In a bind; knowledgeable advice needed.

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>Let me start by explaining my situation in its full context.</p>

<p>I am an entering premed transfer student to who planned to take a year of biology and a year of organic chemistry at Berkeley to strengthen my medical school application. This was actually stated explicitly on a medical school's website to indicate how transfer student applicants' coursework is evaluated.</p>

<p>However, not completing the aforementioned courses seemed to have put me very far behind; about two semesters behind compared to the entering biology/public health transfer student.</p>

<p>My top priority is to graduate in 2 years (+/- a semester) and avoid the gap year between undergrad and medical school (assuming I am fortunate enough to be granted admission). </p>

<p>Please note that, as a transfer student, I have "life experience," I have worked full time, I have clinical experience/EMT, I will be involved in research, and understand what is typically expected of the accepted medical school applicant. So most of the justifications for the gap year are null and irrelevant to my specific situation.</p>

<p>The undergraduate adviser I spoke to emphasized that it is worth waiting to take biochemistry and genetics prior to taking the MCAT. However, this will mean that I will not be "ready," to take the MCAT until the fall of my 4th year; which, assuming I understand the medical school admission cycle correctly, will force me to have to take a gap year after graduation.</p>

<p>I will be able to graduate in two years as I am a humanities major, I am just concerned about the seemingly forced gap year.</p>

<p>If I make sure to understand the MCAT and the context of its content and how it may relate to the medical school prerequisite courses, is a biochemistry and genetics course really necessary to do well? </p>

<p>If a hypothetical student is persistent and dedicated with his/her preparation for the MCAT, should he/she be able to do just as well on the exam as a student who waited to take biochemistry and genetics?</p>

<p>Any other general advice for someone in my situation?</p>

<p>Thank you to all those who are able to contribute.</p>

2

<p>Definitely not necessary to take biochem and/or genetics before the MCAT. There will be a little of both subjects on the MCAT, but your intro bio courses should cover what you need to know. If I recall correctly, everything I needed to know about genetics for the MCAT was actually covered in my high school AP bio class. It shouldn’t be a problem.</p>

3

<p>

Like ginnyvere said, it is not absolutely necessary to take these two classes before MCAT. My guess one of the reasons why the advisor suggest you to take more classes before the application is that you may need more grades at Berkeley in order to more fully demonstrate your academic strength under the environment where you have to compete against a pool of stronger students. Also, unless you have a lot of “charisma” to establish a good connection with professors who could write you LOR, a year is more likely too short for you to achieve that – if you apply between junior year and senior year. A lot of students are willing to “slave” themselves many years in their professor’s research lab in order to get a good LORs – do you have time to contribute to the research work of any professor who may teach you within just one year and the class you take my be a huge class?)</p>

<p>Just my $0.02.</p>

4

<p>Why the rush?</p>

<p>I know many people who do more or different things than working full time, getting some clinical experience under their belt, and/or research with a gap year.</p>

<p>Let’s say you don’t take a gap year, and instead take the MCAT and apply “on time.” From a numbers perspective, there’s a high likelihood that you won’t get in your first time around–I think nationally just over 40% of applicants are accepted, which is dismal if you ask me. Then, you’re thrown into an unexpected gap year anyway because you’d have to reapply.</p>

<p>It seems like your candidacy might benefit from an extra year, especially if that means you’d be able to build relationships at Cal and have more courses from Cal on your transcript (to offset all your community college work, which for whatever reason seems to count against you)–probably even improving your GPA. And you never know, it could take some time to adjust to coursework at Cal, and you might not be able to handle the courseload you imagine at the high caliber necessary to get into medical school. I’ve never transferred schools, but I imagine keeping some flexibility in your schedule would be a good idea to account for any unforeseen issues with transitioning to a new academic environment.</p>

<p>I think you might be taking a big risk strictly following the schedule you’ve set (to avoid a gap year at all costs) because you could be setting yourself up for an unexpected gap year if you don’t get in–which, unfortunately, is all too possible. </p>

<p>If you’re really set on not taking that gap year, and plan to apply with whatever MCAT score you get and whatever GPA you earn, then I think your best strategy is to apply broadly (probably to both MD and DO programs) and keep an open mind about where you might end up. </p>

<p>What I’m really trying to say is that med school admissions is shockingly more challenging, complex, and random than most premeds give it credit for, and every year many students who are very well qualified just aren’t admitted. Having an alternative plan–which for most students, seems to be a gap year and then reapplying–is a good idea for anyone, and I hope your feelings toward a gap year (intentional or unintentional) don’t cloud your judgment when deciding what you would do should you not get in your first try.</p>

5

<p>mcat & kristin are spot on. In the first place, you will need nearly all A’s on Bio & Organic. Doable, but it depends on where you are transferring from. If a juco, be prepared for the Big Show. (Yeah, it’s the baseball equivalent of the minor leagues to the majors.) Many, many kids in that Bio class will have already taken AP Bio an aced it with a 5. If you did not take AP Bio, you will be underprepared relative to the other premeds. Earning top grades at the Uni level is critical if you are transferring from a juco, btw.</p>

<p>Second and equally important to earning A’s, is obtaining a great letter of rec. The Bio class will have what, 1,000 students in it? Organic, maybe 750. Good luck getting noticed. There is only so much you can do to schmooze during office hours when everyone else is trying to do the same, or there asking for help on problem sets.</p>

<p>What about physics? (And yes, online courses are frowned upon by professional schools.)</p>

6

<p>My DD attended Cal for all 4 years, she still chose to apply the summer after she graduated, it was the only way she had time to get to know upper division profs. She took all bio her senior year and took some profs twice.</p>

<p>With 1200 kids a term being taught by her ochem prof, it was simply not realistic to make the connections. I know she would recommend Jacobson for physics, IB classes: Hayes, Diamond, Lehman </p>

<p>Don’t accept the advising at Cal as the ideal, some adviser fine, some were not, for DD it worked better to research on CC/SDN and do her own thing, which was not following the perfectly set up system, but being a bit more creative.</p>

<p>DO summer classes if you need to stay on schedule, but as above, i would recommend 2 full years of solid Berkeley classes on your transcript for your AMCAS application.</p>

7

<p>First of all, thank you all for contributing.</p>

<p>I am definitely prepared to alter my plans if I am incapable of adhering to my larger priorities as a premedical student. </p>

<p>However, I feel as though my situation differs from that of a typical transfer premed.</p>

<p>Lets assume I am already working towards getting research positions, shadowing opportunities, and great letters of recommendation. Therefore, it seems as though I do not really need to do the things that are used to encourage/justify the gap year and that is why I would like to avoid it if possible.</p>

<p>To blue, I will be taking the second physics course this fall.</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone for contributing.</p>