High Schoolers--Want to be a Doctor?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>Hi! I am a senior in high school now and I think I did pretty well throughout my four years at my school. But I feel that I’ve made my share of wonderfully terrible mistakes and as a person with the goal of becoming a doctor (8/7/6 yr programs, competitive pre-med programs), I wish I had done some things differently. So, this is just a thread for all seniors out there (doctor wannabes or not) to share their wisdom with any overachieving freshman or sophomore who is looking at this website already. </p>

<p>I’ll start. </p>

<li><p>Before entering high school, please put away your fifty page summer reading for a second and read one of those “How to GEt into an Ivy…” or " Secrets of a High Achiever" or something that outlines what the best have done to get into the best. Your goals may not include admission into Harvard, but by reading those sorts of books, you can get a feel for and map out what you want most out of high school. I’m not saying create a four year rigid plan…just enter knowing something about the future.</p></li>
<li><p>Take all the honors classes and the get the highest grades possible freshmn, sophomore year. Junior/Sr. year will be more stressed out…so focus now.</p></li>
<li><p>Look for those essay competitions/science fairs/etc…use fastweb.com, idealist.org, your school website (those of you in fairfax county…use TJ’s career website…full of opportunities to cash in on. start early.</p></li>
<li><p>Contrary to popular belief, you do not HAVE to take your SAT’s in junior year in march. Start practicing sophomore year…take a course ( i highly recommend capitaleducators…i got a 400 point boost thanks to them!)…do practice tests. the SATs don’ require as much knowledge as you think they do. if you PRACTICE you will see the patterns…and you will take the exam december/january of junior year. get it done.</p></li>
<li><p>after you take the AP World History exam in your sophomore year…sign up for that SAT II in World History. it is the EASIEST SAT II exam ( not counting USH, Bio) you can take. and you’ll get one down sophomore year. for those not in fairfax…sign up in march for those may SAT IIs in whatever AP class you are taking. trust me, the earlier they get done, the happier you will be during hell semester ( first semester of senior yer).</p></li>
<li><p>if you want to apply for those eight year/seven year/six year med programs:
a) volunteer at the hospital for at least three consecutive years,
b)apply for a research internship SOMEWHERE. (biomed preferred but not required…i got one in the smithsonian and continued research at the BNL…)
c) figure out exactly why you want to be a doctor before hell semester (Summer of junior year). write it down. work it out. be ready. all essays will ask why.
d) TAKE AP CHEM YOUR JUNIOR YEAR and NOT AP BIOLOGY. if you can, fit ap physics somwhere in there. if you take AP CHEM your junior year, you can apply for NW’s HPME, RIce Baylor and other top programs.
e) if you can, volunteer in a shelter or work with associations helping to better the global community…doctors without borders takes student translators…
f) make sure you know whats going in the medical world…latest discoveries…octuplets…etc. etc. they will def. ask you questions about ethics today in an interview.
g) p.s. take at least one science and a math SAT II test. and get one science/math teacher and an english teacher to write your recs.</p></li>
<li><p>During the summer between your junior and senior year, please write that common app essay. the common app website opens in JULY (Not August, not on the first day of school…). take advantage of this and write that annoying essay. perfect it. be the first to attack ur teachers about recs and shove that essay in their faces before anyone else does. get it pefect before school starts. and please, please create a resume/CV of all the work you’ve done over four years. have it ready to hit that common app. if you’re an overachiever…you will have completed the common app before school even starts. i mean, use JULY!! use it.</p></li>
<li><p>harass your counselor. and i mean that in the nicest way possible. visit them, notify tem of your wins, develop a great relationship with them. you will be on the top of her/his lists for all school programs, and honors. and you need those for that resume. i mean, for the experience…cough cough. :)</p></li>
<li><p>as far as ECs go, don’t listen to the “few and concentrated thing”. do as many as you wish. but remember the goal—achieve great heights in 2-3 of thsoe ECs. i.e. if you’re a dancer, concentrate…peform in some national theater…get selected for a dance company, etc. or be a groundbreaking editor of your newspaper. rmr, do things outside of school and please do things in the summer. colleges like Columbia ask specifically for you to list exactly what you did between teh summers of soph-jun, jun-sen. yr. “being lazy” is not an option. and if you’re a doctor wannabe…try the NIH summer internship ( apply early in october…email all the researchers ur interested in…if you’re lucky, use a community uncle…the earlier, the better chances) or an Earthwatch student fellowship ( apply by november…you can do filed research in anotehr country for free.)</p></li>
<li><p>remember to also enjoy your life these four years. they only come once. and once they are done, you’ll never be happier. :)</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>oh and i almost forgot!</p>

