to know your name, there might be more workshops on how to handle pre-med stress, etc. BUT, these are all things that state schools are likely to offer too. The only difference is that they're not going to be handed to you. The student might have to put in a little effort in seeking these things out. But at the same time, the state school, because of its resources might have a lot more to offer, but again, it's just a matter of the student putting in the effort to learn about these things and figure out how to make it work.</p>
<p>Agree with the excellent advice of both previous posters. If you do well at SUNY and on your MCATs, you should have a good chance to get into medical school. The percentage of premeds from a given school who gain acceptance to medical school is dependent on many different factors such as student body, advising, school size (as BigRed mentioned), overall reputation of the school, etc. I would focus on those things you can control: doing well in class, exploring medicine as a career e.g., internships, research, etc., availing yourself to mock interviews, checking out AMSA events if relevant to you, and doing well on the MCATs.</p>
<p>If your school does not send that many students to medical school-say at the 40% national average, then you need to be one of the better students in your class. That is a given. I also would say that, in general, there is a wider range of students who consider premed at a state school than at the private elites. Thus, it may actually be easier to distinguish yourself within your school's applicant pool than an Ivy or top LAC where most people were at the top of their class in high school. I used to serve on an admissions committee at a top medical school and we generally compared students within given schools in addition to across schools. So an outstanding student at SUNY might be preferable to a a very good to excellent student from Yale where there may be a dozen students with similar qualifications. Also, find out which med school your university feeds into. Almost all medical schools have certain unofficial relationships with certain universities and colleges. It is not deliberate but usually based on historical and geographical reasons or perhaps because some people on the admissions committee are graduates of a particular university and know the program and advisors well. I would try to zero in on those schools first as they, in addition to any state schools you may apply to, represent your best chances for admission.</p>
<p>could u give some examples of colleges in the west (that a CA resident can apply to) that have "connections" w/ certain med schools or where they feed into?</p>
<p>I'll second that request of sports61 above -- my daughter is considering Carroll College in Helena, Montana, because of their high acceptance rate ( I know some say -- Bluedevilmike --those high rates "aren't real", but it is pretty high!) and their reputation (regionally) in the medical community as "a good pre-med school." In a visit and interview with their pre-med advisors, they stressed that their high success rate was due to what has been said time and again on the forum -- small classes, mock interviews, practice MCATs as early as the sophomore year, work/practical experience in some aspect of medicene, and their experience with students who are science majors vs. non-science majors (they said their schools reputation among med schools was for students coming from science majors, not the non-science majors). They too said their grads tend to go to U-Washington (because of the WAMI program), some of the Cal, Utah, and Colo med schools, Oregon Health/Sci, Creighton, but Johns-Hopkins and eastern schools too. Without coming out and saying "connections" there was an implication that pre-med profs had relationships with those schools and that Carroll had a reputation with them for sending students prepared to succeed. Try as I might, I can't find data like that in the AAMC book and it's difficult to really get solid "acceptance rate" information from neutral sources. One last point, though, they stressed they would work with any student, but that it wasn't their "rep," connections, or acceptance rate that would get one into med school -- it was still up to the student.</p>
<p>The rates are very easy to manipulate in ways that would be invisible in a data-set.</p>
<p>But get as much raw data as you can from Carroll itself, and we'll help you work through if it we can. Medical schools generally don't make this data available.</p>
<p>Ideally, we'd have as much information about average GPA and MCAT score from these applicants as we possibly could, especially as compared to all students.</p>
<p>A raw admissions percentage is very easy to manipulate.</p>