Help, Unexperienced Junior, No Pre-Med Req.

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hi! I'm a junior in college, and over the summer, I've decided that I want to go to medical school. I'm specifically interested in neuroscience and the plasticity of the brain (and its impacts on psychology). The problem is that I haven't taken any pre-med requirements except for the writing and math. I was an economics major until very recently, and I plan to graduate from college with a degree in finance and political economy (and economics). </p>

<p>What Post-Bac programs are available (or the best) and how competitive are these? Would you recommend these? What do they look for? I am at Princeton University and have a 3.7 (will go to a 3.75 or 3.8 later because I will take many econ-specific classes which I generally do well in). My SAT is 1590, but I don't have very specific medical EC's (or very good EC's for that matter). Any advice at this point? </p>

<p>Thanks! Feel free to PM me if it is easier.</p>

2

<p>Here's a place to start looking:
<a href="http://services.aamc.org/postbac/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://services.aamc.org/postbac/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm not sure which programs are best, but the premedical advising office at Princeton should be able to help you with this. I think the post-bacc route can be quite successful. There are some high-powered colleges on the list cited above. Your high GPA will be helpful too for med school apps.</p>

<p>Try to get started right away on your volunteering and any clinical experience in health care or helping care for others that you can find. This can be volunteering in a hospital, nursing home, clinic, and so on. Also, try to do something next summer that relates to this. One or two in-depth volunteering positions is supposed to be better than many for just a few hours. </p>

<p>You will also need to "shadow" some doctors so get started on that as it can be hard to arrange. Your premed office may be able to help with that too.</p>

3

<p>I'm not convinced that your interests wouldn't be more suited for a PhD program rather than medical school. Can you further explain what your draw to medicine is and why you think becoming a physician is the best way to explore your interest?</p>

4

<p>i agree with what Bigredmed says
regardless, at Princeton elizabeth gould in the psych dept. does research on exactly what your interested in
talk to the HPA when you are back on campus</p>

5

<p>Medicine would be an ideal approach to the topics you find interesting. </p>

<p>For this orientation, the standard shadowing a doctor and doing clinical volunteer work is not particularly important. You are describing a research oriented goal, and so medical schools would be interested in your research background. The problem is, from what you describe, you do not have one.</p>

<p>You also seem not to have any background in neuroscience. By the time one has taken a couple of intro courses in neuroscience the medical school biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry required courses are done. It is difficult to go very far at all in neuroscience without them. It is also useful to know a little physics. </p>

<p>So it seems you could not have had enough exposure to neuroscience to really know what you think of it. Your challenge now, if that is what you want to do, is to get a strong enough science background to make this plan credible. Start taking the premed requirements this fall, and plan to get in at least a couple of neuroscience courses before you apply to medical school. You will probably need to do something after college before you apply because you will not have time to get the courses in by graduation.</p>

<p>For your goals, it would be ideal to work in someone's lab for a year or two while you finish your premed requirements and go a little beyond them in neuroscience. The problem will be, as an ec major, you may not have the background for a lab job. You might try looking for some of the areas of neuroscience that do not involve wet labs. </p>

<p>Another approach would be to get a masters in neuroscience to strengthen your science background. Again, the question would be whether you could get into the Princeton program with the limited science background you will have by graduation. </p>

<p>You should definitely talk to the undergrad advisor in neuroscience and see what you can take over the next two years of undergrad.</p>

<p>Your quantitative experience in math will be valuable in neuroscience, and departments are always interested in smart undergrads who discovered their fields relatively late.</p>

<p>With a very good gpa from Princeton and a SAT that predicts an excellent MCAT, you are nearly certain to get into med school if you follow a reasonable plan.</p>