<p>for you sophomores and freshmen.....if you want to take AP classes early, think about online courses. see if your school offers them and take 'em. people may think you are crazy, but if you take the economics or u.s. history online ( which i am doing and it is ridiculously easy...) you will get rid of an annoying class which you cna replace with a class that you like without compromising that all-too-important rigor of academics. :)</p>

<p>and if you are an overachiever, create a four year plan after your fresh. year. look through that course catalogue and create a list of classes you want to take. rmr those EC.s ( continue in theater arts, newspaper, SGA if you want and are good at it) and those language requirements ( four years in one language is ALWAYS better than 2/2 or 1/3 or whatver else. and trust me, it doesn't have to be exotic. but again, if you want that spice added to that application, a chinese student taking welsh at the local community college always earns a smile from teh admissions committee)</p>

<p>and also, don't be a class addict. don't take summer courses your soph-jun, or jun-sen. years. if you must, take those "Advancing" classes ur fresh-soph. year (try to get rid of geometry/algebra II over the summer). DO something (Get a job, internship, dance camp, whatever) those other two summers. colleges don't think taking five thousand APs is particulary impressive when that's all you cna put in your EC categories.</p>

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<p>I don't see what most of this has to do with becoming a doctor.</p>

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<p>^Ditto. TBH, I didn't read much of it, but it seems like all of it has to do with getting into UG or a BS/MD program, not medical school.</p>

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<p>why is it bad to take ap biology as a junior, instead of chemistry?</p>

<p>If I can get a little advice, I' currently a junior and am taking AP Calc AB and Ap Bio (these are the only APs I have taken). Next year I have the option of taking Ap Statistics, Ap Chemistry, Ap Physics, and AP Microeconomics</p>

<p>which of those do you think i should take? I know micro isn't really involved, but im interested in the topic. But which (2) should I def. - Ap chem/ AP stats (to continue a math) or Ap Chem/ Ap Physics</p>

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<p>It sure looks like you took a lot of time/effort to put this out there.
Unfortunately, I would never listen to a fellow high school senior for advice about med. school. In fact, I'm against taking advice from anyone about something they haven't yet experienced. . . Skimmed through it, skipped most of it.</p>

<p>Get there yourself and then tell others what you think may have helped you/what you did, but don't speculate and talk about something you, yourself, have no idea about yet.
:)</p>

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<p>Your high school resume only counts for getting into an undergraduate school. Undergraduate achievement is what medical school admissions look at, not high school.</p>

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<p>I'm a senior too but may I ask the OP, did you happen to get into a MD/BS program? If so congratulations! Also, I think that all of his advice is really good and I would encourage everyone to follow it, regardless of what their dream profession may be.</p>

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<p>i wish i knew this stuff before i started high school..this is great advice if you really are set on getting into a combined med program.</p>

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<p>This is a good thread, it should just be in the high school section. But really, who comes on CC before high school?</p>

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<p>Good post, but as Vehicle said, you can get into medical school from any undergrad school. I don't think you mentioned one of the most important things, though, for your target audience. People who are aiming for 8/7 bs+md programs, you really have to do medically related ECs. Dancing is okay, but it's not showing that you have a love for medicine. It's important to get exposure.</p>

<p>Oh, you did say something about NIH.</p>

12

<p>not everyoone wants to get into a dual degree med program. I tried doing some of the things the OP listed and it just seemed too much. BTW the advice is great if you want to get into those combined med programs, but if you just want to do undergrad then just focus on others things that you are passionate about like music or something. You'll have plenty of time to do med-related ecs for med school in UG, so enjoy hs.</p>

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<p>Just FYI, D took AP Bio her junior year and AP Chem her senior year and still managed to get Rice/Baylor.</p>

<p>However, her HS physics teacher told her to take AP Chem over AP Physics senior year (they were offered at the same time) because in his opinion she'd need the Chem more.</p>

<p>She took Organic freshman year and made an A+ both semesters. It helped that AP Chem was taught by a retired PhD who spent her first career in R & D.</p>